EDITOR’S NOTE: “From the Seminaries” includes news releases of interest from Southern Baptist seminaries.
Dockery, at MBTS, examines the state of evangelicalism
By T. Patrick Hudson
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (MBTS) — Christian university leader David Dockery spoke on “Evangelicalism: Past, Present, and Future” at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in a mid-January address.
Dockery, president of Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill., is the former president of Baptist-affiliated Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
Midwestern President Jason Allen underscored Dockery’s standing to address the topic.
“At Midwestern Seminary, our goal is to train pastors and ministry leaders on a number of topics that will benefit them well into their ministries,” Allen said. “The topic of the state of evangelicalism is one such critical issue in America, and I can think of no one I would respect more to address it. Dr. Dockery brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about the topic, and he is one of the most respected men in theological education — both within the Southern Baptist Convention and broader evangelical world.”
In the address, Dockery said the best way to understand evangelicalism is as a large “umbrella group” that includes many sub-movements and thousands of para-church organizations.
Among denominations, Dockery said, citing Princeton sociologist of religion Robert Wuthnow as a source, “A major shift in the structure of American religion had taken place by the end of the 20th century; a shift now best understood in terms of the commonality held across the historic denominational lines rather than within traditional denominational structures. Every major denomination now has its own renewal evangelical movements.”
From the perspective of Southern Baptists, Dockery noted it is best to think of them as “denominational evangelicals.”
Dockery further defined evangelicalism, from a historical and biblical standpoint, as having basic beliefs centered in and grounded in Jesus Christ. Evangelicals see the core of the Christian faith in such doctrines as the Trinitarian God; salvation by grace through faith; the need for personal conversion; and truths made known in a fully truthful and authoritative Bible.
“Evangelicals believe that salvation is by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ,” Dockery said. “By grace believers are saved, kept and empowered to live a life of service. It is the affirmation of and genuine commitment to the central beliefs of historic orthodox Christianity, as these beliefs have been courageously retained in various eras and contexts….”
In the 21st century, evangelicalism is anything but a unified, flourishing movement in North America, Dockery said.
At the same time, he said, “It must be noted that evangelicalism is not necessarily dying in America. It is alive and well, but alive and well in an intercultural context.”
Expounding further, Dockery said evangelicalism is rapidly growing in ethnic minority churches, yet declining in traditionally white congregations. He said it is important to take heart in recognizing the rapidly changing demographic patterns in America, coupled with Christianity’s expanding global context.
“Evangelicalism today has recaptured the importance of local churches, but often more so across denominations and within cooperating networks, rather than within the denominations themselves,” Dockery said. “Evangelicals and evangelical denominations that thrive must remain connected to their heritage and tradition, while exploring and working together in rapidly changing demographic settings as well as a new global context — working cooperatively in a renewed way with these various networks and special purpose groups.” He said such groups include Youth for Christ, World Vision, Campus Crusade, the Navigators, Prison Fellowship, Christianity Today, InterVarsity, Wycliffe Bible Translators and others.
Several challenges facing evangelicalism, Dockery said, include recognizing that the actual number of evangelicals in America is less than previously thought. Thus, the unity of evangelicals is extremely important, he said.
“Being aware that our unity, or perceived unity, is threatened by politics, key doctrinal differences, a variety of approaches to church and worship, methods of ministry, and diverse opinions on ethical and social issues is essential for our own self-awareness, not to mention for efforts related to missional and ministry collaboration.”
Other challenges noted by Dockery are the rise of secularization; a growing interest in a vast and amorphous spirituality, a new atheism and the rise of the “nones,” all of which were shaped by and within a postmodern culture. Additionally, key leaders of the past generation who shaped evangelicalism have passed away or are retiring from ministry. These issues, whether as a result or coincidentally, have led evangelicals to be seemingly adrift, Dockery said.
Of these challenges, Dockery suggested, “What is needed now is a recognition that North American and European evangelicalism has been weakened in large sectors of the church and is under assault in our secular culture, experiencing what John Dickerson has called ‘the great evangelical recession.'”
Looking to the future of evangelicalism, Dockery stated, “We must realize our struggles are not with or against fellow Christ-followers, but against the expansion of unbelief in our secularized culture. At stake is the unity and mission of the Christian movement as well as the bedrock issues of the Christian faith.
“What is needed is biblical orthodoxy, a historic Christianity, a faithful intercultural, intergenerational, transcontinental, transdenominational evangelicalism, which stands or falls on first-order issues like the Holy Trinity, the deity and humanity of Christ, the uniqueness of the Gospel message, the divine inspiration and authority of God’s written Word, and salvation by faith alone….”
Dockery added that evangelicals must, once again, take seriously the biblical call to unity portrayed in John 17 and Ephesians 4. He cautioned, however, that evangelicalism must not move, even unintentionally, in the direction of an unhealthy inclusivism or heterodoxical universalism.
There is a need for evangelicals to “hold together the priority of evangelism and the need for social justice, a vision for global missions and intercultural and missional service,” Dockery said.
“We need to understand who we are as evangelicals to recognize afresh the movements that have shaped us…. We need a new spirit of mutual respect and humility to serve together with those whom we have differences of conviction and opinion…,” Dockery said.
“Let us ask God to grant us a renewed commitment to the Gospel, to the church, to the truthfulness of Holy Scripture and transformed living that will help to extend the gospel around the globe while bringing renewal to the church of Jesus Christ for the glory of our great and majestic God.”
Following the Jan. 14 address, Dockery joined Allen, Jason Duesing, Midwestern’s provost, and John Mark Yeats, the seminary’s undergraduate dean, for further dialogue on the topic of evangelicalism. To view the panel discussion in full, visit http://jasonkallen.com/2015/01/video-dr-dockery-luncheon. To view Dockery’s address in full, visit http://www.mbts.edu/video-speaker/dr-david-dockery.
SEBTS lecturer examines North American Christianity
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (SEBTS) — Derek Hicks, assistant professor of religion and culture at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., was the 2014 Page Lecture guest speaker at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary last fall.
Hicks, who researches and teaches in the area of African American religion, is the author of “Reclaiming Spirit in the Black Faith Tradition” and a contributor to several other works.
The Page Lectures bring key theologians to campus to deliver two lectures on a subject of concern to the Christian community.
Hicks’ first lecture was titled “A Reclaiming Past: Considering the Historical ‘Others’ in the North American Christian Tradition.”
He presented two statements from others that were influential on his Christian faith: “My faith is stronger today in the loss of my first son than it ever has been” and “You seem smart, why are you a Christian?”
“My faith perspective was a bit deeper than I had initially given it credit,” Hicks said. “It was more complex and messier than what I had initially thought. This ultimately caused me to ask several questions of my own.”
He explored the reality of why so many African Americans chose to convert to Christianity throughout a history of hardship. The faith that Hicks’ forefathers possessed impacted his life. He was raised in the church and baptized at the age of 7.
Oral traditions passed down by his grandmother were especially influential. “She knew firsthand how faith in God would overcome anything,” Hicks said. “African Americans have articulated … a reclaiming spirit, a spirit that governs the nature of their Christian expression for those who have had to endure this world as others.”
He believes that African Americans had an ability to seek something good out of the bad. They “sanitized a soiled form of Christianity so they might be transformed, so they might be seen [as] new creatures not simply in terms of sin nature but also as whole people in God’s sight,” he said.
Hicks pointed out that “by cleaning up Christianity, they were able to draw upon its cleansing properties to present their lives anew.”
“Cleansed, healed and empowered by the blood,” he emphasized. “The resulting nature of this faith tradition gives hope to the others and is articulated in the words of Jesus Himself, the one who is most worthy to be emulated in African American tradition.
“Black faith has traditionally been an active expression, a liberating posture, one that takes this Christ-event and makes it live, alive in these experiences through what I call reclamation,” Hicks said.
In the following lecture, titled “The Gumbo Pot: Theological Education as a Complex Brew,” Hicks focused on how these topics relate to academics. The two questions he highlighted were “why study African American Christianity?” and “but were they saved?”
Using the metaphor of a “melting pot” and gumbo stew, Hicks said there is one “folk” represented in a melting pot.
“I am more of a gumbo man,” Hicks said. “This is not a neat or tidy dish, thus it is not a melting pot. Gumbo is a complex brew of flavors oddly coming together to form an exquisite experience of taste. Gumbo is cultural to be sure. … It exhibits colorful expressions of a given community. Gumbo binds a community and it is tied to a general posture of fellowship and cooperation.”
A lack of contact and fellowship in a community will lead to fear and hatred among people, Hicks said, voicing a view of Christ that calls Christians to have a moral responsibility to embrace inclusion and selflessness.
Hicks called for theological education to promote deliberate dialogue concerning diversity and to recruit and retain diverse faculty, students and staff. Theological education also should alter structures to help those from underrepresented backgrounds and to strengthen preparation in the classroom for global citizenship.
Underscoring the value of diversity to the audience, he said a melting pot “is not inherently a bad thing. I just prefer the flavors, the distinctiveness and the complexity that comes with the gumbo pot. If not for the gumbo pot I would not have some enduring friendships both on the right and left that catapulted me to where I am today.”
To watch the Nov. 4-5 lectures online, please click here. http://multimedia.sebts.edu//
To view photos from chapel, please click here. https://www.flickr.com/photos/southeastern/sets/72157646288323930/
Mohler, at SWBTS, reflects on “If the world hates you”
FORT WORTH, Texas (SWBTS) — R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., underscored the words, “If the world hates you” in a chapel message from John 15:18-27 at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
In today’s world, Mohler said, “We read the text in a different way than we have before.
“When I was a boy reading the text, ‘If the world hates you,’ I was reminded of the fact that there were places in the world where people hated Christians. Awful things have been done to Christians. Christians have been martyred for their faith,” Mohler said.
“But as I am now looking at the world … with honest eyes looking ahead, I recognize that this text is not just for some Christians in some places, and it should have never been read that way. This is Jesus talking to His disciples about the permanent condition of confessing conventional Christianity.”
Mohler warned that the collision between American culture and the Gospel is not just something that will happen in the future but is already here.
Unless there is an overwhelming turning in the culture, he said the reality is: “The rest of your lives, the rest of your ministries are going to be spent in a context in which John 15 is going to be very clearly on your mind. Not because you’re going to remember merely your morning devotionals, but because you’re going to be reminded of them by the world that faces you 24/7.”
In a secular culture where many consider Christians to be immoral, and there is nothing to be learned from their faith, Christians will learn whether they can be faithful to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“This is where we come to John 15 and we say, we are not up to this. And I want to look at you and tell you — you guys look great, but you’re not up to this. You’re in the right, wonderful, God-given place to study, but this seminary is not going to make you up to this. My seminary cannot make its students up to this. Your Sunday School teacher can’t, your preacher can’t, no one can.”
Mohler concluded his Nov. 13 message with a reminder of the Great Commission, saying, “Jesus did not say the world is going to hate you, so hide.”
