Stephen Ralph Holmes

I have published widely across the disciplines of systematic and historical theology, and into practical theology, philosophical theology, and patristics as well. The centre of my research agenda up till now, however, has been historical, focusing on the development of the Reformed and Baptist traditions of theology from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, and on the broader history of the doctrine of God, particularly the idea of God's triunity. Presently, my research is moving in three particular directions, growing out of this background:

1. I continue to be interested in studying the history and theology of the Baptist denominations. At the moment, I am particularly focused on seventeenth-century General Baptists, and eighteenth-century Particular Baptists. Regarding the former, I have a book in preparation on Matthew Caffyn, the seventeenth-century General Baptist messenger, and some potential collaborative work on Baptist-Quaker controversies in that century; regarding the latter, I am editing Andrew Fuller's sermons for the new De Gruyter critical edition of his works. In pursuing this project, a student and I have recently deciphered Fuller's shorthand for the first time.

2. I am working towards a second monograph on the doctrine of the Trinity, which will be more constructive than theological. I will examine a number of areas of Trinitarian doctrine which never achieved particular prominence, but which helpfully highlight some of the controversial issues in Trinitarian doctrine today.

3. Most immediately, I am working on writing up a book using the question of the extent of the atonement as a test case for a methodological proposal about the nature of systematic theology.