Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Review of McCune’s “Promise Unfulfilled” with a Response from McCune

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The following review and rejoinder is available as a twelve-page PDF.

[I prepared the following book review for John Woodbridge’s “History of Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism” course in fall 2007 at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Special thanks to Rolland McCune for reading my review and providing a lengthy response at such short notice. His rejoinder is included below with his permission. –Andy Naselli]

McCune, Rolland D. Promise Unfulfilled: The Failed Strategy of Modern Evangelicalism. Greenville, S.C.: Ambassador International, 2004. xvii + 398 pp.

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Promise Unfulfilled is the most penetrating book-length evaluation of the “new evangelicalism” (about fifty years after its genesis) by a self-identified fundamentalist. McCune (b. 1934) is former president and current professor of systematic theology at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. He testifies, “I first heard that there was such a movement called ‘new evangelicalism’ when I entered Grace Theological Seminary in the fall of 1957. . . . In 1967 I began teaching on the seminary level and annually lectured on the new evangelicalism. This book”—McCune’s first—“is a partial harvest of all my years of research, study, and teaching on the subject” (p. xv).
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Dan Wallace: “Manuscript Discoveries from Summer 2007 Expeditions”

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Dan Wallace‘s post this morning, “Manuscript Discoveries from Summer 2007 Expeditions,” is exciting!

[T]he Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (www.csntm.org) sent out two teams on expeditions this past summer—one to Patmos and one to an eastern European country. The expeditions accomplished far more than we thought they would: 25,000 images shot with high-resolution digital cameras, more than sixty manuscripts photographed altogether. Not only that, but we discovered several manuscripts that are up till now unknown to western scholarship. . . .

In addition to the new discoveries, CSNTM also ‘rediscovered’ several manuscripts that had been presumed lost decades ago. . . .

Finally, of the manuscripts that we discovered this past summer there seem to be one or two that are significant as far as the original wording of the New Testament is concerned. I can’t tell you more yet, but soon will (we are hoping to make an announcement to the media in the winter).

Kevin Bauder MP3s on the Gospel

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Kevin Bauder recently preached a five-part series on the gospel at Bible Baptist Church (apparently downloadable in IE but not Firefox):

  1. What Is the Gospel? (1 Cor 15:1-8)
  2. The Gospel as the Believer’s Motivation (Phil 1:12-26)
  3. The Gospel and God’s Justice (Col 2:13-15)
  4. The Gospel and God’s Love (Rom 5:8)
  5. The Gospel as Liberation (Heb 2:14-15)

HT: Chuck Bumgardner

Carson and Moo on the Contribution of Revelation’s Eschatology

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D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament (2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), pp. 721–22 (bold emphasis added):

If, as we have argued, Revelation focuses on the end of history, then it is in the area of eschatology that it makes its most important contribution. Nowhere are we given a more detailed description of the events of the end; and while many interpreters have been guilty of finding far more specifics in John’s visions than his symbolism allows and of unwisely insisting that only their own circumstances fit those specifics, we should not go to the other extreme and ignore those details that John does make relatively clear.

But it is shortsighted to think of eschatology simply in the sense of what will happen in the end times. For the End, in biblical thought, shapes and informs the past and the present. Knowing how history ends helps us understand how we are to fit into it now. Particularly  is this so because the New Testament makes it clear that even now we are in “the last days.” Thus, Revelation reminds us of the reality and severity of evil, and of the demonic forces that are active in history. . . . At the same time, the degree to which Revelation exhorts believers should not be neglected. . . .

John’s visions also place in clear relief the reality of God’s judgment. A day will come when his wrath will be poured out, when sins will have to be accounted for, when the fate of every individual will depend on whether or not his or her name is “written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Equally clear, of course, is the reward that God has in store for those who “keep the word of endurance” and resolutely stand against the devil and his earthly minions, even at the cost of life itself. John’s visions are a source of comfort for suffering and persecuted believers in all ages.

An Illustration of Eisegetical, Manipulative Evangelism

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tract

I was reminded of this tract today while re-reading George Mish Marsden‘s Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism: 1870-1925 (2d ed.; New York: Oxford, 2006), p. 100. (It also occurs on p. 100 in the 1980 edition.) I spent a while searching for an image of it and finally found one on Timmy Brister’s blog.

Although no doubt well intentioned, this tract illustrates (1) evangelism that is both eisegetical and manipulative and (2) yet another reason that theology matters.

Minnick: “Theology Matters”

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I benefited immensely in 2003 from these two four-page articles by my former pastor, Dr. Mark Minnick:

  1. “Theology Matters” (part 1)
  2. “Theology Matters” (part 2)

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The two PDFs above occur in the middle of the Sept./Oct. and Nov./Dec. 2003 issues of Frontline. These two articles condense Minnick’s outstanding four-part sermon series:

  1. Theology Matters (7-20-03)
  2. Theological Accountability (7-27-03)
  3. Theological Definition (8-10-03)
  4. Assessing Theology (8-17-03)