My PhD saga continues. I am no longer a PhD student, at least for now. For a variety of life circumstances (none bad) it isn’t going to work out at the moment. Circumstances change, and life has its ebb and flows. When things do finally ebb the right direction, hopefully, the PhD will finally materialize; somehow, someway, somewhere. I am forever honored by Martin Luther School of Bible and Theology and Concordia Academic Theology Consortium for awarding me with the honorary doctorate of theology (ThD). That was a highly meaningful gesture, and acknowledgement of the work I have been able to undertake over these last many decades in the area of theological discourse. I think when I finally do get the PhD in theology I won’t make a public announcement about it next time; I’ll just let you all know when it is finally completed, once it is 
. Anyway, stay tuned for more posts on theology and biblical reality. My next one is on Barth and freewill. To close this post here was the final submission I made in regard to the proposal for the PhD; maybe something along these lines will come to fruition down the road, and maybe something different.
EVANGELICAL CALVINISM: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE THEOLOGY OF THOMAS F. TORRANCE
A Proposal
Presented to the Faculty of
Martin Luther School of Bible and Theology and Concordia Academic Theology Consortium
In Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Systematic Theology
by
Robert Allen Grow
May 2022
Robert Allen Grow 05-02-2022
Thesis Abstract
This thesis will undertake an engagement with and explication of the entailments of an Evangelical Calvinism. It will endeavor to introduce the historical background, both geographically and ideationally, to what Evangelical Calvinism is, at a definitional level. After this, the thesis will turn to the treatment of three theological loci that defines and develops what in fact Evangelical Calvinism entails as a theological program. The loci which this thesis will develop, for the purposes of introducing an Evangelical Calvinism as an original identification of a mood in Protestant Reformed theology are: 1) Knowledge of God via an analogia fidei (analogy of faith) as a theological prolegomenon; 2) Knowledge of an assured salvation before God as an extension of Knowledge of God; 3) Knowledge of God through a theological interpretation of Holy Scripture as an Evangelical Calvinist distinctive. Each of these loci will be primarily mediated through an engagement with Thomas F. Torrance’s theology, and other theologians (Karl Barth, John Calvin et al.), as that is pertinent to the task of explicating the entailments of an Evangelical Calvinist theological program. The thesis will provide a constructive conclusion summarizing how an Evangelical Calvinist mood and theological development has been present throughout the history of the Reformed tradition as indicated by the body of the thesis’s work. The objective of this thesis will be to introduce the broader Christian world to the reality of the presence of an Evangelical Calvinist mood within the parameters of a Reformed theological development. The problem this thesis will address is the lack of awareness, within the broader Reformed tradition, of the presence of an Evangelical Calvinism.
Provisional Chapter Outline
Chapter 1. Introduction: Historical and Ideational Background to an Evangelical Calvinism
Chapter 2. Prolegomenon to an Evangelical Calvinism: The Analogia Fidei
Chapter 3. Christian Knowledge of God for an Evangelical Calvinism: The Assurance of Life
Chapter 4. Theological Interpretation of Scripture as an Evangelical Calvinist Distinctive
Chapter 5. Conclusion: Summary of an Evangelical Calvinism and its Promise for the Future