Stone-Campbell Journal Conference
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Stone Campbell International

Volume 9 Issue 1

This preface is not an obituary column. Someday, we plan to create a memorial page on the SCJ website. However, two significant servant-scholars died in 2005 who deserve our respect.

Russell Boatman, 91, died on November 5, 2005. He served as dean and dean emeritus of Saint Louis Christian College (1962-1992) and president of Minnesota Bible College (1945-1962). Teaching just one class a semester at SLCC when I joined the faculty in 1988, Russell was thrilled to be invited to give one of the lectures for the Fellowship of Professors that met at SLCC in 1991. After vigorous interchange following his careful biblical study advocating an annihilationist perspective in eschatology (something for which he had been personally maligned in his earlier days), with misty eyes, he said, “I just wish I could have participated in this kind of open, scholarly discussion when I was a young man.” SCJ and SCJ Conference attempt to advance the very atmosphere for which Russell longed.

Stan Grenz, 55, died March 12, 2005, from a brain hemorrhage. A professor at Carey Theological College (Vancouver, British Columbia) and Mars Hill Graduate School (Seattle), Stan spoke at the Fellowship of Professors at SLCC in 1999 on the Christian response to postmodernity. He also was a respondent on the topic of the church for the 2000 Stone- Campbell Adherents group at Evangelical Theological Society (subsequently published in Evangelicalism & the Stone-Campbell Movement, InverVarsity, 2002). In one of the most memorable moments of those sessions, the audience simply ignored the scheduled time to end as they continued to quiz Stan on his thoughts about the church. The most influential of his twenty-five books was probably Theology for the Community of God (Broadman & Holman, 2000). However, most impactful to me was Renewing the Center: Evangelical Theology in a Post-Theological Era (Baker, 2000). Stan took a lot of heat for his positions from those who believe postmodernity should be opposed rather than embraced and received public criticism (including the question of the legitimacy of his Christian faith) by two speakers at the 2004 ETS to which he was not nor now ever will be allowed to respond. His loss at such a momentous period in evangelical thought leaves a gaping hole in the development of those like me who ten years from now will still want to ask, “I wonder what Stan would say about this.”

Last year (in 8.1) I reported some glowing statistics about the involvement of scholars from the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement at the ETS Annual Meeting. This year was even more exciting because not only did Stone-Campbell Journal # (Spring/Fall, 200x) 1–2 Editor’s Preface our involvement at ETS remain strong, our involvement at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting (both held the week before Thanksgiving in Philadelphia) was more penetrating than I have ever observed. The totals include ten papers and two presiders at ETS, twelve papers, five presiders, and one responder at SBL. The total roll call (my apologies if I missed anyone) in no particular order includes (with some participating in more than one way): Mark Weedman (Crossroads College), Rollin Ramsaran (Emmanuel School of Religion), Mark Hamilton (Abilene Christian Unviversity), Perry Stepp (Kentucky Christian University), Tom Olbricht (Pepperdine University), Tom Thatcher (Cincinnati Christian University), Charles Wanamaker (University of Cape Town), Chris Heard (Pepperdine University), Mark Matson (Milligan College), Robert Seesengood (Drew University), Craig Bowman (Rochester College), Rafael Rodriquez (University of Sheffield), Mark Sneed (Lubbock Christian University), Loren Stuckenbruck (University of Durham), William Baker (Cincinnati Christian University), Lee Fields (Roanoke Bible College), John Wineland (Kentucky Christian University), Paul Kissling (TCM Institute), Lynn McMillon (Oklahoma Christian University), Robert Smith (Roanoke Bible College), Ted Carruth (Lipscomb University), Mark Krause (Puget Sound Bible College), John Mark Hicks (Lipscomb University).

Further exciting news includes the announcement that ACU Press will publish the past five years of presentations given (2001-2005) in the Stone- Campbell Adherents group at ETS. As yet untitled, this will become a sister volume to the previously published Evangelicalism and the Stone- Campbell Movement (InterVarsity, 2002). Publication Summer, 2006, is expected for the fifteen papers and four responses that tackle: God, Christ, the Lord’s Supper, Eschatology, and the Old Testament.

The last bit of news is that Stone-Campbell International has been granted official tax status as a non-profit corporation by the U.S. government and may now receive tax-deductible contributions. Please contact or refer donors to Jeff Derico, Business and Development Manager (1-317- 862-9259).

This new volume includes stimulating articles on wide-ranging topics: Alexander Campbell, foundationalism, preaching, Hosea, the crucifixion, and Christology.

William R. Baker, Editor

3
Emmitt, ID

Abstract

Alexander Campbell loved the Bible and developed what Nathan Hatch labels a "populist hermeneutic." Campbell’s unique understanding of the nature of Scripture underlies his rules of interpretation. In terms of Campbell’s convictions regarding historiography, he viewed history, or narrative, as God’s genre of choice for biblical revelation.

19
Franklin, OH

Abstract

In recent decades many have attempted to turn truth into something perspectival, which trades in a basic confusion between the categories of epistemology (knowledge) and alethiology (truth): since knowledge is unquestionably perspectival, the widespread practice of discussing truth under the heading of “epistemology” defines the notion of transperspectival truth out of existence. This article seeks to expose this confusion, and to restore the notion of objective truth to its rightful place.

29
Hope International University

Abstract

Interpretation of Scripture (hermeneutics) is important not only for personal enrichment but also preaching and teaching. This essay looks at presuppositions involved when one employs the historical-critical, "textas- text," and reader-response methods. Understanding these presuppositions is important from the perspective of the preacher and the audience. Exegesis need to be done on Scripture, oneself, and the hearers. Hopefully, the result will be a word from God that is relevant and applicable.

41
Rochester College

Abstract

The opening chapters of Hosea, positionally and rhetorically, set a tone
and a rhythm for the whole Book of the Twelve, especially if the final
editor of the BT strategically ordered the prophetic books that follow
Hosea around a few key terms that are based in Hosea 1–3. Thus, a
reading strategy emerges, which when discerned clarifies the rhetorical
function of the Hosea prologue as a guide for reading the book of the
Minor Prophets together as one. Incorporating recent work by Odil
Steck, emphasizing the intrinsic "reading directions and reading
paths" supplied by the BT itself, and by William Schniedewind regarding
the most plausible periods for the formation of biblical textuality,
literacy, and preservation, this paper argues for a simpler model of
composition, redaction, and editing for the BT compliant with internal
rhetorical clues within the BT itself and with external evidence for
the development of writing and reading within the social history of
ancient Israel.

61
University of Edinburgh

Abstract

For many NT scholars, the present realities of early Christian communities
were the determinative force in the composition of the narratives
of Jesus’ ministry and death. Though this is the case in some examples,
this article will challenge that it is not the case in every instance.
Specifically, this study will argue that the determinative force in the
production of the Markan crucifixion narrative was the violent past
reality of Jesus’ death.

77
Cincinnati Christian University

Abstract

By determining Christ to be “truly God and truly man,” the Definition
of Chalcedon has towered over orthodox Christianity for centuries.
However, its ideas that begin christology “from above” do not
compare well with current trends in Pauline studies to begin christology
“from below.” A “from below” christology stresses functional language
rather than ontological language. The NT describes Jesus as the
One Sent, the Shining Light, the One Who Creates and Sustains, and
the One Who Comes to Serve. Nevertheless, such functional language
assumes ontological realities, including Jesus’ divine status. Theologians
should rise to the challenge of expressing the nature of Christ in
contemporary ways that remain true to biblical teaching.

Download book reviews for this issue.

Victor Knowles, Good and Faithful Servant: The Simple, Stimulating Story of Donald G. Hunt

Rick Cherok, Cincinnati Christian University

Douglas A. Wissing, Pioneer in Tibet: The Life and Perils of Dr. Albert Shelton

Frederick W. Norris, Emmanuel School of Religion

Thomas A. Askew and Richard V. Pierard, The American Church Experience: A Concise History

W. Clark Gilpin, The University of Chicago

Mark A. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys

Terry A. Chaney, Ozark Christian College

D.G. Hart, Deconstructing Evangelicalism

Anthony J. Springer, Dallas Christian College

Henry H. Mitchell, Black Church Beginnings: The Long-Hidden Realities of the First Years

Troy Jackson, Cincinnati, OH

John Anthony McGuckin, ed., The Westminster Handbook to Origen

Clifton D. Healy, Loyola University Chicago

Bart D. Ehrman and Andrew S. Jacobs, Christianity in Late Antiquity: 300?450 C.E. A Reader

Erick Leigh, Cincinnati Bible Seminary

Lawrence S. Cunningham, Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life

Ronald E. Heine, Puget Sound Christian College

Charles W. Colson and Nigel M. de S. Cameron, editors, Human Dignity in the Biotech Century: A Christian Vision for Public Policy

Dennis L. Durst, Kentucky Christian University

Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics

Ron Highfield, Pepperdine University

Barry L. Callen, Discerning the Divine: God in Christian Theology

Allan J. McNicol, Austin Graduate School of Theology

Sergius Bulgakov, The Comforter

Robert Cornwall, Lompoc, CA

Kirk Bryon Jones, The Jazz of Preaching: How to Preach with Great Freedom and Joy

Woody Wilkinson, Ozark Christian College

Craig Blomberg, Preaching The Parables

J. Michael Shannon, Cincinnati Christian University

Brian C. Stiller, Preaching Parables to Postmoderns

Jonathan A. Partlow, Madisonville, KY

Edith L. Blumhofer, Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby

Teresa J. Metzger, Loveland, OH

Nicholas Wolterstorff, Educating for Shalom: Essays on Christian Higher Education

James Estep, Lincoln Christian College & Seminary

Douglas V. Henry and Bob R. Agee, eds., Faithful Learning and the Christian Scholarly Vocation

James Estep, Lincoln Christian College & Seminary

Dan Schmidt, Taken by Communion: How the Lord?s Supper Nourishes the Soul

Frank Dicken, Bel Air, MD

Leonard J. Vander Zee, Christ, Baptism and the Lord?s Supper: Recovering the Sacraments for Evangelical Worship

Patrick Raymond, Cincinnati Christian University

David W. Gill, Doing Right: Practicing Ethical Principles

Stacy L. Patty, Lubbock Christian University

Rubel Shelly and John O. York, The Jesus Proposal: A Theological Framework for Maintaining the Unity of the Body of Christ

Peter Rasor, Louisville Bible College
 
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