Pen and Parchment

An Archive of the Best Student Papers at RTS Charlotte

Students know that research papers are a major part of the seminary experience. RTS Charlotte wants to promote the writing of good research papers among the students and wants to encourage students when they write good papers. In addition, we want to provide a resource where students can see what qualifies as a good paper. For these reasons we are establishing a place on the RTS Charlotte website to publish the best papers each semester. This will be called Pen and Parchment: An Archive of the Best Student Papers at RTS Charlotte.

These papers will come from the following courses that require a research paper: Gospels, Acts and Romans, Pauline Epistles, Greek Exegesis, Genesis-Joshua, Judges-Esther, Poets, Isaiah-Malachi, Hebrew Exegesis, Hebrews-Revelation, and Christian Encounter with Islam.

The professor will choose the best paper from the course, the paper will be published on the website, and the authors will be announced at the first chapel of each semester.

Fall 2021

• Will Keyton – “Redemptive Liberty and Justice for All: Isaiah 42:1-4 and its Quotation in Matthew’s Gospel”  – OT5350 Isaiah to Malachi
• Beck Otersen – “Untangling the Knot: An Exegesis of Exodus 21:22–25” – OT5200 Genesis to Deuteronomy
• Johannes Damaschke – “Forgiving Sins at a Pharisee’s Table: Luke 7:36–50 and the Mission of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke”  – NT5200 Gospels
• Stiven Peter – “The New Exodus Depicted in the Descent and Ascent of the Son of Man in John”  –  NT5200 Gospels (at NYC)

Winter/Spring 2021

• Drew Patrick – “A Call for a Sexual Revolution: An Analysis of the Adjuration Refrain in the Song of Songs” – OT5300 Poets
• Garrett Black – “I Am Not Left-Handed! The Ambidextrous Savior, the Calf-Man King, and the Exegesis of Judges 3:15-22”- OT5150 Hebrew Exegesis
• Josh Duemler – “Works-Righteousness and the Useless Christ: Answering the Objection to Justification by Faith in Galatians 2:17-21 – NT5150 Greek Exegesis
• Joey Hyatt – “A Second Adam, the Anti-Image of God, and the Reversal of the Exodus: The Dismal End to Josiah’s Glorious Reign” – OT5250 Joshua to Esther
• Alberto Paredes – “How Firm a Foundation! (If We Manage to Get There, Anyway) An Exegetical Study of  2 Peter 1:19–21” – NT5350 Hebrews to Revelation
• Caleb Johnson – “Suffering Accomplished and Applied? The Sympathy of the Great High Priest” – ST5200 ST: Christology, Soteriology & Eschatology
• Josh Duemler – “Divinely Furnishing Christ’s Office: Exegetical and Theological Reflections on the Trinity in Isaiah 48:16” – ST6100 Trinitarian Theology

Fall 2020

• Josh Duemler – “Why Have You Forsaken Me?”: The Mutual Indwelling of Dereliction, Orthodox Trinitarianism, and Penal Substitution  – ST5150 Systematic Theology: Scripture, Theology Proper, Anthropology
• Josh Duemler – “Peter Throws Himself Into the Sea: Discipleship, Grace and John’s Use of Luke 5:1-11 in John 21:1-14” – NT5200 Gospels
• Joey Hyatt – “One Temple to Rule Them All? How Isaiah and Stephen Show Jerusalem’s Temple is Not the One Temple” – OT5350 Isaiah to Malachi
• Benjamin Traynor – “Social Distancing, Masks and Quarantine; Not Just a 2020 Thing: Lessons From Leviticus 13:45-46 For a Covid-19 World” – OT5200 Genesis to Deuteronomy

Winter/Spring 2020

• Robert Hertha – “I’m the Bad Guy? Universal Human Depravity in Romans 3:10-18” – NT5250 Acts and Romans
• Taylor Wright – “Hold Fast and Be Poured Out: St. Paul on the Christian’s Endurance” – NT5300 Pauline Epistles
• Garrett Black – “Exposing the Darkness: The Evangelistic Imperative of Ephesians 5:11” – NT5150 Greek Exegesis
• Peter Leach – “Those Who Mock Them Will Become Like Them: Jude’s Polemic Use of the Evil Angels” – NT5350 Hebrews-Revelation
• Josh Duemler – “Standing Before YHWH:  The Restored Priesthood in Zechariah 3”– OT5150 Hebrew Exegesis
• Trip Smith – “The Lord, the Leader, and the Commander of the Lord’s Army:  Analysis of a Singular Event in the Life of Joshua” – OT5250 Joshua-Esther
• Will Keyton – “Qoheleth and Soggy Bread: The Enigmatic Exhortation of Ecclesiastes 11:1” – OT 5300 Poets
• Matthew Sparks – “Sub Utraque Specie: A Reformed Argument for Communion under Both Kinds” – ST5250 Ecclesiology and Sacraments

Fall 2019

• Matthew Sparks – “Deuteronomic Ecology:  Warfare and the Preservation of Trees” – OT5200 Genesis to Deuteronomy
• Matthew Robinson – “The King is Coming:  The New Testament Use of Isaiah 40:1-5 in light of the Context of Isaiah 40”– OT5350 Isaiah-Malachi
• Joseph Hyatt – “ἐν ἀγωνίᾳ: The Text Critical Issue of Luke 22:43-44” – NT5200 Gospels
• Charles Hart – “Confessing the Divine Beauty” – ST5150  ST: Scripture, Theology Proper, Anthropolgy”

Winter/Spring 2019

• Michael Bauer – “Jesus Christ, ‘Author of Life’: The Preexistence of the Son of God in Acts” – NT516 Acts and Romans
• Trip Smith – “Paul’s Theology of Obligation as a Proper Motivation for Sanctification” – NT516 Acts and Romans
• Robert Hertha – “Subtle Sarcasm?  A Defense of the Veracity of Job’s Repentance in Job 42:1-6” – OT512 Poets
• Bobby Roberts – “To Whom May It Concern? The Mysterious Case of the אֱלֹהִים within בַּעֲדַּת־אֵל” – OT512 Poets
• Nathaniel Vroom – “The Bloody Bridegroom and the Bloody Lamb:  An Exegesis of Exodus 4:19-26”– OT506 Hebrew Exegesis
• Peter Leach – “Itching Ears: The Tragedy of Micah and the Levite” – OT510 Judges-Esther
• Arthur Rankin – “2 Corinthians 13:13: A Trip Down Genitive Lane” – NT506 Greek Exegesis
• Matt McFarling – “Loved unto Love: Analyzing the Relationship between Love and Predestination in Paul’s Theology” – NT520 Pauline Epistles
• Ginni Fischer Larkins – “The Lord’s Day, Every Day: The Culmination of Sabbath Rest in Revelation” – NT522 Hebrews-Revelation
• Christian Brewer – “Eschatological Doxology or Doxological Eschatology?  The New Covenant and Worship in Hebrews 8-10”– ST601 Covenant Theology
• Matthew Duraski – “The Qur’anic Use of the Apocryphal New Testament” – ST504 Christian Encounter with Islam
• Taylor Wright – “Glorification: Perichoresis Or Participation” – ST517 ST: Christology, Soteriology, and Eschatology

Summer/Fall 2018

• Alex Lott – “The Gospel Truth or Poetry for Lyres?  A Critique of Mark as Oral Composition” – NT508 – Gospels
• Ashley Kerr – “Christ as the Fulfillment of the Covenant of Works: A Study of Hebrews 5:7-10” – NT522 – Hebrews-Revelation
• Timothy Jackson – “The Day of the Lord and the Joy of the Lord in Zephaniah 3:14-17” – OT 516 – Isaiah-Malachi
• Dónal Walsh – “Created for God: The Imago Dei and Homosexual Desire” ST515 – ST: Scripture, Theology Proper, Anthropology
• Arthur Rankin –  “Continuity or Discontinuity: John Calvin and Nicene Christianity” – ST610 – Trinitarian Theology

Fall 2017

• Angel Flippen – “Birds of a Feather Flock Together- Unless They Are Slaughtered During the Ritual Cleansing Rite for Those Healed of a Skin Disease: an Expositional Discourse on Leviticus 14:1-7” – OT508 Genesis-Joshua
• Kelci Rose – “But What Did Jesus Say? A Deconstruction of the Feminist Reconstruction of Mark 7:24-30” – NT508 Gospels
• Barr Overcast – “Just Before Dawn: The Importance of Isaiah 8:16-23 for Understanding Isaiah 9:1” – OT516 Isaiah-Malachi

Fall 2016

• Brittain Brewer – “Lord of Covenant Vengenance: Nahum 1:2 and Neo-Assyrian Curses” – OT516 Isaiah-Malachi
• Nathan Johnson – “Deviant Mercy: A Reexamination of the Kikayon Parable and Jonah 4:11” – OT516 Isaiah-Malachi
• Jason Piland – “Mark 8:22-26: Jesus the Parable Worker” – NT508 Gospels
• Keith William Rose – “Unfaithfulness, Uncleanliness, and the Suspected Adulterress in Numbers 5:11-31” – OT508 Genesis-Joshua

Fall 2015

• Jonathan Dennis – “In Redemption and Judgment: God’s Sovereignty in the Book of Jonah” – 03OT516 Isaiah to Malachi
• Kathryn McIlvaine – “Kashrut: Israel’s Dietary Restrictions in Leviticus 11:1-23, 41-47” – 03OT508 Genesis to Joshua
• Ryan Richardson – “Gethsemane and the Humanity of Jesus: A Text Critical Look at Luke 22:43-44” – 03NT508 Gospels