Revitalizing Theological Epistemology

Holistic Evangelical Approaches to the Knowledge of God

Sherman

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2008
• eBook ISBN: 9781498270106
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

A rather acrimonious divorce is underway between evangelical theology and foundationalism--especially among younger evangelical proteges less directly connected with the modernist-fundamentalist controversy than are their professors. These primarily younger evangelical thinkers are almost certainly reading and engaging more of Derrida than Descartes; more interested in doing theology and philosophy for the church than for the academy; more in tune with Wesley's than Warfield's theology; more interested in applying the Bible than defending it; more concerned with the hermeneutics of Gadamer and Ricoeur than (Arno) Gabelein and (A.T.) Robertson; more occupied with the philosophical method of Heidegger than Hegel; more moved by the epistemology of Kierkegaard and Barth than by Kant and Bultmann; and finally, more comfortable with postmodern than modern culture. Such major moves are undoubtedly altering the face of evangelical theology--or more accurately, theology done by evangelicals: even more particularly for this study, theological epistemology written by evangelicals. In Revitalizing Theological Epistemology Steven B. Sherman addresses questions about what evangelical theology ought to be doing in light of the changing cultural situation. Should the Christian faith continue to be presented and defended mainly according to Enlightenment principles when growing criticism of modern thought is affecting virtually every discipline? Is this critique merely a matter of the latest societal trend, or is this a much larger phenomenon virtually encompassing the West? Ought evangelicalism and its intellectual leaders to wait it out or should they re-vision their theology? And if something does require reconsideration, exactly what is it, and what might this re-examination entail? This book is about contemporary evangelical approaches to the knowledge of God, considering--and suggesting--ways Christian philosophers and theologians envision and make use of theological knowledge in the postmodern context.

1

Introduction

The Rise of Postconservative Evangelical Theology

In the spring of 1995, Roger Olson’s manifesto-type article in The Christian Century1 served notice to the larger theological world that “postconservative evangelicals” were a force to be reckoned with.2 These four pages of text have generated thousands more. Even book-length treatments have since appeared on the subject.3 While not signaling the actual beginning of the postconservative evangelical theology enterprise, it succeeded in making the public aware of a new theological movement—with hopes of generating significant interest in the ideas being offered.4

While Olson could rightfully be credited with popularizing this new evangelical movement—although in 1995 he seemed more comfortable speaking of it as a mood—the theological impetus for postconservative evangelical theology can be traced much earlier: to the transitioning theological work of both Bernard Ramm and, more definitively, Clark H. Pinnock.5 Both were moving in virtually the same direction: away from a defensive posture of rationalistic evidential apologetics, and toward a more holistic approach to theology and epistemology, with a greater emphasis on the testimonium of the Spirit. These two eminent evangelical thinkers also wanted to move evangelical theology into a more direct and constructive engagement with biblical and historical criticism, modern science, and postmodern philosophical challenges. Leaving behind what they saw as an extreme focus on objectivity and scientific method, each sought to develop an evangelical theological method: Ramm settling on a more or less Barthian approach,6 and Pinnock focusing on a free will theism7 with a pneumatological emphasis.8

Acknowledging the significant, formative contributions of Ramm and Pinnock is but part of the larger—and rapidly developing—story of postconservative evangelicalism; it was Olson’s article, serving as a type of manifesto for the movement, that brought significant attention to postconservatism. And thus for this study, we will be consulting his article in setting forth the primary themes of postconservative evangelical theology. Before proceeding along these lines, however, we must make mention of an earlier sort of postconservative manifesto.

Believing that the modern period9 (as with the medieval before it) had given way to a different historical context, some late-twentieth-century evangelical scholars became concerned that theology must not lag behind in recontextualizing the gospel for the post-Enlightenment setting. Relevant nagging questions began to arise within evangelical academia: Would seeking to express the Christian faith (e.g., its historic doctrines) vis-à-vis postmodern categories lead to undermining the gospel? Would it necessarily entail compromising evangelical truth claims, and subjecting Christ to culture? Would scripture be bound to destruction via postmodern philosophy’s deconstruction of texts? And would the surrender of absolute epistemological certainty result in a merely disguised form of liberalism?

The response to such questions is where a great gulf can be seen today between “traditionalist” and “reformist”10 evangelical scholars, each representing different sides of the theological chasm. Whereas traditionalists generally see the move to embrace the postmodern cultural condition for evangelical theology as undesirable accommodation, postconservatives desire to update theology within postmodernity; it is this latter approach that will receive the principal concentration within this detailed discourse.11 But before moving too far ahead, we must return to the postconservative manifesto topic.

The crucial questions noted a few paragraphs earlier began to be raised to new levels when directly addressed in 1990 by Clark Pinnock in Tracking the Maze, where he set out to provide evangelicals a means of Finding Our Way through Modern Theology from an Evangelical Perspective (the book’s subtitle). While a more in-depth treatment of this book (along will several others works by Pinnock) will be carried out in a later section, his main arguments will be summarized here, for they reflect an agenda for a postconservative theology12 that would hope to make thorough use of the new cultural condition.

Pinnock draws several conclusions that provide a window on his perspective: theologians do not have to feel pressured to capitulate to the canons of human authority resident within modernity now that criticism has disclosed its faulty reasoning and cultural conditioning; Christian theology should not be primarily rational-propositional in form, but rather see its principal task as exploring and proclaiming the Christian story; Christian doctrine is a second-order reflection or language commenting on the Christian story and performing a servant role in relation to the gospel; the Christian story is original, and the dogma is always a historically and culturally conditioned interpretation, however useful; the gospel message as revealed in the scriptures is foundational to theological knowledge; any Christian theology that fails to correlate the two poles of the word and the context is a failure.

Even more specifically, Pinnock seeks to identify the fundamental two horizons issues in contemporary theology,13 and what he sees as three types of theological responses, characterized by theologians who primarily fit into one of the following categories: progressives, conservatives, or moderates. Pinnock himself sides with the moderates, presenting what may be viewed as a sort of “postconservative manifesto” that includes nine apparent moves:

1. 1. Greater openness to the humanity of the Bible and biblical criticism, as well as more flexibility regarding the meaning of inerrancy and more hesitancy about the term’s usefulness.

2. Legitimacy of evangelical theological pluralism in recognition of diversity in the biblical teaching.

3. New respect for tradition’s intrinsic value and the stability it provides.

4. Open discussion about the nature of God and potential need for focusing on the openness of God to the temporal process.

5. Willingness to recover an evangelical model accepting evolution as complementary to creation and origins.

6. Viewing salvation more broadly, including opportunities for the unevangelized, as well as re-envisioning hell in terms of annihilation rather than eternal torment.

7. Movement away from a pessimistic premillennialism to a positive vision of church and society, including the transformation of culture and social/liberation concerns.

8. More sensitivity to the supernatural, e.g., miracles, especially among charismatic and Pentecostal movements.

9. Radical ecumenical openness to cooperate with evangelicals of other denominations.14

Since Pinnock’s manifesto was penned, virtually each of the “changes in the boundaries” of evangelical theology has been taken up by younger evangelical scholars as the last decade of the twentieth century witnessed an escalating interest and debate among evangelical theologians over the question of reconsidering (or revisioning) evangelical theology.15 Moreover, as this effort will attempt to demonstrate, further developments across the spectrum of scholarship have been reshaping the face of evangelicalism in the new millennium as well. And while this does not appear to be a total revisioning of categories—Calvinist and Arminian doctrinal disti...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: The Emergence of Postconservative Theological Epistemology
• Chapter 3: The Essence and Development of Postconservative Theological Epistemology
• Chapter 4: Lesslie Newbigin’s Theological Epistemology
• Chapter 5: Constructive Proposal for Revitalizing Evangelical Theological Epistemology
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Bibliography