Issue 89 of Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Affinity, is now available from here (requiring an email address for a link to a downloadable pdf, though check here) which includes the below essays on the topic of adoption.
Donald John MacLean
Editorial
Tim Trumper
The Recovery of Adoption: A Brief Progress Report
Talk of the neglect of the doctrine of adoption has become commonplace over the last decades. Less recognised is that this awareness has arisen from a slowly developing concern to recover the doctrine. Thus, the author, participant in the endeavour for thirty-plus years, explains why the recovery became necessary, identifies Robert S. Candlish’s 1864 Cunningham Lectures on the Fatherhood of God as its dawn, and traces the emergent interest in adoption down to the present via the disciplines of historical, biblical, and systematic theology. Various phases of the recovery are traversed, and numerous tensions (methodological, exegetical, linguistic, and structural) are highlighted. Their resolution promises the matured exposition and application of adoption, and calls for the methodological renewal of classic systematics. Aspects of this renewal and its benefits are mentioned, for adoption can only be said to be finally recovered once the doctrine is fully and satisfactorily (re-)integrated into the discipline of systematic theology.
David McKay
Adoption in the Old Testament
Although the language of adoption is not used in the OT, and the possible examples of adoption practice are few, the concept of adoption is present and significant. Israel is described by the Lord as his son, as at the time of the Exodus, and the relationship established by the Lord is fundamentally covenantal. The relationship between God and the king of Israel is also stated in terms of an adoptive father/son relationship. The concept of kingship in Israel is thus profoundly different from that common in other nations. The ultimate fulfilment of prophetic references to the king as God’s son is found in the person and work of the Messiah, the Son of God incarnate. In the NT context, believers in union with the Son become the adopted children of God and share in a fulness of blessing beyond that experienced by OT believers.
Dan Peters
Preaching a Comfortable Doctrine: the Doctrine of Adoption
The Puritan notion of ‘a comfortable gospel’ (that is, a gospel that minsters comfort to believers) is worthy of consideration by contemporary preachers. The article argues that the doctrine of adoption ought to be a key component of ‘comfortable’ preaching. The various benefits of preaching adoption are delineated, including its impact on a congregation’s holiness and prayerfulness. It is proposed that other, quite specific needs are met when adoption is homiletically prominent: a lifeline is extended to those who have wandered from the faith; and the parents of wanderers also receive valuable help. Attention is given to the benefit the pastor himself yields from prioritising this doctrine in his preaching. Finally, the influence of the seminary on the pulpit is noted, and the implications of that for the preaching of adoption are considered.
Malcom Maclean
A Family Dispute About Adoption
In 1862, a trust was set up to fund a lectureship in honour of William Cunningham, the recently deceased Principal of the Free Church College in Edinburgh. Two years later, Robert S. Candlish delivered six lectures on the theme of The Fatherhood of God, and a year later, in 1865, they were published for the first time. Over the next five years, four further editions of the lectures appeared. Changes in those editions were caused by responses made to the lectures. Candlish claimed that previously very little attention had been given to the doctrine, but his treatment of the theme ensured that a lot of attention was given to his ideas. This article aims to identify the main features of his lectures and also some of the responses made to him.
Book Reviews
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