Kevin Vanhoozer – Hearers and Doers

Kevin Vanhoozer

Hearers & Doers: A Pastor’s Guide to Making Disciples Through Scripture and Doctrine

Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2019.
Available at Lexham Press.

This book by KV is designed for pastors to explain to them the value and importance of Christian doctrine for Christian discipleship. In Hearers and Doers, KV pleads the case that pastors, as pastor-theologians, ought to interpret Scripture theologically to articulate doctrine to help cultivate disciples. He contends that scriptural doctrine is essential to the life of the church, and local pastor-theologians should be the ones delivering it to their communities.

This is the kind of book that I intend to utilize in my TH001 course where I have to explain, sometimes to a reluctant body of students, that learning systematic theology, as opposed to just “Bible,” really is necessary for discipleship and ministry.

One quote alone explains the rationale for the book:

Why does doctrine matter? Primarily because without it, we could not answer Jesus’ question to his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt 16:15). Christian doctrine sets forth in speech who Jesus Christ is (Christology), why he had to suffer (sin), how his death on the cross effected salvation (atonement), how we relate to him (pneumatology), how e benefit from his death (soteriology), how the Spirit assembles the firstfruit of the new creation in Christ (ecclesiology), and what happens when he returns (eschatology). In order to say who Jesus is, we also need the doctrines of God, the Trinity, and creation, because his story does not start with his birth to Mary, but with his eternal fellowship with the Father in the Spirit and with all things being made through him. Finally, because Jesus Christ is true God and true man, we also need to say something about the doctrine of humanity. Virtually every topic in systematic theology is necessary if we are to respond rightly to Jesus’ question. (p. xxiii).

In sum, this volume is very erudite yet accessible, its good summary of the main acts in KV’s theodrama, it urges pastors to be pastor-theologians, and hopefully convinced students that Doctrine 101 is not an optional side dish.

There’s a nice review too a 9Marks.