j j 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]
j j j j j j j j j j 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]
j j j j j j j j j 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.
