Welcome to The Four Branches Review!
Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary has long divided theology into four branches: exegetical theology, systematic theology, historical theology, and practical theology. In The Four Branches Review we offer four short monthly articles, one in each of these four branches.
These articles are an easy way to brush up on some things you may have learned but forgotten, to learn some things that may be completely new to you, and even to become aware of topics you may be interested in exploring further.
Thank you to those pastors who have shared their gifts, knowledge, and experience with us in writing these articles. We appreciate the time you have taken to edify and enrich us all, both spiritually and professionally.
Aaron Michael Jensen, The Four Branches Editor
Rev. Dr. Aaron Michael Jensen (PhD, SATS) is pastor at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Monticello, MN.
Four Branches – February 2024
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical theology: The “Sacrifice” of Isaac, Part 1: A Test for Abraham Genesis 22 records a shocking encounter when God told Abraham to do ...
Four Branches – December 2023
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: What’s ἀγάπη got to do with it? Part 3 John is called the apostle of love for a reason. In his five ...
Four Branches – October 2023
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: What’s ἀγάπη got to do with it? Part 2 The Septuagint demonstrates the Hellenistic tendency to use ἀγαπάω instead of the other ...
Four Branches – May 2023
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: What’s ἀγάπη got to do with it? Part 1 Forgive me for the lamest article title in the history of the Four ...
Four Branches – March 2023
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Head & Helper: A Mixed Metaphor Part 3: So What? The Bible doesn’t use the terms “head and helper” together. They are ...
Four Branches – February 2023
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Head & Helper: A Mixed Metaphor Part 2 Namer and Helper After creating Adam, God waited to make Eve. The man first ...
Four Branches – January 2023
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Head & Helper: A Mixed Metaphor Part 1: Head & Body When discussing the roles of men and women, these terms are ...
Four Branches – December 2021
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Historical Gaps - What is the idea? Words in one language don’t “mean” words in another language. For example, עֵץ, δένδρον, arbor, ...
Four Branches – October 2021
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Historical Gaps - What is the allusion? Because the holy writers had background knowledge and life experiences in common with their first ...
Four Branches – September 2021
Jump to: ExegeticalSystematicHistoricalPractical Exegetical Theology: Historical Gaps – Where is the surprise? Our historical-grammatical hermeneutic requires bridging gaps. Studying the original language bridges the grammatical gap. Over the next months, ...
Four Branches – August 2021
Jump to: ExegeticalSystematicHistoricalPractical Exegetical theology: Preaching on Numbers 12:1-15 Logos Bible Study Software lists the “best” commentaries on every book of the Bible. I don’t know their algorithm, but two ...
Four Branches – July 2021
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The Way He Should Go? “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will ...
Four Branches – June 2021
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical theology: Gospel Motivation in the Shema via Vav Deuteronomy 6:4-9, often called the Shema, is a key confessional text of the Old Testament ...
Four Branches – May 2021
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Direct Speech, Indirect Speech and Reported Consequences Linguistically speaking, the Gospels read a bit like a Hemingway novel, only with less wine ...
Four Branches – April 2021
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Proclaiming Life with 1 John - Part Two Last time, we began to look at a sampling of ways the apostle John ...
Four Branches – March 2021
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Proclaiming Life with 1 John - Part One A series of readings from 1 John blankets the Sundays of Easter from Easter ...
Four Branches – February 2021
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The Valley of Dry Bones – Part 3 In Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, God promised to give his ...
Four Branches – January 2021
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The Valley of Dry Bones – Part 2 Spiritual life comes through faith in the promises and grace of God. Commentators point ...
Four Branches – December 2020
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Tell Me Up Front – More on Topic and Focus We’ve seen two reasons why words are moved to the front of ...
Four Branches – October 2020
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Tell Me Up Front – Topic Last month we saw that one reason a word or phrase will be moved up front ...
Four Branches – September 2020
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Tell Me Up Front - Focus In Greek, word order doesn’t tell you the syntax like it does in English, but it ...
Four Branches – August 2020
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Rebuilding After Exile III: Pointing to Jesus The prophet Zechariah preached the good news of the coming Messiah to motivate the returned ...
Four Branches – July 2020
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Rebuilding After Exile II: Putting Home Improvement in Its Place Perhaps the COVID regulations that deemed Home Depot but not public worship ...
Four Branches – June 2020
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Rebuilding After Exile I: Fearless Yet Concerned for Legality As we return from the brief coronavirus exile, we can find much fodder ...
Four Branches – May 2020
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The Swim in Historical-Exegetical Waters & Acts 17:22-31 Though I fail to remember the source, someone described text study like this: “When ...
Four Branches – April 2020
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Easter Triumph, Easter Joy: Exploring the Joy in 1 Peter 1:3-9 The CW Second Lesson for Easter 2 (1 Peter 1:3-9) offers ...
Four Branches – February 2020
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Three Passion Predictions from Zechariah: Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will be Scattered Jesus told his disciples, “This very night you ...
Four Branches January – 2020
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Three Passion Predictions from Zechariah: The One They Have Pierced In this series of articles, we are looking at the Old Testament ...
Four Branches December – 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Three Passion Predictions from Zechariah - Thirty Pieces of Silver The prophet Zechariah is quoted a number of times in the Passion ...
Four Branches November – 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Prominence Indicators - Tense-forms in Narratives We continue to look at different ways speakers/writers indicate prominence, as in, relatively speaking, what are ...
Four Branches October – 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Prominence Indicators - γάρ We continue a look at different ways speakers/writers indicate prominence, as in, what are the main points and ...
Four Branches September – 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Prominence Indicators - Adverbial (Circumstantial) Participles Preceding Their Main Verbs All of God’s Word is equally inspired, but not all of God’s ...
Four Branches August – 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Justification by Faith in Genesis 15:6 The first Sunday in September provides an opportunity to consider Genesis 15:6, which contains a nuanced ...
Four Branches July – 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Three Levels of Analysis in Genesis 18 In Preaching Christ from the Old Testament, Sidney Greidanus presents the helpful exegetical concept that ...
Four Branches June – 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Editor's Welcome Brothers, For the last three years I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to serve as the General Editor for The Four Branches. ...
Four Branches May – 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The Heap of Hope - Romans 5:1-5 Life’s pains are like squeaky wheels demanding attention and management. Unless we deal with ...
Four Branches April – 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Stay Close to This – The Near Demonstrative in Acts 13:15-39 The Spirit opens your mouth to declare the wonderful story ...
Four Branches March – 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The Cross as Metonymy in 1 Corinthians 1:18 The Second Lesson for Lent 4 features a particularly potent use of metonymy. The ...
Four Branches February 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: God's New Thing The Exodus from Egypt was a tremendous act of deliverance by God. In Isaiah 43:16-21 (Lent 5C), God ...
Four Branches January 2019
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The Holiness of God The doorposts and thresholds were shaking. The temple was filled with smoke. The seraphim were covering their faces ...
Four Branches December 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Appreciating Isaiah's Poetry If you page through the book of Isaiah in most English editions of the Bible, you will notice ...
Four Branches November 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Little Words, Big Worth - καί These last two months we’ve discussed how particles like ἀλλά and δέ help an exegete ...
Four Branches October 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Little Words, Big Worth - δέ Particles can be extremely helpful in exegesis because of what they do: they show how ...
Four Branches September 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Little Words, Big Worth - ἀλλά Often the littlest words get the longest entries in dictionaries. With the many different glosses offered ...
Four Branches August 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Old Testament Storytelling - Seeing Christ There One of Kierkegaard’s parables has two art lovers discussing a painter’s depiction of the ...
Four Branches July 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Old Testament Storytelling - Beauty Luther’s eloquent appeal for the study of the biblical languages is well known. They are “a ...
Four Branches June 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Old Testament Storytelling - the Narrator The narrative study of Scripture reveals much about the way the inspired biblical spellbinders communicate ...
Four Branches May 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Direct Speech, Indirect Speech, and Reported Consequences Linguistically speaking, the Gospels read a bit like a Hemingway novel, only with less ...
Four Branches April 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Analyzing Conversations in the Gospels Conversations follow rules that we might not always be aware of – but need to think ...
Four Branches March 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The "Bid" in Jesus' Words Couples who attend a WELS “Healthy Marriage” workshop are introduced to John Gottman’s concept of emotional ...
Four Branches February 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The LORD Is There! It was a stunning and welcome conclusion to Ezekiel’s prophecy. Working among the exiled, Ezekiel’s message concludes ...
Four Branches January 2018
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The Lord Will Provide Isaac was the son of the promise and evidence of God’s gracious providence. And it appeared that ...
Four Branches December 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The LORD is My Banner The Israelites’ battle against the Amalekites at Rephidim was memorable – not only for the victory, ...
Four Branches November 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The Text Shapes You The text shapes you; you don't shape the text." And even though that truth had been repeated ...
Four Branches October 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Find the Structure “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Ju 17:6). If you followed my advice in the ...
Four Branches September 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Excise the Extras The New Testament textual critic, David Parker, once wrote: Let us consider what it is to which a ...
Four Branches August 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The How of Old Testament Communication (part 3) With the Old Testament reading for Pentecost 12 (Supplemental Lectionary Year A), Exodus 14:10-31, ...
Four Branches July 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The How of Old Testament Communication (part 2) Consider how theology is communicated in the Old Testament. It may be through “narrative ...
Four Branches June 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: The How of Old Testament Communication In his address to the Society of Biblical Literature (1969), James Muilenburg described the way exegesis ...
Four Branches May 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Pentecost - The Spirit Testifies through the Church On the day of Pentecost, the Church would see just how active the Spirit ...
Four Branches April 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Easter - Jesus Testifies by Sending His Disciples As you read the Holy Week accounts in the gospels, do you get the ...
Four Branches March 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Easter - The Father Testifies It almost sounds like a scene from modern-day, post-truth, Twitter-storm politics. The Pharisees challenge Jesus, “Here ...
Four Branches February 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Pondering the Penitentials (Part 3) When I consider the truth that God forgives all my sins, it fills me with joy ...
Four Branches January 2017
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Pondering the Penitentials (Part 2) Psalm 38 is a penitential psalm that calls us to remember. But what are we to ...
Four Branches December 2016
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Pondering the Penitentials (Part 1) When looking at the psalms designated as “penitential” [1], one can’t help but see a connection between Psalm ...
Four Branches November 2016
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: Thanksgiving Paul’s letter to the Philippians has inspired commentaries with titles like “Laugh Again” (Swindoll) and “God’s Guide to Joy” (Klug). Bengel summed ...
Four Branches October 2016
Jump to: Exegetical Systematic Historical Practical Exegetical Theology: All Saints All Saints’ Day is commemorated on Nov. 1 each year, and in the proposed lectionary, will receive a more prominent ...
Four Branches September 2016
Editor’s intro: Welcome to the first edition of The Four Branches newsletter. Grow in Grace (The Institute for Pastoral Growth at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary) is pleased to send you this ...