Christian Thought & Tradition

Friday

24

May 2013

2

COMMENTS

Recommended Books on Baptist Historical Theology

Written by Nathan Finn, Posted in SBC, Theology

James Leo Garrett, Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study (Mercer University Press, 2009). This volume, written by the dean of Southern Baptist theologians, is the most exhaustive survey of Baptist theology. As a general rule, Garrett sticks with description rather than prescription, providing a useful summary of major figures, movements, themes, and controversies. One particularly helpful contribution is Garrett’s discussion of Baptist biblical theologians alongside historical theologians.

William H. Brackney, A Genetic History of Baptist Thought (Mercer University Press, 2004). Brackney is arguably the most influential Baptist historian in North America. His volume is more interpretive than Garrett’s and is more overtly colored by a more moderate perspective. Brackney is particularly interested in mapping out the evolution of Baptist identity, using the image of genetics as an interpretive grid. Brackney was for many years an American Baptist, so his discussion of theological trends among Baptists in the North is especially helpful.

Timothy George and David S.Dockery, eds., Baptist Theologians(Broadman, 1990). This volume is a collection of essays introducing some of the key theologians in the Baptist tradition. The subjects and contributors represent a wide variety of theological perspectives. A shorter (and more uniformly conservative) version of this book, which includes some new essays, was published as Theologians of the Baptist Tradition (B&H Academic, 2001).

Fisher Humphreys, The Way We Were: How Southern Baptist Theology Has Changed and What It Means To Us All, 2^nd ed. (Smyth & Helwys, 2002). Paul Basden, ed., Has Our Theology Changed? Southern Baptist Thought Since 1845 (B&H, 1994). These two volumes survey the history of Southern Baptist theology from a mostly moderate perspective. Humphrey’s volume does a fairly good job of identifying different theological “camps” among Southern Baptists, while Basden’s collection of essays focuses upon specific doctrinal topics.

L. Russ Bush and Tom J. Nettles, Baptists and the Bible, 2^nd ed. (B&H Academic, 2000). This influential volume looks at the history of Baptist perspectives on the inspiration, authority, and truthfulness of the Bible. The authors demonstrate that Baptists have normally held to a high view of Scripture and defended its inerrancy and infallibility.

Thomas J. Nettles, By His Grace and For His Glory: A Historical, Theological, and Practical Study of the Doctrines of Grace in Baptist Life, 20^th Anniversary ed. (Founders Press, 2006). Nettles’s volume focuses upon the history of Calvinism in the Baptist tradition. His overall thesis is sound, though historians might quibble with him over specific details and individuals. This revised edition includes controversies in the SBC over Calvinism through 2005.

Anthony R. Cross, Baptism and the Baptists: Theology and Practice in Twentieth-Century Britain (Paternoster, 2000). Stanley K. Fowler,More Than a Symbol: The British Baptist Recovery of Baptismal Sacramentalism (Wipf and Stock, 2007). These two volumes discuss the history of the debate among British Baptists over the nature of baptism, specifically whether or not there is a sacramental element to baptism. Though relatively few North American Baptists have been participants in this debate, this issue has dominated British Baptist discussions much like biblical inerrancy and gender roles have dominated Southern Baptist discussions.

(Note: This post is cross-published at Historica Ecclesiastica, the blog of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies)

Thursday

23

May 2013

5

COMMENTS

Bill Leonard on Baptists and Confessions

Written by Nathan Finn, Posted in History, SBC, Theology

Baptists have always had an interesting relationship with confessions of faith. Some Baptists are very strongly confessional, like my Reformed Baptist friends who require substantial, sometimes meticulous subscription to the Second London Confession. Others are fairly averse to confessional standards, like my moderate friends who are nervous about the threat of “creedalism” among Baptists.

Some Baptists, including contemporary Southern Baptists, could be described as partially confessional. In the SBC, Convention employees such as seminary professors and missionaries must affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as a term of employment. However, no church needs to affirm the confession to cooperate with the SBC. (Some local associations and at least one state convention do require affirmation of the BF&M to be a member.)

This same confessional diversity plays out at the level of the local church. Because of the Baptist commitment to local church autonomy, different churches place varying degrees of emphasis on confessions. Some churches require prospective members to affirm a confession of faith as part of the membership process. Others simply ask pastors, staff, and perhaps teachers to affirm a confession of faith. Some churches have minimal confessional standards for membership and more stringent requirements for leadership. Some, of course, have no confession at all.

Often, Christians from more strictly confessional traditions bemoan the confessional smorgasbord that is found among Baptists. As a Baptist who is very friendly to confessionalism, I understand that Baptist variety can look like theological cacophony to others (and let’s be honest—it often is). But I do think there is another way to look at this issue, though it probably isn’t a way that more overtly confessional traditions would naturally consider.

In his recent book The Challenge of Being Baptist (Baylor University Press, 2010), historian Bill Leonard offers a constructive introduction to Baptist identity from a moderate Baptist perspective. While I disagree with many of Leonard’s interpretations, I found his discussion of Baptist confessionalism to be quite helpful. Leonard argues that Baptists actually evidence considerable uniformity in their confessions for a tradition that lacks a single authoritative confession and places a premium on local church autonomy and individual liberty of conscience. He writes,

When it comes to defining the nature of Baptist identity, the confessions of faith are surprisingly uniform. In fact, whether written by General, Particular or Seventh Day, Six Principle, or Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit-Predestinarian Baptists, the confessions of faith reflect an uncanny consensus as to the nature of certain common Baptist ideals. They affirm

The authority of Scripture and the freedom of conscience in matters of religion
The church as a community of believers who can testify to an experience of grace through Jesus Christ
Two sacraments/ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (some later include the washing of feet as a biblical mandate)

Baptism by immersion as a normative act for believers only (that mode became normative some thirty years after the movement began)
The autonomy of the local congregation and the fellowship of congregations in “associational” relationships
The priesthood of all believers and the ordaining of clergy
Freedom of religion amid a loyalty to the state

(See Leonard, The Challenge of Being Baptist, pp. 54–55).

Admittedly, there is still considerable room for doctrinal diversity. There is no definitive Baptist view of the doctrines of grace, the nature of the millennium, or the practice of so-called miraculous spiritual gifts (among other doctrines). Nevertheless, I think that Leonard is correct that Baptist groups have historically shared far more in common than not, and this commonality is reflected in the Baptist confessional tradition.

Friday

17

May 2013

4

COMMENTS

Bart Barber on the Nature of the SBC

Written by Nathan Finn, Posted in Ministry, Missions, SBC, Theology

Bart Barber is a Texas Baptist pastor, a credentialed church historian, an influential blogger, and a trustee of Southwestern Seminary. He is consistently among the most insightful commentators on the Southern Baptist Convention. Even when I disagree with Bart, which isn’t all that often, I appreciate the depth of his analysis and the spirit in which he offers it.

In a recent post at the blog SBC Voices, Bart offers one of the best short summaries of the SBC and our work that I’ve ever read. I’ve copied his first two paragraphs below.

At its formation in 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention was consecrated to the cause of “the propagation of the gospel.” The convention existed to enable local churches to expand their common reach in the tasks of calling sinners to repentance and organizing new congregations of disciples. “We can do more together than we can do separately” is not just a Southern Baptist slogan; it is the Southern Baptist raison d’être.

Dare I suggest that the health and value of the Southern Baptist Convention must be calculated along these same lines? Dare I opine further that the Southern Baptist Convention—with its history of scandals and schisms not hidden from view but laid bare to the world’s eyes and amply considered, with the lugubrious pre-obituaries some have published near and far for it notwithstanding, with the changing fads and fashions of ministry given their full accounting—nevertheless remains a healthy and effective part of a Great Commission strategy for local churches? Should I enumerate the specifics, not only why our convention’s strengths empower it but also why its weaknesses do not successfully overcome its strengths? I think so.

I would highly encourage you to read the entire post. And then, if you haven’t already, make arrangements to attend the 2013 SBC Annual Meeting in Houston on June 11–12.

(HT: Micah Fries)

Wednesday

15

May 2013

2

COMMENTS

Preparing SEBTS Students for the SBC Annual Meeting

Written by Nathan Finn, Posted in Ministry, Missions, SBC, Theology

As many readers will know, the SBC Annual Meeting will gather in Houston on June 11–12, 2013. In conjunction with the Convention, I teach an elective travel course at Southeastern Seminary titled The Southern Baptist Convention. The course is divided into three components. First, we meet on campus for one full day to discuss Southern Baptist history, theology, and polity, as well as specific information related to the upcoming annual meeting. Second, the students read several books and articles and listen to numerous audio resources related to these themes. Finally, the students attend the SBC Annual Meeting itself. While at the Convention, the students attend most of the proceedings, meet a couple of times with key SBC leaders, hobnob at the SEBTS booth, and attend the SEBTS Friends and Alumni Luncheon. Most also attend auxiliary events such as the Pastor’s Conference, Baptist 21 Luncheon, and 9 Marks at 9 events, among others.

I thought I would pass on to you some of the resources I use to prepare students for the SBC Annual Meeting. Obviously, we spend quite a bit of time walking through the Convention program, which, along with numerous other helpful resources, is available online. In addition to my lectures and guided class discussions, the students also watch or listen to several lectures, sermons, and panel discussions. This year, I’ve required them to watch the various Baptist 21 panel discussions from previous years (available at the B21 website), which are a helpful gauge of the “hot topics” in the SBC in recent years. I also required the students to watch one of the panels from last year’s 9 Marks at 9. The panel, which included Mark Dever, Al Mohler, and Danny Akin, discussed Fred Luter’s presidential election, the nature of SBC cooperation, and Calvinism, all of which remain important topics a year later.

I also point the students to four lectures or sermons. They watch David Dockery’s fine sermon “Participants and Partners in the Gospel,” which was preached in SEBTS chapel back in February. The sermon is vintage Dockery, calling for denominational unity around the gospel and basic Baptist orthodoxy for the sake of the Great Commission. Students also listen to Dockery’s lecture “The Southern Baptist Convention since 1979,” which helps to orient them to recent Baptist history. The final two lectures are Timothy George’s “The Future of Baptist Identity in a post-Denominational World,” which remains a timely topic, and Al Mohler’s “The Future of the Southern Baptist Convention,” an address that every Southern Baptist needs to listen to at least once.
The students read two books and over a dozen journal articles or book chapters. The first book is Roger Richards’ History of Southern Baptists (Crossbooks, 2012), which is the most recent history of the SBC. The second book is a helpful collection of essays titled The Great Commission Resurgence: Fulfilling God’s Mandate in Our Time (B&H Academic, 2010), edited by Chuck Lawless and Adam Greenway. The latter volume touches upon most of the current tension points in the SBC from a perspective that advocates unity for the sake of gospel advance.

Unfortunately, for reasons of copyright I can’t make most of the additional essays I require available outside of the class. The students read chapters, articles, and booklets written by SBC leaders and thinkers such as Danny Akin (on the Great Commission Resurgence), David Dockery (on Baptist theology), Nathan Finn (on Baptist identity, Calvinism, and the future of the SBC), Timothy George (on Baptist theology), John Hammett (on regenerate church membership and the ordinances), Chuck Lawless (on Calvinism), Al Mohler (on Baptist identity), Paige Patterson (on the Conservative Resurgence), Ed Stetzer (on missional churches), and Malcolm Yarnell (on the priesthood of all believers).

One resource that I can make available to you is Dr. Patterson’s e-booklet “The Southern Baptist Conservative Resurgence: The History, the Plan, the Assessment ” (Seminary Hill, 2012). In this booklet, was which was originally published as three separate articles in The Southwestern Journal of Theology, Dr. Patterson offers a first-hand account of the Conservative Resurgence. It is a helpful look at recent Baptist history from one of the most important shapers of that history. It is also a reminder that Dr. Patterson needs to publish a volume that brings together his collected articles and essays, a topic I have pestered him about in the past. (And again, now, on a public blog . . .)

Anyway, I hope you find these resources helpful. And I hope that many of you will consider attending the 2013 SBC Annual Meeting in Houston. Perhaps I will see many of you there.

(Note: This post is cross-published at Between the Times)

Tuesday

14

May 2013

10

COMMENTS

David Dockery on Future Agendas in Baptist Theology

Written by Nathan Finn, Posted in SBC, Theology

One of the more important books in Baptist theology written in the past quarter-century is Baptist Theologians (Broadman, 1990), a collection of essays edited by Timothy George and David Dockery. The volume provides introductory essays on a couple dozen of the key theologians in the Baptist tradition. Unfortunately, the book is now out-of-print. In 2001, B&H Academic published a shorter, revised second edition titled Theologians of the Baptist Tradition. The second edition is a very helpful resource, though historians and theologians interested in Baptist Studies will also want to snag a first edition, since it includes a wider selection of theologians (and contributors).

In Theologians of the Baptist Tradition, Dockery contributed a chapter that provides a brief history of Southern Baptist theology through the lens of her key writing theologians. He concludes his chapter with a short section titled “Future Agendas.” Though Dockery wrote this chapter over a dozen years ago, it’s interesting how prescient his thoughts were at the time. If you were to happen upon these paragraphs with no context, you could easily think you were reading an essay written in 2013. I’ve reprinted the relevant paragraphs below.

A paradigm shift has taken place among Southern Baptists regarding the doctrine of Scripture, a shift demonstrating considerable continuity with the views that [James P.] Boyce, [Basil] Manly, and [B. H.] Carroll maintained in the early years of the SBC, though reflecting distance and discontinuity from the progressive positions adopted and advocated in the 1960s and 1970s. While there are several nuanced approaches to Scripture in the SBC, which we have discussed in several other places, generally it can be observed that the majority of Southern Baptists believe the Bible is God’s truthful, written Word. Likewise, they believe it can and should be trusted in all matters. Scriptural authority has now been heartily affirmed, but it must continue to be carefully clarified since the issue is still often misunderstood and misrepresented by progressives, moderates, and even many traditionalists as well.

In coming days discussions will continue regarding the doctrine of God, the doctrine of the church, and worship styles. Southern Baptists have differed over the question of divine sovereignty, election, and the place of human response in salvation. The last decade has seen a renewed emphasis in Calvinistic thinking. This emphasis is likely to continue and perhaps expand in the twenty-first century. Theology in the coming century must become more sensitive to and interactive with global and intercultural concerns.

New insights, groundbreaking works, and the art and practice of contextualizing theology are taking place in Africa, Asia, parts of Europe, and the Third World. The development of these important contributions will help assure that our theologizing is focused on missiological and ecclesiological concerns. We have learned that theologians are not free to think anything, go anywhere, or be anything we like. Future directions must be grounded in Scripture, connected to the church, in touch with missiological issues, and shaped by a doxological emphasis focused on the glory of God.

Theological education must not lose touch with the churches. Baptist theologians must work hard to bring the church and academy together again as colaborers for the cause of Christ. Baptist theologians can help churches enable and educate leaders and enhance worship to bring about spiritual renewal in the church and in our world. Christ-followers, as a result, can grow in obedience to the command of our Lord, who has commissioned the church to evangelize, disciple, baptize, and teach. The same Lord who two thousand years ago commissioned us still calls us to teach and equip his people for service and move them to maturity and unity.

(See David S. Dockery, “Looking Back, Looking Ahead,” in Theologians of the Baptist Tradition, eds. Timothy George and David S. Dockery (B&H Academic, 2001), pp. 359–60.)

Again, this essay reads like it was written yesterday. Southern Baptists have indeed engaged in these conversations over the past dozen or so years. Some of them were addressed early on and with a uniform voice; consider the SBC rejection of open theism, for example. Others remain live debates among Southern Baptists, especially the finer points of Calvinism. Contextualization continues to be an important topic that different Southern Baptists respond to in different ways. (The varied responses themselves indicate the contextual nature of theological reflection.) And, as some readers will know, Dockery was advocating unity around the gospel and basic Baptist orthodoxy for the sake of gospel advance nearly a decade before the Great Commission Resurgence was on anyone’s mind.

For those who are interested in this topic, you should read Dockery entire essay, which I referenced above. I would also highly recommend Timothy George’s essay in the same volume, “The Future of Baptist Theology,” which lays out a constructive paradigm for Southern Baptists (and other Baptists) who wish to do theology for God’s glory.

(Image credit)

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