CCS SysTheo

Issues in Modern Theology:The Historical Jesus, The New

Perspectives on Paul, The Emergent Church

The Historical Jesus

• A Modern “Scholarship” movement to make distinct the Jesus of History and the Jesus of Faith

• Claims that the Jesus worshipped today is a fabrication of historical biases

• Early “quests” – Albert Schweitzer, Thomas Jefferson

• Latter “quests” – The Jesus Seminar, N.T. Wright, Ben Witherington

Problems with the Historical Jesus• The Bible is being handled by modern Higher

Critical Methods• The Bible is being handled like a mere book• These “quests” only appear after the

Enlightenment and only abide in modern, neo-orthodox theology

• The Christ of Faith has been the only Christ of Christianity since the Ascension

• It is a reconstructionist movement with liberal agendas

THERE IS ONLY ONE JESUS

The New Perspectives on Paul (NPP)

• A reconstructionist movement that posits that the Doctrines of Faith versus works that modern theology sees in the writings of Paul are the fabrication of the likes of Martin Luther; Paul never wrote against the Law, just racism

• They would claim that the “old perspective” was that Paul allowed for a Covenantal Nomism – or “law of the Covenant”, but did not allow for Israel to hold out the Gentiles from the covenant blessings

So . . . (they say)• Paul never had a problem with Jews living by the

Law• This was the nature of Second Temple Judaism• Paul was merely telling the Jews that Messiah

calls them to reach out to the Gentiles• So, Paul’s critique of the Jews in Romans and

Galatians was not soteriological in nature, rather it was missiological in nature

• We only think that Paul was against “adding the Law to Christ”, because Luther was mad at the Catholic Church and superimposed that critique of works-salvation onto Paul in the text

Proponents of the NPP

• E. P. Sanders in, Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977)

• James D. G. Dunn labeled the movement , “The New Perspectives on Paul” and became the forerunner in 1982

• N. T. Wright has written a large number of works aimed at popularizing the new perspective outside of academia

Problems with the NPP• Jacob Neusner, a Jewish (non-Christian) Scholar says, – “In regard to Palestinian Judaism, Sanders’ book is so

profoundly flawed as to be hopeless, and I regret to say it, useless in accomplishing its stated goals of systematic description and comparison.”

• It is a movement, again that is relegated to the modern Enlightenment era, alone

• It is a caricatured methodology of assumptions built one one another as fact

• It is very significant, as if you go back and change the history or context of a work – you have a butterfly effect

GOD HAS ALWAYS WANTED OBEDIENCE INSTEAD OF

SACRIFICE

So has:Jesus (Matt. 5:20)The author of Hebrews (Heb. 10:4)James (James 2:8)

NOT JUST A PAUL/LUTHER THING . . .

THE EMERGENT CHURCH

• A Late 20th and 21st century movement that is ecclesiological in nature

• It blurs almost all boundaries – described as: – Protestant, post-Protestant, Catholic, evangelical

post-evangelical, liberal, post-liberal, conservative, post-conservative, anabaptist, adventist, reformed, charismatic, neocharismatic, and post-charismatic

• Claims that the Church is still emerging, and thus cannot be closed to a certain time period or the writings of that time period

Implications of the Emergent Church

• Tradition cannot be a guide by virtue alone• This can include the tradition of the Bible• Since the Spirit of God is still the same Spirit,

He can speak today as He did with the apostles of the Bible

• The most important thing is that you have an unbiased authentic experience with Jesus

• People need to be Christ Followers, not Christians

An Example: Rob Bell

Problems with the Emerging Church

• Postmodern and Existentialist in nature, there are no true definitions to work from

• The Canon of Scripture is not a dated, suggestive work (Hebrews 4:12)

• Even with the so-called shedding of binding rules, there is the binding rule of shedding binding rules

• For the modern Christian, The Emergent Church is welcoming, yet a wolf in sheep’s clothing, for at its heart, this view puts men back in the place of authority again

JOHN 17:17 – “SANCTIFY THEM IN YOUR TRUTH, YOUR WORD IS TRUTH”

CCS SysTheo

Issues in Modern Theology:The Historical Jesus, The New

Perspectives on Paul, The Emergent Church