Hallowed Be Thy Name

The Sanctification of All in the Soteriology of P. T. Forsyth

Jason Goroncy

• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780567657190
• eBook ISBN:
  9780567174390
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

This book fills a noticeable gap in Forsyth studies. It provides readers interested in the thought of Forsyth with a way of reading and critiquing his corpus, and that in a way that takes due account of, and elucidates, the theological, philosophical and historical locale of his thought. Goroncy explores whether the notion of 'hallowing' provides a profitable lens through which to read and evaluate Forsyth's soteriology. He suggests that the hallowing of God's name is, for Forsyth, the way whereby God both justifies himself and claims creation for divine service.

This book proposes that reading Forsyth's corpus as essentially an exposition of the first petition of the Lord's Prayer is an invitation to better comprehend not only his soteriology but also, by extension, his broader theological vision and interests.

1

Coming into Focus: Finding Lenses

The object of Christianity is . . . the glorifying of the Father, the hallowing of his name.¹

Once one has removed the glasses prescribed for the intellectual dispositions of modernity and replaced them with those especially adjusted for Forsyth’s nonpareil idiosyncrasy, then, for the most part, his corpus is not difficult to read. His words and the realities to which they bear witness, however, require time – considerable time. A faithful reading resists the soundbite theology too common to his reception, and to our age. It also requires a certain level of fitness, and a willingness to feel one’s way around his landscape. The content of his theology is as demanding and its application as taxing as that Word he seeks to publish. Certainly, it is an unfortunate choice of phrase to speak of ‘the simplicity of Forsyth’s system’.²

To some readers, Forsyth’s writing appears to lack an obvious unity and coherence. But studies by Gwilym Griffith, William Bradley, Robert McAfee Brown, John Rodgers, Archibald Hunter, Donald Miller, Browne Barr, Robert Paul, Clifford Pitt, Angus Paddison, Noel Due, Alan Sell, Colin Gunton, Trevor Hart, Leslie McCurdy, Justyn Terry and others suggest otherwise. This essay builds on their labours. Specifically, it explores the question of whether sanctification – or ‘hallowing’ – may provide a fruitful lens through which to read and evaluate Forsyth’s theology. It is certainly not the only lens available. Equal attention could be paid to the themes of authority, Hegelian dialectic, divine kenosis, theodicy, evangelical experience or to the relationship between divine and creaturely freedom, for example. But contrary to Terry’s claim that Forsyth ‘has relatively little to say regarding sanctification itself’,³ I believe that the schema of hallowing saturates Forsyth’s corpus, providing a most profitable lens through which to approach Forsyth’s work, and serving as a central referent for his thought in a way that takes due account of his broad vision and interests. The latter is not altogether surprising for, more than most theologians, Forsyth helps us comprehend holiness as a reality of utmost practical import.

Robert McAfee Brown correctly observes that, for Forsyth, ‘the central fact of the Christian gospel is God’s gracious action in Christ’.⁴ But central facts are not identical to those realities which undergird and motivate them. This essay will explore what Forsyth considers to be God’s central concern and will argue that it is, in all its profundity, the hallowing of God’s name. This is the prime concern, Forsyth insists, not only of the Gospel writers, but also of St Paul. Indeed, Forsyth insists, ‘all the Pauline Atonement is in “Hallowed be Thy name”’.⁵ The incarnation of the Word in Mary’s womb, and the arrival of the Spirit, represent God’s self-determination to answer what Karl Barth refers to as the Lord’s Prayer’s ‘primary petition’.⁶ Christian dogmatics contends that this petition is asked and answered by, in and through one who, though not of this world, has, in the fullness of holy love, audaciously identified himself with it. This one too has a ‘name’: Jesus, who in the Spirit, presents the Father with ‘a perfectly holy Humanity’,⁷ hallowing God’s name in the earth. This hallowing action, wholly and exclusively the work of God, transforms humanity’s locus and constitution before God, and commands, combs and creates corresponding action. Holy Scripture’s way of describing this is to speak of human creatures being made ‘participants’ in the divine nature (2 Pet. 1.4). However one interprets such participation, the hallowing of God’s name is the fashion by which God claims creation for such service and glory. To comprehend Forsyth’s theology as an exposition, a preachment, of the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, therefore, is to do more than position Forsyth in a theo-cultural context. It is to understand more fully the ministry of Jesus Christ as the fullest expression of God’s creative love, and creation as the beloved of God.

Why is this question worth pursuing? Three reasons might be noted: First, there is a gap in Forsythian studies hereabouts. Indubitably, this in itself is insufficient reason to proceed, but hallowing is so central to Forsyth’s thought that it is difficult to believe that such an approach has largely been neglected.⁸ Secondly, The Lord’s Prayer – from which the grammar of ‘hallowing’ most obviously comes – clearly informs Forsyth’s theology, not only his soteriology (which is the focus of this book) but also his ecclesiology, and his understanding of the role of the State, of marriage and of the arts, et cetera. Particularly, its opening petition is so prevalent in Forsyth’s writing that it invites consideration as an interpretive cue for engaging with his entire corpus. Thirdly, Forsyth’s readers could use some help in seeing the systematic nature of his project. This thematic approach may reveal that Forsyth is somewhat less unsystematic than he has often been accused, though one must be careful to qualify terms here, and not overstate the case. The question of whether or not this is a subtle attempt to unfairly ‘systematize’ Forsyth can only be answered by the reader. For my part, I trust that I have not done so.

The study will adopt the following trajectory:

Chapter 1 will attend to questions of methodology and to what kind of theologian Forsyth is. Some attention will be given to Forsyth’s writing style, apart from which an appreciation of his theology is incomplete. Chapter 2 will position Forsyth in the social context of his day, introduce the theological landscape and grammar from which he expounds his notion of reality as fundamentally moral, and identify some of the key but neglected voices that inform such a vision. Chapter 3 will explore the principal locale wherein the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer is answered; namely, in Jesus Christ who is holiness incarnate, the kingdom in person, and God’s perfectly obedient Son who, in confessing holiness ‘from sin’s side’, bears its judgement against sin and creates a new humanity. Chapter 4 will examine Forsyth’s moral anthropology: specifically, the self-recovery of holiness in the human conscience. It will outline that humanity is created, elected and sanctified to mirror the God of holy love and to be God’s counterpart in creation. And it will probe Forsyth’s understanding of the human conscience as our moral centre, as the reflection of where humanity’s unity lies, and as the locus of divine judgement. The chapter will conclude with a brief review of the experience of the new conscience in relation to matters of perfection, faith, suffering and ethics. Chapter 5 will inquire whether Forsyth’s theology of hallowing finally requires him to embrace dogmatic soteriological universalism.

I. Serviceableness and circumscription

Typically, assessments of Forsyth’s theology have proceeded along thematic lines: notably christology, authority, revelation, art criticism, sacraments, homiletics and scripture.⁹ Mostly, this approach has served well to introduce readers to Forsyth’s theological trajectories. However, such efforts have in some cases and to various degrees tendered to smother the broader and creative sub-structure of Forsyth’s thought. Less constraining contributions have been offered in edited volumes by Trevor Hart and Alan Sell, and in Leslie McCurdy’s commendable study on ‘Holy Love’.¹⁰ Forsyth’s theology encourages such an approach. The appearance of these essays has made evident that while there will remain a place to explore a theologian’s thought along more traditional or creedal lines, we have reached a certain level of exhaustion in so evaluating Forsyth’s work. Approaching Forsyth’s work through the lens of hallowing recognizes a unity and coherence to what might otherwise seem to be an unstructured corpus. However, we must beware of over-reaching here, or of forcing valuable insights into a convenient system. Life is not like that, and neither will fidelity to Forsyth’s writing allow us to so proceed.

‘We cannot merely repeat, but must translate what he said and did, even as he was no mere “repeater” but always a translator. We can, however, let him serve as a warning sign and a corrective. For our faithfulness to the fathers of the faith does not consist in our copying them but in our comprehending them.’¹¹ So wrote Helmut Thielicke regarding C. H. Spurgeon. Thielicke’s words remind us that, quotable as Forsyth is,¹² we honour his ideas best not merely by reproducing them, but by engaging with them, by moving beyond them, just as Forsyth moved beyond his teachers. To be sure, my concern in this present study is to present Forsyth’s thought faithfully and, as I am able, to let Forsyth speak for himself; at times I attempt to translate him for our age. Where I do have reservations about Forsyth’s thinking, and insofar as they are germane to our study, these will be raised and responses offered.¹³

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Prolegomenon
• 1 Coming into Focus: Finding Lenses
• 2 The Moral Is the Real: Location, Landscape, Appropriation
• 3 Thy Kingdom Come. Thy Will Be Done, on Earth as it Is in Heaven
• 4 Hallowed Be Thy Name: Holiness Self-Recovery in the Human Conscience
• 5 Thine Is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory. Amen
• By Way of Conclusion: Heavens Laughter
• Bibliography
• Index