the tension between those two families.
Continuing a consideration of the dynamics of congregational life, Allan Chapple notes that for some years, pastors and church leaders have been deluged by material on the subject of church leadership. Should pastors be CEOs? Managers? “Ranchers”? Differences between biblical leadership models and management models are explored by Chapple, including the tension between authority in the church versus ownership over the church. Drawing on Paul’s final words to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20, the focus of Christian leadership is identified, and its comprehensive, costly, and countercultural aspects are highlighted. The focus on Christian leadership, together with a discussion of the power of spoken words, continues in Scot McKnight’s second chapter. McKnight turns to the letter of James to examine the power of the tongue and the implications for pastor–teachers. Beneath the choice to opt for either words of wisdom or words as weapons is the deeper choice between humility and peace in the face of criticism or the desire for control.
Those outside the four walls of the church often notice the contradictions between the statements of churches and their actions. The paper by Karen Siggins focuses on the discrepancy between the stated position of many Baptist churches regarding women in senior ministry roles, and their praxis. Multigenerational churches contain multiple perspectives and assumptions about women’s leadership, and Siggins warns that there is a real risk of losing the ministry of gifted women, ironically at a time when many congregations are in decline.
Each generation considers anew what it means to be the church, but how should we respond to ancient models from the Mediterranean world? John McClean argues that biblical descriptions of church are neither redundant nor straitjackets, but rather function as paradigms. In a series of argued theses he calls the church to be grounded in the mission of God, recognizing the value of culture without identifying with it. The church must function as a fractured foretaste of the kingdom if it is to fulfill its calling as an instrument of the kingdom.
Another factor affecting the faithfulness and response of the Western church to cultural challenges has been the tension between individuality and community, which has often resulted in the folly of the isolated self. Brian Harris exhorts the church to move beyond a social-club mentality, and to take its bearings from the activity of the three divine persons in the world, and in so doing to become a community of “surprise, embrace, and witness.” Such a church will be hospitable and apologetic in its orientation toward the world, open to new ways and forms of life and service. Harris argues that an incarnational and Trinitarian ecclesiology will produce a church that is persuasive, inviting, and winsome.
An exaltation of individualism was also one of the characteristics of nineteenth-century Romanticism, which Peter Elliott examines, using the ministry of Edward Irving as a case study. Romanticism caused a seismic shift in the theological thought of the nineteenth century, and its ongoing (and often paradoxical) relevance to contemporary Christianity in the areas of spiritual gifts, hermeneutics, the ministry of the laity, and leadership roles is demonstrated.
The perennial dialogue between Christianity and culture is examined by Stephen Garner, who acknowledges that gospel always critiques culture, but goes beyond this to consider how culture critiques the church, and to argue that one responsibility of the church is to listen to, assess, and receive such critique. Popular-culture examples are used to demonstrate ways in which the church has failed to communicate effectively, as well as showing opportunities for doing so, leading to the view that cultural exegesis is a theological imperative.
In his essay, David Cohen takes one of contemporary culture’s controversial topics—concern for the environment—and examines it through the lens of Psalm 24. The discussion is grounded firmly in the historical context of ancient Israel and focuses on the roles of Yahweh and humanity. With Yahweh acknowledged as agent and owner of creation, does this mean humanity is essentially left with a passive role concerning the natural world and its order? This chapter argues towards a more nuanced, complex, and deeply theological conclusion.
Scot McKnight’s final chapter in this volume draws together several themes, including the distinctively missionary character of the apostolic church, the embodiment of Jesus in and through his people, and the powerful reimagining of temple imagery to show how revolutionary the church was (and is). Christians are exhorted to continue living the reality of the atonement, with special recognition of the power of baptism and eucharist.
Yet how can the distinctiveness of Christianity be maintained amidst a plethora of competing belief systems in a world clamoring for inclusiveness? Carolyn Tan assesses a recent argument posed by Amos Yong and Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen that the work of the Holy Spirit present in other religions is a sign of God’s providential activity within those religions, and a sound basis for interfaith dialogue. Tan responds to these arguments with a close analysis of the New Testament’s portrayal of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ.
The final chapter requires us to think through the implications of the life of faith for behavior and moral choice. Interacting with a variety of thinkers such as Socrates, Hume, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, Andre van Oudtshoorn challenges the idea that an objective standard can ever be reached for value-based ethics. Ethics cannot be contained by pure rationalism, and although it strives to be universal, cannot be divorced from subjectivity. Christian morality is presented as essentially theological and pneumatological, and thereby based on a radically subversive view of reality.
Vose Seminary is a member institution of the Australian College of Theology (ACT), and we would like to express our gratitude for the generous support the ACT has given both for the conference, and subsequently for assistance in preparing this volume for publication.
Finally, it is our privilege and delight to dedicate this volume to Dr. Richard K. Moore. Richard is a valued teacher, friend, and esteemed colleague who was Head of New Testament at the Baptist Theological College of Western Australia (now Vose Seminary) until his retirement in 2002, having served the college for twenty-four years. During this period Richard pursued a lifelong quest to understand and explicate the apostle Paul’s doctrine of justification, taught New Testament, and supervised candidates undertaking research degrees in New Testament. He has published a number of books, including a three-volume treatment of Paul’s Doctrine of Rectification (Edwin Mellen), works on the history of Baptists in Western Australia, including a biography of Dr. Noel Vose, the founding principal of the seminary and former President of the Baptist World Alliance, and Under the Southern Cross: The New Testament in Australian English (2014). In retirement Richard, together with his wife Kath, have remained active in scholarship, and in the life of the seminary and the Baptist churches of Western Australia, contributing generously to the ongoing work of the church both within and beyond its four walls. We, and many others, are the richer for his scholarship, support, and encouragement.
Michael D. O’Neil
Peter Elliott
Perth, 2020
Bibliography
Marshall, I. Howard. “Church.” In Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, edited by Joel B. Green et al., 122–25. Downers Grove: IVP, 1992.
1. Loisy, cited in Marshall, “Church,” 122. Loisy’s statement is from Evangile et l’Eglise, published in Paris in 1902.
Australian College of Theology Monograph Series
series editor graeme r. chatfield
The ACT Monograph Series, generously supported by the Board of Directors of the Australian College of Theology, provides a forum for publishing quality research theses and studies by its graduates and affiliated college staff in the broad fields of Biblical Studies, Christian Thought and History, and Practical Theology with Wipf and Stock Publishers of Eugene, Oregon.
