Paul Martin Henebury
I am a native of Manchester, England and attended London Theological Seminary and Tyndale Theological Seminary (M.T.S., M.Div., Ph.D). I am married and the Lord has given us five great kids. I have been a Church-planter, pastor, and a professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics. Also, I was editor of the Conservative Theological Journal.
I am now the President of Telos Theological Ministries and its little school, Telos Biblical Institute, although many things call for my attention. Perhaps one day the Lord will allow me to do it full time? I am also honored to pastor a Bible Church in Northern California.
“Dr Reluctant” is a pseudonym given me by my friends. It relates to the subject of Dispensationalism, of which I am both an adherent and dismayed critic. My consternation arises because of the lackluster attitude of many dispensationalists to develop and improve the system as a system!
I am also quite reserved and prefer not to “seek great things” for myself, so the “reluctant” moniker fits in there as well.
As far as it goes, my contribution is to offer courses, lectures, seminars, and other materials, and to explore a new and very promising avenue of inquiry – the Biblical Covenants. These covenants can be mined via the dispensationalist hermeneutics to produce far more than they have been made to in the past. Enter “Biblical Covenantalism” (a clumsy phrase coined by yours truly). This method contains hermeneutical, theological and worldview truths which, I think, can really give a shot in the arm to contemporary Dispensationalism. The first of my two volume project to write a Biblical Theology of Biblical Covenantalism is called The Words of the Covenant: Old Testament Expectation.
About Telos Ministries
Telos Theological Ministries, and its online school, Telos Biblical Institute, are devoted to teaching the Word of God as the Word of God. Our motto is: “God Means What He Says!”
The mission of Telos Ministries is to teach God’s people to believe what God says, and to think biblically. The mission of Telos Biblical Institute is to enable pastors and laypeople to pursue solid biblical and theological instruction at a fraction of the cost of standard seminary education.
“The ultimate goal of our quest is a knowledge of God. We are not interested in doctrines merely as doctrines, but as they bring us to know God.”
– D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Great Doctrines of the Bible, 34.
If you like what you read here, visit my YouTube website: Telos Ministries, where I post many lectures on Biblical and Systematic Theology, Apologetics and Worldview, etc. (although my writing of Vol. 2 has interfered with new recordings).
God bless, and thanks for reading.
Your brother,
Paul H.
2 comments On About
Hello Dr. Henebury,
I am a longtime student of the Word. Some of my favorite authors are Alva J. McClain, Michael Vlach, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Jody Dillow, and many others. About 35 years ago I would buy every John MacArthur book available; not that I agree with his soteriological views (Calvinism), nor Lordship salvation, but I learned much by his teaching. I lead a group (we call it Grace Institute) at our church and meet for about 12-15 weeks in Spring and Fall sessions. We will be using Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s book ‘Israelology the Missing Link of Systematic Theology’ this coming August. I am a layman at Grace Fellowship Church in Buckeye, AZ. In regards to Grace Institute we encourage potential teachers to hone their gifts and teach a class or two each semester. Our students as with all churches have various theological backgrounds and it’s amazing to see their growth as we study the Word. At times we agree to disagree, but we always leave friends (teachers and students should always remain teachable). I have been reading your book ‘THE WORDS OF THE COVENANT Vol. 2’ and find myself nodding in agreement over and over again (I’ve not finished yet). I will buy Vol. 1, as I am an avid OT student (not to say I’m not a NT student as well). Do you do speaking engagements at other churches (Fri. Sat. Sun) type events? Either way, I love your book and it’s obvious you have put much thought, research and devotion into its preparation. I confess I am a dispensationalist, (I know that’s a nasty word in some circles) but as my pastor and I have acknowledged many times, the grid that dispensationalism lays on the Scriptures tell the story of what happened throughout the entire Bible through its lens; it is not Scripture. In that sense, I agree with you that the Covenants really do tell the story (I never thought any differently); maybe we should be surprised a book like this hasn’t already been written. I’m really impressed the way you tie it all together so well. Hope you continue to teach/write for years to come. My sincere thanks.
Don,
Thank you for your encouraging remarks. The books were written in part as a plea to dispensationalists to reexamine what is the core of their system. I am working on a slimmer volume for those who cannot face reading the 2 big books. It’s going slower than I want because I have a lot of things going on in my life.
Speaking of which, I do accept speaking invitations as long as I have a enough time to arrange my calendar.
Again, thank you for your comment.