06AR11-06
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Apologia Report 11:6
February 8, 2006
Subject: Are evangelicals and Orthodoxy compatible?
In this issue:
ATHEISM - federal court finds that "atheism is entitled to the same treatment that traditional religions receive"
DISPENSATIONALISM - social scientist studies "why the rapture has such attraction" for American culture
EASTERN ORTHODOXY - a review of Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism
HOMOSEXUALITY - arguing that it "is a linguistic as well as a moral error"
NEW TESTAMENT CRITICISM - "What the Quest for the Historical Jesus Missed"
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ATHEISM
"Is Atheism a Religion? Recent Judicial Perspectives on the Constitutional Meaning of 'Religion'" by Derek H. Davis -- opens with the explanation that "A recent case handed down by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals holds that atheism is entitled to the same treatment that traditional religions receive under the Constitution. The case, Kaufman v. McCaughtry (2005), has many religious groups upset because the decision seemingly bolsters atheism. Yet some atheist groups are also concerned because the case arguably requires atheist groups to pose as 'religious' organizations to receive equal treatment. The case adds to an already confused state of constitutional law on what qualifies as 'religion.'" Davis uses his essay to expand his discussion of these observations. Journal of Church and State, 47:4 - 2005, pp707-724.
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DISPENSATIONALISM
Rapture Culture: "Left Behind" in Evangelical America, by Amy Johnson Frykholm [1] -- Kenneth G.C. Newport, who writes this brief book note, asks: "So just how do we account for [the book series'] success? What place do the 'Left Behind' novels play in American popular religious culture?
"In this book, Amy Frykholm examines these issues and the wider question of why the rapture itself has such attraction to so many American Christians. In part, she argues, the reason lies in the real sense of community that the books promote. A particularly refreshing aspect of the study is Frykholm's use of extensive interviews conducted with 'Left Behind' readers. From this one gets a real sense of popular American apocalypticism as it exists 'on the ground' rather than in the minds of scholars." Theological Book Review, 17:2 - 2005, pp55-56.
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EASTERN ORTHODOXY
Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism, James Stamoolis, ed. [3] -- reviewer Warren Farha notes that "The book is divided into three sections, answering the question, 'Are Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism compatible?' with a 'yes,' 'no,' or 'maybe.' Position papers are presented for each answer, followed by responses from the other contributors and a concluding statement by the original presenter.
"The 'yes' position is set forth, in the longest and (along with Michael Horton's) most substantial essay, by [Brad] Nassif (professor of biblical and theological studies at North Park University in Chicago and for decades an Orthodox leader in Orthodox-Evangelical dialog)." In his reply, Horton (professor of theology and apologetics at Westminster Seminary and a minister in the United Reformed Church) "is insistent, first of all, that classical (or 'magisterial' or 'confessional') Reformed Protestant theology is something distinct from contemporary mainstream Evangelical thought.
"Horton argues that in some ways his tradition is closer to Orthodoxy than to Evangelicalism....
Farha describes Horton as "a gentleman who can accuse you of heresy with complete equanimity and gentleness, even love. I hope I could do the same, for I believe that such is the mark of hard-core, authentic ecumenism.
"As for the 'maybe' answer, recounting his own experience as a Romanian convert to Baptist Protestantism who yet longed for and loved the sobriety and mystical authenticity of Orthodox worship, George Hancock-Stefan expresses the painful conviction that nominalism is often the rule among Orthodox worshipers in ethnic communities. He struggles to reconcile these two perceived realities, which influence his understanding of the sacraments and salvation itself.
"Edward Rommen supplements this 'maybe' with a careful description of the great deal of common ground between Orthodox and Evangelical understandings of Scripture and salvation, as well as areas where no compatibility is possible."
Farha concludes that "As Orthodoxy becomes truly indigenous in the West (calling into question the very use of the term 'Eastern' Orthodoxy) [understanding it] will become increasingly important." Touchstone, Dec '05, pp47-48.
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HOMOSEXUALITY
"The Gay Invention" by R.V. Young -- argues that "homosexuality is a linguistic as well as a moral error." By this, Young means to refute the popular argument that "For thousands of years, until the late 1800s, our ancestors were completely oblivious to the existence of a fundamentally distinct class of human beings. Indeed, during the long period of Greco-Roman antiquity and more than a millennium and a half of Christian civilization, man did not even have a name for this class." In other words, this is an argument that "'heterosexuals' and 'homosexuals' are two permanently and innately different kinds of human being, and that 'sexual orientation' constitutes a difference comparable to the difference between male and female."
Young discusses what is lacking in the terminology and history behind the above pro-gay approach, and specifically its neglect to discuss the idea of sodomy. He concludes: "No really existing class of persons of a specific, distinct nature corresponds to the word 'homosexual' in the way that men and women are distinct, complementary kinds of human being. A claim for specific 'homosexual rights' is, therefore, frivolous, and the word is merely an ideological construct aimed at undermining the sexual norms inscribed in human nature." Touchstone, Dec '05, pp36-41.
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NEW TESTAMENT CRITICISM
Jesus Remembered, by James D.G. Dunn [3]; and A New Perspective on Jesus: What the Quest for the Historical Jesus Missed, by James D.G. Dunn [4] -- reviewer Dan McCartney reports that Jesus Remembered "covers the methodology and philosophy of historical Jesus study, and also discusses the history itself. Its most significant and distinctive features are a vigorous apologetic for a positive evaluation of the oral tradition as historically conservative rather than inventive, and a corresponding positive attitude toward faith as not a distorting force but an impetus toward careful preservation of the memory of Jesus. These features are boiled down and made accessible to a broader audience in A New Perspective on Jesus."
McCartney spends most of his time responding to the highly technical discussion of Jesus Remembered. He concludes, however, "If anything, Dunn's arguments are even more trenchant and incisive [in
A New Perspective] than in his larger work [Jesus Remembered]. Here he focuses on three main issues: (1) faith was always a component of the tradition (there is no 'pre-faith' period of tradition), but that is by no means a drawback to its historical character; (2) the earliest transmission of the tradition was oral, and therefore we ought to rethink the character of the sources in terms of telling rather than copying and editing; (3) though specific details sometimes have a historical caveat hanging over them, the consistency of the depictions of Jesus gives the historian confidence that we really do have a reliable picture of the real Jesus who lived in first century Palestine." Westminster Theological Journal, 67:2 - 2005, pp429-453.
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Sources, Monographs:
1 - Rapture Culture: "Left Behind" in Evangelical America, by Amy Johnson Frykholm (Oxford Univ Prs, 2004, hardcover, 240 pages)
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195159837/apologiareport>
2 - Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism, James Stamoolis, ed. (Zondervan, 2004, paperback, 304 pages)
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310235391/apologiareport>
3 - Jesus Remembered (Christianity in the Making, Vol. 1), by James D.G. Dunn (Eerdmans, 2003, hardcover, 992 pages)
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802839312/apologiareport>
4 - A New Perspective on Jesus: What the Quest for the Historical Jesus Missed, by James D.G. Dunn (Baker, 2005, paperback, 160 pages)
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0801027101/apologiareport>
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