Quotables

QUOTABLES FROM SCJ 14.1 (quotables from other issues)
Chosen by Tyler Stewart
Lincoln Christian University -- Seminary

"Our biblical canon did not fall from heaven but was itself a product of tradition, formed over a long period of time through a hard-won consensus in and among early Christian communities."

Paul M. Blowers, "Striving Toward a Common Mind in Jesus Christ: Thomas Campbell's Declaration and Address and the Historic Principle of the Consensus Fidelium," (SCJ 14.1: 35)

Ministering in a time of political rebellion (1798): "As his parishioners were affected by these events, [Thomas] Campbell took an active role in opposing the ‘secret societies' that fomented much of the political unrest. In this dangerous context, he developed disgust for political wrangling that undoubtedly transferred to religious contention."

L. Thomas Smith, Jr. "Thomas Campbell's Midlife Crisis: A Biographical introduction and Historiographical Synthesis," (SCJ 14.1: 7)

In the Declaration and Address, "Campbell's claim about the nature of the church implies that there is a correlation between the gospel and the church. How we understand one derives from how we understand the other. If that is true, then the claim that the church is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one is really a claim about the gospel itself, because to say the church is necessarily one is also to say that the gospel holds unity as a matter of prime concern. Unity is truth, therefore, because to have the gospel is to have unity and to have unity is to have the gospel."

Mark Weedman, "Assessing the Declaration and Address: Hermeneutics vs. Unity in Stone-Campbell Movement Theology," (SCJ 14.1: 31)

"In appealing to the authority of the NT, we are dealing with what is itself a consensus of diverse witnesses, the tensions and divergences among which are precisely what fund and enrich the authority and credibility of the canon."

Paul M. Blowers, "Striving Toward a Common Mind in Jesus Christ: Thomas Campbell's Declaration and Address and the Historic Principle of the Consensus Fidelium," (SCJ 14.1: 43)

"Campbell seems to want to retain the whole of Scripture as 'essential' in so far as it continues to reveal its truths successively throughout church history to the church and continually to individuals as well. However, he recognizes that neither the church nor the individual will ever exhaust its value and for both there is a progressive unfolding of its truth."

William R. Baker, "‘Formally Binding'? Scriptural Authority and Private Opinion in Thomas Campbell's Declaration and Address and in the Apostle Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians," (SCJ 14.1: 58)

"Paul's way of conducting himself with regard to correcting people in the churches was to persuade them at all cost to come to his view without ever decreeing to them what they must do based on his so-called apostolic authority."

William R. Baker, "‘Formally Binding'? Scriptural Authority and Private Opinion in Thomas Campbell's Declaration and Address and in the Apostle Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians," (SCJ 14.1: 63)

Origen "believed that the most important thing for a person wanting to read the Bible was not a knowledge of the biblical languages of the biblical languages, though he knew those. [. . .] Neither did he think knowledge of hermeneutics was the most important requirement for reading the Bible. [. . .] for Origen, the most important asset a person needs who wants to understand the Bible is a deep and active prayer life."

Ronald E. Heine, "Origen and a Hermeneutic for Spirituality," (SCJ 14.1: 68-69)

"We all find what we go looking for in texts. I don't mean that we read our own conclusions into the text. [. . .] What I mean is that we don't usually find what we are not looking for. Texts rarely surprise us. If we read a text looking for nothing, that is usually what we find."

Ronald E. Heine, "Origen and a Hermeneutic for Spirituality," (SCJ 14.1: 77)

"Much of believers' concern about the doctrine of hell springs from an intuition that some people deserve more punishment than others and from an upsoken fear that God will impose a one-size-fits-all condemnation on those who do not know him. Wise preachers and teachers will convey both ideas: salvation by grace and judgment by deeds."

Carl B. Bridges, "Degrees of Punishment and Reward in the Gospels: Exegesis and Praxis," (SCJ 14.1: 86)

"Although Jesus targets leaders with his stories, it takes only a small and justifiable interpretive step to apply them to anyone in the church." Pg 84

Carl Bridges, "Degrees of Punishment and Reward in the Gospels: Exegesis and Praxis," (SCJ 14.1:84)