Theologians In and For the Church
Written by Nathan Finn, Posted in Books, Ministry, Theology
For our annual faculty workshop at Southeastern Seminary, we read Brad Green’s stimulating book The Gospel and the Mind: Recovering and Shaping the Intellectual Life (Crossway, 2010). I first read Green’s book when it was first published (see my review), but I was happy to revisit it for our faculty discussions. Among the many helpful passages, this one stood out:
[W]e should not overlook the obvious: God has chosen to change lives and work in his people through the local church and the ministry of pastors. To put it plainly: to truly have a Christian mind, to truly be a Christian intellectual, it to have a mind transformed by Christ. And to have a mind transformed by Christ—a mind moved to repentance, led to knowledge of the truth, and able to escape the snare of the devil—is to have placed oneself within a key channel of grace, a church where biblical pastoral ministry is practiced (p. 160).
As one who longs to see a growing number of pastor-theologians and theologians who are pastors among Southern Baptists and other evangelicals, I offer a hearty “amen” to Green’s thoughts. Christian scholars, especially theologians, use their intellectual gifts to serve the church. And you cannot serve the church faithfully without submitting to the oversight of a local congregation and her pastor(s).
One of the most grievous things I have found in my 5o years of being an ordained Southern Baptist minister is the hostility engendered by pietistic influence. People will assert that the heart is the main thing, forget the mind. If you are considered to have anything to do with the matter of intellectualism, you will find that you are avoided like the plague, especially if your researches and reflections lead you in directions that differ from the lock step mentality, the herd mentality of the leaders and controllers of our denomination. Make it on the black list and you will soon find yourself wanting in many respects.