Issue 70 of Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Affinity, is now available (here in its entirety as a pdf), with the following contributions. The essays by Ted Turnau and Andrew Latimer will be particularly significant for those interested in cultural engagement and the role of Christians in the contemporary world.
Ralph Cunnington
Editorial
Benedict Bird
The Covenant of Redemption According to John Owen and Patrick Gillespie
John Owen and Patrick Gillespie made profound contributions to the Reformed understanding of the “Covenant of Redemption”, or pactum salutis. Owen discusses it in at least sixteen of his works from 1645 onwards. Gillespie’s work, The Ark of the Covenant Opened, 1677, has been described as “the most elaborate work in the English language” on the subject. The importance of the doctrine, in Owen’s view, is apparent in the Preface that he wrote to Gillespie’s work. He says “the truth herein is the very centre wherein all the lines concerning the grace of God and our own duty do meet, wherein the whole of religion doth consist.” Both authors regard the doctrine as the intra-Trinitarian foundation of the Covenant of Grace apart from which no man is saved. Both explain that God’s salvation plan was the result of the eternal counsels of the persons of the Trinity, such counsels having the features of a covenant and including Christ’s distinct personal concurrence. Other theologians have rejected the notion of an intra-Trinitarian covenant, on the basis that it contradicts the undisputed truth that God has one indivisible will, and have sought instead to explain the plan of salvation simply in terms of divine decree. Yet Owen and Gillespie regard the “pure decree” explanation as an inadequate account of the Scriptural data – and hence an inadequate account of the whole foundation of God’s covenantal dealings with his people which underpin the whole of theology. In their view, the Covenant of Redemption provides a more compelling and faithful account, and does so without dividing the indivisible Trinity. This essay explores the alignment of their thinking on this vital issue.
Ted Turnau
Dialogues Concerning Cultural Engagement (Part One)
In this two-part essay, the author addresses the subject of Christian cultural engagement in a post-Christian context. In Part One (Foundations 70), the author establishes that cultures of the West can be characterised as post-Christian. He then explores the issue of engagement through a series of dialogues with different characters: 1) the Knight, who represents a political approach to cultural change, 2) the Gardener, who represents the Benedict Option espoused by conservative writer Rod Dreher, and 3) the Member of the Loyal Opposition, who represents the posture of “faithful presence” espoused by sociologist James Davison Hunter. Part Two (in Foundations 71) gathers the various characters for a round-table discussion. After pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each, the author lays out his own approach which focuses on imaginative cultural engagement using the arts and entertainment. He explores the issue of same-sex marriage as a case study, and the reconciliation between gay activist Shane Windemeyer and American Christian businessman Dan Cathy as an example of winsome engagement in which each discovered a common humanity in the other. Our goal is a cultural engagement that is an analogue to that kind of winsome reconciliation that creates space within which estranged parties can meet, or what the author calls “planting oases”. He then briefly considers two examples of this in the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, and U2’s Superbowl performance in February 2002.
Andrew Latimer
Is the Adamic Work of Christ Shared with the Believer? A Critique of Van Drunen
One of the ongoing debates in Reformed theology is how Christians are to engage with the wider culture. David Van Drunen’s book “Living in God’s two Kingdoms” provides a clear presentation of a two kingdoms approach to cultural engagement and is written to challenge the “vision that the redemptive transformation of culture is central to the Christian life”. This article aims to show how Van Drunen’s misreading of the covenant with Adam sets him on the wrong course, and leads to conclusions which are at odds with the New Testament’s description of the Christian life. He fails to see that alongside an “exile paradigm” for believers in this age, the New Testament also describes a “conquest paradigm”, and he misses how the New Testament teaches that in Christ believers share in Christ’s Adamic work.
Ben Rogers
Ryle and Evangelical Identity
This article examines J.C. Ryle’s understanding of Evangelical identity. More specifically, it examines his discovery, definition, and defence of Evangelical principles. He was convinced that Evangelical religion, which is characterised by five distinguishing principles, was the religion of the Scriptures, the Thirty-nine Articles, the English Reformers, the leading Pre-Laudian divines, and the leaders of the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century. This conviction was born out of his own conversion and reinforced by his study of the Bible and church history, and it led him to become an outspoken advocate of Evangelical principles and an apologist for the Evangelical cause.
Samuel Crossley
Recent Developments in the Definition of Evangelicalism
The second half of the twentieth century saw a spike in discussions pertaining to Evangelical identity. During these discussions the term “Evangelical” came to be used with greater intensity and was deployed in an increasingly technical manner. This phenomenon was in no small part due to the Evangelical renaissance, where New and Conservative Evangelicals came to global prominence. This paper examines the two distinct approaches to defining an Evangelical that were used in this period, with particular reference to the propositional approach of John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones and the phenomenological approach of David Bebbington. The paper finishes by considering the merit of these two approaches in the present day.
Book Reviews
Richard Simpkin
The Message of Worship (Risbridger)
Tim Ward
Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Scepticism
No comments:
Post a Comment