Greystone Conversations

How long can the Christian Faith survive in recognizable form in a Church context where the work of theology is held in suspicion and the priority of divine authorship of Holy Scripture plays little to no role in biblical interpretation? Is there not a true sense in which the frontlines of the Church's spiritual warfare today is in the library? 

The heart of the challenge facing the church in the UK may be approached by one or the other side of the current state of affairs. On one side is a challenge to Christian theology. There is among self-professed evangelicals in the UK (and of course in many other countries in the West) a palpable suspicion of serious theological study and thinking. The roots of this suspicion are predictably complex, but the fact that serious theological study was for a long time linked with university contexts where higher critical and atheistic rejections of orthodoxy prevailed and matters of Christian piety were ignored, does certainly account for a lot of the rather curious absence of theology in British churches and in the work of ministers--even in how ministry is understood. Theology is assumed by many to be at odds with warm piety, evangelism and mission, and biblical Christianity, and so it is held in suspicion. 

On the other side is the challenge to orthodox biblical hermeneutics posed by a thoroughgoing biblicism which is quite unbiblical. Again the critical work of the universities is a factor here as critical rejection of the Bible as inspired Holy Scripture provoked evangelical reactions that prioritized, ironically, the very human authorship and intention which lead those higher critics to reject orthodox theology. Alongside this phenomena, and related to it, is a transformation of the rules of Christian reading of Scripture including a very narrow and modernist set of criteria by which we are supposed to evaluate the legitimacy of typological, figural, or allegorical and spiritual senses of biblical texts. Lost in that transformation, and that new way of understanding what qualifies as biblical, is the very reading of Scripture that yielded the key tenets of orthodox Christianity including the Trinity, the person and work of Jesus Christ, the nature of the Gospel, and more. 

For this reason--among many others--the trajectory of anti-intellectualism and naive modernism in British evangelical circles warrants the greatest possible concern about the prospects for a recognizable Christian faith in this former bulwark of orthodoxy. Socinianism, Marcionism, and other classic heresies seem to be crouching at the door--if not halfway through it already. How might we think about the nature of, and background to, this urgent state of affairs where Christian faith and gospel seem empty of any theological concern or content and we have a Bible that is treated much as a book but not as Holy Scripture? 

To discuss this and more Greystone President and Fellow in Scripture and Theology, Dr. Mark A. Garcia, is joined with Greystone Fellows, Dr. Garry Williams and Dr. Robert Letham. Dr. Robert Letham is Greystone Fellow in Theology and History and professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Union School of Theology. Dr. Garry Williams is Greystone Fellow in Theology and History and director of the Pastor's Academy in London. Drs. Garcia, Letham, and Williams have extensive experience teaching and writing theology in the UK, and are therefore keenly aware of the challenges facing the church in that context.

The Church's faith is held, confessed, and lived invariably in a friction-full relationship to the world. What then can we learn about Christian identity and faithfulness now by considering such faithfulness in an older era? 

We may find it difficult to name many figures or events in the Church of the third century. This is understandable as this is a period bracketed on one side by the close of the apostolic era and the first years of the church's expansion and on the other side by the famous and critically important councils of the fourth century. But it was in the third century that the Church arguably started to gain a true sense of its call to follow Christ inasmuch as it had started to see and to experience the differences between the demands of the Christian faith and the demands of Roman culture. 

Here in the friction between being Roman and being a Christian, the faith began to take on a more stable form as, in a real sense, counter-cultural. The cost of discipleship, therefore, also started to become clear. Not only in the more famous context of persecution, but also in mixed families, the workplace, and in the political and economic spheres. The third-century may seem to be a strange world compared to our own, but it is one with which we may find we have a lot in common. 

Like episode seven in our series a number of months ago, today's episode features a selection from Dr. Mark Graham's Greystone full-course module on Christianity in Late Antiquity. Dr. Graham's module explores the backdrop and context, as well as key figures, major historical moments, and central practices of Christianity during this watershed period of history. As you listen to these lecture segments included as today's episode, remember they are selected out from a larger series of lectures, which will provide the context for the things said in today's episode. But as you listen, also consider what difference these reflections might make to you in your grasp of the Christian faith, including the Reformed faith in particular, and of the work of God and the Church throughout history. Imagine too what difference it might make to what you already do know. 

If you enjoy today's content, please consider listening to the full course which is available with all other courses and events at greystoneconnect.org. Doing so, you may learn far more about your own family history as a Christian, and what you learn may reconfigure, in a lasting way, what you thought you already knew.

Do the particular truths of the Christian faith generate options for the faithful exercise of the Church's mission to the world, and at the same time rule out some missionary efforts, models, and approaches as not in keeping with the Christian faith?
Twenty years ago, in his book The Gagging of God, D.A. Carson titled one of his chapters “on drawing lines when drawing lines is rude.” The Church has long understood that effective missionary work throughout the world requires clearly understanding the line beyond which our effort to reach the lost on their own terms quickly and easily becomes a compromise of the Gospel itself. Drawing those lines, however, in the context of missionary work does seem rude, especially in a world and in a culture where having good motives is supposed to be more than enough. In recent years, the work of Christian missions has been further complicated not only by a rapidly changing world, but also a rapidly changing Church, and the result has been a great deal of concern—sometimes a rather urgent concern—that the truth of the Gospel is being lost in well-intentioned but misguided efforts to reach the lost.
These few simple but important observations about the state of missionary work throughout the world prompt the introduction in today's episode of The Southgate Fellowship: “In the summer of 2016, a group of theologians, missiologists, and reflective practitioners convened to discuss the state of missions within the evangelical world. Drawn from Europe, Canada, and the US, participants reflected a variety of backgrounds and church denominations. Following the success of this initial symposium, it was decided to establish a formal identity with a clear mission. This group began to meet again under the title of The Southgate Fellowship.”

These lines of description are taken from the Fellowship's website. It continues: "The Southgate Fellowship is a fellowship of theologians, missiologists, and reflective practitioners fully committed to the visible church and her Christ-appointed mission. In obedience to Christ and his Word, TSF exists to advance biblical thinking and practice in world mission, as captured in the solas of reformational theology. The summum bonum of mission activity is the glory of God. This ultimate aim—under Jesus Christ, Head of the church and Lord of the nations—must retain uncompromising primacy for each and every missionary and mission endeavour. In order to bring glory to Christ in the fulfilling of his mandate (Matt 28:18–20), we must let God’s authoritative and sufficient Word define the design and execution of mission strategy. In short, all mission activities must draw upon Scripture and its self-interpreting authority. To heed Scripture is to obey the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the church and the Head of her mission."

In the text above, The Southgate Fellowship explains itself, and on their website readers can find a set of 100 affirmations and denials regarding the state of Christian missions in the world today. It may be surprising to discover that this statement of affirmation and denials surveys the vast terrain of basic theological topics and explores contemporary questions and challenges in the Church's mission in light of the key commitments of the Christian faith itself. But this is a reflection of what The Southgate Fellowship is concerned about when it comes to the Church's mission in the world. A number of recent models and initiatives for disciple-making and outreach have, according to the Fellowship, compromised some of the key tenets of the Christian faith and how the Church exercises her calling in the world. 

For today's episode, Dr. Mark A. Garcia speaks with Dr. Flavien Pardigon, a Greystone Fellow and council member of The Southgate Fellowship, about the Fellowship and the pressing questions of faithful missionary activity in this rapidly shifting international and cultural situation.

Why have professional historians of the Reformation and post-Reformation era of Reformed theology and confessionalization argued that "Calvinism" is not only a misleading term but--somewhat provocatively, perhaps--practically useless? And how do distinctions help us not only to separate truth from error, but also enrich our grasp of the truth and aid us in Christian love?

Calvinism is popular today in certain evangelical circles, but it is arguably not the Calvin or Calvinism of history. The disconnect, and the resulting confusion attaching to the term, is evidenced by the fact that many who identify themselves as Calvinists today would not welcome the historical Calvin to their eucharistic table or allow his teaching on baptism and other topics in their communions. It is also unfortunate that, for a generation or so, many ministers in Reformed church contexts received not only their first introduction to so-called Calvinism and Reformed theology, but also the principal part of their ministerial training, from the influential conference circuit of the 1980s and 1990s which provided a great service to formerly non-Reformed believers but also provided a skewed portrait of what “Reformed” means (and meant) historically). As a result, some Reformed Christians, even ministers and teachers, are startled to learn later in life that there are in fact not five points of Calvinism in the ordinary sense of that expression, that predestination and election are not distinctives of the Reformed tradition, and that the Christian tradition is in fact a source of authority in Reformed churches, though not the norming norm.

It is worth asking, therefore, when we say “Calvinist,” what we mean by the term. There are some misunderstandings about Reformed theology that need to be corrected. To discuss this topic, Dr. Mark A. Garcia sat down with Dr. Mark Jones, Greystone Fellow in Theology and History, who recently delivered a series of 8 lectures for Greystone under the title, “We Distinguish: Scholastic Distinctions in Reformed Theology and Ministry," which is available for individual and group study at Greystone Connect.

What do the Westminster Catechisms mean by speaking of our chief end as glorifying God and enjoying him forever? What difference does it make if we read the word "enjoy" here against the background, not of modern notions of happiness or enjoyment, but of Augustine's famous and deeply influential distinction between "enjoy" and "use"? A distinction established even more firmly in the Western Christian tradition in Peter Lombard's decision to begin his widely used Sentences with that same distinction.

The opening words of the Westminster Shorter and Larger catechisms are among the most well known in the history of the church's catechisms. "What is man's chief end," asks the Shorter Catechism, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." The Larger Catechism opens almost identically yet more fully saying, "Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God and fully to enjoy him forever." But the use of "enjoy" in these catechetical statements is not likely what we as moderns assume it to be. We use the word "enjoy" to say we take delight in or pleasure in an activity, person, or occasion—and ordinary with at least a slight preference for the pleasure sense. We hear the word "enjoy" and think of our desires and of happiness. Perhaps when we hear the word "use" we think of negative misuses of people or things. But the traditional meaning of "enjoy" in Christian literature reflects a distinction between "enjoy" and "use" introduced by the great African theologian Agustine in his opening section of On Christian Doctrine. Reflecting on what Augustine meant by this distinction, which is easily misunderstood by contemporary Christians, can greatly enrich our appreciation of what the Westminster Catechisms likely intend by their famous opening words. 

To explore Augustine, Lombard, "enjoy" and "use," the Westminster Catechisms, and the difference all this makes to Christian faith and life, we are pleased to welcome back to the podcast, friend of Greystone Theological Insitute, Pastor Jesse Crutchley. Jesse Crutchley is pastor at Severn Run Evangelical Presbyterian Church (PCA) and member of Greystone’s Presidential Ministerial Council.

What do we mean by the conscience, and how have our assumptions about the conscience changed as our perspective of the person and the moral life have changed?

Today's episode is the opening material of a full class module called Reformed Casuistry and Moral Theology. Casuistry is a very old word but continues to be a very popular way the Bible is used--focused as it is on case studies. Casuistry is, in brief, the application of Scripture and distinctly Christian principles and commitments to the particular concrete and often messy or complicated questions of moral life. Casuistic ethical inquiry is something the early modern Reformed tradition excelled at, though there was a great deal of development among the theorist and practitioners over time as well. Some of the great names of the Reformed tradition from this period--particularly William Perkins and William Ames--were also highly influential casuistical theologians who bequeathed to the confessional Reformed tradition a whole framework for thinking about and using the law of God in ethical life.

This course module explores Reformed casuistry by examining the nature and (perhaps surprising) differences between these lions of the Reformed tradition, as well as the nature of Scripture, how Scripture works ethically, and similar questions. But the course module begins with the material made available in today's podcast--material which explores the nature of the conscience and the ways that the very idea of the conscience underwent a major shift in keeping with changes in theological anthropology. The result, at least in these opening lecture segments, is a call to retrieve something lost in the turn from the pre-modern to the modern world: the notion of the conscience as communal rather than exclusively individual; the idea, that is, of a "common sense" that is ecclesial. 

To see what this means and how this might be important for Christian ethics you'll have to listen not only to the following selection from the module but to the series as a whole which is available at Greystone Connect. Still, we trust this one selection may provide at least a glimpse into what is involved. This and many other offerings are available at Greystone Connect, along with the group study option for many of these courses, micro-courses, and series.

Do Reformed Christians believe in baptismal regeneration? How do Reformed Christians classically relate baptism to the Church and to faith, and is faith required for baptism?

Today's Greystone Conversations episode is the last study in a series featured at Greystone Connect called We Distinguish: Scholastic Distinctions in Reformed Theology and Ministry. This is a series led by Dr. Mark Jones, a Greystone Fellow in Theology and History who is also pastor of Faith Vancouver (PCA) in Vancouver Canada, and who is a specialist in post-reformation Reformed theology. This gives rise to his special contribution in this series. Dr. Jones' experience in academic scholarship includes having edited, with Michael Haykin, A New Divinity: Transatlantic Reformed Evangelical Debates during the Long Eighteenth Century, writing with Joel Beeke A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life, and his own book, Why Heaven Kissed Earth: The Christology of the Puritan Reformed Orthodox Theologian, Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680). He is also the editor,  with Dr. Haykin, of Drawn into Controversie: Reformed Theological Diversity and Debates Within Seventeenth-century British Puritanism.

In this series, again called We Distinguish, Dr. Jones takes to task the often confusing uses of the word Calvinism today. In the opening talk of this series, Jones explains how "Calvinism" is popular today in certain Evangelical circles, but there is a great deal of uncertainty as to what we mean or should mean by the term. Arguably, the term has lost its usefulness altogether. And yet, even that is a complicated story. There are certainly some misunderstandings about Reformed theology that need to be corrected, and the use of the word "Calvinism" has made this need quite clear. And so this short course explores how the scholastic method used by several generations of Reformers and their diverse followers can still help students and practitioners of theology today in our quest to know and to promote theological truth, as well as to better understand what we mean by "Reformed."

The final lecture of this series, the one featured in today's Greystone Conversations episode, is Dr. Jones' explanation of the relation of covenant, Church, baptism, and faith. How have the Reformed classically understood the relationship of covenant, regeneration, faith, the Church, the sanctification of Christ himself, and the status of children? The answers may surprise you. Understanding why these answers are in fact not only surprising but also quite diverse may go a very long way in helping us better understand the nature of differences--today and historically--among those who claim the name Reformed but have different understandings of the relationship of baptism to faith and to the Church.

This series of lectures is available now on Greystone Connect for free for Greystone Members and is also an optional resource for Group Study. Become a Greystone Member today to gain access to this series and the growing library of Greystone modules.

Why should  the first steps of a Reformed Mariology begin with the Scriptures rather than tradition? 

Today's episode of Greystone Conversations is the second study in a series delivered in London called "Rescuing Mary from Rome: The Virgin in Scripture, Theology, and the Church." It is that time of year when many evangelicals and Protestants have Mary very much on the mind, and so we thought it would be a good time to explore Mary and the Old Testament together. In this second lecture of five in a series, the perhaps surprising observation is raised that Roman Catholic Mariology is rooted not only in tradition but also in a reading of the Bible--in particular, the reading of the familiar Marian passages in the Gospels against the background of, and with a view to, the entire canon of Holy Scripture. In other words, many distinctively Mariological themes that we recognize as Roman Catholic draw not from the Gospels exclusively and not from post-Biblical tradition exclusively but from a variety of Old Testament figures, teachings, narratives, and themes that have long been recognized by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike as belonging to the gospel portraits of Mary. 

This series aims to demonstrate not only that certain Roman Catholic Mariological themes are rooted in one way or another in legitimate Scriptural motifs, but that the legitimate connections between the Old Testament and Mary are in fact misused and distorted in Roman Catholic teaching, and that this happens by way of what is here called a "leap": the leap from those legitimate connections that are there in the Bible between Mary and the Old Testament to the illegitimate Roman Catholic Mariological conclusions. This leap amounts, in short, to an ascription to Mary of what belongs, by way of Mary and other biblical figures, to the church or the eschatological kingdom of God. The Roman Catholic Church traditionally places this relationship in reverse so that the churchly and kingdom figures found throughout Scripture resolve in some way in Mary herself rather than the other way around in which the biblical motifs that do converge in Mary give way to a greater convergence in the truth of the glorified and consummated Church: the Body of Jesus Christ, the motherly city-bride described as the kingdom of God in glory in the Book of Revelation. 

A curious feature in all this--the story of Mary and the Old Testament--is that many evangelicals, wanting to reject Roman Catholic Mariology as strongly and as visibly as possible, tend to suspend the Old Testament hermeneutic that they are quite happy to deploy for many other topics and themes when it comes to Mary. For instance, many readers of the Bible argue quite strenuously for the Old Testament roots of infant baptism, church government, and certain aspects of the atonement--all quite rightly. But they either deny or altogether overlook arguably stronger and more visible Old Testament roots for Mary's unique role in salvation-history. The fear appears to be that to recognize the Old Testament backdrop and deep roots for what the Bible says about Mary might lead inevitably to Roman Catholicism. This series is designed to explain why that is not the case.

To listen to more lectures from this series, become a Greystone Member today! Greystone Members not only have access to this series, but they also gain free access to all the courses, modules, and lectures available at Greystone Connect.

How should we understand the relationship of the Septuagint to what we traditionally mean by Holy Scripture? What difference does it make to biblical interpretation and the vocabulary of theology if we work with the Septuagint alongside our Hebrew and Greek Testaments? And what does the field of Septuagint studies look like now, and where is it going?

Today's Greystone Conversations episode is the continuation of a conversation between Matthew Albanese and Dr. Mark A. Garcia regarding the Septuagint--the translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek. In the first part of their conversation, Mr. Albanese and Dr. Garcia discussed how complicated--indeed how fraught with risks--such language is since there is no single Septuagint and it is far more than a translation in the modern sense of that word. They explored, in particular, the importance of approaching the Septuagint as the first commentary on the Hebrew Bible.

In this second part of the conversation, Mr. Albanese and Dr. Garcia discuss the vexed question of the status of the Septuagint in relation to the Hebrew and Greek Testaments, which the Church identifies, by creed and confession, as Holy Scripture. They also move more substantially into the rich topic of the New Testament use of the Old Testament in light of the Septuagint, including the heavy use of the Septuagint by the New Testament. To zero in on particular case studies for these grand and sweeping questions, they then discuss Mr. Albanese's own research project in Greek Isaiah and the fascinating ways in which Greek Isaiah displays internal ordering and various important intra-textual features--an ordering and features which signal not only the important unity of Isaiah but also the remarkable hermeneutical moves made by the Septuagint within a single book. After this, Mr. Albanese and Dr. Garcia turn to the current state of Septuagint research, directions that research is going, and promising but largely untapped areas for future work. Finally, Mr. Albanese offers some suggestions for where any thoughtful Christian can begin in one's practical appreciation of the Septuagint.

Now in the last stage of finalizing his Doctorate of Philosophy at Oxford University, in which he worked on Septuagint Isaiah, Matthew Albanese is also one of Greystone's recently appointed Associate Fellows focusing his Greystone activity in the large area of what has long been termed "Oriental Studies." In the months and years to come, our Lord willing, we can look forward to Matthew teaching series and modules for Greystone in Christian Syriac, Aramaic, the Septuagint, and various portions of the canon of Christian Scripture. 

What difference might it make to our relationship to the Septuagint if we saw it not only as a translation of the Hebrew OT into Greek and as a translation often used in the NT, but also as the first true commentary on the Hebrew Old Testament? How might this approach to the Septuagint illuminate our understanding of biblical hermeneutics and the nature of Holy Scripture?

In the exilic or early post-exilic period, Hebrew gave way to Aramaic as the lingua franca and classical Hebrew started to fade from use. Then, when the Jews became Hellenized on account of the diaspora provoked by the rise of Alexander the Great and of the Greek empires, Greek became the primary language for Jews. This combination of historical developments helps explain why the Septuagint became the Old Testament for many Jews leading up to and into the New Testament era, especially those living in Ptolemaic Egypt and other deeply Hellenized areas.

The Septuagint is primarily a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek--this much is common knowledge. But what is less known and appreciated is that the Septuagint may also be viewed as the first commentary on the Hebrew Old Testament. To be sure, this is true along the lines of what translation necessarily is: not simply a wooden replacement of one word in one language with the allegedly equivalent word in another language. Rather, all translations involve a measure of commentary, of explanation and sense-making, given the way languages work. And yet the ways that the Septuagint provides explanations of the Hebrew Scriptures disclose not only ancient views of how the biblical text works as text but also valuable insights into how the Scriptures read and interpret themselves, including the long-standing curiosity of how the New Testament writers read the Old Testament. 

Given that the month of December has just begun, this is an excellent opportunity for us to think a bit about the Septuagint since an interesting example of its importance comes to us in Matthew 1:23 as a citation of Isaiah 7:14--those famous words of the Prophecy of Isaiah that he spoke to Ahaz, which in Hebrew says "behold the young woman shall conceive," but in the Septuagint reads, "Behold the virgin shall conceive." Matthew is citing the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew Old Testament. This suggests that the language of the "virgin birth"--the virgin birth of Jesus of Nazareth--is not only a faithful rendering of the meaning of the Hebrew word for a young woman but, in what is often overlooked even by the most enthusiastic defenders of the virgin birth among evangelicals, the very notion--which is to say the very vocabulary--of the "virgin" birth of Jesus is something we owe specifically to the Septuagint which uses the word virgin to clarify the nature of Mary's state when she brings us the Messiah. 

Despite this rather key role in reading Scripture, the Septuagint has strangely enjoyed precious little serious attention among seminary students and writers in biblical and theological studies. With this in mind, today's Greystone Conversations episode is a conversation on this very subject with Matthew Albanese. This conversation will be a two-part series, with today's episode introducing the subject. Now in his final stage of finalizing his Doctorate of Philosophy at Oxford University, in which he worked on Septuagint Isaiah, Matthew Albanese is also one of Greystone's recently appointed Associate Fellows focusing his Greystone activity in the large area of what has long been termed "Oriental Studies." In the months and years to come, our Lord willing, we can look forward to Matthew teaching series and modules for Greystone in Christian Syriac, Aramaic, the Septuagint, and various portions of the canon of Christian Scripture.