Ben Barkley is a student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has a new blog where he seems to be focusing mostly on Trinitarian theology. Also, like me he has a background in Oneness Pentecostalism. I think Ben is more theologically and philosophically minded than I am, so I am pleased to see that he has taken on the task of addressing and critiquing the doctrine of our Oneness Pentecostal friends. I invite readers of this blog to take some time to interact with some of his fine posts, whether Trinitarian or Oneness:

Part 1: Deep Things of God and Oneness Doctrine

“The main crux that Trinitarian’s should have with Oneness doctrine is the insistent denial that Jesus preexists. Jesus only preexists as the general Spirit of God and becomes the Son when the Spirit of God incarnates himself into a human carcass. And if following David Bernard, only for 33 years will be the Son; after all Jesus can’t be at the right hand of God because that is only silly figurative language (Dulle critiques Bernard on this point, but Dulle is more of a dynamic binatarian, in my understanding). For many obvious reasons the denial of Jesus’ preexistence is a huge theological error that needs to be taken seriously. And from my own reflecting on Vanhoozer’s “Is There a Meaning in This Text” and Sander’s “Deep Things of God”, if there is no eternal Trinitarian relationship this creates issues in epistemology and linguistics, and issues in our understanding of creation and salvation. Without the Trinity there is no way to know God and there is no Gospel. Further, if there is no Trinity I am not sure I can be a Christian.”

Part 2: Deep Things of God and Oneness Doctrine

” Just to give you an idea the Reformed Church in America has about 250,000 members, PC(USA) has less than 2 million, Evangelical Presbyterian Church has 140,000, the Christian Reformed  Church has 251,000, and the United Church of Christ has 1 million. In 1998 the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW) had 1.5 million and the UPCI has 3 million members. The 5 churches together hold around 3.6 million, whereas the 2 OP organizations have over 4.5 million members. Sure these are all estimations, but this gives us a gauge of seeing OP’s prevalence and this isn’t to take account OP’s other organizations like the ALJC (Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ), AAFCJ (Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus), WPF (World Pentecostal Fellowship) and so on.”

Barkma Blogger Barking at Dulle

“Jason Dulle wrote an essay called “A Oneness View of Jesus’ Prayers” that I will interact with in this blog post. He is one of the more talented of the Oneness apologists. He doesn’t offer the standard answers that have been given and really require a little more mental horsepower to consider. In this post I will try to relay how Dulle proposes to get out of Nestorianism and avoid Trinitarianism. Then try to offer some feedback and maybe even some of my own questions to his arguments, in hopes that someone will straighten me out if I say something off.”

Why I Left Oneness Pentecostalism

“Leaving Oneness Pentecostalism (OP) was one of the best things that I have ever done. But the time of transitioning and rethinking my faith was a very difficult process. My whole life I have been told that if you’re not baptized in Jesus name, filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues and follow the holiness standards then you’re going to hell (some are more lax on the standards, but those are of the liberal kind). Some insist that there is more involved with salvation.”: