Theology in the Democracy of the Dead

Matt Jenson

Description

G. K. Chesterton wrote, "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead." This book pays homage to major theologians of the Christian tradition that tell the history of theology. Matt Jenson engages in charitable yet critical exposition and dialogue with eleven select thinkers, offering a lucid, synthetic account of their theology with a view to ongoing systematic theological issues. He engages directly with core primary texts and treats individual theologians in greater depth and nuance than most overview textbooks.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian theology
• History of religions

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493419647
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Endorsements
“Jenson’s opening vision of catholicity provides an ideal foundation for winning over an audience that may not be wholly convinced of the value of tradition. His conversational style will draw readers in for a journey with some of the most important theologians of the Christian tradition in a way that is both engaging and accessible. This book will be deeply valued in the classroom.”
— Mary Veeneman , North Park University
“Today the church and her theology can frequently seem rather thin and immature, whereas the Bible calls us to wholeness and maturity. Jenson adeptly shows that learning from our elders—more specifically from the Triune God’s work in and through this ‘great cloud of witnesses’—plays a crucial role in growing into that fullness. This book introduces eleven brilliant figures, surveys their work and influence, introduces significant secondary literature, and helps guide readers not merely to know them but to think with them. I wish everyone could be in the classroom with this master teacher; now his classroom expands, and all of us can follow his guidance.”
— Michael Allen , Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2019 by Matt Jenson
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1964-7
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016
Dedication
To the faculty, students, and staff of the Torrey Honors Institute, past and present
Contents
Cover i
Endorsements ii
Half Title Page iii
Title Page v
Copyright Page vi
Dedication vii
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1. A King or a Fox? Irenaeus of Lyons and the Theology of Scripture 5
2. The Word Who Became Flesh: The Center and Circumference of Athanasius’s Theology 33
3. “The Lovely Things Kept Me Far from You”: The Wayward Loves of Augustine 63
4. “That Most Biblical of Theologians”: Denys the Areopagite and th e Brilliant Darkness of God 85
5. Faith Seeking Understanding—or Understanding Seeking Faith? Anselm of Canterbury and the Logic of God 107
6. “St. Thomas of the Creator”: Aquinas and the Beginning and End of All Things in God 129
7. “One Little Word Shall Fell Him”: The Word of God and the Faith of Martin Luther 165
8. “What Do You Have That You Did Not Receive?”: John Calvin on Having God as Father 193
9. The Beauty of Holiness: Jonathan Edwards’s Religion of the Heart 221
10. A Pietist of a Higher Order: Schleiermacher, Jesus, and the Heart of Religion 247
11. “The Happiest Theologian of Our Age”: Karl Barth on the One Word of God That We Have to Hear 275
Bibliography 305
Scripture Index 321
Subject Index 325
Back Cover 334
Acknowledgments
This book has been hard work and a long time in coming. With each chapter, I have known the joyful disorientation of diving down the rabbit hole of one of the church’s great minds. Frequently, I wondered if I would be able to make sense of them, much less help others do the same. Fred Sanders and Doug Sweeney came along just at the right time at a couple of points in the project, believing in me and nudging me ahead. Bob Hosack and I began meeting together years ago; he has been a patient, gracious, and clear editor. He handed off the project to Julie Zahm, who has capably and kindly overseen the process of bringing the manuscript to book form. Thanks to her, to Paula Gibson, Brandy Scritchfield, Jeremy Wells, and my anonymous, eagle-eyed copyeditor.
My research assistants—Hannah Grady, Miranda Hess, and Sophia Johnson—have been massively helpful. Hannah and Miranda closely read the book and offered many suggestions of felicitous phrasing, cuts, queries about matters of interpretation, and the perspective of that elusive “target audience.” Sophia helped with the bibliography and indexes. Biola University has provided much-needed space to research and write through financial support, including a sabbatical in the spring of 2014 and a course release in the fall of 2017.
I am deeply grateful for the time each of these people took to read and respond to portions of the book and am happy to now call many of them friends: Khaled Anatolios, Uche Anizor, John Behr, Sarah Brown, Julie Canlis, John Cavadini, Oliver Crisp, Christine Helmer, Joe Mangina, Dave Nelson, Paul Rorem, Fred Sanders, Kate Sonderegger, Chelle Stearns, Doug Sweeney, Terry Tice, Diane Vincent, Joseph Wawrykow, David Wilhite, Thomas Williams, and Sarah Hinlicky Wilson. They pushed me, kept me honest, blew wind into my sails, wondered with me, confirmed my intuitions, and corrected me. Not only would this book be much weaker without their good help, but there are places where I would have been a questionable guide. There may still be some of those, and the old saw gets it right—the mistakes are all mine.
I could fill a book telling you of the friendships that have sustained, enriched, illuminated, and directed me over these years. To name only a few: the people of Fountain of Life Covenant Church—my family in the deepest sense; the Spears, Mikasa, and Sato families; my wonderful parents, Ron and Mary; my sister Molly, who becomes a closer friend each year; and now Sarah.
The Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University has been my academic home for a dozen years now. I know of nothing quite like it. My job is to discuss the greatest books of the West for hours on end with students eager to grow in the likeness of Christ. I have the best students and the brightest colleagues—colleagues who are dear friends. Most of these chapters began as lectures in Torrey, and I gladly dedicate this book to its students, faculty, and staff.
Abbreviations AH Against H eresies . By Irenaeus of Lyons. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. N.p.: Ex Fontibus, 2010. CD Church Dogmatics . By Karl Barth. Edited and translated by G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance. 13 vols. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1956–75. CH Celestial Hierarchy . By Pseudo-Dionysius. In Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works. Translated by Colm Luibheid and Paul Rorem. New York: Paulist Press, 1987. Comm. Calvin’s Commentaries . By John Calvin. Translated by the Calvin Translation Society. Edited by John King et al. 22 vols. Edinburgh, 1843–55. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009. ( Comm. Romans = Calvin’s Commentaries: Romans ; Comm. Psalms = Calvin’s Commentaries: Psalms ; etc.) Dem. On the Apostolic Preaching (= The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching ). By Irenaeus. Translated by John Behr. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1997. DN The Divine Names . By Pseudo-Dionysius. In Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works . Translated by Colm Luibheid and Paul Rorem. New York: Paulist Press, 1987. EH The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy . By Pseudo-Dionysius. In Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works. Translated by Colm Luibheid and Paul Rorem. New York: Paulist Press, 1987. Ep. Epistles (Letters). By Pseudo-Dionysius. In Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works . Translated by Colm Luibheid and Paul Rorem. New York: Paulist Press, 1987. Inst. Institutes of the Christian Religion . By John Calvin. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Edited by John T. McNeill. 2 vols. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1960. LW Luther’s Works . By Martin Luther. American ed. Edited by J. Pelikan and H. Lehmann. 55 vols. St. Louis: Concordia; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1955–86. MT Mystical Theology . By Pseudo-Dionysius. In Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works. Translated by Colm Luibheid and Paul Rorem. New York: Paulist Press, 1987. Or. On God and Christ: The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius . By Gregory of Nazianzus. Translated by Lionel Wickham. New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002. SCG Summa contra gentiles . By Thomas Aquinas. Translated by Anton C. Pegis, James F. Anderson, Vernon J. Bourke, and Charles J. O’Neil. 5 vols. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1975. ST Summa theologica . By Thomas Aquinas. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. 5 vols. Allen, TX: Christian Classics, 1981. WJE The Works of Jonathan Edwards . By Jonathan Edwards. Edited by Perry Miller, John E. Smith, and Harry S. Stout. 26 vols. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957–2008. WJEO The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online . By Jonathan Edwards. http://ed wards.yale.edu.
Introduction
You may be wondering about the macabre title of this book. It’s a bit spooky, this reference to a “democracy of the dead.” It conjures graveyards, evokes underworlds. The words come from G. K. Chesterton, who writes:
I have never been able to understand where people got the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It is obvious that tradition is only democracy extended through time. It is trusting to a consensus of common human voices rather than to some isolated or arbitrary record. . . . Tradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a go