{"id":11571,"date":"2017-02-09T19:50:52","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T03:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=11571"},"modified":"2017-02-09T19:50:52","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T03:50:52","slug":"embracing-christology-and-the-creeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/embracing-christology-and-the-creeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing Christology and the Creeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Introduction \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>My religious roots as a child were
\nin a classical Pentecostal tradition.\u00a0 It was balanced but narrow in scope, some of that due to the lack and exposure to the \u201clife of the mind\u201d as Mark Noll references it.\u00a0 It was not a literacy issue; it was an exposure and intellectual depth issue.<\/p>\n

Noll, in his book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, <\/em>prescribes to a definition of \u201cintellectual depth\u201d as, \u201c\u2026a way of praising God through the mind\u201d.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 The \u201cminds\u201d around me were brilliant in many areas but lacked a sense of critical and historical Christian thought process.\u00a0 The creeds of the early church were acknowledged as historical documents but as Noll says, \u201c\u2018no creed but the Bible\u2019 put themselves at an enormous disadvantage.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

This \u201cdisadvantage\u201d almost threw me for a theological loop from the deity of Christ to inerrancy of Scripture to the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer today.\u00a0 My formal education began in a Bible School setting but progressed to state universities and then to Christian graduate studies.\u00a0 I was not illiterate, I was lacking depth and longing for a way to know God through my mind as well as my spirit, soul, and body.<\/p>\n

Noll\u2019s book, seventeen years later, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, <\/em>affirmed my many years of pursuit of \u201cintellectual depth\u201d.\u00a0 The scholarly, yet simplistic, presentation of the truth represented in the creeds, the revelation of who Jesus is (Christology), the atonement, and the invitation to the sciences, will cause you to dig deeper.\u00a0 I may have been theologically and mentally challenged with Noll\u2019s look at evolution, but his reasoning resounds with an, \u201c\u2026expectant hope that grows directly from confidence in what has been revealed in Jesus Christ.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

Noll\u2019s clarity seems to resound with his purpose of writing this book: \u201cThe message in this book for my fellow evangelicals can be put simply:\u00a0 if what we claim about Jesus Christ is true, then evangelicals should be among the most active, most serious, and most open-minded advocates of general human learning.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Evangelicals, that Noll is reaching to, are more than a political voting maxim.\u00a0 Evangelicals are the purveyors and defenders of what has been handed down through the centuries from the birth of the church recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.<\/p>\n

Noll does in 167 pages what others have written reams on.\u00a0 His appropriate handling of the creeds (Apostle, Nicene, and \"\"<\/a>Chalcedon) and their direct correlation to the efficacy of Jesus Christ and His Word, were exceptional.\u00a0 \u201cThe creeds were never intended to be a comprehensive survey of all biblical wisdom.\u00a0 But by their explicit references to Scripture as revealing the great work of God in Christ, Nicea and Chalcedon do make an indirect assertion about the primary function of the Bible.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Noll\u2019s reference to the mind supersedes the call to academia for the sake of academia.\u00a0 His reference to John 12:25 and the works and actions of Jesus, \u201c\u2026that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written\u201d, calls us to greater depth.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is true for the life and work of Christ in general is also true for the life of the mind.\u00a0 If the meaning of what Jesus did and is exceeds the capacity of all the books that could be written, so too the meaning of what Jesus did and is, with respect only to the intellectual life, exceeds the capacity of all the books that could ever be written.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>My childhood years were not influenced by the creeds or a great depth in Christology.\u00a0 When I pastored Christ Church Nashville,\u00a0things changed.\u00a0 We were considered a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled church that embraced the historical church.\u00a0 Our catechism class taught, explained, and required memorization of the Apostle\u2019s Creed.\u00a0 The sacraments (a term that was not used in my childhood) were embraced and practiced.\u00a0 Our deep reference to the Spirit and Pentecostal roots, coupled with practices of the early church, caused eyes to lift and ears to perk up.<\/p>\n

I concur with Noll that the creeds, \u201c\u2026remain important for Christian scholarship because they have stood the test of time as faithful summaries of biblical revelation concerning the person and work of Christ.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 Processes and procedures are not salvific if the depth and understanding of Jesus are not present.\u00a0 Rote memorization does not sanctify if Biblical truth is not incorporated.\u00a0 As Noll said, \u201cMy contention in this book is that coming to know Christ provides the most basic possible motive for pursuing the tasks of human learning.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Mark A. Noll, The<\/em> Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, <\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(Grand Rapids, MI:\u00a0 William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2011), 239.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Mark A. Noll, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, <\/em>(Grand Rapids, MI:\u00a0 William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2011), 1.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 124.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., x<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 126.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid. xii<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid., 2.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid., ix-x<\/em>.<\/p>\n