After receiving his doctorate in Early Christian Studies at the University of Virginia, Bryan embarked on an active scholarly career. You can see a summary of his work below.
ARTICLES and ESSAYS
“Origins of Catholicity in The Apostles’ Creed,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 64.3 (2021): 545-61.
“History of Interpretation: Early Church,” in Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. Gregory K. Beale, D. A. Carson, Benjamin D. Gladd, and Andrew D. Naselli (Baker Academic, forthcoming 2022).
“Montanus, Lucius, and their Companions,” in Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, ed. David Hunter, Paul van Geest, and Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte (online; print edition forthcoming, 2022).
“Why Pastors Need Theology and Church History,” William Tennent School of Theology Blog, August 21, 2020.
“Athanasius: Guarding Against Heresy and Holding Fast to Sound Doctrine,” Credo Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 2, June 22, 2020.
“Apostolic Symbol: Bryan Litfin on the Authenticity of the Apostles’ Creed,” in Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity 33.3 (May/June 2020): 16-17.
“Tertullian of Carthage: African Apologetics Enters the Fray,” in The History of Apologetics: A Biographical and Methodological Introduction, ed. Benjamin K. Forrest, Josh Chatraw, and Alister E. McGrath (Zondervan, 2020)
“The Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic,” in Theology Mag, Summer 2019, p. 37
“Tertullian on the Trinity,” in Perichoresis: The Theological Journal of Emanuel University, Volume 17:1 (2019)
“The Doctrine of the Future in Origen and Athanasius,” in Eschatology: Biblical, Historical, and Practical Approaches (Kregel, 2016)
“Apostolic Tradition and the Rule of Faith in Light of the Bauer Thesis,” in Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christian Contexts: Reconsidering the Bauer Thesis, ed. Paul A. Hartog (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2015), 141-165
“Epilogue,” in Rethinking Constantine: History, Theology, and Legacy, ed. Edward L. Smither (Pickwick Publications, 2014)
“Eusebius on Constantine: Truth and Hagiography at the Milvian Bridge,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 55/4 (2012): 773–92
“A Response to D. Jeffrey Bingham,” in Evangelicals and the Early Church: Recovery, Reform, Renewal, ed. G. Kalantzis and A. Tooley (Cascade Books, 2011)
“Origen” in Shapers of Orthodox Theology: Thinking Theologically with the Ancient and Medieval Theologians, ed. Brad Green (InterVarsity Press UK, 2010)
“Learning from Patristic Use of Scripture and the Rule of Faith,” in The Contemporary Church and the Early Church: Case Studies in Ressourcemented. Paul A. Hartog, ETS Monograph Series (Pickwick Publications, 2010)
“Proclaiming Jesus in a Hostile World: The Lordship of Christ as Bold Confession,” in Proclaiming Jesus: Essays on the Centrality of Christ in the Church in Honor of Joseph M. Stowell, ed. Thomas H.L. Cornman (Moody Publishers, 2007), 87-111
“Tertullian’s Exegetical Use of the Regula Fidei as an Interpretive Device in Adversus Marcionem,” in Studia Patristica, Vol. XLII (Peeters, 2006): 405-410
“The Rule of Faith in Augustine,”Pro Ecclesia (Winter 2005), 85-101
BOOK REVIEWS
Review of John D. Hannah’s Invitation to Church History: World and American (Kregel, 2018, 2019), in JETS 62.4, December 2019
“You Pray the Lord’s Prayer, But Do You Understand It?” Review of Wesley Hill’s The Lord’s Prayer: A Guide to Praying to Our Father, Lexham Press (2019), The Gospel Coalition, October 28, 2019
“When History Turns Anti-Christian,” Review of Catherine Nixey’s The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, Macmillan (2017), The Gospel Coalition, April 5, 2019
“Was the Early Church ‘Patient’?” Review of Alan Kreider’s The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, Baker Academic (2016), The Gospel Coalition, October 31, 2016
Review of Bruce W. Winter’s Divine Honours for the Caesars: The First Christians’ Responses (Eerdmans, 2015), in Themelios 40.3, December 2015
Review of Robin M. Jensen, Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity: Ritual, Visual, and Theological Dimensions (Baker, 2012), in Southeastern Theological Review 3.2, Winter 2012
“Another Man’s Treasure,” in Touchstone (January/February 2006), 43‑44, review of Robert L. Arnold, Orthodoxy Revisited: Contrasting the Faith and Practice of the Eastern Orthodox Church with Evangelical Doctrine (Regina, 2005)
PRESENTATIONS
(ETS = Evangelical Theological Society)
“Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam: The Historical—and Biblical?—Origins of Catholicity in the Apostles’ Creed,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2020
“Heinous Heresy or Harbinger of Homoousios? Assessing the ‘Orthodoxy’ of Tertullian’s ‘Trinitarian’ Formulations,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2016
“The Apocryphal Acts as Martyrdom Stories: Early Witnesses to a Robust 2nd Century Concept of Martyrdom” (2015, Center for Ancient Christian Studies, Martyrdom in the Early Church conference)
“Persecution and the Church” (2015, Andrew Fuller Conference, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
“‘More Valuable than Precious Stones’: Jewish and Early Christian Bone-Gathering Practices as Evidence for the Date of the Martyrdom of Polycarp,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2014
“Eusebius on Constantine: Truth and Hagiography at the Milvian Bridge,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2012
“Apostolic Tradition and the Rule of Faith in Light of the Bauer Thesis,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2011
“Tertullian and the Emergence of the Doctrine of the Trinity,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2010
“Origen, Asceticism, and the New Monasticism,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2009
“Learning from Patristic Use of Scripture and the Rule of Faith,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2008
“Paleo-Christian and Roman Remains in Algeria and Tunisia,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2007
“Origen and the Rule of Faith,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2006
Moderator of Patristics Study Group Session and Paper Respondent, ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2005
“What is Truth? Orthodoxy as a Narration of the ‘Orthodiegesis’ in Patristic Creedal Material,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2004
“Tertullian’s Exegetical Use of the Regula Fidei as an Interpretive Device in Adversus Marcionem,” 14th International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford, August 2003
“Tradition as the Playing Field in the Game of Biblical Interpretation,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2002
“Tertullian’s Use of the Regula Fidei as a Model for Evangelical Use of Tradition,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2001
“Christus Victor or Vicarious Sacrifice? Isaiah 53 in Early Christian Interpretation,” ETS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2000