JOHN PIPER: THE MAKING OF A CHRISTIAN HEDONIST Justin Gerald Taylor, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015 Chair: Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin This dissertation on noted pastor and author John Piper (1946- ) constitutes an early effort in the field of intellectual biography, tracing four key influences--in roughly chronological order--upon Piper's life and theology. Those with primary influence in Piper's formative years were his parents, William S. H. Piper (1919-2007) and Ruth Mohn Piper (1918-1974), who exhibited a unique combination of joyful fundamentalism. Piper's next major influence was C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), discovered during his undergraduate studies at Wheaton College, who introduced him to romantic rationalism. Piper's first teacher at Fuller Seminary was Daniel P. Fuller (1925- ), a hermeneutics professor who planted the seeds of Christian hedonism and who gave him a love for exegetical biblicism. It was during these seminary days and into his time of doctoral study that Piper discovered Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), whose affectional Calvinism would go on to shape Piper's theology more than anyone else. Piper's three primary venues of ministerial vocation--teaching, preaching, and writing--are all examined to reveal the ways in which each of these influencers played various roles in Piper's development of Christian hedonism and his distinct contribution to a theology of the Christian life. The dissertation concludes with two applications of the foregoing analysis, exploring how Piper uses Scripture and how he appropriates church history for pastoral ends. Also included is a comprehensive bibliography of Piper's published works (1971-2015).

This dissertation delineates the theological tenets of John Piper's evangelistic ministry at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. In addition to his basic conservative, evangelical presuppositions, there are four theological tenets that drive the evangelistic ministry of John Piper: the sovereignty and supremacy of God, the depraved affections of man, conversion as the creation of a Christian Hedonist, and the glorifying witness of the church. Chapter 1 addresses Piper's role in modern evangelicalism as a recovery theologian. He is one of several pastors and authors calling evangelicals to recover the god-centered theology of the reformers. Piper's unique perspective of Christian Hedonism is his prescribed vehicle for that recovery. The theology of evangelism springing from this perspective is particularly valuable as a remedy for the atheological pragmatism currently driving so many evangelical churches. Chapter 2 is biographical in nature, exploring Piper's life and theological development. In addition to describing the experiences of his conversion and call to ministry, this chapter details the pivotal awakening he experienced at Fuller Seminary that led to the development of Christian Hedonism and his subsequent espousal of Calvinism. This chapter also recounts the theological developments Piper has experienced during his pastorate, including the missiological awakening that took place at Bethlehem Baptist Church during the mid 1980s. Chapter 3 then delineates the four theological tenets and the sub-points that embody the evangelistic aspects of each tenet. His published writings are the primary sources for this chapter, and the material reflects his affinity for Edwards and his God-centered hermeneutic. Chapter 4 examines five facets of Piper's ministry to prove that the theological tenets delineated in chapter three do indeed define and drive the evangelistic ministries of Bethlehem Baptist Church. Preaching, prayer, discipleship, outreach (local and global), and Piper's writing ministry are each examined to show the foundational presence of the four tenets in the evangelistic aspects of each ministry. Chapter 5 closes the dissertation by summarizing the material presented in chapters three and four. The final section of this fifth chapter briefly addresses the strengths and weaknesses of Piper's theology of evangelism and Bethlehem's evangelistic ministries. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.