Volume 14 Issue 2

Two wonderfully thoughtful Christian leaders died recently. John R. W. Stott, perennial leader of the singular All Souls Church in London, died on July 27, 2011. Catherine Clark Kroeger, Professor of Classical and Ministry Studies at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, died on February 14, 2011. Both will be sorely missed; both have left a legacy of devoted service to Christianity, made crucial, personal decisions in the course of their ministries that demonstrate how sometimes the decision of one person can impact countless others, and intersect at a key moment. Both have left an indelible impression on me.

John R. W. Stott, age 90 when he died, for 40 years served at the church in which he grew up. All Souls Church sits at a key intersection in London, dwarfed by towering buildings of business and commerce that surround it. As a local church through Stott's leadership, All Souls has had an impact on the secular culture engulfing it and on global Christianity like none other. Stott, the top strategist at the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland, helped unite first-, second-, and third-world Christianity. Like Billy Graham in the United States, Stott and All Souls contributed mightily to resurrecting evangelical Christianity from the dustbin in a culture where Christianity of any sort was in notable decline. Not a trained biblical scholar, but one who read scholarship; not a theologian, but one who thought theologically, Stott exemplified the art of exposition, translating the meaning of a scriptural passage from its biblical context to contemporary Christian life. The series he edited for InterVarsity, The Bible Speaks Today, in which he also contributed multiple volumes, demonstrates exactly how this can be done for those who preach regularly. His decisions? He remained a bachelor to devote himself to a full life of ministry. He also declined multiple invitations to become an Anglican bishop, determining to invest himself fully in All Souls and in service to the worldwide church.

Having first heard Stott preach so incisively in chapel at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School while I was a student there, I also was fortunate to be able to visit All Souls while studying in the UK for my Ph.D. at the University of Aberdeen. Sometimes, it was just to stow my backpack in one of the lockers All Souls has available for people visiting London. One time it was for a morning service, where members of their church who demonstrated leadership in the arts in London were honored. Another time it was for an evening service in December after I had just passed my orals, when my wife and I went caroling with their young adult group on a Sunday evening after church to all sorts of places in London. So, here is a church I rarely ever attended, but yet feel indebted to for their humble, devoted minister who wrote books I read, and also for their warm hospitality to this American, a stranger in a big city far from home.

Catherine Kroegor, age 85 when she died, for 25 years served the church as an academic but before that as a Presbyterian pastor's wife for 30 years. She emerged in the 1970s as a key leader among evangelicals who desired to better understand the role of women from a biblical perspective in light of the explosion of feminism. An early leader of the Evangelical Woman's Caucus that grew out of Ron Sider's Evangelicals for Social Action in 1974, she split from the group when she concluded that the caucus had strayed from biblical teaching when it began supporting homosexual practice. Here is where Kroeger and Stott intersect. Still desiring to deal with feminist concerns, in 1987 she began a new feminist Christian organization affiliated with John Stott's London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, called Men, Women, and God: Christians for Biblical Equality. She went on to publish a book with her husband Richard that provides thorough Greek and cultural exegesis of 1 Tim 2:11-15 called I Suffer Not a Woman (Baker,1998) and most recently, with Mary Evans, The Woman's Study Bible (Oxford, 2009). Her decisions? The choice to separate from the radicalizing Christian feminist movement based on biblical authority stands out to most. However, a second decision was to return to academic studies after her last child entered kindergarten and take what had to be the long road to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, in 1987—when she was 52!

My personal contact with her was very brief. I did attend some her sessions at ETS and knew who she was. However, for a couple of days one year I held her Greek New Testament in my possession. She had left it on a chair at ETS. I found her later at SBL and returned it to her. As one trained in classics, surely this was of great value to her and I was happy to return it. Now she is gone, but she left her mark on me as a gracious lady who stood boldly for biblical Christianity in an age of cultural upheaval.

After eight years at Cincinnati Christian University, where attendance rose from 60 in 2004 to a record 242 in 2011, in 2012 SCJ will partner with Lincoln Christian Seminary and Lincoln Christian University to offer the eleventh annual SCJ Conference. The theme: What We Learned: Editors Reflect on A Global History of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Paul Blowers (Emmanuel Christian Seminary) will present, "What I Learned about Historiography." Douglas Foster (Abilene Christian University) will present, "What I Learned about African Americans." Newell Williams (Brite Divinity School) will present, "What I Learned about Christian Churches (Independent)." Loretta Hunicutt (Pepperdine University) will present, "What I Learned about Women." Related papers or papers on other biblical, theological, or historical topics are sought for parallel sessions, from experienced scholars as well as from student scholars. Send your paper title (no abstract needed) to William Baker, SCJ Editor, at scjeditor@aol.com. Seven study groups welcome inquiries: Christian Education (jestep@lincoln.edu); Biblical Teaching on Women (jdmiller@milligan.edu); Theological and Missiological Perspectives on World and New Religions (brian.smith@fcc.edu); Ecclesiology and Social Ethics (jnugent@glbc.edu); Mark's Gospel in Mediterranean Context (michael.halcomb@asburyseminary.edu); Reexamining Scholarship in the StoneCampbell Restoration Movement (jasonfikes@gmail.com). Formal student-paper competitions will occur in three categories: Junior/Senior; M.A./M.Div., and Restoration (Isaac Errett Award from the Disciples Historical Society). Contact Les Hardin (les.hardin@fcc.edu) immediately to indicate your interest and to obtain the competition rules (also available on the SCJ website). Make all contacts before December 1, 2011. Student Paper Competition entries are due December 1, 2011.

This issue of SCJ features a fine, follow-up article by David Matson on Louisa Anderson, who was revealed as the author of the Lunenburg Letter by Matson's article in SCJ 11.1, "Who Wrote the Lunenburg Letter? The Untold Story of the 'Conscientious Sister' of Lunenburg." This new article explores Louisa Anderson's relationships with her family members, wondering if her exclusivist stance on baptism caused schisms in her relationships with them. James Gorman traces the fascinating debate over evolution in Christian Standard that pairs nicely with an article in SCJ 13.1 that critiques evolution by Hugh Henry and Dan Dyke, "The Evolution as Mythology: Is the Modern Theory of Evolution Science or Myth?" Jason Fikes examines the recent writings of those who are considered to be in the emergent church movement. Ralph Hawkins and Shane Buchanan provide an inside look at a recent archaeological find that has sparked debate among scholars and has serious ramifications for how biblical Israel is to be understood. Loren Stuckenbruck offers one of his lectures from the 2011 SCJ conference that gives new insight to worship from Revelation.

William R. Baker, Editor

Quotables for this issue were chosen by Ryan T. Hemmer, Lincoln Christian University -- Seminary.

Featured Quote:

"Jesus did not suffer so his followers did not have to; in the Book of Revelation, Jesus suffered not only to form a new people of God but also to show how and what it means to be the people of God."

Loren Stuckenbruck, "Revelation 4-5: Divided Worship or One Vision?" (SCJ 14.2: 242)

"John the seer does not take the importance of worship for granted; in fact, for him, it is the quintessential definition of faithfulness to God."

Loren Stuckenbruck, "Revelation 4-5: Divided Worship or One Vision?" (SCJ 14.2: 243)

"This leads to the following suggestion: perhaps Revelation 4 and 5 should not be considered two separate or contrasting visions; instead, perhaps consider how they may be essentially one vision, that is, a drama that unfolds in two stages."

Loren Stuckenbruck, "Revelation 4-5: Divided Worship or One Vision?" (SCJ 14.2: 246)

"In her letter to Campbell, Louisa mentions that she has ‘brothers and sisters in those parties,’ referring to the Protestant sects, thus giving the impression that Louisa came from a deeply religious family despite her later (negative) appraisal of those sects."

David Lertis Matson, "'I Have Brothers and Sisters in Those Parties': More on the 'Conscientious Sister' of the Lunenburg Letter," (SCJ 14.2: 167)

"SCM members had tremendous confidence in the ability of science to reveal truths about the natural world."

James L. Gorman, "The Stone-Campbell Movement's Responses to Evolution, 1859-1900," (SCJ 14.2: 193)

"Most in the SCM rejected the idea that humans had evolved from monkeys, but they were wary of rejecting evolutionary ideas wholesale."

James L. Gorman, "The Stone-Campbell Movement's Responses to Evolution, 1859-1900," (SCJ 14.2: 200)

"One of the most profound discoveries of this study is the number of positive SCM responses to evolution. Prominent leaders like David Lipscomb and Isaac Errett remained open to some form of theistic evolution if science continued to support it."

James L. Gorman, "The Stone-Campbell Movement's Responses to Evolution, 1859-1900," (SCJ 14.2: 206)

"Therefore, in an effort to avoid the pitfalls of dualism, emergents desire to be holistic disciples in the here and now. In good evangelical tradition, they care about the poor, creation, politics, business practices, parenting, and family."

Jason Fikes, "Emerging Historiography: How Church Leaders are Looking to the Past and Shaping What Is to Come," (SCJ 14.2: 214)

"[. . .] the emerging movement remains a serious trend that can help the worldwide church understand its mission and ecclesiology. Hopefully, by appreciating the stories and historical referents of the emergents, we can better appreciate this potential contribution."

Jason Fikes, "Emerging Historiography: How Church Leaders are Looking to the Past and Shaping What Is to Come," (SCJ 14.2: 217)

"Khirbet Qeiyafa was not the product of a tribal chiefdom but was planned and built by a complex, highly organized society."

Ralph K. Hawkins and Shane Buchanan, "The Khirbet Qeiyafa Inscription and 11th-10th Century BCE Israel," (SCJ 14.2: 222)

"This social structure in early Israel is similar in concept to the modern form of social welfare. Deuteronomic Law provides other examples of Yahweh seeking justice for the widow and protecting her rights. The Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon reflects a similar concern."

Ralph K. Hawkins and Shane Buchanan, "The Khirbet Qeiyafa Inscription and 11th-10th Century BCE Israel," (SCJ 14.2: 231)