Is there such a factor as evangelical theology (emphasis on the modifier, “evangelical”)? Whether or not a theology might be evangelical is a disputed concept. A lot of the confusion has to do with imprecise definitions of each “evangelical” and “theology.” I hope to advance not solely that evangelical theology is a definite self-discipline, however that it has distinctive alternative to thrive in our postmodern age.
What’s theology?
Theology can varyingly be described because the research of God, “religion looking for understanding,” the science of Christian perception, the drama of Christian doctrine, the artwork of considering Christianly, and plenty of different issues. For a easy and dealing definition, lets say that theology considerations the research of God as revealed in Holy Scripture and as expounded within the Christian custom.
There are, in fact, several types of theology or varied subdisciplines within the massive tent of theology. Whereas biblical theology makes an attempt to elucidate themes throughout the canon or else to explain theological themes in a given biblical ebook, systematic theology is totally different in that it considerations itself with describing the most important doctrines of the Christian religion, exploring the interrelationship between these doctrines and noting their biblical coherence and sensible implications, in addition to a kind of unity to your entire universe of Christian educating. Additionally, practical theology considerations the try to use and implement the insights derived from theological research in such a method as to see them influence and form prayer, worship, ethics, spirituality, piety, and the duties of ministry.
However what about an evangelical theology? Is there such a factor? Do we want such a factor?
What’s evangelical?
Earlier than we attain a definition of evangelical theology we first need to parse the phrase “evangelical” and “evangelicalism” with a purpose to present readability on the actual species of theology that goes below the moniker “evangelical.” On the subject of the “evangelical” in evangelical theology, we enter right into a contested area. The speedy drawback is that the very phrase “evangelical” is notoriously troublesome to elucidate and outline.
First, there’s the problem of origin. “Evangelical” may very well be outlined traditionally because the widespread explanation for Protestants of both Puritan or pietist (Wesleyan) persuasion who might discover theological affinity, widespread spiritual affections, and shared functions collectively in mission and social causes. Alternatively, evangelical might check with a kind of post-fundamentalism that emerged within the US context within the Nineteen Fifties within the aftermath of the fundamentalist vs. liberal controversy of the early twentieth century, albeit with shut analogues within the British context. Or else it might merely describe a social phenomenon for a kind of renewal motion inside Anglo-American Protestantism. Then once more, some would outline evangelical as extra a socio-religious demographic that interprets into a kind of voting bloc within the US.
A part of the dilemma is that evangelicalism, as a self-identifying label, is troublesome to outline as a result of evangelical teams at the moment are so extremely numerous and fragmented. The issue is extra acute in America, the place evangelical has ethnic (white) and political (Republican) connotations that it doesn’t have outdoors of North America. The irony is that evangelical is an adjective which now has or wants its personal adjective:
- conservative evangelical
- progressive evangelical
- white evangelical
- liturgical evangelical
- charismatic evangelical
It goes on. Thus, the phrase dangers being so broad as to be meaningless.
Some have deserted the label due to its nebulous breadth or political connotations and like to explain themselves as an alternative as “missional Christians” or “reformational Catholics” or “mere Protestants” to keep away from any confusion or consternation. I’m sympathetic to that self-definitional change as a result of evangelical means various things to totally different folks, and the trouble of not being misunderstood is usually not definitely worth the fuss.
To be sincere although, on the finish of the day, I’m totally wedded and welded onto evangelical as a result of I believe it’s a good phrase. Critics and doubters could relinquish it in the event that they like. In my opinion, folks must pry the phrase from my chilly useless fingers.
I say that as a result of the evangel (“gospel”) is the excellent news that Jesus is Israel’s Messiah and the Lord of all who died for our sins on the cross, was raised for our justification, and he summons everybody to reconciliation with God by means of him, calling folks to repentance and religion, to just accept the supply of the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. That message, the evangel, is certainly a joyous proclamation that warms my coronary heart, unburdens my soul, illuminates my thoughts, and energizes my functions in life.
Accordingly, I align myself with the good crowd of witnesses behind me (in historical past), round me (within the international church), and forward of me (sooner or later) who’ve a ardour for selling the gospel and discover enjoyment of figuring out the God of the gospel and the advantages that are graciously granted us in Christ Jesus by means of the reward of the Holy Spirit. That’s my evangelicalism. Too slim for some, maybe. Too broad for others.
What’s evangelical theology?
What then does it imply to do theology—systematic theology—in an evangelical style?
I describe evangelical theology as a kind of theology that prizes the evangel, the “excellent news.” Evangelical theology is a kind of theology that regards the gospel as the middle, boundary, and integrating level for Christian religion. It’s a type of theology that begins with delight within the gospel, that guards the gospel, and sees its finish level each dwelling a life worthy of the gospel and fascinating within the lively promotion of the gospel. I discover myself in settlement with the late Stanley Grenz:
To be “evangelical” means to be centered on the gospel. Consequently, evangelicals are a gospel folks. They’re a folks dedicated to listening to, dwelling out, and sharing the excellent news of God’s saving motion in Jesus Christ and the divine reward of the Holy Spirit, a saving motion that brings forgiveness, transforms life, and creates a brand new group. As a gospel folks, evangelicals frequently set forth the reality that the middle of the church is the gospel and that the church, due to this fact, should be gospel centered.
After I was looking for a textbook to make use of for theology programs, what I discovered have been many evangelical theologians who had written systematic theology textbooks, usually suffused with broadly evangelical convictions, however I by no means discovered a textbook that I believed erupted with a way of profound delight within the gospel. As my frustration grew, I needed to suppose extra carefully about what I used to be on the lookout for, exactly.
On reflection, what I wanted for my lessons was a textbook that made the gospel the middle, boundary, and integrating level for theology. A student-friendly ebook that mapped the construction, contents, and implications of Christian doctrine through the use of the gospel because the scaffolding and interpretive lens. So in the long run, I made a decision to put in writing such a ebook myself!
In 2013, Zondervan revealed my Evangelical Theology, which did properly in seminaries and schools—a lot in order that I revealed an up to date version in 2020. The up to date version was crucial: Suggestions had instructed me to slim down some sections and to beef up others. Additionally, I noticed that I wanted footnotes that weren’t so white, male, and Calvinist, however represented a broader stream of dialogue partners in global Christianity and in theological fields past my very own.
Because the ebook is now over twenty years previous, I stand by my central rivalry: An authentically evangelical theology should be rooted within the gospel by way of its construction and inside logic, in addition to aspire to elicit an authentically evangelical mode of reward that advances the gospel to all of the world.
An authentically evangelical theology should be rooted within the gospel by way of its construction and inside logic, in addition to aspire to elicit an authentically evangelical mode of reward that advances the gospel to all of the world.
The case for theology centered on the evangel (gospel)
Some have expressed alarm that pursuing a “gospel-centered” or “gospel-driven” theology is a really faddish method of doing theology which will probably be hardly totally different in the long run to the same old ways in which Protestant theologies are written. However I encourage to vary.
As we go deeper into the twenty-first century, what we want as a matter of missional urgency is an authentically evangelical theology, one rooted within the gospel and its implicatures, to assist us re-evangelize the West, join with the church buildings of the worldwide south, resourced in Scripture, and heeds the knowledge and depth of the Christian custom. That is one thing crucial, given the fragmented and shallow nature of many evangelical church buildings at the moment.
My rationale for this enterprise is manifold.
1. A gospel-centered theology is Pauline
If the gospel is, as Paul says, “of first significance” (1 Cor 15:3), then it deserves first place within the theological system.
Paul appears to have pioneered such an method himself. Whereas Paul’s letter to the Romans is most positively not a scientific theology, it’s his most complete letter, and it begins with an announcement of the gospel in Romans 1:3–4. I surmise that Paul arrange a template for us to observe in doing theology, a theology that originates with the gospel itself.
2. A gospel-centered theology is conventional
Taking a look at church historical past, within the second century, Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons, acknowledged the precedence of the gospel when he declared the gospel “handed right down to us within the scriptures, to be the bottom and pillar of our religion.”
Transferring forward into the Reformation, John Calvin declared equally that
The Spirit, promised to us, has not the duty of inventing new and unheard-of-revelations, or of forging a brand new form of doctrine, to steer us away from the acquired doctrine of the gospel, however of sealing our minds with the very doctrine which is counseled by the gospel.
Within the phrases of the English Puritan John Owen, “All true theology is, in a way, gospel theology, for, in no matter stage it existed, its object and prime mover was God the Son.”
3. A gospel-centered theology is integral
Any system of theology must construct up from this gospel basis. exemplar of this method is the Anglican Church of North America, which wrote its personal catechism spearheaded by J. I. Packer. The very first part of the catechism expounds the gospel, and the very second query is:
Q: What’s the gospel?
A: The gospel is the excellent news that God loves the world and provides salvation from sin by means of his Son, Jesus Christ. (Ps 103:1–12; Isa 54:4–5; John 3:16–17; 1 Cor 15:1–4).
However the gospel is greater than a starting, it ought to be a recurring motif, an integrating theme in systematic theology. The gospel permeates all doctrines, it defines the church’s mission, inform us who God is in the direction of us in Jesus Christ. The gospel is probably the most vital story within the lifetime of the church, so theology ought to accordingly be a theology of that story, the gospel. As John Webster wrote, “An evangelical theology is one which is evoked, ruled and judged by the gospel.”
I submit {that a} gospel-driven theology ought to be a understanding of the gospel within the varied loci of Christian theology (i.e., the precise subjects in theology like the character of God, the particular person and work of Christ, the church, final issues, and so forth.) after which be utilized to the sphere of day by day Christian life and the places of work of Christian leaders. I might go as far as to say that the gospel is the glue between perception, expertise, mission, and apply.
Think about the next:
- Theology correct aspires to explain the God revealed in “the gospel of God” (Mark 1:14; Rom 1:1; 15:16; 2 Cor 11:7; 1 Thess 2:8–9).
- Christology is expounding the manifold dimensions of the life and work of Jesus as narrated within the 4 Gospels and taught within the one apostolic gospel of Jesus Christ (e.g., Rom 1:3, 9; 15:19; 1 Cor 9:12; 2 Cor 2:12; 9:13; 10:14; Gal 1:7; Phil 1:27; 1 Thess 3:2).
- Pneumatology focuses on the reward of the Holy Spirit and expertise of recent delivery because the promise of the gospel (Acts 2:38; Rom 5:5).
- Soteriology goals to unpack the polyphonic richness of the “gospel of salvation” (Rom 1:16; Eph 1:13).
- Apologetics is the “protection of the gospel” (Phil 1:16).
- Ecclesiology is about our “fellowship within the gospel” (Phil 1:6) and striving for the “religion of the gospel” (Phil 1:17).
- Christian ethics means exercising obedience that accompanies “confession of the gospel” (2 Cor 9:13).
- Utilized theology is about dwelling a life “worthy of the gospel” (Phil 1:27).
- Pastoral theology reveals the implications for ministry. Derek Tidball accurately says,
Pastoral work is just bringing to full flower the bud of the gospel. … The gospel determines every part concerning the pastor—his motives, authority, strategies, and character are all ruled by the excellent news of Jesus Christ.
All of this buttresses my declare that the gospel contains the start, middle, boundary, and unifying theme for all theology.
A theology that strives to be evangelical ought to be one which lunges, leaps, works, worships, prays, and preaches from the gospel itself. Such a theology commences with the gospel as a result of the gospel establishes the hermeneutical horizons for its discourse about God and constitutes the chief objective for the church’s existence.
4. Gospel-centered theology places forth the gospel
Starting with the gospel, making it central, additionally yields a theology that permits God’s guarantees given within the gospel to bear fruit within the church. As John Webster said: “Dogmatics is the schematic and analytic presentation of the matter of the gospel,” and to tease that out extra absolutely, he wrote:
The most effective evangelical theological work emerges from the delight within the Christian gospel, for the gospel proclaims a actuality which is in itself luminous, persuasive, and infinitely satisfying. That actuality is Jesus Christ as he offers himself to be an object for creaturely data, love, and reward. To suppose evangelically about this one is to suppose in his presence, below the instruction of his Phrase and Spirit, and within the fellowship of the saints. And it’s to take action with cheerful confidence that his personal witness to himself is unimaginably stronger than any theological makes an attempt to run to his protection.
Very related is former Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, who correctly commented:
Accountable theologians must order their educating by the gospel, and in addition to make sure that no matter else their theologies could include, the reader can see what the essence of the gospel is. The failure to make the topic of the gospel express in some theologies implies that the reader could not know in the long run what the center of the Christian message is. It’s by an exposition of the gospel that the theologian earns the proper to proceed, for the reason that gospel is probably the most vital revelation of all.
5. Gospel-centered theology is catholic
A ultimate facet for us to contemplate is how a gospel-driven theology connects with the worldwide church.
The Fourth Lausanne Congress was held in September 2024 in South Korea, bringing collectively over 5 thousand Christian leaders from over 200 nations to arrange and strategize about international evangelism and mission work.
Such a convention is an efficient reminder concerning the international context of our religion. Sure, we should in fact take into consideration our native church, our neighbors, our close by schools and seminaries, and our adjoining parachurch organizations. Nevertheless, with regards to theology, technique, and apply, we should additionally take into consideration the worldwide context of our theology and mission.
In the digital age, at a time when varied diasporas are spreading the world over, the world is getting extra related. This provides us the chance, the benefit, of with the ability to take heed to and be taught from people who find themselves totally different from us. Whereas there’s one gospel for Africa, Australia, and America, there are totally different points that every place should confront, totally different contexts for doing and making use of theology, and totally different traditions—every with its personal richness and vibrancy.
Our activity is to look past our personal horizon, to dialogue with theologians of various denominations and totally different nationalities. We do that not as a part of a range train, however as a method of making certain our gospel meets with “catholicity,” the consensus of the worldwide communion of church buildings as to what it means to imagine in God, to belong to the church, and to pursue religion looking for understanding.
If your whole theological influences appear like you, reside in the identical place the place you reside, and belong to the identical custom, then your theological framework is sadly turning into a mirror of your self. Don’t get me mistaken, I like redheaded Anglo Anglican Calvinists with a classy European attraction and a full bag of Aussie witticisms as a lot as the following particular person. However even I don’t wish to be the one particular person I’m speaking to about theology—and neither do you have to! Quite the opposite, I wish to suppose evangelically with pals from Latin America, east Africa, Scandinavia, the bustling metropolises of Asia, and even rural Alabama. It takes a world household of religion to do theology properly, to name out our blind spots, to bless us with riches we didn’t know existed, and to do all of it for the advance of a gospel-driven theology.
If the gospel is nice information for the entire world, then it takes disciples of Jesus Christ from the entire world to work collectively to discover what it means to say that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5:19) and work out, in our numerous and manifold experiences of that very same “gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24), how one can know God, to make him identified, and to be holy and humble as we collectively construct for the dominion of God.
Beneficial by the writer
- Campbell, Ted A. The Gospel in Christian Traditions. Oxford College Press, 2009.
- Taylor, Iain, ed. Not Evangelical Sufficient: The Gospel on the Centre. Paternoster, 2003.
- Deal with, Jeremy R. “Gospel and Doctrine within the Lifetime of the Church.” SBET 32 (2014): 180–94.
- Vanhoozer, Kevin J. First Theology: God, Scripture, and Hermeneutics. InterVarsity Press, 2002.
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