Studies in Hisorical and Systematic Theology

Review: Fundamentalists in the Public Square

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Cover image of "Fundamentalists in the Public Square" by Madison Trammel

Fundamentalists in the Public Square (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology), Madison Trammel. Lexham Academic. (ISBN: 9781683597186) 2023.

Summary: A counter-argument to the contention that fundamentalists retreated from activism in the public square after the Scopes trial, based on a study of newspaper reports.

Much of the history that has been written about fundamentalism contends that following the Scopes trial, there was a fundamentalist retreat from activist concerns. Madison Trammel, on the basis of a study of newspaper reporting in four states, proposes that at very least, this is an incomplete picture. his methodology was to focus on newspaper coverage of the two major social issues fundamentalists were engaged with during the period of 1920 to 1933, Evolution and Prohibition, to see if there was a drop off in coverage after the 1925 Scopes trial.

Trammel begins by reviewing the historiography of this period and the two streams, one of retreat and one of continuing activism, indicating his own research’s support of the second stream. Then chapters 2 and 3 take each issue, Evolution and Prohibition, and offer an analysis of the reporting. In general, activism in promoting opposition to the teaching of evolution and upholding Prohibition once it was enacted into law remained high during the period after Scopes.

In these chapters, I found quite striking the public role both William Jennings Bryan and pastor John Roach Straton played as public spokesmen for fundamentalist positions on both Evolution and Prohibition and that their deaths (Bryan in 1925 and Straton in 1930) may have played a greater role in stalling activism than the trial itself. More disturbing were the alignments between fundamentalists like Aimee Semple McPherson and the rejuvenated Ku Klux Klan in appealing to the same constituencies.

Chapter Four explores the influence of Dispensationalism on activism. Biblicist concerns and concerns about sin drove fundamentalist opposition to Darwin and drink. On the other hand, eschatological concerns de-emphasized social action for efforts in personal evangelism. It was striking to me that fundamentalism didn’t seem to have the resources to address the grinding poverty of the Depression, or the changing fabric of America shaped by immigration from both without and within as Blacks moved from the South to northern cities and to the west.

I wondered about the research methodology. Being from Ohio, I noted the heavy weighting of newspapers toward rural outlets. Many of the major papers in Ohio’s larger cities were not a part of the database used. I wondered if this might skew the accuracy of the analysis. I also wonder if New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois, all northern states, offer an accurate national profile.

This book raises larger questions as well about the narrowness of activism in the public square and the paucity of intellectual resources to meet modernist challenges, which require more than oratorical and political suasion skills. At the same time, Trammel helpfully challenges the over-simplifications of fundamentalist history in this crucial period. This is worthwhile in understanding matters as diverse as the continuing anti-science, and particularly evolution, stances in conservative churches, the focus on hot-button issues, and the approaches to societal influence in the public square.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: A Bond Between Souls

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A Bond Between Souls: Friendship in the Letters of Augustine (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology), Coleman M. Ford. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2022.

Summary: A study of the correspondence of Augustine revealing the qualities of his friendships and a vision of friendship rooted in God, encouraging one another in Christian virtue and the love of God.

Coleman M. Ford has come up with a great idea in this book. Study Augustine’s ideas about friendship in the context of his friendships for what we might learn about them through his extant correspondence.

He sets this against the classical Greco-Roman ideas of friendship, difficult for some to define, as was the case with Socrates, who valued his friendships. Aristotle defined friendships based on utility, pleasure, and virtue, with the latter being the highest form. Epicureans saw friendship in terms of mutual dependence, a willingness to lay down one’s life for the other. Stoics believed only the truly wise and good could know friendship. Cicero saw friendship involving mutual accord accompanied by good will and affection.

To all this Augustine adds the recognition that spiritual friendship is the gift of God, grounded in the love of God for the encouragement of one another in both Christian virtue and in faith, hope, and love. Its intent is to prepare us for the heavenly city. Friends also add to one’s happiness in this world and the happiness of our friends is to be prayed for. Friends also exhort one another to pursue greater holiness and virtue, as was the case with Augustine and Martianus.

That brings us to a study of his letters to various persons. Perhaps the most interesting, and first in this monograph, is the study of his correspondence with another great church leader, Jerome. Augustine, the younger of the two, but already a bishop, desires spiritual and intellectual friendship with Jerome. He has an interesting way of going about this, sparring with Jerome over Jerome’s interpretation of Galatians 2. What was grievous was that his initial letter went astray and was read by others as a criticism of Jerome rather than an effort to engage with a respected intellectual peer and to have an honest friendship where no idea was off the table. Jerome was not pleased and subsequent correspondence reveals Augustine’s attempt to heal the misunderstanding, and his genuine sorrow for the grievance. We see someone interested in both their mutual spiritual improvement and deeply committed to his fellow leader. Ford doesn’t say this, but I have a hunch that Augustine could have been a demanding friend, but also one that could call one out to greater intellectual and spiritual depth. We see the two of them strive toward a mutual love that could stand disagreement and difference.

With others, Augustine could be an affectionate and perceptive friend, as was evident in the long correspondence between Paulinus and Therasia, and Augustine, calling them deeper into their union with Christ and the forsaking of the world’s riches for the hope of heaven. We see similar qualities in other correspondence with clergy, as they deal with various disputes including the Donatist controversy. While remaining faithful to Christ, they must also minister out of holy love, the real foundation of their office.

He also corresponds with civic officials, bidding them to Christlike virtues as they sought the common good. They could only offer ordered leadership out of ordered lives. His writing reflects a love of truth rather than an attempt to wield influence over those in power. He writes with affection and intellectual seriousness.

What impresses me in all of this is how Augustine combines warm affection, intellectual substance, and spiritual devotion to foster Christ-likeness in his friends, and how he invites this from them as well. There is no mere sentimentality or a casual “best buds” attitude. Caught up in the pursuit of the heavenly call and the City of God, Augustine rigorously wanted friends who challenged him to his spiritual best, and this is what he offered others. Strong stuff to be sure.

Coleman M. Ford has given us a fine piece of scholarship in this monograph that shows us dimensions of Augustine’s life of which many of us are unaware. I’m left thinking how this challenges our casual and utilitarian approaches to friendship and the shallowness of many of our relationships in the body of Christ, where “hanging out” substitutes for spurring each other on to “love and good works,” to the Christ-likeness that is God’s intention for each other, that is willing to exhort and correct out of deep affection and uncompromising longing for the other’s progress in Christ.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Review: The Federal Theology of Jonathan Edwards

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The Federal Theology of Jonathan Edwards (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology), Gilsun Ryu, Foreword by Douglas A. Sweeney. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021.

Summary: A study of Jonathan Edwards federal theology, forming the basis of a theology of the history of redemption in three covenants, with a focus on Edward’s exegetical approach to this theology.

You may have noticed from several reviews of books on Jonathan Edwards that I am something of an Edwards fan. Some of this is just national pride. Jonathan Edwards is the first significant and perhaps foremost American theologian. I admire that much of his theological work was done in a pastoral context. And one thing I’ve seen run through different studies of Edwards, including this present work is his ability to both keep faith with the faith once delivered and yet to tease out subtleties missed by other interpreters.

This work focuses on his federal theology. The idea can be traced back to Augustine and was developed in Reformed thought. It is that of the headship of the first and second Adams, acting, as it were, on the behalf of humanity, the first in sin, the second in his obedience to the law and sacrificial death satisfying the laws demands against sinners, reconciling them to God. For Jonathan Edwards, this served as the basis for an unfinished theological project, A History of the Work of Redemption, but one developed in a series of sermons and in many other writings.

Gilsun Ryu begins with four theologians antecedent to Edwards: Cocceius, Witsius, Mastricht, and Turretin. While Edwards draws upon all of these, he bases his theology on the biblical history of redemption, an approach that emphasizes the harmony of scripture as seen in his covenants of redemption, works, and grace. He begins with the covenant of redemption, the purposes and working out of those purposes in the Trinity within the history of redemption. The covenant of works emphasizes the sin of Adam, the impact upon his posterity, the impossibility of returning to a pre-fall state and the Christological focus seen under Moses, pointing toward redemption, Finally, the covenant of grace is traced progressively by Edwards through biblical history, prophecy, and secular history.

Having considered these three covenants within the history of redemption, Ryu then turns to the exegetical basis for each of the three covenants. While there is evidence of various methods of interpretation including typology and Christological interpretation, Ryu shows through Edwards’ exegesis of scripture that a redemptive historical framework informed that exegesis and the resulting doctrinal understanding, emphasizing the unity and harmony of scripture.

The last chapter shows how Edwards applied his federal theology of redemption in the church setting, showing how Edwards sought to encourage faith and piety through showing Christians how to engage with redemptive history. In this, he resists Arminian tendencies in emphasizing both the precedence of God’s design and human responsibility in justification.

Ryu’s unique contribution is his focus on Edward’s exegetical work, which he argues is what distinguishes Edwards’ federal theology from his predecessors. He draws on both books and Edwards sermons, and this latter is significant. This is not only systematic theology. It is pastoral theology grounding the spiritual state of his people in the sweep of redemptive history. I appreciated this work not only for it careful scholarly work but for recognizing this pastoral element in Edwards work–a model for modern-day pastor theologians!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.