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Theology in the News

My Top Ten Theology Stories of 2008

Counting down the events, debates, and books that shaped evangelical theology over the last year.

Collin Hansen | posted 12/29/2008 09:08AM

Christianity Today's editors have already compiled their list of the top ten news stories of 2008. Only a few of them have theological overtones, so I decided to take a stab at the top ten theology stories ...

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JVK	Posted: January 05, 2009 3:44 PM


Collin, how is the depiction of the Trinity in The Shack modalistic? It doesn't portray God as 1 person who acts in 3 different roles, which is what modalism teaches. On the contrary, its strong stress on the 3 divine persons could open it to the charge of tritheism, which is the equal and opposite heresy to modalism. When discussing heresies, please make sure your terminology is accurate!

non USA

Posted: January 04, 2009 2:31 PM


Typical CT article. More about Americanisms than theology. Is nothing of evangelical theological note happening outside USA. Oops, sorry I forgot your niche market is evangelical American academics.

brian

Posted: December 31, 2008 2:26 AM

On a personal note, and completely irrelevant note it would be the many souls that I know that have walked away from the faith. Most were deeply injured in the Body, again irrelevant, but they just left. They are not and will never be even a blip on the radar. Most of them were torn to shreds by the evangelical machine. Again granted they had it coming being stupid enough to get in the way. I do appreciate your list, being one of those who are on the fringe much of it I cant relate to, though I understand it. When I first became a "Christian" it was about following Jesus, I understand now how pathetic, childish, and repugnant such a simple view of the faith was. I have repented of such childishness. My number one theological item is this Gospel, is just plain not good news for most of us, not at all.

Susan M.

Posted: December 30, 2008 5:56 PM


Gently correcting commenter Melissa Moore above, Dr. Enns was not fired by Westminster Seminary; he left. I count it a privilege to have been his student at what so many of us wistfully now think of as Old Westminster.

David

Posted: December 30, 2008 4:16 PM


Jim, with all due respect, the things that you mentioned aren't, directly, theological stories. They were incredibly significant events, to be sure. Some of the theological issues that Hansen mentions are the very pillars upon which Christianity stands. They fall, Christianity ceases to be Christianity, no matter how 'relevant' it is. Mr. Hansen, this was a good piece of work.

Former Westminster Student

Posted: December 30, 2008 1:11 PM

"Yet his case confirmed that Westminster remains concerned to guard against all efforts, however subtle, that it perceives undermine biblical authority." Many who lived through the troubles at WTS do not see it this way. Go read the some of the faculty position papers: http://www.wts.edu/about/beliefs/statements/theological_discussion_documen. html . You will see those against Enns engaged in scare tactics, aggressive misreadings of him, and exhibiting a commitment to Reformed Tradition over the Bible. The WTS debacle is significant, but as emblematic of the fundamentalist-Traditionalist turn within American Evangelicalism. Myself and many others see the new stance of WTS as undermining Biblical Authority as they have decided ahead of time what the Bible must be and persecute those within the Evangelical world who advocate allowing God to challenge us---through his Word---in ways we do not want to be challenged. So, go read the documents and learn the sad story of WTS' fall.

DEACON LOU

Posted: December 30, 2008 10:59 AM

The Shack impressed many of my friends. I enjoyed it and put it next to "How Big Is Your God?" by Paul Coutinho. The second book, from page 36 to page 63, describes our pictures of God, Priestly, Eloistic, Yahwistic and Deuteronomic. (There is much more in the book about how we picture and think about God, of course.) "The Shack" has some fine examples and our reactions to the story and its parts helps us to see how sometimes we are thinking about our God from the Priestly or Eloistic or Yahwistic or Deuteronomic point of view. The two books, when put together, can be a help in our spiritual growth.

Melissa Moore

Posted: December 30, 2008 8:38 AM

I'm deeply frustrated by Hansen's overly simplistic summary of Westminster Seminary's firing of Pete Enns. it was not only the majority of students who were deeply disturbed by Westminster's handling of this situation, but also much of the faculty, a significant number of alumni, and a good percentage of the board. at least seven board members resigned over this issue. meanwhile, the seminary had to conclude that Pete Enns was well within evangelical orthodoxy, even as they were firing him. i agree that this has been a significant theological story of 2008, but not for the reasons provided by Mr. Hansen.

Stuart

Posted: December 30, 2008 2:43 AM

As an evangelical who lives outside the USA I'm yet again disappointed to see how small your view of the world is. Does anyone outside the US care about some of these events? Surely bigger events occurred in other countries? Anyway, enough of that, the most important book published in 2008 was Frank Viola's "Reimagining Church". It was the sequel to the brilliant (& admittedly much more scholarly) 2007 book "Pagan Christianity" by Viola & George Barna. To the person who talked about the perverted view of the Trinity propogated by Gruden et al, Viola makes the same point & talks of how our view of the Trinity shapes the way we do church. If anyone out there hasn't read these books make it your new year's resolution to read them both, it will change your life, and if the message is applied then evangelicalism would be reshaped & much more able to influence our society & lead people to salvation.

Chris Moyler

Posted: December 30, 2008 1:02 AM

Dear Collin, Thanks for your bravery in attempting this top ten list- nothing surer to raise hackles! Forgive me for yet another comment on the Shack, but I was intrigued by your comment on "modalism", which is something I had never heard of. I looked it up, but find it hard to see how it applies. To me personallyas a committed evangelical, the biggest fight of all is whether God is truly good. As a truly born-again believer for the last 32 years, I have had a titanic struggle to draw closer to the Lord in an intimate and personal way. This is where tha Shack connects so successfully, for it paints a picture of the Lord wanting to engage with our deepest perceptions of Him, and especially with our pain and our shame. In my view, evangelicalism frequently fails in this most basic of tasks. It tries to get everything "right", something noble and essential, but why is it that it so often ends up treading down those the Lord is trying to engage with? Many blessings in 2008

Jim	Posted: December 29, 2008 8:12 PM


I appreciated this comment, because it clearly presents how far our doctrine has gone in a very clear way!!!

Francis H Geis

Posted: December 29, 2008 4:16 PM

While there are aspects of THE SHACK that I disagree with, I think one reason many Evangelicals dislike it is due to this fact: Its view of the coequality and coeternity of the 3 Persons of the Trinity is contrary to the Neo-Arian view they have come to hold under the influence of such writers as Wayne Grudem and Bruce Ware. That view, contrary to what is taught in both Scripture and the Nicene Creed, is that the Son is eternally subject to the Father in authority, power and majesty, and is necessarily so, since his deity is regarded as being derived from the Father; furthermore, this hierarchical view of the Trinity is then made the ground for demanding Christian women remain permanently subject to men's authority in the home and in the Church. And such is the seriousness of this heresy that it was hotly debated at ETS in October. Yet it doesn't rate as one top 10 stories of 2008!? Our view of the Triune God affects all of theology, and this debate wasn't worth mentioning?

Ken L.

Posted: December 29, 2008 4:15 PM

Much of Hansen's list are regional in nature, or limited to a denomination. Thus "The Shack" gets my vote as it attracted the attention of the Christian public and cut across denominational lines. What most critics seemed to ignore, and accounted for The Shack's popularity, is that it is a parable, or an allegory, not a treatise on systematic theology. And of course whenever a non-theologian like Young sells a ton of books about theology, there has to be something wrong with his theology. And as an alum of Northwestern College, I recall during my years there in the 1950's, very similar accusations and arguments were taking place. Must be something about those cold Minnesota winters...

Jim	Posted: December 29, 2008 3:46 PM

If those are the top 10 Theology stories of 2008, it may show how far our theology has drifted from relevancy to daily Christian life, spiritual awakenings, and life and vitality in our churches. I wonder what would have made the top 10 list in 68... Gentiles being saved! Churches are growing despite persecution, World being turned upside down! Revival sweeps Macedonia, Pioneer missionary martyred, and more. I`m afraid 1st century Christian response to our list might be, "Whatever".

Paul Wilkinson

Posted: December 29, 2008 3:30 PM

Sometimes the most significant things that happen are more subtle shifts that don't make an annual top ten list. I was about to make the same observation as Ginny, the first to comment. There has been a seismic shift over the past few years in our collective God-view. Even those whose personal theology is written in stone are affected when those around them drop traditionally held positions and adopt universalist ideas on salvation or annihilationist views on eternal punishment. Years ago, when California led the nation's divorce rate, Christian counselors suggested that the best advice they could give was to "get out of California." They felt that if divorce was "in the air," it was best to avoid infection. It's the same here. Some leading theologians are "coming out" of the doctrinal closet with a variety of ideas that would have been heretical in previous days. As these views become "airborne," everything is thrown open to debate. Suddenly, God can't exclude or hurt anyone.

Dave J

Posted: December 29, 2008 3:04 PM


As an Alum, the Northwestern College story was interesting. I have watched the deterioration of Northwestern for 10 years. It is paralleled by the demise of it's once stalwart Christian radio station, KTIS. The story that intrigues me most is "The Shack." Have evangelicals totally lost their way? I read some of the book and I was apalled by the blatant heresy. Where are our pastors and teachers?

Allen

Posted: December 29, 2008 2:33 PM


While I'm a great fan of reference works (I both own and use them a lot), they make us lazy and keep us from good study of the Bible. Therefore, I do not believe the publishers' emphasis is noteworthy. I say use several good translations and have the resources near by on the shelf to use after you study.

Dave D

Posted: December 29, 2008 2:23 PM


AND the refreshed role of religion in American politics, in the presidential election.

Anonymous

Posted: December 29, 2008 2:23 PM

Your list of the most important theological events of 2008 is a pathe3tic reminder of the increasing irrelevance of the Gospel to the Evangelical world. All your postings are about your frantic attempts to turn back some clock to a more triumphalistic day. There is nothing about mission, ministry, or Jesus' call to serve the world as servants...pathetic. The church as we now know it is dying a rapid and needful death an with God's grace will be raised anew by others more worthy to carry the name of the Master. CT is a dreadful disappointment to anyone looking for Christianity that's alive.

Ginny Jaques

Posted: December 29, 2008 2:03 PM


The most significant theological development 2008, in my estimation, is not even listed here. It's the debate over the nature of hell and eternal damnation. This discussion eats away at the foundations of Christian theology, degrading our perception of the righteousness of God, the heniousness of sin, and the cost of our redemption. I'm surprised it's not mentioned in the article.

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