There is a dreadful ditch in Christianity, a wedge between propositional truth and personal practice. Kevin Vanhoozer calls it "a debilitating dichotomy between theory and practice." (1) Although we probably should not reduce this dichotomy to a battle between modern or postmodern Christians, it is helpful to see how each approaches doctrine, or for our purposes, preaching. The former generally emphasizes doctrinal-propositional-preaching while the latter emphasizes holistic, relevant sermons. Modernist preaching says instruct while postmodernist says authenticate. If we look at both, we can better understand the emphases on propositional or practical.
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1 [ Back ] Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), p. 3.
2 [ Back ] John Stackhouse, in D. A. Carson, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), p. 66.
3 [ Back ] John Stackhouse in Carson, p. 66.
4 [ Back ] Stanley Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), p. 4.
5 [ Back ] Kevin Vanhoozer, "Pilgrim's Digress: Christian Thinking on and About the Post/Modern Way" in Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views, ed. Myron Penner (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005), p. 74.
6 [ Back ] Stanley Grenz and John Franke, Beyond Foundationalism (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), p. 13.
7 [ Back ] Michael Horton, Covenant and Eschatology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), p. 246.
8 [ Back ] Grenz and Franke, pp. 23-24.
9 [ Back ] George Lindbeck, The Nature of Doctrine (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1984), p. 16.
10 [ Back ] D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972), p. 76.
11 [ Back ] Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christian (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001), p. 47.
12 [ Back ] Elizabeth Ermarth, "Postmodernism" in Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. E. Craig (New York: Routledge, 1998), p. 587.
13 [ Back ] Ermath, p. 589.
14 [ Back ] Vanhoozer, Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views, p. 75.
15 [ Back ] Wentzel van Huysseteen, quoted by Grenz and Franke, p. 38.
16 [ Back ] Mark Filiatreau, "'Good News' or 'Old News,'" Regeneration Quarterly 1, no. 1 (1995), p. 15.
17 [ Back ] John Franke, "Christian Faith and Postmodern Theory," Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views, ed. Myron Penner (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005), p. 111.
18 [ Back ] Franke, p. 112.
19 [ Back ] Ronald Allen, "Preaching and Postmodernism," Interpretation 55, no. 1 (2001), p. 37.
20 [ Back ] Allen, p. 47.
21 [ Back ] Rob Bell from a sermon, "How to Lose Your Life," given on 4 December 2005.
22 [ Back ] Carl Raschke, The Next Reformation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005), p. 176.
23 [ Back ] Carson, p. 27.
24 [ Back ] Edmund Clowney, Preaching and Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), p. 74.
25 [ Back ] J. Gresham Machen, The Origin of Paul's Religion (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947), p. 20.
26 [ Back ] Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 403.
27 [ Back ] Clowney, p. 15.
28 [ Back ] Clowney, p. 80.
29 [ Back ] Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 403.
30 [ Back ] Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 400. Turretin spoke along similar lines: "We consider theology to be neither simply theoretical nor simply practical...it is more practical than theoretical." See Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, trans. George Giger, ed. J. Dennison (Phillipsburg: P&R, 1992), pp. 1-21.
31 [ Back ] Turretin, pp. 4, 276.
32 [ Back ] Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine, p. 448.
33 [ Back ] Turretin, p. 21.
Shane Lems (M. Div., Westminster Theological Seminary, Escondido) is a church planter and United Reformed Church pastor. He lives with his wife and three boys in Sunnyside, Washington.
Issue: "The New Atheism" March/April Vol. 17 No. 2 2008 Pages 12-16
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