BGST Adds Resident Lecturer

Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009 Posted: 9:19:28PM HKT

The Biblical Graduate School of Theology has appointed a resident lecturer.

Dr Edwin Tay, who completed his doctoral research at the University of Edinburgh, was recently added to the BGST team of lecturers. The topic for his dissertation was the atonement theology of John Owen, a 17th century theologian.

As a lecturer in theological studies, he will teach a course on the history of the doctrine of atonement in October.

The course will discuss central issues and problems in the formulation of the doctrine throughout Church history. It will introduce a variety of important personalities and their significant contributions to the understanding of the doctrine. Special focus will be placed on the conception of the atonement within Evangelicalism, particularly the view known as penal substitution.

In a recent interview with the trans-denominational seminary, he referred to helping “grow spiritual roots in the light of the secular storm” as his main task as a theologian.

“My task as a theologian, as I understand it, is to be a steward and expositor of ‘the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3), not to jump on the band-wagon of the latest theological fad that capitalises on current buzz words and pairs them with ‘theology’ to give it a semblance of respectability,” he said.

“If a tree is to survive a storm, it has to sink its roots deep into the ground. Similarly, if Christians are to survive and thrive in their vocations where the onslaught of secular, humanistic thinking is acutely and persistently felt, we need to grow roots that sink deep into the soil of the Gospel.”

Dr Tay took his MA in Systematic Theology at the University of London, MCS at BGST and BA at the National University of Singapore. He has a special interest in Reformed theology, particularly its Reformed Orthodox expressions in the late 16th and 17th centuries. His research interests include Trinitarian theology and the doctrine of atonement.

He is also concerned with the subject of godliness in the study of theology. The attitude adopted by students of theology can determine whether knowledge becomes a ‘most dangerous thing’ or ‘most eye-opening and uplifting experience’.

This attitude is, in turn, shaped by the way “the object of theological study is conceived”, he said.

“If the object is text and no more, be it Biblical or theological or historical texts, then acquisition of knowledge from those texts becomes our main end, and pride, the severest temptation,” he said.

“But if the object of our study is the one, true, and living God, then the acquisition of knowledge becomes subservient to the greater end of hearing, worshipping, and obeying God. The theological student or teacher who has God as the object of his/her engagements will not handle the things of God carelessly, but with humility and godly fear.”

Dr Tay was formerly a staff worker with the Fellowship of Evangelical Students and pastoral assistant at Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church. He is married with two daughters.

Nathanael Ng
nathanael@christianpost.com