Great Theologians

It’s difficult to know how to say this right. When eight conservative evangelicals, a few Southern Baptist but not all, with a few more teaching at SBC and conservative evangelical schools, conspire to write a volume on the early and medieval fathers, one is inclined to say “that’s different.” Why? Because the general impression is that Baptists and Bible-shaped evangelicals don’t care to adjudicate theology through the debates of great theologians but to determine theology through reading the Bible and laying out what the Bible says. [I edited this first paragraph after it was pointed out to me that not even half of the authors of this volume are SBC; two aren’t who teach at such schools.]

Question: How often in a given year of preaching (or listening to sermons) do you hear one of the names of the following theologians mentioned?

But I grew up in a baptistic tradition and while my childhood pastor never quoted (to my memory) the luminary theologians of the Great Tradition (like Athanasius), my college theology professor loved the medievals (though he had some suspicion about the early fathers). This illustrates what for me is a long-time observation: evangelical and Baptist theologians know their history though their churches prefer it straight out of the Bible.

So I’m not surprised by this new book from IVP, edited by Bradley G. Green: Shapers of Christian Orthodoxy: Engaging with Early and Medieval Theologians. I dipped and dived, read some of it very carefully and skimmed through other parts, and have to say this is a fine introduction into major theologians: Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius, the Cappadocians, Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas.

Each theologian is treated with profound respect; the life of each sketched and the major ideas explored; and there is always a bit of a discussion of how evangelicals can appropriate the theologian. The discussions differ from person to person: some are more biographically-oriented while others are concerned more directly with their theology. At times topics are raised only because evangelicals care — that is, somethings are a bit anachronistic — but the book will be useful, and for me functions as warm confirmation that the Great Theologians are on the rise among evangelicals. Each chp has nothing less than an admirable bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

Well done, Bradley Green!