Volume 25 Issue 1

This week marks the first Autumn I have not turned from the freedom of Summer to the routine of school since kindergarten. With new pencils ready to go, off I went to Whittier Elementary School in 1956 to begin what would turn out to be my forever academic career that just ended this past Spring with my retirement from teaching online graduate courses at Hope International University. Little did I know then that I would love school so much that I would never want to stop, that after high school in 1969 I would seek new academic adventure outside the familiarity of my hometown in Waukegan, IL. As an ardent Christian from a Christian home, Bible college at Lincoln Christian College seemed the right place to go. There I would discover my love for studying the Bible deeply, and then sparked by academic success and one passing comment by Tom Ewald, Student Dean and Academic Professor, calling me “a theologian,” to take the step into graduate school.

Graduate school began at Lincoln but within a year continued in the wider Christian climate at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL, fortunately just thirty-five minutes from Waukegan. There I would find myself in the world of evangelicalism and come to appreciate what that means. I would grow to respect a wider swath of church affiliations other than my own. Being only the third person at TEDS from the Stone-Campbell tradition, I quickly learned to explain who we are and what we stand for to inquisitive classmates. I was challenged academically in classes like I had not been previously and took classes from people who were at the early stages of becoming world-class scholars in biblical studies like Walter Kaiser, Grant Osborne, and especially Murray J. Harris, who was not only the most exacting professor I ever had but who also offered the most humble and worshipful prayers before every class I have ever witnessed.

Academic success at TEDS led to my belief that a career in New Testament studies was what God wanted from me. So, away my wife Joni and I went to Aberdeen, Scotland, where for four years I worked with Howard Marshall and Robin Barbour to develop and complete a thesis on “Personal Speech-Ethics in the Epistle of James” for my Ph.D. in NT. Dr. Marshall was at the height of his recognition as the top New Testament scholar in the U.K. (on the shoulders of the eminent F. F. Bruce) at that time, and you could see why. Riding into the University from the outskirts of Aberdeen nearly every day on his plain bicycle, he chaired the Divinity department, taught classes, and worked on his research and writing. A small and humble man devoted to his family and his tiny Methodist church, to look at him one would never guess the tremendous impact of his many commentaries and other academic writings to students of the Bible around the world. But the time there was so much more than the University and my studies. The entire experience of being in a beautiful city built of all granite that glistened in the bright sun (when it was out) with the opportunity to tour stunning Scotland, but also England, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Yugoslavia was all amazingly enriching.

Back in America with twin boys for us to raise, my teaching career started at Mid-South Christian College, beginning in Senatobia, MS and later moving to Memphis, TN. A very small school, but it gave me the opportunity to teach nearly every New Testament book and also NT Greek to small classes of bright students who helped form my casual way of teaching in the style of a small group Bible study in the round. Saint Louis Christian College, a good school that to my delight brought in amazingly interesting students from Singapore, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, and Russia, also had a faculty that worked together well. SLCC funded early lectureships I organized that eventually hatched into the Stone-Campbell Conference and Stone-Campbell Journal itself, to which my heart and soul have been attached for the last twenty-five years.

When our sons finished high school and went off to their respective colleges in Louisville and Pennsylvania, they followed my trek into the Eastern Time Zone where I had begun teaching for the Graduate School of historic Cincinnati Christian University. CCU was the first Bible College of our middling stream of the Stone-Campbell Movement and at its heart--together with Standard Publishing Company and the North American Christian Convention--both headquartered in the city. Now teaching graduate students only, I reveled in the opportunity to teach students completely at the level in which I was thinking. Challenged by their questions and pushed by our conversations, it was a period of noticeable growth in my own understanding and hopefully intellectually stimulation for them. Especially so was the third course in the New Testament Greek program. Required only for Biblical Studies majors, we exegeted the biblical text (Galatians, Ephesians, or James) together in Greek (using only established Greek syntax as interpretive parameters), each one of us representing the views of a different commentary. We learned together as collaborators on a project, seeking the riches of biblical study at its deepest level.

The last stop was a complete transmission and emersion into online teaching at Hope International University. The wonders of the internet and the advanced state of HIU's online program made this a fascinating and rewarding experience. With my speaking voice showing signs of weakening at this point, a dramatic shift in my teaching environment like this was career saving. With visits to Fullerton, CA, twice annually, I was welcomed into a faculty of ambitious teachers and scholars with whom I had the joy of administering two Faculty Forums a year. One of us would share a paper each time, a chapter in a thesis or book, or some aspect of our teaching that we would vigorously discuss. This is something I had always thought should happen with faculty in order to showcase and bolster the academic scholar part of faculty advancement. At HIU we did this well, and I felt satisfied to close out my teaching career with them. Plus, who can complain about getting to fly to Southern California from Ohio twice a year?

I guess this reads like the preface to a biography. However, it is intended at a glimpse into a very satisfying academic life that God has blessed, not unlike the path of many SCJ readers. I am sure that some of you are like me, nearly at the end of careers teaching biblical and theological studies at Christian educational institutions, and reflecting—on schools, on former students, on files of teaching notes. Some of you are at the beginning, preparing to teach college or graduate courses for the first time. Others at the middle, course notes all in place, just anticipating the students you will have for the Fall semester ahead after doing some writing over the summer. Still, some are still preparing, working toward advanced degrees. I sit here with a tinge of envy, missing the thrill of anticipating a new academic year. Missing going to school with my pencils. But I am happy for you. Have a great year! May God grant you a great teaching year that fulfills his special concern for strong and capable teachers (James 3:1).

We have many very important articles in this issue that touch on contemporary issues, certainly unusual for a scholarly, academic journal like SCJ. The first article takes a step in fulfilling a goal for SCJ that I wrote about in the preface to SCJ 23.2 (Fall, 2020) to encourage submissions that address issues of concern to issues of race. So, I am pleased that new consulting editor, Wes Crawford (Abilene Christian University) profiles James Fowler and the Central Church of Christ in downtown Birmingham and how they responded to being a target in the earliest days civil rights movements in 1963. This issue also features reviews of two books of interest to racial justice issues. Abby Gibson reviews Anthea Bulter, White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America (University of North Carolina Press, 2021). I review a book that provides social and theological analysis of the current trend to remove Confederate statues, called Cut in Stone: Confederate Monuments and Theological Disruption (Baylor University Press, 2020) by Thomas Andrew Newson.

In our second article that addresses current concerns, Michael Strickland provides an historical glimpse at the debates about carrying guns among people of the Stone-Campbell Movement found in leading magazines like the Gospel Advocate, edited by J. W. McGarvey, in the decades following the Civil War, plus two shocking shooting incidents involving church members carrying guns.

Among other important articles, Zach Breitenbach tackles what he calls “emotional doubt” with an apologetic approach to help a person who admits the truth regarding the “facts” of Christianity but who struggles getting over an emotional impediment. Also, Mathew Hale draws upon theologian Bernard Lonergan and his student, Robert M. Doran, to provide the needed link between Christian theology and social-ecological recovery. Stan Helton meticulously analyzes a recently discovered manuscript of Origen's homilies on the Psalms to reveal that the Greek term yavllein, contrary to earlier, convincing conclusions of Everett Ferguson, did include singing with instruments. Finally, Amy Lindeman Allen reprises her refreshing look at familiar gospel texts from her 2022 SCJ Conference plenary address on Jesus' attitude toward the children who must have been among the crowds always around him and the disciples who travelled with him.

With the 2023 SCJ Conference coming again this Spring, take note of the following information:

The 22nd annual SCJ conference remains at Johnson University Tennessee in Knoxville, on April 14-15, 2023 (Friday, 8:00 AM-8:00 PM; Sat, 8:00 AM-1:00 PM). Plenary and study group sessions will be made available via Zoom.

The theme is Alexander Campbell and His Personal Relationships: Wife, African Americans, Friends, and Opponents. Featured speakers include: Douglas A. Foster, Scholar in Residence, Abilene Christian University, who will present: “Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone: Fellow Reformers and Theological Opponents,” and “A Catholic Bishop, an Atheist, and Alexander Campbell: Three Unlikely Companions in Reform”; Loretta Hunnicutt, Professor of History, Pepperdine University, who will present “Selina Campbell: Fellow Soldier in the Cause of Restoration” and Edward Robinson, Associate Professor of History and Religion, Texas College, who will present “Alexander Campbell and African Americans: His Attitude and His Movement.”

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 Jeff Painter, Conference Parallel Paper Coordinator, at jeff.painter@scinternational.org absolutely no later than January 23, 2023. The first 35 paper topics submitted are guaranteed a slot. After that it will depend on rooms available and cancelled papers.

Study groups open for paper submissions include the followin

Acts and the Early Church (Judith.Odor@gmail.com) Biblical Teaching on Women (lgguy@my.milligan.edu) Christian Leadership (cbeard@johnsonu.edu) Ecclesiology & Social Ethics (shauncbrown@yahoo.com) History and Theology of the Stone-Campbell Movement (jgorman@johnsonu.edu) Life, Letters, and Legacy of Paul (Jordan.Stanley@asburyseminary.edu) Old Testament in Ancient Near Eastern Context (adamlbean@gmail.com) Pastoral Theology and Leadership (Replaces Christian Education) (jestep@lincolnchristian.edu) Patristics (dwkiger@milligan.edu) Synoptic Gospels (danny.yencich@gmail.com) Theological Anthropology (Durst@kcu.edu) Theological Reflection (jgordon@johnsonu.edu)

All Student Paper Competitions close on January 6, 2023. Student Paper Competitions occur in three categories: Junior/Senior; M.A./M.Div., and Restoration (Isaac Errett Award from the Disciples of Christ Historical Society). Contact Adam Bean (adamlbean@gmail.com) to indicate your interest and to obtain the competition rules (also available on the SCJ website) for the undergrad and grad competition, and also receive information on the $2500 scholarship available to both undergrad and grad winners. For the Isaac Errett competition, contact new coordinator Lisa Barnett (lisa.barnett@ptstulsa.edu) The winner receives a cash award of $250. Both undergrad and grad papers require a faculty sponsor, though the Isaac Errett does not.

Blessings,

William R. Baker, Editor

Chosen by Kelly Tyrrell
First Congregational Church UCC, Crete, NE
25.1 Quotables
View Quotables from Other Issues Here

Featured Quote:

"He not only took the middle path, he "baptized" the middle path."

Wes Crawford, "James Fowler: The White Moderate and the American Civil Rights Movement" (SCJ 25.1:6)

"He not only took the middle path, he "baptized" the middle path. He described it as the most holy and NT-endorsed option between the two extremes: the violence perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan and the peaceful agitations by King and others."

"Perhaps he ran out of time and cut his remarks short. Perhaps he mistakenly overlooked this example in his manuscript. Or, perhaps here we have a hallmark of white moderates: they know what needs to be said, but they cannot bring themselves to say it."

Wes Crawford, "James Fowler: The White Moderate and the American Civil Rights Movement" (SCJ 25.1:6)

"To Lipscomb, the principle of nonviolence applied to individual conflicts as well as wars between nations. To trust in carnal weapons for protection demonstrated a lack of faith in God."

Michael Strickland, "David Lipscomb, God, and Guns" (SCJ 25.1:19)

"Lipscomb agreed wholeheartedly with the sentiment against Christians carrying guns in public, though he rejected the call for legislation to solve the problem. His issue with the idea was not that laws are ineffective, per se, but that the very government of the United States was illegitimately based on power acquired through violence and bloodshed."

Michael Strickland, "David Lipscomb, God, and Guns" (SCJ 25.1:23)

"The Spirit is integral to ensuring the conditions are met that allow for belief in the gospel to be warranted"

Zachary Breitenbach, "Leveraging Pascal's Wager and Reformed Epistemology" (SCJ 25.1:37)

"But, so long as Christianity is true, one's belief in the gospel can be warranted even apart from one weighing out factual evidence because God designed humanity so that in our environment—when our cognitive faculties are working properly and are not impeded by sin—we are able to know that the gospel is true because of the Spirit's self-authenticating testimony."

Zachary Breitenbach, "Leveraging Pascal's Wager and Reformed Epistemology" (SCJ 25.1:37)

"Because human communities are implicated in vast interconnected ecological systems, a theology of social grace can be complete only if it takes these systems into account."

Matthew B. Hale, "Lonergan, Doran, Grace, and Ecology: Towards a Theological Historiography of Socio-Ecological Recovery" (SCJ 25.1:42)

"The point being, the downward movement of social grace, from the participation and imitation of the divine relations at the level of religious value all the way down the redistribution of vital values, will be mediated at crucial junctures by the creation, transformation, or dissolution of the institutions and/or their relations within the good of order."

Matthew B. Hale, "Lonergan, Doran, Grace, and Ecology: Towards a Theological Historiography of Socio-Ecological Recovery" (SCJ 25.1:49)

"Even though Origen is making a figurative, metaphorical, or spiritual point, for him, in this text, Ψαλλλειν means to play an instrument."

Stanley N. Helton, PhD, "Origen on the Meaning of Ψαλλλειν in Codex Monacensis Graecus 314" (SCJ 25.1:71)

"Wouldn't it be good to steer clear of violent verses especially when there are so many friendlier passages in the Bible emphasizing God's love, mercy, and grace? I think not. In fact, I believe it is terribly unwise to ignore these troubling texts."

Stanley N. Helton, PhD, "Origen on the Meaning of Ψαλλλειν in Codex Monacensis Graecus 314" (SCJ 25.1:73)

"This childist lens, by shifting the focus of reading from adults to children, ascribes agency and voice to children, fills in gaps around their experiences, and explores the interplay between the concomitant value and vulnerability of children in this first-century Mediterranean environment."

Amy Lindeman Allen, "Did Jesus Love the Little Children: An Exploration of Jesus' Teaching on Children in the Synoptic Gospel Accounts" (SCJ 25.1:85)

"Child-centered, or childist, interpretation seeks to learn equally from both the children and the adults in the biblical texts by paying attention to the presence and experience of all of the characters in the story, beginning with the children, who are too frequently forgotten or assumed to be adults."

Amy Lindeman Allen, "Did Jesus Love the Little Children: An Exploration of Jesus' Teaching on Children in the Synoptic Gospel Accounts" (SCJ 25.1:95)