The Formation of Christian Doctrine

Malcolm B. Yarnell

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780805440461
• eBook ISBN: 9781433669866
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The Formation of Christian Doctrine is a high-level academic study of the history of Christian doctrinal development. The book distinguishes at length between the scholarly term "inventio" (making explicit what is implicit in the biblical revelation) and the idea of "invention" (presenting a novelty as Christian teaching that conflicts with the biblical revelation).

Specifically, The Formation of Christian Doctrine identifies biblical inerrancy as an inventio but sees the "priesthood of believers" concept as a license to believe "whatever teaching seems right to me."

Sure to be of interest in academic circles, even to those who might disagree with the author, this book will appeal to three major groups: Evangelicals in relation to the twentieth-century development of a detailed doctrine of biblical inerrancy, Baptists in light of both biblical inerrancy and the seventeenth-century development of believer's baptism, and Roman Catholics because of their respect for
tradition and interest in such a challenging conservative Protestant perspective as is found here.

Chapter One

THEOLOGICAL METHOD AS DISCIPLINED RESPONSE TO DIVINE REVELATION

What is this book, and what makes it different enough to be considered by the theologian whose shelves are already filled with good books? It is a preliminary exercise in theological method, perhaps some would say a theological prolegomena, except that it is adamantly yielded to Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible by His Spirit to the church, exhibiting suspicion toward the philosophical underpinnings affiliated with traditional prolegomena. This book seeks to understand how the formation of true Christian doctrine develops from a proper theological foundation. It therefore deals with two large structural aspects of theological method: the foundation of doctrine and the development of doctrine, or, respectively, the static and dynamic dimensions of theology.

This book is different in at least three ways. First, it is an admittedly unusual attempt by a Southern Baptist theologian to set forth a Christian theological method, a consideration of the foundations for the proper development of doctrine, specifically from a believers’ church perspective. Baptist theologians have not generally engaged in prolegomena or fundamental theology, and those who have done so tend to follow the approaches of other traditions, including Reformed scholasticism,¹ the liberal academy,² or Lutheran philosophical theology.³ The closest forerunner is perhaps the extremely short prolegomena of John Leadley Dagg, the first Southern Baptist systematic theologian, a nineteenth-century defender of slavery who offered a primarily biblical theology even if according to a rudimentary Reformed paradigm.⁴

While “prolegomena” often appears as a subsection in the broader discipline of systematic theology in the English-speaking world, the continental European academy has come to treat Fundamentaltheologie (foundational theology) as a separate discipline with a larger task. This movement, beginning in Prague in 1856, first became a self-standing discipline in Roman Catholic theological faculties. In spite of initial misgivings, it has subsequently become a concern for Protestants too. Gerhard Ebeling, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Wilfried Joest made pioneering efforts in the 1970s, and the discipline is now a fruitful field for evangelical theologians. Recognizing that the Catholic penchant for a theology of nature and grace shaped by church authority must be distinguished from the Protestant regard for sin and faith shaped by revelation, Michael Roth shows how the field of foundational theology is already being treated in evangelical circles. He also proposed three tasks for an evangelical foundational theology: the traditional theological principia, apologetics, and encyclopedia. Because it considers the circumstances by which faith is constituted, foundational theology may serve as an integrative science among the fissiparous theological disciplines.⁵

Second, this book is a somewhat unusual prolegomena in that it takes seriously the historical shape of dogma.⁶ Christian theologians share the bodily limitations of other Christians on this planet who have received only glimpses of glory. Theologians must humbly admit that any discussion of eternal truth depends upon the grace of revelation, wherein eternity has manifested itself in a specific way and for specific purposes at specific times to those who are historically framed. This grace of revelation occurred supremely in the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because our access to God's goodness occurs within a historical construct that inculcates a way of thinking and living, church doctrine must be considered historically. Correct doctrine, moreover, arises while interpreting Scripture, and if we believe that the Spirit works in all Christians, then we should listen to Christians throughout history when formulating doctrine. According to the dictum of Ebeling, “Church history is the history of the exposition of Scripture.”⁷ It is a peculiarly modernist hubris, a conceit rooted in its mythology of progress, to consider the contributions of modern scholars to the theological conversation superior, whether as exegetes or as philosophers, to those of another period.

Finally, this book is unusual in that, while it seeks to engage the rigorous standards of academic scholarship, it is unabashedly committed to personal submission to Jesus as Lord as foundational for theology; indeed, for all of reality. It couples the sense of “foundations” as used by Karl Rahner for an introduction to critical thinking about the faith,⁸ with the sense of “foundation” used by Martin Honecker that Christian theology must be based on Christian faith. “Theology refers to faith. It lays out faith.” Faith is the “precondition” of Christian theology.⁹ From this basis we attempt an academic work for the church and an ecclesial work for the academy. Unfortunately these two institutions often view each other with suspicion, rather than dwelling upon what should be a common goal. This book seeks to bridge the divide between church and academy by proposing a truly ecclesial foundation for the work of the theological academy. It is therefore intended to prepare those who wish to lead others to see the intricately wondrous beauty of God who should be worshipped in both houses (though in necessarily different ways) to think critically in a theological manner about their faith. Because of this conviction, the book requires a forthright presentation of the shared faith of the author and his particular ecclesial community.

Reflecting the witness of the prologue to John's first epistle (1 John 1:1–2:2), it is hoped this book will bring glory to God by bearing witness to His truth, goodness, and beauty. If truth ultimately represents the eternal being of God, the source (archas) of all that is; and goodness, the righteous activity of God that grants us propitiation (hilasmos) through the blood of His Son; then beauty may be said to represent the light (phos) that engulfs the fellowship (koinonia) of man in the Spirit with the Father and the Son. As truth became flesh in Jesus Christ, His goodness becomes ours by confession and results in a sanctified life, and beauty is experienced as the fullness of joy (chara) that is nothing less than the final and blessed vision of God. This is the witness of Scripture and the desire of this theologian. Thus, this book seeks, by turns, to be theologically descriptive, prophetically prescriptive, and doxologically expressive, though it focuses primarily on the first task.

Truth, goodness, and beauty, from a personal and communal theological perspective: this was also Augustine's approach as seen, for instance, in his influential Confessions. The leading theologian of Western Christianity could not separate his science, his system of knowledge, from his personal commitment to God. The formal separation of faith and science is certainly a most peculiar and deceptive modern fiction. Truth and personal commitment cannot be separated, for the lack of personal commitment to truth is simply another way of preparing to tell a lie. Truth, ultimately a reference to the being of the One who is yet Three; goodness, the righteousness of the Son that becomes ours by faith and expresses its faith in responsible act; and, beauty, the Spirit-given experience of holistic harmony and proportion: these are integral to the Christian theological project. “For ‘truth is what you have loved’ and ‘whoever enacts truth comes to the light.’ I want to enact the truth—before you, by my testimony; and by my writing, before those who bear witness to this testimony.”¹⁰

The theological method offered here seeks to be faithful, as indicated, to a Christian foundation of discipleship that honors the highest authority of Scripture. Recognizing the phenomenon of the development of doctrine, its structure is also historical, engaging with events and theologians in the broader Christian conversation regarding the witness of Scripture. This historico-theological method is necessary, for Scripture is never interpreted in a vacuum. Jesus promised the apostles that the Spirit would guide them into the truth (John 14:26; 16:23). It is taken as a matter of faith that the Spirit who led the apostles and prophets to record the truth revealed to them also guided the church to respond by recognizing the authority of those writings. The church's recognition of the authority of God's Word written is evident in the existence of the biblical canon. It is also taken as a matter of faith that the Spirit has not forsaken the church but continues to lead her into the truth through illuminating the canonical text He originally inspired and subsequently gathered. Individual Christians encounter the truth that we call theology in the fold of the church as they read the Bible. The Spirit who witnesses to the church in the text lays upon her the responsibility to be a witness of its theology to the world (John 15:26–27).

A brief apology for fundamental theology may be required in light of recent claims for the superiority of a nonfoundational theology, even by theologians within the believers’ church tradition.¹¹ Among postmodern theologians, there has been a vehement rejection of the idea of theological foundations. Fortunately nonfoundationalism or postfoundationalism is, within the guild of systematic theology, now largely an isolated phenomenon.¹² It is unfortunate, however, that postmodern philosophy, from which nonfoundationalism borrows, has permeated Western culture and thus popular Christianity. The cry that every interpretation of Scripture is equally valid is indicative of the existence of nonfoundationalism in popular theological circles.¹³ “Postmodernism is a type of thinking that rebels against any totalizing understanding of reality, against any ‘grand metanarrative.’ It is opposed to universalization, rationalization, systematization, and the establishment of consistent criteria for the evaluation of truth-claims.” Unfortunately these attitudes fail to adequately account for the description of the faith in Scripture as a living deposit. By rejecting ultimate truth claims, postmodern nonfoundationalism makes Christianity ultimately unintelligible.¹⁴ In the project at hand, discerning a proper means of formulating Christian doctrine, nonfoundationalism lacks a relevant basis.

A theological foundation provides the forms upon which Christians develop their understandings of God, creation, and redemption. It is evident that within Christian discourse, the issues of theological foundation and doctrinal development are intimately related. Doctrines develop from somewhere and, even when radically altered, still reflect an origin in addition to a trajectory. Conceptually we may distinguish the foundation from the development, but in an organic system, a metaphor that certainly characterizes the church (often imaged in the New Testament as a “body”),¹⁵ continuity between a basis and its growth is required. Separating a living entity from its origin brings only death; a living faith cannot be divided into pieces for examination like a laboratory animal, or separated like bricks from a broken building. However, in approaching a doctrine of development, it is necessary to begin with a theological foundation.

Although the current author engages willingly and desirously in the broader Christian conversation, as will be seen shortly, he approaches such conversation from a specific community, a church within the Southern Baptist Convention, which holds zealously to the Word of God as the highest authority for all true doctrine. Before discussing the Southern Baptist theological authority of the Word of God, thi...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Theological Method as Disciplined Response to Divine Revelation
• Chapter 2: The Foundation of Doctrine: Three Christian Alternatives
• Chapter 3: The Foundation of Doctrine: A Believers' Church Proposal
• Chapter 4: The Development of Doctrine: Biblical and Historical Considerations
• Chapter 5: The Development of Doctrine: A Believers' Church Proposal
• Chapter 6: The Pattern of the Cross as Commission: Toward a Free-Church History of Theology
• Name Index
• Subject Index
• Scripture Index