We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.
So the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed declares and so Christians have historically and ecumenically affirmed. But what are we affirming when we call God the Son “begotten” of the Father? And is that theologically coherent? Biblical? Essential? Yes to all three, argues a new book, edited by Fred Sanders and Scott Swain. Its title—and its agenda—is Retrieving Eternal Generation, and it aims to re-engage Evangelical Protestants with that neglected historical doctrine without which “any articulation of Trinitarian theology becomes brittle and disconnected” (17). In this episode of Christian Humanist Profiles, David Grubbs interviews Dr. Fred Sanders, professor in Biola University’s Torrey Honors Institute and co-editor (with Scott Swain) of the new book Retrieving Eternal Generation (Zondervan, 2017).