Appears peripherally related to the ongoing conversations(s), IMO.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jonathan Hughes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Lance Muir" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: March 28, 2005 21:03 Subject: Last post about Grenz...for a while > Last one for a while...here is a friend of Grenz's that thought he left > the evangelical faith....very interesting. > > *FIRST-PERSON: When piety is not enough* > Mar 14, 2005 > /By David S. Dockery/ > > JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)--On Saturday, March 12, many of us received the > unbelievable and sad news that Stanley Grenz had died suddenly as a > result of a massive aneurism. To say that we were shocked would be a > great understatement. > > Born in January 1950, Dr. Grenz was only 55. Yet in those 55 years Stan > had given dozens of lectureships and had authored more than 25 books and > hundreds of articles and chapters. He may well have been the most > prolific Baptist author of the past 15 years. > > Grenz had spoken at many of our Baptist universities and seminaries. I > first met him 17 years ago at a conference on “Southern Baptists and > Evangelicalism” at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, > Ky. We immediately found that we had much in common and developed a > healthy friendship. In words similar to my own, Stan considered himself > both “a Baptist and an evangelical” (in that order). He was the son of a > Conservative Baptist pastor and a graduate of Conservative Baptist > Seminary (now Denver Seminary). His shaping influences included Francis > Schaeffer, Vernon Grounds, Gordon Lewis and Kenneth Kantzer. I, too, > admired these great evangelical leaders and thinkers and had learned > much from them. > > Stan’s interests were wide-ranging as evidenced by his writings. His > early work in Baptist history and theology can best be seen in his > outstanding volume on Isaac Backus (1983). His 1985 publication on > Baptist congregationalism still remains a significant resource for > anyone dealing with issues of Baptist polity. The first volume he > published on ethics in 1990 was insightful. His coauthored reference > work exploring 20th-century theology and theologians in 1992 has served > as a most helpful tool for students for many years. His book “Millennial > Maze” (1992) has helped pastors, students and laypersons sort out > eschatological issues. These volumes written over a decade (1983-93) > could be called the “early Grenz,” truly a Baptist and evangelical > thinker of note. > > But then came the turn in his thinking in 1993 with the volume > “Revisioning Evangelical Theology.” I had a hint of what was coming, for > months earlier he had read “The Doctrine of the Bible,” a book I had > written for the SBC doctrine study in 1992. His response was, “I can’t > say it like that anymore.” He said the same thing more forcefully to me > with the publication of my book “Christian Scripture” (1995). > > My initial response to his “revisioning” project was hopeful. I thought > he was calling for a renewed emphasis on piety to balance what some > called the “evangelical rationalism” of those like Carl Henry and > Kenneth Kantzer. But anyone who knew Drs. Henry and Kantzer also > recognized that they were men of deep and authentic piety. Nevertheless, > I thought Grenz’s call for a renewal of genuine piety was good, but upon > further reflection I had missed the point. > > My good friend, Al Mohler, suggested that Grenz’s new paradigm was just > not a call to balance heart and head, but a call to define > evangelicalism almost totally in light of a commitment to piety, thus > decreasing an emphasis on doctrinal parameters. Looking back, Dr. Mohler > was quite insightful. A few years after the publication of Revisioning, > Grenz began to refer to himself as “a pietist with a Ph.D.” Certainly > there is something distinctive about evangelical piety. We all “know it” > when we encounter it. So Grenz was not entirely wrong to so characterize > the evangelical movement, but to do it in a manner that questioned > traditional evangelical doctrine raised problems for many. > > In 1994 Grenz published his large one-volume theology called “Theology > for the Community of God” (the first edition was published by Broadman & > Holman and the second edition by Eerdmans). It was here that we began to > see the initial shape of the revisioning project that would continue for > another decade. > > Obviously there isn’t space to review this volume completely, but only > to say three important things. First, Grenz elevated the love of God > over all other attributes of God to such a degree that God’s holiness > was completely de-emphasized. God’s love was almost personalized, thus > becoming a fourth member of the Trinity. The implications for the > doctrine of God and the atonement are obvious. Second, in his attempt to > elevate the church and the community over the “individualistic” approach > to salvation and the Christian life in prior evangelical theologies, > Grenz seemingly lost the Bible’s emphasis on the need for individual > response and accountability. Thirdly, Grenz de-emphasized the doctrine > of Scripture, moving it from a foundational place in the development of > his theology to what seemed to be a footnote to the doctrine of the Holy > Spirit. These three key shifts started Grenz’s pilgrimage in a direction > that many traditional evangelicals were unable to support. > > Grenz’s fascination with postmodernism became evident with his “Primer” > (1996) and his “Created for Community” published the same year. Most > would agree that Stan’s description of postmodernism was as clear, > cogent and helpful as any that could be found. It was his analysis and > resulting proposals that created confusion. > > Soon he was suggesting that theology could be done in a way that he > described as “beyond foundationalism” (2001). To do so and still > continue to call himself an evangelical, he attempted to redefine the > evangelical center in his 2000 publication, “Renewing the Center.” To do > so, he had to shift Carl Henry and Millard Erickson from the center to > the far right. These unprecedented shifts elevated Grenz’s proposals on > most everyone’s radar screen. Al Mohler described this proposal as a > “center without a circumference.” Millard Erickson noted that “it does > not yet appear that [Grenz and others] have moved so far as to surrender > the right to be called evangelicals, but such movement cannot be > unlimited.” D.A. Carson went so far as to say “with the best will in the > world, I cannot see how Grenz’s approach can be called ‘evangelical’ in > any useful sense.” > > Certainly that would be the case with his final two works: “The Social > God and the Relational Self” (2001) and “Rediscovering the Triune God.” > His influence was such, however, that Justin Taylor in the recently > released “Reclaiming the Center” (2004) described Grenz as the > theologian of the “emerging church movement,” with Brian McLaren as the > movement’s pastor. This movement reflects the loss of the > epistemological centrality of the Bible evident in Stan’s more recent work. > > About five years ago Stan and I shared the plenary address platform at > the Wheaton Theology Conference. At dinner that night I shared my > concerns with him privately about the direction of his work. I noted > that two Baptist giants a century earlier had attempted to respond to > and engage the currents of their day and had made concessions along the > way that they both sought to recover at the end of their lives: E.Y. > Mullins in his engagement with Schleiermacher’s understanding of > Christian experience and A.H. Strong’s earnest attempts to wrestle with > issues of historiography. I encouraged him to follow their turn. > > We had a similar conversation in 2002 on the Union University campus > when he gave a presentation about his own pilgrimage titled, “A Pietist > with a Ph.D.” He was not receptive to my suggestions on either occasion. > At that time it was quite clear that he could no longer consider me a > “kindred spirit” (nor I, him) as he had described our relationship in > the dedication of the theology book in 1994. But the reality is we both > knew that such had been the case for a decade. I was a “kindred spirit” > of the “early Grenz” but not the Grenz since the beginning of the > revisioning project. Since his trip to Union in 2002 our communication > has been quite minimal. > > Today, I, like many others in the Baptist and evangelical world, find > myself in shock. It is hard to believe that Stan Grenz is no longer with > us. Stan was a good friend to me and to many others across Baptist life. > He was a devoted family man and one who sought to be kind in all of his > personal interactions. We all admired his prolific pen and his tireless > work ethic. Stan Grenz was a committed Baptist, a churchman of the first > order and a warmhearted pietist. > > Unfortunately, his pietism didn’t translate into evangelical coherence > or orthodox consistency. I will miss Stan Grenz, but I have learned from > him one thing for sure: Piety is not enough in and of itself to carry > forth doctrinal conviction and the great Christian intellectual > tradition. As Baptists we are sometimes confused with talk about > separating the heart from the head, piety from doctrine and programs > from theology. Yet, to be both Baptist and evangelical calls for us to > reconnect the head with the heart, piety with orthodoxy, and cultural > engagement with faithful churchmanship. Southern Baptists need to > recover their biblical earnestness and seriousness about doing good > theology. We need to prove to ourselves and to others that orthodoxy and > piety can go together once again. That is the challenge of our time. As > attractive as it might seem, piety alone is not enough. > --30-- > David S. Dockery is president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn. > > ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. 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