An oft-spoken thought among Christian theologians is that everyone
does theology. Many Christians would disagree. These Christians view
theology as the realm of the academic with “nothing to do with the
ephemeral world of the public.”[1]These Christians often go beyond this
statement to express a clear suspicion of intellectual pursuits, believing
that their faith precludes the need for reason or intellectual learning.
I grew up in this environment at a small, independent, “King James only,”
fundamentalist, Baptist church. In my church, even a child going to
college was something met with caution and suspicion as my
congregation felt that the classes and university life would cause a young
adult to lose his or her faith.[2]When I, as a young undergraduate, began
to express an interest in majoring in religion, my parents threatened to
cut me off financially and kick me out of their house if I continued to study
religion at the university. I was surprised since my father was the youth
pastor at our church, but anti-intellectualism and fear was strong in the
life of this congregation. They did not realize that “even within the
academy much biblical scholarship is done by believers who regard
Scripture as authoritative and who seek to serve the church in their
scholarship.”[3]
My parents and other leadership in our church would have said
that they were not doing theology, but that, instead, they were simply
taking the Bible literally. After all, they had read the passage where Paul
states that God has “chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise,” and they knew that God had promised to “destroy the wisdom
of the wise” (I Cor. 1:19, 27 KJV).[4]Unfortunately, a too literal
interpretation inevitably pulls Scripture out of its historical context, and
“to ‘take the Bible literally, word for word’ is often to miss the point.”[5]A
faithful Christian interpretation that considers historical context and how
that context bridges into their current context “cannot help but ascend
from the literal to the figural.”[6]Despite this, interpreters must also do
their best to avoid conflating scripture’s historical context with its
theological usefulness. To do this would be to give Scripture a naturalistic
interpretation that does not account for God’s involvement in its message
and creation.[7]
Proper contextualization and interpretation of scripture for use in a
congregation’s daily lives demands that pastors become well versed in
theology. Pastors and other church leaders are accountable, not just to
themselves, but ultimately to God for their shepherding of their
congregations. If pastors view their profession correctly, they will realize
that their profession is not just “another helping profession,” but is
instead, is sacred calling from God.[8]A pastor who wants to be faithful to
his calling will make every effort to learn theology, “rightly handling the
word of truth” in his sermons, his life, and his discipleship of other
believers (2 Tim. 2:15).
Bibliography
Graham, David. “Defending Biblical Literalism: Augustine on the Literal
Sense.”Pro Ecclesia25, no. 2 (May 2016): 173-199.
Klink, Edward W., III. “The Pastor Theologian and the Interpretation of
Scripture: A Call for Ecclesial Exegesis.” InBecoming a Pastor Theologian:
New Possibilities for Church Leadership,edited by Todd Wilson and Gerald
Hiestand, 137-149.
Leithart, Peter J. “The Pastor Theologian as Biblical Theologian: From the
Church for the Church.” InBecoming a Pastor Theologian: New
Possibilities for Church Leadership,edited by Todd Wilson and Gerald
Hiestand, 7-22. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016.
Markham, Ian S. “Public Theology: Toward a Christian Definition.”Anglican
Theological Review102, no. 2 (Spring 2020): 179-191.
McLaughlin, Rebecca.Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the
World’s Largest Religion.Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019.
Vanhoozer, Kevin J. “Introduction: Pastors, Theologians, and Other Public
Figures.” InThe Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision,by
Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Owen Strachan, 1-27. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2015.
[1]Ian S. Markham, “Public Theology: Toward a Christian
Definition,”Anglican Theological Review102, no. 2 (Spring 2020): 179.
[2]This has also led to my lifelong question: how strong is faith really if
one or two college classes will take a dedicated Christian to a full-blown
atheist? Where, in the process, do we learn to trust in and act out of God’s
sovereignty?
[3]Peter J. Leithart, “The Pastor Theologian as Biblical Theologian: From
the Church for the Church,” inBecoming a Pastor Theologian: New
Possibilities for Church Leadership,”ed. Todd Wilson and Gerald Hiestand
(Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016), 9.
[4]Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in
theEnglish Standard Version(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008).
[5]Rebecca McLaughlin,Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for
the World’s Largest Religion(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), 96.
[6]David Graham, “Defending Biblical Literalism: Augustine on the Literal
Sense,”Pro Ecclesia25, no 2 (May 2016): 174.
[7]Edward W. Klink III, “The Pastor Theologian and the Interpretation of
Scripture: A Call for Ecclesial Exegesis,” inBecoming a Pastor Theologian:
New Possibilities for Church Leadership,ed. Todd Wilson and Gerald
Hiestand (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016), 140.
[8]Kevin J. Vanhoozer, “Introduction: Pastors, Theologians, and Other
Public Figures,” inThe Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost
Vision, by Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Owen Strachan (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2015), 9.
