How should evangelicals “do” theology?

How should evangelicals “do” theology? » Theological Method » Theology » Christus Victor Ministries » Greg Boyd: "I thus hold that Christian theology needs a foundation by which its truth claims can be anchored and assessed. Unlike the traditional evangelical model of Carl Henry, I do not see this foundation as a body of revealed information. I rather see it the historical witness to Jesus Christ as the definitive revelation of God. All theology is to be centered on Christ and epistemically anchored in historical considerations that ground the claim that he was, and is, the revelation of God to humanity."

Dipping my toe in the pool...

But is not the Scripture "revealed information"? To say it is "information" does not take away from it's function as witness nor its direct relationship with Jesus Christ. In John 5:39-47, Jesus says that the entire Scripture speaks of him:

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"

There appears to be no dichotomy between the so-called "revealed information" and the witness to Jesus. Mind you, I do see the postfoundationalist point--though I do not agree with it. But it seems to me that in replacing the revealed information with historical witness, Boyd is merely replacing one foundation with another and giving the new "foundation" another name.

Yes, the foundation is Jesus (or rather, the Triune God), but Scripture makes no clear division between the authority of God himself and the authority of his Word.

Am I missing something?


NOTE: This is a rumination ("1. The act of pondering; meditation. 2. The act or process of chewing cud." American Heritage Dictionary) in search of synergy ("1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.")

Tag(s): theology hermeneutics

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