Carl Trueman and G.K. Beale on Issues in History and Exegesis

Westminster Theological Seminary have gathered together some essays in what they are billing as ‘The Best of Trueman and Beale from the WTJ’, containing the following pieces:

Carl Trueman

Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light

Carl Trueman

Richard Baxter on Christian Unity

G.K. Beale

Can The Bible Be Completely Inspired By God and Yet Still Contain Errors?

G.K. Beale

The Cognitive Peripheral Vision of Biblical Authors

The collection is available as a pdf here.

Fides et Humilitas 3 (2016)

Fides et Humilitas appears to be published annually by the Center for Ancient Christian Studies, which ‘exists to provide an evangelical voice to the academic fields engaging ancient Christian literature’.

The contents of volume 3, and the abstracts where available, are as follows:

Coleman M. Ford and Shawn J. Wilhite

Editorial: An “Unspeakably Narrow Discipline”: Martin Hengel and the Need for Interdisciplinary Scholarship

Ancient Figure Highlight

Ian Clary

Ignatius of Antioch: Bishop, Theologian, and the Apologist of Life and Death

Articles

Michael A.G. Haykin

Inspiration and Inerrancy in the Ancient Church

Patrick Schreiner 

Number Symbolism and the Feeding of the Four Thousand in the Gospel of Matthew

This study argues that the feeding of the 4,000 in Matthew 15:32–39 should be read as a Gentile feeding. There are a number of arguments that support this reading (structurally, geographically, thematically, and OT background), but the most debated aspect is the role of the numbers 4,000 and seven. These numbers have been interpreted symbolically throughout the history of interpretation but in the time of the Reformation an allegorical reading of numbers began to be rejected. The number 4,000 should be understood representing people coming from the four corners of the earth, and seven points to the completion and fulfillment of God’s purposes. By seeing these numbers as symbolic, the argument that this is a Gentile feeding becomes more secure.

J. Daniel McDonald

The Holy Spirit, Caritas, and the Bond of Unity in Augustine’s Anti-Donatist Writings

Written over a period of twenty years, Augustine’s De Trinitate, one of Augustine’s greatest works, serves as the pinnacle of the development of Trinitarian doctrine in the ancient church. Found within his anti-Donatist writings, however, is a well-developed doctrine of the Trinity. Particularly in De Baptismo contra Donatistas, Contra litteras Petiliani, and Letter 185 (works that were written before the publication of De Trinitate), Augustine links the Holy Spirit as caritas and the bond of unity in the Trinity as the source of unity within the Catholic church. Augustine would later develop an argument identifying the Holy Spirit as caritas and the bond of unity in length in De Trinitate Book XV.5. This indicates that Augustine already had a mature understanding of Trinitarian doctrine early on in his ministry.

Book Reviews

Previous copies of the journal can be found here. Volume 3 can be downloaded as (14.9 MB) pdf here.

Christian History Magazine on Hell

Christian History Institute, publisher of Christian History magazine, provides a 32-page magazine on ‘The History of Hell: A Brief Survey and Resource Guide’, from Justin Martyr to thumbnail sketches of more-recent treatments, yes, including Rob Bell.

It’s available as an 8.6 MB pdf here.

Kenneth J. Stewart on Ten Myths about Calvinism

Kenneth J. Stewart, Ten Myths about Calvinism: Recovering the Breadth of the Reformed Tradition (Nottingham: Apollos, 2011), 256pp., ISBN: 9781844745135.

I just got a copy of this title. The ten myths, should you want to know, are split into two sections:

Part 1: Four Myths Calvinists Should Not Be Circulating (But Are)

1. One Man (Calvin) and One City (Geneva) Is Determinative

2. Calvin’s View of Predestination Must Be Ours

3. TULIP is the Yard Stick of the Truly Reformed

4. Calvinists Take a Dim View of Revival and Awakening

Part 2: Six Myths Non-Calvinists Should Not Be Circulating (But Are)

5. Calvinism Is Largely Anti-missionary

6. Calvinism Promotes Antinomianism

7. Calvinism Leads to Theocracy

8. Calvinism Undermines the Creative Arts

9. Calvinism Resists Gender Equality

10. Calvinism Has Fostered Racial Inequality

I suspect the heart of Stewart’s burden is captured in the subtitle – recovering the breadth of the Reformed tradition.

Gregg R. Allison on Historical Theology

Gregg R. Allison, Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine: A Companion to Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 784pp., ISBN 9780310230137.

Zondervan make available online an excerpt of this full volume on historical theology. The first chapter comprises the Introduction, and addresses three questions:

(1) What is historical theology?

(2) What benefits does it provide?

(3) How should we study it?

What is historical theology?

‘Historical theology is the study of the interpretation of Scripture and the formulation of doctrine by the church of the past’ (23).

What benefits does it provide?

• ‘One benefit that historical theology offers the church today is helping it distinguish orthodoxy from heresy’ (24).

• ‘A second benefit of historical theology is that it provides sound biblical interpretations and theological formulations’ (24).

• ‘A third benefit of historical theology is that it presents stellar examples of faith, love, courage, hope, obedience, and mercy’ (25).

• ‘A fourth benefit that historical theology renders the church is to protect against the individualism that is rampant today among Christians’ (26).

• ‘A fifth benefit of historical theology is that it not only helps the church understand the historical development of its beliefs, but enables it to express those beliefs in contemporary form’ (27).

• ‘A sixth benefit of historical theology is that it encourages the church to focus on the essentials, that is, to major on those areas that have been emphasized repeatedly throughout the history of the church’ (28).

• ‘A seventh benefit of historical theology is that it gives the church hope by providing assurance that Jesus is fulfilling his promise to his people’ (28).

• ‘Finally, as beneficiaries of the heritage of doctrinal development sovereignly overseen by Jesus Christ, the church of today is privileged to enjoy a sense of belonging to the church of the past’ (29).

How should we study it?

There are two basic approaches to studying historical theology: (1) the synchronic approach ‘engages in the study of the theology of a certain time period, a particular theologian, a specific theological school or tradition, and the like’, and (2) the diachronic approach ‘engages in the study of the development of thought on a given doctrine throughout the periods of the church’s history’ (29).

Richard C. Gamble on The Whole Counsel of God

I read the following essay by Richard Gamble when it first came out…

Richard C. Gamble, ‘The Relationship Between Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology’, in Andrew T.B. McGowan (ed.), Always Reforming: Explorations in Systematic Theology (Leicester: Apollos, 2006), 211-39.

It’s slap bang in the middle of an issue, possibly the issue, that interests and excites me most – the relationship between biblical theology and systematic theology.

In it, Gamble refers several times to his forthcoming multi-volume work – The Whole Counsel of God – and my appetite was whetted for a full-scale treatment of the theme.

That was 2006.

At last, in June 2009, the first volume of a projected trilogy is now out:

Richard C. Gamble, The Whole Counsel of God, Volume 1: God’s Mighty Acts in the Old Testament (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), 864pp., ISBN 9780875521916.

Some sample pages are available here.

Gamble devotes a few introductory pages to outlining what he sees as the ‘exegetical foundation’ and ‘historical background’ to the whole project.

The ‘exegetical foundation’ is found in the scene from Acts 20:25-28, where Paul says to the Ephesian elders that he has not hesitated ‘to proclaim to you the whole counsel [or will] of God’ (20:27). Gamble holds that the elders are to do as Paul had done, and that the same task continues today.

Under ‘historical background’, he situates himself squarely in the Reformed tradition, particularly Calvin and developments of Reformed theology, notably John Owen’s Biblical Theology (1661), Herman Witsius’ The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man (1685), and (more recently) Geerhardus Vos’ Biblical Theology (1948).

The first volume in the trilogy focuses on God’s self-revelation in the Old Testament, the second volume will deal with the New Testament, and the third promises to trace the theological development in the church’s understanding of Scripture through the centuries.

Gamble summarises:

‘The Whole Counsel of God is written to continue discussions of the relationship between exegesis and hermeneutics, and the interrelationships of biblical, systematic, and historical theology. The Whole Counsel of God will attempt to meet the need for a comprehensive theology that is attuned to the methodological advantages of biblical theology, but will also combine that advantage with the strengths of historical and systematic theology’ (xxxiii).

I look forward to seeing how the project plays out.