Review Essay, Keeping the Balance
Introduction “There can be no more pressing question to be addressed by the theological student than that of how academic theological study is to be related to his or her everyday life as Christian believer”, writes Trueman as he introduces his essay. Of course, the so-called “heart-head” dilemma is not peculiar to Christian theologians. However it is, in a special way, “peculiarly relevant to those engaged in full-time theological study”, simply because the evangelical Christian theologian is relentlessly being confronted “left, right and centre” with challenges to the fundamentals of his or her faith. The danger here is for theological students to succumb to “the overwhelming temptation to abstract doctrine from the practical context of life and to make it an end in itself”. The result of this, Trueman warns us, is the emasculation of the Christian faith as belief and practice, life and doctrine are pulled apart and the Bible is reduced to a book we argue about instead of the rock we build our lives upon. For the theologian, the essential problem is “how to integrate the task of treating the Bible both as an object of analysis in their studies and as the source of devotion in their Christian life”. The specific problems raised by the study of textual criticism, systematic theology, philosophy of religion etc. are all “variations” or “specific manifestations” of this “deeper problem”, which the author hopes to address in the essay. The aim here is not to tackle all the specific problems one by one, but to concentrate on “the general framework within which your studies should be approached”.
A framework for integration “Whatever model we develop to understand how theological study and Christian devotion are to be integrated must proceed on the basis of who we understand God to be, who we understand ourselves to be, and therefore the relationship that exists between the two”. So saying, Trueman reflects on creation, the fall and redemption. The upshot of this deliberation is the simple conclusion that “the conditions for a healthy life as a theological student are, as one would expect, determined to a large extent by the conditions for a healthy spiritual life in general”. These conditions “consist primarily in giving careful and faithful attendance to the means of grace”. On the individual level, that means prayer and Bible reading. On the corporate level, involvement in the worshiping life of a church, receiving the preaching of the World, and partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Trueman urges us not to sneer at these “bread-and-butter issues”. We may want to hear something clever and sophisticated, but these simple details must come first, before we go any further. “Don’t imagine that you can integrate your theological studies with your daily Christian walk successfully, unless you have first established the latter on a sound footing”.
Category: In Depth, Spring 2006
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