Essentials
Book Review: Theology and the Future
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- Written by: Thom Bull
Theology and the Future: Evangelical Assertions and Explorations
Edited by Trevor Cairney and David Starling
T & T Clark, 2014
Life is not easy for theology at the head of the 21st century. After centuries in the ascendant as Regina Scientiarum the past 250 years have seen her stripped of her regalia and cast from her throne. Once acknowledged as the voice of wisdom, the very counsellor of kings, she now calls from outside the halls of power, and even then she is rarely listened to (what, after all, could she possibly have to contribute?). Once seen as the one to connect all spheres of knowledge to form a coherent vision of the whole, she is now derided by the academy as an irrational non-subject (though she may be mercifully permitted to continue her futile labour so long as she doesn’t cause any trouble, ensures that her operations remain quarantined within the bounds set for her, and manages to get enough students to keep herself financially viable). Once prized and honoured in the Church as directive of the life of God’s people, she is now regularly treated with suspicion as both divisive and disconnected from the practicalities of discipleship. In the public square, the university, and even the Church, theology’s fortunes have declined, and as a consequence, the question of her future is, for many, moot.
And for that reason it is wonderful to have the collection of essays that make up Theology and the Future available to us. Going against the tide of current secularist and positivist opinion, the contributors to this book contend, and seek to demonstrate, that theology not only has on-going viability both in its own right and as a contributor to the broad range of contemporary conversations; it even stands as the critical voice in those conversations. Within the bounds of that shared conviction, the fifteen essays are marked by a diversity that resists simple summary in a review like this. Consequently, rather than focusing upon particular contributions for appreciation and critique, allow me to highlight two themes that are discernable through the whole and which seem to constitute, for many of the contributors, critical elements in their vision of theology’s future, and to raise one question of the collection.
Depth: Retrieval.
If theological modernism has been characterized by a belief that the Great Tradition has run its course and needs to be rejected if theology is to have any staying power, contributors to this collection see the opposite as the case: it is through the retrieval of the classical sources and judgments of theology that theology stands to flourish. This is a major point of Michael Allen’s opening essay, but such a conviction is discernable within the arguments and appeals of most. Of particular note is the example within several papers of a recent, more widely observable theological surprise: the recovery of classical theism. Such a recovery was virtually unimaginable 20 years ago; yet here, explicitly within Stephen Long’s essay and embedded within those of Allen, Helm, Birkett and others, is a confidence that the future of Theology proper lies in the Theology proper of the past.1
Breadth: Inter-disciplinary engagement.
Christian theology has traditionally understood its field of study to be ‘God, and all things as they relate to God’. Consequently, it is an intellectual discipline that has concerned itself with everything. These essays see theology’s future as lying in a similarly catholic engagement. Against external attempts to keep theology cocooned within a limited field, and internal desires to retreat into the safety of that cocoon, these theologians have a cheerful confidence in taking up conversation with such diverse fields as educational theory (McDowell), literature (Jensen), the arts (Hart and Searle), the science and philosophy of emergence (Birkett), the nature of the modern city (Smith), and so on. In a cultural and academic context in which specialisation is the norm and secular rationalism would bid us operate with disconnected ‘facts’ – a context in which, as Chesterton put it, everything matters except everything – these essays demonstrate the imaginative resources of the gospel to enable a comprehensive and connected vision of humanity and the world, one which holds far more promise for the future than more atomised approaches.
A question of length: voices from the majority world.
Two essays in this collection address the future of theology from a non-Western perspective: Yeo’s call for humble cross- cultural conversation in the church and Chung’s illuminating discussion of the future of theology in Asia. (Another intended essay, on the future of theology in Africa, was unable to be completed due to illness.) That these essays are included is a great strength of the book; yet given that the shift of the Church’s energetic core from the West to the global South will be, arguably, the greatest shaping force for the future of Christianity and of theology with it, we might ask whether two essays (with a third intended) out of fifteen gives sufficient attention to this part of the Body of Christ. In particular, it would have been helpful to see theologians from the majority world contributing essays, not simply discussing Christianity in the majority world, but carrying out constructive theological work in their own right, as a glimpse of what the future may hold. Of course, the theological heritage of the West is something that will be of on-going importance – this affirmation is inherent in any vision of theology’s future that acknowledges the importance of retrieval (and indeed, picking up again the return to classical theism, such metaphysics are in many ways as foreign to the West today as they are to the South). But the church in the West – and perhaps we who are Anglican in particular – need to be quick and eager to listen to and dialogue with those brothers and sisters who represent what is increasingly the centre of gravity in the church’s mission and ministry, and no doubt will become so of her theology as well. We have much to contribute to the strengthening and equipping of the Majority church; but we equally have much to learn and receive from them. Any exploration of the future of theology will consequently benefit from their more extensive representation.
Thom Bull, Ellenbrook, WA
Jonathan Edwards Conference 2015
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- Written by: Rhys Bezzant
Rhys Bezzant reports on the recent international congress on Jonathan Edwards at Ridley College, Melbourne.
In our quest for relevance, we easily neglect our roots, but it doesn’t take an arborist to tell us that neglect of roots jeopardises health and vitality, or that a tree without roots is dead. Evangelical Christians need to study history, and to understand our story, otherwise our fruit will wither on the vine. It is that important, though honoured chiefly in the breach. Not all evangelical colleges teach church history after first year, and few teach the history of modern evangelicalism at all.
Perhaps, in a small way, the Jonathan Edwards Congress, hosted recently at Ridley, can help to set an agenda.
There are about eight Jonathan Edwards Centers around the world, and Ridley is privileged to host one. These centres are satellites of the JEC at Yale University, which is charged with cultivating the study of the texts and teachings of Edwards. And every four years one of those centres convenes a conference. This year was our turn. After four years of planning, I was pleased to welcome to Melbourne delegates from every continent (except Antarctica!), and from every state in Australia. Eight of the world’s leading Edwards scholars presented keynote addresses, and pastors and academics led parallel sessions. I attend history conferences overseas, and few of them are overtly Christian, but at Ridley we began the day with the morning office, and affirmed the contribution of pastors and junior academics in the programme. There was a clear sense of the importance of fellowship amongst the participants – after all, we were talking about revivals, preaching, missions, doctrine and piety, so encouraging a Christian mood ought not to have been out of place. We ran an MA unit as part of the conference, in which seven pastors took part. This was a global conference.
And it is indeed quite extraordinary how scholarship on Edwards is booming in every corner of the globe. South Africans are looking for a way to be Reformed after the compromises of apartheid, Poles are investigating the way the revivalists used rhetoric to communicate their message, Brazilians want depth after the expansive but shallow growth of Pentecostalism in South America, and Australians are discovering how Reformed faith provides a sense of beauty and cohesion, which together provide deep satisfaction in a fragmented post-modern world. Of particular note amongst the keynotes was Stuart Piggin’s presentation of the role of Edwards in praying for Terra Australis long before it was settled by Europeans, and in motivating world missions through his writings, which encouraged and equipped our earliest chaplains and later pastors.
As part of my own long-term project in writing about the ministry of mentoring, I was able to present a paper on David Brainerd, the sometime mentee of Edwards, who ministered amongst the Indians on the frontier and provided a model for future cross-cultural workers. Though often heroically portrayed as an individual fighting the elements and facing the howling wilderness at great personal cost, demonstrated in his untimely death, it was time to argue instead for the importance of the church in his ministry, his reliance on the means of grace, and his desire to place the weakness of his ministry in the context of God’s eschatological power, which was making significant advances despite Brainerd’s sin and fragility. His own agency was a function of the church’s authority – a great reminder of the high place God has for the church in his own gospel purposes.
We need more reflection on the roots of our tradition, not less. We need to give more attention to the global dimensions of the evangelical movement, not less.
We need more appreciation of the church not merely as a means of outreach, but as an exalted and permanent gift of the Father to the Son. We are the bride of Christ. And how wonderful that Edwards can still serve as a midwife, delivering to us such wonderful riches.
Rhys Bezzant, Ridley, Vic.
Bible Study – 2 Samuel 7
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- Written by: Mark Peterson
God’s Modus Operandi
Mark Peterson is the Music Minister at Holy Trinity Church, Adelaide
Do you enjoy vision-setting meetings? Perhaps brainstorming, or presentations of vision, mission and key values? Sometimes these events invigorate me; other times they bore me.
If King David was casting a vision for Israel, 2 Samuel 7 describes a stunning and sudden overturning of the strategy.
He was settled in a palace, and the Lord had given him rest from his enemies. It was time for some development on the domestic front. Admirably, God’s chosen king chooses to honour God. He will build him a house that would be more appropriate than the travelling tent. The king is established in Jerusalem: now the Lord needs a temple.
The Lord, however, wipes the whiteboard. Actually, this is not the plan. I will tell you the plan. You will not build me a house; I will build you a house, and it will never be destroyed.
Twelve Things Christians Should Know about AA
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
You may have met people involved with Alcoholics Anonymous: they are often in our churches. Here a Christian AA member gives us a personal perspective on AA.
This article is not intended as a dispassionate defence or exposition of Alcoholics Anonymous (“AA”). As a member who believes he would not have most of the good things in his life without AA, this is hardly possible. My assertions are based solely on empirical evidence, along with my contention that AA works. There are things I know to be true—I see the evidence in my life and the lives of those around me, but the ability to convey this often falls short.
One: AA started as a Christian fellowship
Most people regard AA's genesis as the seemingly unplanned meeting of 10 June 1935 in Akron, Ohio, between two certifiably 'hopeless case' alcoholics: Bill Wilson, a New York stockbroker, and Dr Robert Smith ('Dr Bob'), a local physician. Their discussion that night is part of AA folklore and generally regarded as the first AA meeting. Wilson had been a member of the Oxford Group, a fellowship founded by an American Lutheran minister who'd had a life changing conversion experience. The Oxford Group's principles infuse AA's Twelve Steps. After falling out with the group Bill cried out to God and experienced what he later described as 'the great reality…the God of the preachers.'1
Holiness and Sexuality
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- Written by: David Peterson
In August David Peterson gave the Mathew Hale Public Lecture for 2015 entitled “Holy Book and Holy Living” at the Mathew Hale Library in Brisbane. This is his abridgement of his lecture. Copies of the full text of the lecture may be purchased from the Library.
Rev Dr David Peterson is a New Testament scholar, formerly Principal of Oak Hill Theological College in the U.K., now back at Moore College in Sydney.
In the debates that have taken place about homosexuality and gay marriage, many Christians have sold out to secular values. Critical to the whole matter is the question of biblical interpretation and authority. It is clear from Paul's broader teaching about marriage and sexuality that he was one with Jesus in endorsing the principles of the Mosaic Law and applying them to believers under the New Covenant. A good example is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12.
Discerning the will of God
When Paul first shared the message of the gospel with his predominantly pagan converts (1:9-10), he gave them specific ethical guidelines (4:1, 'how to live in order to please God'). And he did this 'by the authority of the Lord Jesus' (4:2), as his commissioned representative.
The apostle regarded the will of God as the ultimate guide to human behaviour. In line with biblical teaching, he therefore declared that the essential will of God is that his people should be holy in all their conduct (cf. Leviticus 11:44-5; 19:2; 20:7; 1 Peter 1:15-16). But what that means in practical terms needed to be explained, since the apostle did not regard Christians as being under the written code of the Mosaic law (cf. Romans 7:1-6; 2 Corinthians 3:1-18). Paul endorsed and re-presented Old Testament ethical teaching in ways that are relevant and applicable to Christians living in the Gentile world.
Bodies devoted to God's service
Paul's first point is that holiness must be exhibited in the sexual realm. This is consistent with Leviticus 18, where regulations about unlawful sexual relations come first in a section about ethical holiness (Leviticus 18-20). The command that a man should not 'have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman' is found in 18:22. 'Chastity is not the whole of sanctification, but it is an important element in it, and one which had to be specially stressed in the Greco-Roman world of that day.'1
Various forms of extra-marital sexual union were widely tolerated and some were even encouraged. Sexual indulgence was often associated with the practice of religious cults and there was no widespread public opinion to discourage immorality. It hardly needs to be pointed out that contemporary Christians find themselves in a similar ethical environment. But when the gospel is introduced into a culture it demands a new way of life in those who believe it.
Paul's claim that holiness must be expressed by abstaining from sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4:3, Greek porneia) is explained in vv. 4-7, where it appears that any form of sexual relationship outside marriage is covered by the term.2 If our bodies belong to the Lord, we are no longer free to use them selfishly or in accordance with the accepted values of the time. They must be kept or controlled 'in holiness and honour' (ESV, cf. 1 Corinthians 6:20; Romans 12:1).3 Those who have come to know God in Jesus Christ will treat their bodies as his property.
Love and holiness
Paul warns against the social consequences of sexual indulgence in v. 6. Christians must beware of trespassing against brothers and sisters in Christ by behaving covetously. This theme is developed in vv. 9-10, where a close link between holiness and love is made. By crossing forbidden sexual boundaries, we may enrich ourselves at someone else's expense. Husbands, parents, and other family members are all hurt when someone is seduced into an improper relationship. The Lord Jesus himself is 'an avenger in all these things' and will inflict the appropriate judgment on those who disregard his will (v. 6b; cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).
Love of neighbour was central to the demand for holiness in the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 19:18). As in Leviticus 18-19, love and sexual purity come together in 1 Thessalonians 4. Love for those who are struggling with sexual temptation does not mean lowering the standards that God has set for his people. As a fellowship of believers we are bound to support and help those who struggle with sexual temptation or failure.
Conclusion
In current debates among Christians about sexuality, holiness hardly ever surfaces as the controlling idea. Fundamental to this notion is the challenge to be different from the culture around us in values and behaviour. Biblical authority is also dangerously challenged and undermined in these debates. If, in our desire to show love to those who are same-sex attracted, we abandon the biblical teaching about marriage and sexuality, we dishonour God, obscure his best intentions for humanity, and show the world that the Bible is no longer to be taken seriously. It is merely the play-thing from which to formulate a new version of Christianity suitable for the people of the 21st century.
2 Cf. Horst Reisser, New International Dictionary of New TestamentTheology Vol. 1 (Exeter: Paternoster, 1975): 497-501. The word group can describe various modes of extra-marital sex 'insofar as they deviate from accepted social and religious norms (e.g. homosexuality, promiscuity, paedophilia, and especially prostitution)' (p. 497).
3 'To control his own body'(ESV, NIV) is a more appropriate rendering of the Greek in this context than 'to take a wife for himself' (ESV margin) or 'to live with his own wife' (NIV margin).
Closing the Gap Part 2
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- Written by: Jude Long
Last issue Jude Long identified important gaps between Indigenous Australians and the rest of
Australian society. Here she suggests some first steps for Christians who are keen to see those gaps closed.
Dr Jude Long is Principal of Nungalinya College, Darwin, NT
In my previous article I outlined the significant gap that exists between Indigenous Christians in remote communities, and mainstream English speaking Christians. This gap includes areas such as health, life expectancy, safety, literacy, and resourcing in Christian faith. Obviously this is a huge issue! This article attempts to explore some concrete things the church in Australia can be doing to help reduce this gap.
1. Awareness
Many people within the church are unaware of the reality of life for Indigenous people in remote communities. Few would have an understanding of the significant cultural and linguistic differences that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
This first step may seem obvious, but it is essential for the church to become aware of the diversity of Indigenous languages and cultures, of the history of engagement between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians and of the situation today. I think this is especially significant for our young people. There are a number of great resources available like “Australians Together” a four part DVD series that is suitable for small groups that can really help this.
Knowing the Truth of the Cross Produces a Thirst for Evangelism
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- Written by: Neil Bach
Neil Bach reminds us of the life and impact of the Australian New Testament scholar Leon Morris ahead of the publication of his biography of this man who loved the gospel of Christ crucified.
Neil Bach is the author of a recently published biography of Leon Morris entitled "Leon Morris: One Man’s Fight for Love and Truth."
Sixty-five years ago the embers of a spiritual battle burst into flame. After a lecture at Cambridge University a young Australian courageously stood in front of a very great churchman.
‘I don’t think you were right in that, sir.’
‘Oh’ he said. ‘Why?’
I said one or two things.
‘Would you write that out for me?’
Between one lecture and the next the young man had a session with the churchman Michael Ramsey. He tried to explain to Ramsey that the scholar C. H. Dodd was wrong in eliminating propitiation from the New Testament. He thought the old boy was most interested. We know that young man. He was Leon Morris. He remains the greatest New Testament scholar Australia has produced. He wrote extensively about the cross of Christ, with his book The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross still a fantastic read, summarizing the truths of propitiation, redemption, covenant and so on that he unearthed in his Cambridge studies. In a new biography, soon to be published by Paternoster, called Leon Morris: One Man’s Fight for Love and Truth, I tell his life story and the impact of his teaching ministry.
Read more: Knowing the Truth of the Cross Produces a Thirst for Evangelism