Volume 22 Issue 1

Some of us are scholars. Some of us are teachers. Some of us are preachers. Few of us excel at all three forms of communication. Bob Kurka was one of those few. Because of this and his enduring passion to communicate the vibrant truths of Scripture, he was beloved by multitudes of peers, students, and congregations. Bob’s life did not go as long as most these days. He died at just age 64, on March 24, 2018, at his home in Lincoln, Illinois. However, his impact was vast because bursting through his communication skills was an addictive energy and enthusiasm that was a pleasure just to be around. Bob never saw a dark cloud in which he could not find a silver lining. Some might call that naïve, but for Bob his positive approach to life was bound up with rock-solid belief in the amazing blessings of God in our lives. See the complete tribute to Bob Kurka by Richard Knopp in SCJ 21.2 (Fall, 2019) 252-255, to see a full account of his achievements and a firsthand perspective on his approach to death.

I knew Bob as colleague and friend. We were bound together first as faculty, teaching at Saint Louis Christian College for four years. While I would remain many years after he left to teach at Lincoln Christian University, we would continue to connect and bond over our involvement both in the annual, national Evangelical Theological Society meetings and at the Midwest Regional ETS. At the national ETS, he was among the initial group of us who created the Stone-Campbell Adherents Study Group (which paralleled the Baptist study group, the only other study group at ETS), which ran from 1996–2005, and culminated in two published volumes titled Evangelicalism & the Stone-Campbell Movement (in 2002 with InterVarsity and 2006 with ACU press). At the Midwest Regional ETS we became intertwined with the leadership of the region, for which I served twice as President and Bob once. However, he completely endeared himself to everyone by serving in the thankless job of Secretary Treasurer from 2006–2014.

Like me, Bob believed that our movement is part of the burgeoning evangelicalism in the U.S. and believed we should serve as leaders as the opportunities presented themselves. We also believed that our involvement with those at ETS, both nationally and regionally, would help evangelicals understand where the Stone- Campbell Movement fit in the evangelical spectrum. As we have looked back, we are confident we have.

I was fortunate to be able to see Bob on the Saturday before his death (on the following Saturday), and on the next day he sent what would be his last communication to me: "I don't know if this paper has any value but it is clearly the last thing I will write." Attached was a paper he had prepared to deliver at the 2017 National ETS meeting that was celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and was unable to do so due to a health crisis the week before the conference. He was still planning to deliver it at the 2018 Midwest Regional ETS up to the moment he received notice that he would need to enter hospice. He titled this paper: "Ad - vancing the Legacy of the Reformation: Key Resources from the Stone-Campbell Movement."

This essay appears now in this issue of SCJ. Some of the ideas he expresses regarding the Stone-Campbell Movement may seem old hat to many SCJ readers, but keep in mind his audience. He is trying to represent our movement as offering some unique biblical perspectives that evangelicals would do well to consider, given his long and knowledgeable history with both. It is Bob’s apologetic to evangelicals for our movement. We publish it here as an important legacy of Bob Kurka that both we and those who follow us will benefit to learn from. But we also believe that some from the evangelical audience Bob was aiming at originally will read this and resonate with the ideas from our movement that Bob so graciously highlights.

Other thought-provoking articles fill this Spring issue of SCJ. First in the issue is from Scott Seay, who provides an insightful analysis of how the representative missions from the Christian churches (independent) and the Disciples of Christ were prepared to handle the swift turn of events that led to the independence of the Belgian Congo. This includes an account of the martyrdom of Phyllis Rine, then a recent graduate of Cincinnati Bible College at just 25 years old, who had been in the field just 18 months teaching primary school with African Christian Mission.

Our second article focuses on Churches of Christ (a cappella) but applies to all streams of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Here, Greg McKinzie puts forth a remedy for the well-established, current identity crisis of Churches of Christ in the form of a challenge to embody the justice of God. Following the Kurka article, Evertt Huffard offers his well-received 2018 SCJ Conference presentation which provides his unique perspective regarding the similarities and differences between the Muslim and Christian views of God. Next, David Smith offers a challenge to those who would suggest that somehow Paul and the churches he founded remained isolated from the Jerusalem church until Paul and their representatives brought their gift.

Finally, Samuel Guy, who won the undergraduate student paper competition at the 2018 SCJ Conference, details a convincing argument that Paul employs the political term politeuma in order to remind suffering Greek Christians that their true politeuma, the commonwealth from which they derive their citizenship, is found in the heavens. This article is quite an achievement. This is the first time SCJ has ever even considered publishing a paper from an undergraduate, but I am sure you will agree with us that it rightfully earns its spot in our gallery of articles for this issue.

William R. Baker, Editor

Chosen by Joel Childers
Abilene Christian University
SCJ 22.1 Quotables

Featured Quote:

"The very question of whether we worship the same God is one western Christians are asking, not Muslims."

Evertt W. Huffard, "Allah is God: A Challenge for Christians and Muslims" (SCJ 22.1:74)

"During the Congo Crisis, the missionaries of ACM remained steadfastly focused on evangelistic, educational, and medical work, and seemed unconcerned about the coming of independence to the Belgian Congo."

Scott Seay, "Stone-Campbell Missions and the Coming of Congolese Independence" (SCJ 22.1:17)

"Whether their leaders realized it or not, both of these Stone-Campbell missions indirectly and unintentionally contributed to the coming of political independence in the Congo."

Scott Seay, "Stone-Campbell Missions and the Coming of Congolese Independence" (SCJ 22.1:20)

"It is past time for the identity crisis to end… one might as well put it frankly: it is time for adolescence to come to an end; it is time to grow up."

Greg McKinzie, "Doing Justice to the Text: A Missional Hermeneutic of Embodied Participation" (SCJ 22.1:22)

"…a missional hermeneutic that includes embodied participation as a constitutive element is precisely what the identity crisis of Churches of Christ calls for."

Greg McKinzie, "Doing Justice to the Text: A Missional Hermeneutic of Embodied Participation" (SCJ 22.1:38)

"Perhaps with biblical and systematic theology in conversation, competing Christian traditions may be more complementary than previously thought."

Robert C. Kurka, "'Advancing the Legacy of the Reformation: Key Resources from the Stone-Campbell Movement" (SCJ 22.1:48)

"Stone-Campbell adherents can bring helpful insights into the construction of a less-reactive Protestantism—through both its strengths and weaknesses."

Robert C. Kurka, "'Advancing the Legacy of the Reformation: Key Resources from the Stone-Campbell Movement" (SCJ 22.1:61)

"The political challenge becomes real when a declaration today that Allah is God could get a professor fired from a Christian university or a Christian in Malaysia expelled from the country."

Evertt W. Huffard, "Allah is God: A Challenge for Christians and Muslims" (SCJ 22.1:64)

"The very question of whether we worship the same God is one western Christians are asking, not Muslim."

Evertt W. Huffard, "Allah is God: A Challenge for Christians and Muslims" (SCJ 22.1:74)

"One wonders how Paul can be isolated from Jerusalem when one of their chosen representatives is with him, as is acknowledged by both Paul and Luke, the author of Acts."

David Smith, "Paul's 'Friends': Rethinking Paul in Light of His Social Network" (SCJ 22.1:81)

"On the basis of a social network analysis alone, the ‘independence of Paul’ from Jerusalem in his later missionary activity is doubtful."

David Smith, "Paul's 'Friends': Rethinking Paul in Light of His Social Network" (SCJ 22.1:86)

"…Greek Christians in Philippi likely envied those who held the title of citizen, including their Roman brothers in the church"

Samuel Guy, "A Politeuma Worth Pursuing: Philippians 3:20 in Light of Philippi's Sociological Composition" (SCJ 22.1:97)

"…when Paul alludes to Roman citizenship by referring to the heavenly politeuma …he does so primarily to console an audience full of non-Roman citizens with the knowledge that they are participants in a divine common-wealth that far surpasses the glories and benefits of its imperial counterpart."

Samuel Guy, "A Politeuma Worth Pursuing: Philippians 3:20 in Light of Philippi's Sociological Composition" (SCJ 22.1:100)