Kenneth Stewart: In Search of Ancient Roots

In reading through the succeeding sections and chapters, this reviewer sees a dominant concern throughout In Search of Ancient Roots. The apparent concern is that it is “the evangel” that determines the liturgy and the corporate life of the church, not the other way around. The “Good News” (Evangel/euangel) determines the liturgical life of the church. The shepherds heard the evangel, then they worshiped the baby Jesus. The Magi saw the message in the heavens, then they worshiped. The shape of the liturgy is determined by the evangel. The identity crisis for the evangelical church today is the loss of what comes first. Getting back to the roots would decrease the number of evangelicals crossing over into the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and High Anglican Churches.

Similarly, the corporate life of the church is best determined by the Evangelical message by enabling the church to function as an organism rather than a corporation. When the Catholic missionaries went into India and China, they were instructed by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Gospel to be sensitive to the indigenous situation of the lands they entered and not impose a European-style of church life. The church is to function as an organism that lives the “evangel,” not a self-propagating corporate entity. The quest for the ancient roots is a quest for the heart-beat of the evangelical church, which is the Evangel itself, the Spoken Word of God. This was what Vincent of Lerian, in his Comminatory, sought to do in the 5^th century; to make explicit the essential Word of God as preached and taught irrespective of any corporate, liturgical, or lingual differences whether it be proclaimed in Eastern Europe, Asia, or Africa, or other ends of the earth. Vincent had a missionary’s vision when he wrote. For Stewart, this is the reason for In Search for Ancient Roots. The evangelical identity crisis is the loss of its essential identity as an organism with a missional imperative. To quote a statement that Martin Luther made in reply to Frederick, the Elector of Saxony, in February 1520: “The Word of God can never advance without whirlwind, and changes.”

In the eyes of this reviewer, Stewart’s book needs to be read by ministers and church teachers. Tolle Lege [Pick up and read.]

Reviewed by Woodrow E. Walton

 

Publisher’s page: https://www.ivpress.com/in-search-of-ancient-roots

 

Tags: ancient, kenneth, roots, search, stewart

Category: Church History, Spring 2018