The Society for the Advancement of Ecclesiological Theology

Academic Theology Posts

• March 8, 2010

  Pastor-Theologians and Academic Theologians: Toward a Healthy Division of Labor

  I’ve spent the last few weeks reading Robert Jenson’s Systematic Theology. The trinitarian framework that permeates Jenson’s project is fascinating. I’ll need more time (a lot more time!) to sort through all of the implications, but his desire to liberate Christian theology from Greek notions of impassibility and move it toward a (in Jenson’s mind) more biblical notion of God’s ontology has my mind churning in all manners of …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Ecclesial Theology | Systematic Theology

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• February 12, 2010

  Two Birds With One “Pastor-as-Ecclesial-Theologian” Stone

  Nothing particularly new here. Todd and I had lunch with a number of area pastors who wanted to hear more about the SAET. We both came away feeling like maybe we could have been more precise in explaining the SAET vision and mission. So I’ve been trying to think in fresh ways about how best to frame the whole discussion. What problems are we trying to address? How does the …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Ecclesial Theologian | Ecclesial Theology | Evangelicalism | Pastor-theologian | The SAET

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• January 13, 2010

  Carl Trueman on “The Real Scandal of the Evangelical Mind”

  Carl Trueman has a piece over at 9Marks that resonates with much of what the SAET stands for regarding ecclesial theology. Trueman’s basic point is that there is tendency among (some) evangelical academics to pander to the fancies of the secular establishment, and that such pandering is harmful to the church and her theology. I used to push this message more ardently in the early days of the SAET, but have since concluded that …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Carl Trueman | Ecclesial Theology | George Marsden

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• November 29, 2009

  Taxonomy of the Pastor-Theologian, Part 4: The Pastor-Theologian as Academic Theologian

  When I tell people the SAET is a theological society for pastor-theologians, I am initially understood to be speaking of the local theologian model (part 2). When my listeners come to realize that I envision a writing ministry as a vital component of the pastor-theologian’s identity, they quickly assume the popular theologian model (part 3).  When I explain that we are going for something more robust than popular theology, they immediately envision (often with skepticism) this last model—the pastor-theologian as academic theologian. (After all, isn’t academic theology the …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Pastor-theologian

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• November 22, 2009

  Taxonomy of the Pastor-Theologian: Part 1

  I’ve been reading The Power to Comprehend with All the Saints: The Formation and Practice of the Pastor-Theologian. The book is a collection of essays written by the group of pastors who were part of the (now disbanded) Pastor-Theologian Program of the Center For Theological Inquiry. The CTI’s Pastor-Theologian program was, in many respects, a mainline version of the SAET.  The book has a number of robust essays that, …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Ecclesial Theology | Pastor-theologian

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• November 9, 2009

  Doug Sweeny On the Professor as Researcher and the Pastor as Theologian

  At the close of the ‘09 SAET Symposium, our Senior Theological Consultant, Doug Sweeney, offered the following proposal regarding the future relationship between academic scholars and pastor-theologians:
  “We will not always need academic, systematic theologians to do all the heavy theological lifting for God’s people. We are not often explicit about this, but systematic theology, insofar as it is distinguished from biblical, historical, philosophical, psychological, and intercultural theology, is the work …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Ecclesial Theology | Pastor-theologian | Symposium

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• October 4, 2009

  Who Cares What Calvin Thought? (The Church, That’s Who)

  Despite their comments earlier in the book, Bradley and Muller acknowledge the difficulty of achieving total objectivity in historical studies, and indeed, affirm the importance of having a sense of involvement in and with the events of history. “Objectivity in historical studies does not, and cannot, exist if it is defined as an absence of involvement with or opinion about the materials.”

  This is more reasonable, even  if out of step with their earlier comments. But what the right hand gives, the left hand takes away. Bradley and Muller go …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Book Review | Church History | Ecclesial Theology

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• August 14, 2009

  Reformation 21 Article

  The kind folks over at Reformation 21 have posted my article, “Ecclesial Theology and Academic Theology: Why We Need More of the Former.”

  The article briefly recounts the founding of the SAET, and is my latest attempt to flesh out a distinction between academic theology and ecclesial theology. If you read it and have thoughts, I’m interested to hear them.

  Categories: Academic Theology | Articles | Ecclesial Theology | Resurrection | Uncategorized

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• March 2, 2009

  Rusty Reno and the Bifurcation between Theology and Exegesis

  Rusty Reno has a couple of relevant posts (see here and here) in First Things’  On the Square blog. Reno, as you may be aware, has been leading the charge in the new Brazo’s Theological Commentary series. The series is decidedly theological, and the respective volumes are being written by theologians rather than bible scholars. Genius, in my mind. Yet not everyone is impressed. Many professional bible scholars are crying “foul”, declaring …

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  Categories: Academic Theology | Commentaries

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