c c 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]
c c c c c c c c c 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]
c c c c c c c c 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 Ecclesia 25, no. 2 (May 2016): 173-199.
Klink, Edward W., III. “The Pastor Theologian and the Interpretation of Scripture:
A Call for Ecclesial Exegesis.” In Becoming 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.” In Becoming 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 Review 102, 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.” In The 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 Review 102, 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,” in Becoming 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 the English
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 Ecclesia 25, no 2 (May 2016): 174.
[7]Edward W. Klink III, “The Pastor Theologian and the Interpretation of
Scripture: A Call for Ecclesial Exegesis,” in Becoming 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,” in The Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision, by Kevin
J. Vanhoozer and Owen Strachan (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015), 9.
