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Volume 3 Issue 1

Editor's Preface

Weekly observance of the Lord's Supper is one of the most stable heritages of churches in the Stone-Campbell Movement. As we partake of the cup and the loaf, we commonly are urged to remember the Lord's death, his sacrifice for our sins, his spilled blood. Often overlooked in our observance is the promise of Christ's return, which is based on Christ's predicted bodily resurrection. When we partake, we "proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." We stake our eternal future and our daily present on the fact that Christ rose again. We worship each week on Sunday morning and not Sabbath evening because of the apostolic witness recorded in the Gospels that after being crucified, Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the morning of the first day of the week. The truth of this jolts us as we arise early on Easter Sunday morning for the annual Sunrise Service. However, the reality of the resurrection should mark our celebrations every Sunday morning.

To help stir your imagination and strengthen your conviction about the apostolic witness of the resurrection, in this issue Russ Dudrey offers a stirring case for the truthfulness of the Gospel reports of the resurrection. With great illumination, he digs into early pagan critiques of the resurrection as well as the bogus account of the Gospel of Peter in light of which the Gospels stand tall.

Welcoming in the new millennium, Victor Hunter, provides SCJ readers with his Dean E. Walker Lecture, presented at the 1999 North American Christian Convention. Hunter examines the past and peers into the future of ministry in North America. With a healthy critique of churches which reshape the gospel message into a watered down cultural icon, he challenges those with a narrow vision of the church to reignite the Stone-Campbell call to minister in the context of the whole church, the "catholic" church, and to operate on the basis of our common "confession" that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Two articles in this issue add to the growing forum we are having in SCJ on postmodernism, begun by John Castelein in the inaugural issue (Spring, 1998), "Can the Restoration Movement Plea Survive If Belief in Objective Truth is Abandoned?" and following up by Philip Kenneson (Spring, 1999) with his "Reply to John Castelein." David E. Little (sending in our first article from Australia) offers a very helpful article on the roots of the inductive method in the early Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement and how we might meet the challenge of postmodernism. Christopher Simpson provides fresh observations on nineteenth-century Danish philosopher and minister, Søren Kierkegaard. The incredible relevance of Kierkegaard to the current postmodern discussion is helpfully sized up in light of Alexander Campbell.

Following up on Walter Zorn's article in our Fall, 1998 issue, which argued for the subjective genitive function of "the faith of Christ" in Romans, Dennis Lindsay, of Springdale College, Birmingham, England, presents a case for an objective genitive function of "the faith of Christ" in Galatians 2:16-3:5.

Finally, Terry Briley, of Lipscomb University, presents a much warranted correction of the tendency for those of us in the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement to overlook study of the OT since we claim to be a "New Testament Church." Quite rightly, he shows that full understanding of vital NT concepts is inseparably dependent on learning from the OT.

This is the first time we have published three papers from graduate students in SCJ. Russ Dudrey, David Little, and Chris Simpson give us hope that scholarship in the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement has a bright future. We at SCJ believe encouraging enterprising and articulate young scholars such as these is a big part of our purpose. We congratulate these three for the future they represent. Further, we solicit the scholarship of others like them. Send us your manuscripts. Scholarship should not be kept in an ivory tower. May others of you be challenged and stimulated to write in your area of growing expertise.

On another positive note, we are pleased that Stone-Campbell Journal has been accepted by the most exhaustive index of religious journals. Sponsored by the American Theological Library Association (ATLA), indexing of SCJ articles in Religion Index One: Periodicals and SCJ book reviews in Index to Book Reviews in Religion will help inquirers in many fields of religious research find relevant items that appear in SCJ. These indices are also benchmarks of quality many religious and theological libraries apply toward their journal acquisition decisions. This is a much-welcomed step in establishing the long-term horizon of SCJ.

William R. Baker, Editor

5
University of Queensland

Abstract

In nineteenth-century America, inductive reasoning was championed by some in the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement as the last word in biblical interpretation. By rationalistic methodology, it was believed all could see the Bible alike and find common agreement in Scripture. This agreement would end religious division. Yet such has not been the reality. This article traces some of the intellectual background of inductive hermeneutics, contrasting them with postmodern methodology as a way to enrich and inform our own present practice as we seek to avoid some of the divisive pitfalls of the past.

19
Evergreen Christian Church, Evergreen, CO

Abstract

The loss of vocational clarity in the ministry and confusion regarding the identity and mission of the church pose serious interconnecting problems for the future of the Christian movement. The denominational crises in mainline Protestantism and the failure of serious theological reflection and absence of history, tradition, and ethical-cultural critique on the so-called “mega” churches in North America have become untenable alternatives for the faithful witness of the church in the North American context. Ministerial clarity and ecclesial identity are discussed as the basis for the future of a church that is both catholic and confessing.

35
Lincoln, IL

Abstract

This study presents a Kierkegaardian perspective on Christian faith and examines its value and relevance for Christians in the midst of “postmodernity.” After appraising the less-than-accurate popular conceptions of Kierkegaard’s view of faith, the distinctive elements of a Kierkegaardian view of faith are explicated with an eye to their postmodern significance. Finally, this Kierkegaardian perspective on faith will be allowed to interact with that of Alexander Campbell for the purpose of seeing the possible helpfulness of a Kierkegaardian view of faith for those within the Stone-Campbell Restoration tradition.

55
Champlin, Minnesota

Abstract

Assuming Jesus was not resurrected, one must explain Christian origins with a “mythmaking” model. This, however, cannot explain the problems ancient readers perceived in the resurrection accounts. These are addressed in pagan critics, Gnostic Christianity, and the apocryphal Gospel of Peter. Mythmakers should have done a better job fabricating the Christian story.

79
Springdale College

Abstract

Current debates over the pistis Christou formula in Paul’s writings, focusing on whether the genitive is subjective or objective, often ignore the parallel constructions erga nomou and akoe¯ pisteo¯s. This article explores the relationship(s) between these three parallel expressions in Gal 2:16–3:5 in an attempt to clarify the meaning of pistis Christou in particular.

90
Lipscomb University

Abstract

The Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement has emphasized the distinction between the old and new covenants to the extent that the OT frequently has been neglected as a source for understanding NT theological concepts. By analyzing the reasons for this phenomenon and exploring the connections between the sin offering and the sacrifice of Christ, this article illustrates what is needlessly lost by such neglect.

Download book reviews for this issue.

Mark TOULOUSE, ed., Walter Scott: Nineteenth-Century Evangelical

CHARME ROBERTS, Abilene Christian University

Randall M. MILLER, Harry S. STOUT, and Charles Reagan WILSON, Religion and the American Civil War

D. NEWELL WILLIAMS, Christian Theological Seminary

Robert E. WEBBER, Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World

CHRIS SIMPSON, Lincoln, Illinois

Karel van der TOORN, Bob BECKING, Pieter W. van der HORST, eds., Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2d edition

CHRIS A. ROLLSTON, Johns Hopkins University

Henri BLOCHER, Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle

TERRY FERGUSON, Great Lakes Christian College

Craig L. BLOMBERG, Neither Poverty nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Material Possessions

TAMSEN MURRAY, Hope International University

John FINNIS, Aquinas: Moral, Political, and Legal Theory

JAMES RILEY ESTEP, JR., Great Lakes Christian College

David N. LIVINGSTONE, D.G. HART, and Mark A. NOLL, eds., Evangelicals and Science in Historical Perspective

DENNIS L. DURST, Saint Louis University

H.D. BEEBY, Canon and Mission

BOB LEWIS, Solid Rock Missions

Hozell C. FRANCIS, Church Planting in the African-American Context

ROBERT E. WOOLFOLK,Denver Seminary

Scott GIBSON, ed., Making a Difference in Preaching: Haddon Robinson on Biblical Preaching.

MICHAEL PABARCUS, Saint Louis Christian College

JOE GRANA, Hope International University

John Mark HICKS, Yet Will I Trust Him: Understanding God in a Suffering World

Marjorie Hewitt SUCHOCKI, The Whispered Word: A Theology of Preaching

JOHNNY PRESSLEY, Cincinnati Bible College and Seminary

André RESNER, Preacher and Cross: Person and Message in Theology and Rhetoric

BRUCE SHIELDS, Emmanuel School of Religion

Bernhard W. ANDERSON, Contours of Old Testament Theology

CHRIS HEARD, Milligan College

Bill T. ARNOLD and Bryan E. BEYER, Encountering the Old Testament

MICHAEL PABARCUS, Saint Louis Christian College

Frank Moore CROSS, From Epic to Canon: History and Literature in Ancient Israel

MARK W. HAMILTON, Harvard University

Tremper LONGMAN III, Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind

MARK HAHLEN, Dallas Christian College

John D. CURRID, Doing Archaeology in the Land of the Bible: A Basic Guide

DALE W. MANOR, Harding University

Fred STRICKERT, Bethsaida: Home of the Apostles

DAVID A. FIENSY, Kentucky Christian College

Paul W. BARNETT, Jesus and the Logic of History

THOMAS SCOTT CAULLEY, Manhattan Christian College

James R. BECK, Jesus and Personality Theory

PAUL E. BOATMAN, Lincoln Christian Seminary

Paul COPAN, ed. Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

PAUL POLLARD, Harding University

Carey C. NEWMAN, ed., Jesus & the Restoration of Israel: A Critical Assessment of N.T. Wright’s Jesus and the Victory of God

BRIAN D. JOHNSON, University of Aberdeen

Mark Allan POWELL, Fortress Introduction to the Gospels

J. LEE MAGNESS, Milligan College

Bruce J. MALINA and Richard L. ROHRBAUGH, Social-Science Commentary on the Gospel of John

I. Howard MARSHALL, Stephen TRAVIS, and Ian PAUL, Exploring the New Testament, Volume Two: A Guide to the Letters & Revelation

CLAY HAM, Dallas Christian College

Ben WITHERINGTON, III., The Paul Quest: The Renewed Search for the Jew of Tarsus

PAUL POLLARD, Harding University

N.T. WRIGHT, What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?

DUANE WARDEN, Harding University

Jack COTTRELL, Romans, 2 vols.

CRAIG L. BLOMBERG, Denver Seminary

Brian S. ROSNER, Paul, Scripture, & Ethics: A Study of 1 Corinthians 5–7

ROLLIN A. RAMSARAN, Emmanuel School of Religion

Jan LAMBRECHT, Second Corinthians. Sacra Pagina.

WILLIAM R. BAKER, Saint Louis Christian College
 
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