JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH THEE...

The overarching message to all Christians, in challenging them to go deeper in their theology, so that they really understand their Christian faith, and don’t just rely on the little bits and pieces of knowledge they pick up hap-hazardly along the way; is very refreshing and needed in the church today. It is also refreshing to hear a call for Christians to live out their faith convictions, and to make decisions based on their knowledge of God’s word.

The book stresses that we are living in a war zone and, “Whether or not church people understand the meaning of Christian faith adequately and communicate it effectively makes a real-world difference” (Stone, and Duke 16). This relationship between a very basic Christian faith and a more deliberate or conscientious faith is stressed continuously, and it makes for a compelling argument. Learning how to fashion and utilize this deeper understanding of God or theology about God constitutes the majority of reading, with three main tasks in view: interpretation, correlation, and assessment of the Christian faith. 

However, from the very beginning of the book, questions must be raised as to the validity of the thesis of their argument. The writers begin by giving a, “…simple-sounding definition of theological reflections”, to which they announce, “Faith seeking understanding” (Stone, and Duke 13), to be the answer, but then they go on to say that, theology is both simple and complex at the same time. This assertion is then reinforced with the first of many “straw-man” arguments, used throughout the book, that attempt to justify the introduction and acceptance of higher criticism techniques, the social gospel, and the doctrines of social justice, into the narrative of biblical interpretation. The first of these arguments oversimplifies and incorrectly assumes that, “Based on what most of the churches have said about it most of the time, we gather that Christian identity has to do with faith in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the gospel, with taking part in the life and ministry of the church, with upholding certain ethical principles and ideals, and so on” (Stone, and Duke 14). This is an inappropriate statement questioning the depth of understanding of the entire Body of Christ which spans two thousand years of time, and they might want to have some facts to back it up if that is going to be the opening salvo of their book. They skip over this glibly and then go on to insult the intelligence of most Christians who have ever lived by essentially asserting that, unless you are theologically trained, you probably don’t have a substantive clue concerning your faith, especially if it was, “…disseminated by the church… in the preaching and practices of the church and its members” (Stone, and Duke 15). 

This line of reasoning is somewhat insulting to those of us who are just, “…ordinary Christians-parishioners and pastors…” (Stone, and Duke 17) who are merely slugging it out in the trenches every day. It portrays us as being a bunch of simple-minded morons who never seriously contemplate our faith to any significant degree that helps us in the critical times of our lives. We, who just rush, “…to the frontline in every battle over the moral and social issues of the day… defend… theological convictions or express outrage when those convictions are threatened” (Stone, and Duke 17). Certainly, there are Christians who fit this description, but the majority of true believers are grounded in their faith and convictions, because they are grounded in God’s word. 

Secondly, chapter 3 lists the resources from which we may gain these, reflective theological insights, and the list is woefully inadequate to say the least. Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience, are the only resources mentioned as providing this in-depth, deliberative theological understanding of truth, but what about the Holy Spirit? Mentioned only in passing, and usually in the context of errant interpretive methods, the Holy Spirit who is described in the Bible as the, interpreter, helper, comforter, Spirit of truth, etc; is virtually left out of this book. While it is comforting to know that the writers believe that, “…the Holy Bible is an integral element in the life of the church, and in Christian theology as well…” and that it, “…is vitally important in the household of faith” (Stone, and Duke 49), it is curious that the Bible itself doesn’t use the same criteria for finding theological truth that these writers use. The Bible, over and over again, refers to the Holy Spirit as our source of spiritual understanding and theological reflection, not tradition, reason, or experience, although they do have some usefulness in establishing context, background, etc. 

Drawing such a distinction in Christian theology, which defines a limited role for Scripture and an apparently non-existent role for the Holy Spirit, is not only unscriptural, it is ridiculously dangerous. The writers ask the question, “What is the starting point of theology” (Stone, and Duke 60)? This would have been an excellent opportunity to extol the vast Scriptural foundations of this truth, but they chose rather to start with either an anthropological approach (human) or divine revelation, which focuses, “…on the message of God as revealed in Scripture and/or tradition…” (Stone, and Duke 60). This is about as close as they came to including the Holy Spirit into the equation, but it would have been nice to hear them say, “Start with prayer! Ask God to open the eyes of your understanding, in order to discern those things that can only be discerned spiritually”. Perhaps they said these things in another way and it was just missed it or not realized, but how can you expect to truly understand God’s truth without accessing God’s Spirit? The Bible plainly tells you that as a Christian, “…you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things” (NKJV 1 Jn 2:20), and, “…the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie…” (1 John 2:27) The apostle John didn’t say this because he wanted us to stir clear of being taught by Christian pastors or even theologians, but he was warning us to beware of those who say that you can only gain spiritual knowledge through people who have a special knowledge, the Gnostics. In essence, he was saying that we have everything we need for spiritual reflection and knowledge within the word of God, and within the anointing of the Holy Spirit which inhabits the life of every believer. Adding tradition, reason, and experience to that equation, while subtracting the Holy Spirit is blasphemous. 

On a positive note, I do agree with Stone that there is a need in the church to think critically about the doctrines that we adhere to, and more than ever we must, “…give serious thoughts to… initial understanding of the faith and so enter into the realm of deliberative theology” (Stone, and Duke 19), as long as we are not contradicting Scripture, or eliminating the role of the Holy Spirit in illuminating our understanding. 

By Pastor Glen Mustian

Works Cited:

-tone, Howard., and James Duke. How To Think Theologically. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. 2013. Print. 

-KJV New King James Version. Holy Bible. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN: 2000. Print.