5 - Church Based Theology PDF

NEW PARADIGMS FOR THE POST-MODERN CHURCH
Jeff Reed
President, LearnCorp
Presented at BILD-International Conference
Ames, Iowa
May 5, 1995
CHURCH-BASED
THEOLOGY:
CREATING A NEW
PARADIGM
It is absolutely essential, at this point in history, for the church to

understand the times in which it is living. Major shifts of a paradigmatic
nature are taking place in almost every sphere of life. Business, education
and government are all going through major reengineering. The
technological age is rapidly reshaping how we work, learn, train our kids
and go about all sorts of service and ministry. New terms dominate the
academic conversation, such as post-modern, post-enlightenment and postcritical, all attempting to describe the new era which is dawning upon
human history. New age movements, global village concepts and
international networks fill our newspapers and airways. Communications
systems are redefining our concept of everything from office complexes to
libraries to international trade. We are entering a new era. Listen to Peter
Drucker, a leading analyst in economics and societal patterns, as he
comments on our historical time:
"Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp
transformation. We cross what in an earlier book (The New Realities) I call
a "divide". Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself - its world
mview; its basic values; its social and political structure; its arts; its key
institutions. Fifty years later, there is a new world. And people born then
cannot even imagine the world in which their grandparents lived and into
which their own parents were born. We are currently living through just
1
such a transformation.
In some ways we can expect this transformation to be like any other major
historical shift of the past, but in other ways it is not like any previous
shift because technology is enabling us to do things never before even
imagined. This era, with its potential for great confusion and destruction,
holds for the church, I believe, almost unparalleled opportunity.
1
1
Post Capitalist Society, by Peter F. Drucker, (Harper Collins, 1993), pp. 1. This book,
along with his previous title The New Realities (1989) and the trilogy by Alvin Toffler, Future
Shock (1970), The Third Wave (1980) and PowerShift (1990), all written a decade apart, give
a comprehensive picture of the global nature of these changes. The Tofflers have recently
released a small 100 page book which summarizes all of their main ideas, entitled Creating a
New Civilization: The Politics of the Third Wave (Turner Publishing, 1995).
CHURCH-BASED THEOLOGY
Two theological scholars, Hans Kung and David Bosch, both renowned in
their respective fields, have grasped very early on with great breadth of
scholarship and insight, some of these basic paradigmatic patterns. In light
of the great historical eras of the church, they have begun to identify for the
church, the future world which lies before it, and provide some initial
identifying markers to help it chart the course in building effective ministry
models and doing relevant theology in culture. I believe the most seminal
work is that of Hans Kung entitled Theology for the Third Millennium: An
Ecumenical View2, in which he builds a model of paradigm changes in the
history of theology and the church, which provides much of the genesis for
the first section of this paper entitled Joining the Great Theological
Conversation.
Though as evangelicals we do not share Kungs
ecumenical goals, at least not in the same sense, his clarity of historical and
contemporary insight serves as a guide to all in the Christian faith who are
attempting to understand the radically changing times in which we live.
The second author, David Bosch, a South African, has built upon Kungs
model of paradigm shifts in Christian thought (theology), and applied the
model to the history of missions in his monumental work, Transforming
Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Mission3. After attempting to
build a very extensive biblical theology of mission from the New
Testament, he then traces with great depth how our conception of mission
shaped our paradigm of theology in each era, and finishes by identifying the
unique elements of the emerging post-modern paradigm, and how the
church, after first revisiting its roots, can build a relevant mission in these
paradigmatic times.
Both Kung and Bosch agree that this ecumenical paradigm as they
envision it, calls for a whole new way of doing theology, which is why
both of them go all the way back to the first century churches and trace the
history of theology and mission from then until contemporary times. We
are entering a new era (often referred to as post-modern, post-enlightenment,
or post-critical) which calls for a back to the roots type of analysis. Not
since the early church of the 2nd and 3rd century have so many fundamental
questions about theology and mission been raised. The great theological
conversation, which since the 2nd and 3rd century has been fundamentally a
Western conversation, rooted in the academy (philosophy), has begun to
lose its hold on the church worldwide, since the focus is shifting to nonWestern Two-Thirds World churches. Whole movements of churches have
grown up all over the non-Western world, who desperately need a fresh
theological conversation, rooted not in the Western academy tradition, but
in the dynamic of New Testament churches, and in a fresh, comprehensive
study of biblical theology, freeing them to think and create - to do theology
There are three works which together give a full picture of the model which Kung is
building. The two exclusive by Kung are entitled Theology for the Third Millennium: An
Ecumenical View (Doubleday, 1988) in which he develops the whole paradigm of Christian
thought, and Great Christian Thinkers (Continuum, 1994) in which he furthers his work on the
paradigm by tracing theology through the dominant Christian thinker of each paradigm. The
final work, edited by Kung and David Tracy, entitled Paradigm Change in Theology
(Crossroads, 1991), is a series of papers from a symposium of greta theologians interacting
with Kungs paradigm model, held at the University of Tubingen in 1989.
3
Transforming Mission: Paradigm
Shifts in Theology of Mission, by David
J. Bosch, (Orbis Books, 1991).
in culture, in ways that would best serve their churches in the post-modern
world.
One of the elements of this new paradigm which is emerging globally, is
the rediscovery of the local church, which has not been central in a New
Testament way since the first couple of generations following the apostles.
Nor has the local church been central in the great theological conversation.
Bosch puts it well in his chapter on the elements of an emerging paradigm:
The church-in-mission is, primarily, the local church everywhere in the
world. This perspective, as well as the supposition that no local church
should stand in a position of authority over another local church, both
fundamental to the New Testament (cf Acts 13:1-3 and the Pauline letters),
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was for all practical purposes ignored during much of Christian history .
We stand on the brink of a new era, an era, which if properly understood

will allow us to visit the New Testament times and dynamic, in a fresh
way. We live in a time of the rediscovery of the simple genius of the local
church, the family of God, the pillar and support of the truth. We have an
opportunity to serve and dialogue with churches all over the world - with
churches throughout the developing world, as they develop a critical
consciousness doing theology in their culture without losing their New
Testament zeal and dynamic; and with Western churches - both renewal
churches and house church movements, as they seek to do theology afresh,
revisiting the didache of the New Testament, and building paradigms for
this new time in history.
This is the third in a series of new paradigms for the post-modern church.
The first looked at new paradigms needed in theological education, and the
second at new paradigms needed in the missionary enterprise. The crux of
the entire argument is that the local church must be central in theological
education, missions and the doing of theology in culture. This article
assumes the conclusions of the previous articles, and attempts to build a
model for local churches around the world to continue their movements,
establish their churches more fully, and out of the life of their churches do
theology - par excellence - in their cultures. This church-based movement is
primarily about churches, local churches, all over the world. It is not about
mission agencies - but it does involve mission. It is not about seminaries but it does involve theology and theological education.
A lot of criticism has come at this stage in this new church-based
movement toward those of us who do not want to mix too closely with the
theology of the old paradigm, but to approach things in a radically fresh
manner. I hope this article will go a long way in explaining the rationale of
our radical approach. Our back to our roots focus is not out of a desire to
retreat, or out of narrow understanding, or out of criticism of our traditions,
but out of a firm belief that God is breathing a fresh wind, a new testament
wind, upon local churches all over the world; and He expects us to harness
all of our resources to help establish, fully establish, churches all over the
world.
Bosch, p. 378.
Let us begin by examining the great theological conversation through the

eyes of the historical paradigms of church history.
Examining the Great Theological (Western) Conversation
It is extremely difficult to see out of our traditions and culture, let alone our
historical paradigm. To gain a clear head, it is important to attempt to
understand the broad traditions and the intergenerational conversations of
churches throughout the centuries, as well as those in our culture. I have
attempted to build a model to help this understanding. This model is
influenced heavily by Kung and Bosch, as stated above, but is also the
result of interactions with the writings of Justo Gonzalez and Jarslov
Pelikan5. Between these four authors one is exposed to almost every
significant original writing and document of the church through the
centuries. But above all, it is shaped by the debates of the first two
centuries, and a revisiting of the New Testament didache (the apostles
doctrine, which Paul summarized as the traditions, the teachings, the
commandments, and later to his key men as the deposit of sound doctrine),
which for generations has been held hostage by the official church, and the
traditions of the academy, rooted in Platonic thought and ideals. The
paradigmatic schema is summarized in Figure 1, entitled Joining the Great
Theological Conversation. A word of caution before beginning to make
observations from the chart. Any time one attempts to summarize great
eras of historical development, one must pay attention to only the broad
patterns, not the exceptions. And one runs the risk of being understood as
saying things which were not intended to be implied. But this cannot be
avoided, and it is worth the risk of significant misunderstanding. The
following observations and implications will be best understood by
frequent reference to figure 1. Lets begin with a few observations to get a
feel for the diagram.
Basic Observations:
The first observation is that the main theological conversation of the church
through the centuries has been fundamentally a Western conversation rooted
in the academy. This marriage of theology with the Greek academy and its
philosophical thought grew out of an attempt of some early church
apologists to defend the apostles doctrine, and Christianity against the
charges that is a religion for the ignorant. They attempted to demonstrate
that Christianity was consistent with the best core principles of the Greek
academy wisdom tradition. (See Gonzalezs discussions on the
Alexandrine tradition.) While it is true that some principles are similar, as
one would expect with any good philosophy, this tradition was passed over
by Jesus and His apostles. In fact it was the very thing that Paul warned
against in 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5. Ever since that time, the main apology
for the church came out of the academy tradition in one form or another. It
5
Justo Gonzalez has written a monumental 3-volume work entitled A History of Christian
Thought (Abingdon, 1972), which spans this whole conversation chart, and a second work
entitled Christian Thought Revisited: Three Types of Theology (Abingdon, 1989), in which he
reflects on and draws insights from his three volume history of Christian thought for guiding
the church in this new paradigm which we are entering. Also note his 2-volume church
history entitled The Story of Christianity (Harper Collins, 1985). Also important is Jarslov
Pelikans 5-volume set The Christian Tradition (Oxford, 1989), an unparalleled piece of
research on historical theology, and an unmatched bibliography.
has dominated throughout the centuries. In one sense, the collective

consciousness of local churches, and its key gifted leaders, was displaced by
the validating influence of those from the tradition of the academy. Only
now are we poised to rediscover the local church and revisit the apostolic
doctrine in a fresh way - as the dominant movement of Christianity begins
centering in the non-Western world.
A second observation, building on the first, is again influenced by
Gonzalez. As the church attempted to defend itself against attacks on the
apostles doctrine, some early church fathers resorted to a somewhat Roman
law method. It stated that the church owns the teaching, and it does not
need to defend it, only interpret it. So, what began as a desire to defend the
teaching eventually lead to an authoritative church - the Roman church, and
fathered Latin, or Western theology. Again, very innocently, the churches,
which began defending the apostles doctrine through a collective consensus
of the early churches was soon replaced by an official consensus of the
official church at Rome, the remnants of which still dominate the
theological conversation in much of Christendom today.
A third observation, again built upon Gonzalezs insightful analysis, is that
there was an earlier tradition, one exemplified by Irenaeus, and the area of
Asia Minor and Syria, with its roots in Antioch, in which the defense of
the apostolic doctrine was rooted in the life of the local churches, and
pastoral in motivation. The concern was establishing the churches in the
didache. This tradition, or type of theology, was eclipsed by the academy
and official traditions in the battles of the early churches, and even though
we have seen it emerge in small movements throughout church history, it
has never played a major role in the great theological conversation. It is the
tradition which needs to be revisited today if theology is ever to be churchbased again, as was the case in the New Testament churches in the apostles
time, and immediately following. It goes a long way in explaining
Boschs observation - that the central role of the local church has been
forgotten for most of church history. We must return to truly local churchbased theology, as was the tradition of the early church, if we are to fully
establish churches in the apostolic traditions in this ever changing, postmodern world.
Councils, Creeds
& Didaches
The Apostles Doctrine
Defense
Church Fathers
Orthodox
Traditionalism
Ancient Church
Hellenistic Paradigm
(Origen, Augustine)
Roman Catholic
Traditionalism
Counter-Reformation
Roman Catholic Paradigm
Liberal
Traditionalism
(Barth)
Contemporary:
Ecumenical Paradigm
Dialectic Theology
Existential theology
Hermeneutical theology
Political theology
Liberation theology
feminist, black
theology, Third
World theology
20th century
Ecumenical Theologians
Universal
Seminaries &
Post-Enlightenment
Theologians
Modern Enlightenment
Paradigm
(Schleiermacher)
17th/18th century
Critical Theologians
Criticism
Seminaries &
Enlightened Theologians
Reformation
Protestant Paradigm
(Luther, Calvin)
Protestant
Traditionalism
Medieval RomanCatholic Paradigm

(Aquinas)
16th century
Reformers
Renewal
Councils, Confessions
& Catechisms
(See the Great Books of the Western World collection 54 volumes edited by Mortimer Adler. The set is built around the first book entitled The
Great Conversation and visualizes the conversation three ways authors on a time line, authors building upon authors, and 102 great ideas, with over
3,000 subordinate ideas well developed in a two volume Syntopican enabling the conversation to be entered at any point.
Cultural Context of the Great Theological Conversation
Primitive Christian
Apocalyptic Paradigm
(Paul)
1st/2n d cent.
11th century
Papal Theologians
Authority
Papal Authority,
Canon Law &
Sacramental System
Post-Modern Church
mid 20th cent.
The Enlightened Church
17th century
The Reformed Church
15th/16th cent.
The Catholic Church
(See also Boschs Theology of Mission Paradigms built upon Kung)
Kungs Paradigms of Theology
Apostles
Dominant Carriers of the Conversation:
First Principles
Posture Towards the First Principles:
The Early Church
early 4th cent.
Preserving the Apostles Doctrine Through the Centuries
Figure 1
The First Principles Through the Centuries
New Testament Church
90s
It seems timely, at this point in this treatise, to address several implications

of our observations so far.
1.
We need lateral thinking, not neoclassical thinking. Edward de Bono

has developed a very useful concept in his book Lateral Thinking:
Creativity Step By Step6 which he calls lateral thinking.
He argues
that there are two kinds of thinking: lateral and vertical. The main
idea is that most of our thinking is vertical thinking - logical thinking,
which continues one train of thought and builds on it, often selective,
following traditional pathways and most likely directions. Lateral
thinking moves laterally. It proposes whole new starting points, is
generative, fresh and often provocative. Today the church needs to
think laterally.
Because of the shallowness of contemporary
evangelicalism, many are taking us back to the reformed church and its
depth of theological thought, which is helpful at one level, but at
another level, often very naive, and at times clearly ethnocentric. The
church needs to move laterally, radically reexamining the apostolic
doctrine and building fresh theological categories and ministry
paradigms.
2. We need to revisit the first principles (apostolic teaching) in a very

serious and disciplined manner. By talking of building a new, fresh
paradigm for doing theology, we are not talking about beginning with
ourselves, or with the assumptions of our contemporary cultural
paradigm, but beginning afresh, without our traditions of Western
thought carrying the direction of the conversation, with a careful
revisiting of the New Testament teachingsthe first principles. This
will be developed in the next section.
3.
We need to view the great Western theological conversation as a mixed

blessing. On one hand, it is very useful to be informed on the
theological discussions through the centuries, to see the battles fought
in different cultures, in different times, and in different settings. On
the other hand, because the church is entrenched in the academy and the
official church, it often blocks each new generation from its own fresh
revisiting of Christianitys radical, dynamic foundations.
4 . We need to rediscover the local church and its central role in

preserving the apostolic doctrine. It is a very significant comment by
Bosch that the centrality of the local church has been forgotten
throughout most of church history. What started out as a dynamic
movement and multiplication of churches building and living out a
collective consensus of the apostolic doctrine in culture was soon
replaced by the traditions of the academy and the official church. This
includes the doing of theology and the faithful passing on of the
deposit in the living context of establishing and multiplying churches.
5. We need to do theology in culture, afresh in each generation. Every
church needs to be an informed church historically and culturally, in
that sense to develop a critical consciousness. Yet, each must enjoy
the freshness and simplicity of Gods design of becoming a dynamic,
living, local community - a community of households, capable of
6
Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step, by Edward de Bono (Harper & Row, 1970)
impacting any culture at any time in history. That will be the focus of
the last section of this paper.
6 . We need to build new paradigms for the post-modern church paradigms of education, of mission and of theology. We must
carefully evaluate the deep structures of our historical traditions paradigms of ministry and all - and hold them up against the light of
the teachings of the apostles themselves. If the implications of figure 1
are true, then our new paradigms, if they are to return to our roots in a
meaningful way, must in some ways be discontinuous with the
paradigms of Western traditions. We must return to our apostolic
roots.
Revisiting the Apostolic Tradition
There is not time in this paper to revisit the apostolic doctrine in the
serious and disciplined manner suggested in the implications above, but the
following will serve as a brief summary and guide to such a disciplined
process. Such a revisit would require careful firsthand investigative work
into the New Testament: Acts, especially the Pauline letters, and the
remaining witness of the apostles in the general letters, all against the
backdrop of the gospels. Since time does not allow for such a search, we
will set forth at this time a skeletal overview of the process.
Two steps are involved in the process of attempting to revisit the apostolic
tradition with the view of recovering it as a guiding foundation for doing
theology in contemporary culture. The first is an examination of the New
Testament church itself, and as accurately as possible, attempting to recover
the apostolic witness to the churches in its purest form. The second is to
examine the early church - that early generation of churches which
immediately followed the apostles.
The New Testament Church:
Very early on there was an understanding in the New Testament churches

that they needed to be devoted to the apostles doctrine (Acts 2:42). Paul
understood his letters to be part of that process of delivering this body of
teaching, and that all churches were to become established in it and any
who would not follow this teaching was considered unruly, and eventually
to be disassociated with if they would not get in line with the teaching - the
didache (1 Thess. 4:2; 5:14; 2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6). Paul also referred to this
body of teaching as the elementary teaching literally the first principles
(Colossians 2:6-8, cf. Heb. 5:11-14). In his later letters to his key men
Timothy and Titus, he referred to this body of teaching as the deposit of
sound doctrine, which was to be guarded vigorously and faithfully (1 Tim.
1:10; 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13,14; 2:2; Titus 1:9,13; 2:1,2). The writers of the
general epistles then began the ageless task of earnestly contending faith
once delivered (Jude 3) which continues up until today.
One point needs to be made briefly at this time. This teaching included
more than just a few core doctrines for salvation. It included such teaching
as how local churches ought to conduct their community life (1 Tim. 3:1416; Titus 2) and how individual households - families - ought to conduct
their family life (household texts such as Ephesians 5:22-6:9). For a more
comprehensive guide to revisiting the apostles tradition, see Appendix I:

Traditions, Patterns and Sound Doctrine in the Early Church, taken from
the first project guide in the BILD Leadership Series I course entitled
Essentials of Sound Doctrine7.
The Early Church:
The early church8 continued the tradition of attempting to preserve the
apostles doctrine and establish the churches in it, under a constant barrage
of attack both from within and without the churches. In a very mysterious,
supernatural fashion, the early churches - under all sorts of opposition and
attempts to distort the apostles doctrine - managed to gain a collective
consensus among the churches of the whole of the apostles doctrine (true,
original meaning of one catholic church). This consensus emerged by a
gradual recognition of the body of writings which were recognized as
containing the apostles doctrine (and became the New Testament), by early
creedal attempts (i.e. the Apostles Creed); by church manuals, such as the
Didache and the Apostolic Constitutions, designed to help new believers
and churches become established in the apostolic traditions; and by a
collective apostolic succession of the most prominent church leaders. This
collective consensus of key church leaders later led down the path to an
official church and an official apostolic succession. In the beginning it was
only intended to be the identification of key leaders skilled in defending the
apostolic faith. Immediately following the death of the apostles, the
earliest form of theology in these churches was free from any sense of a
Greek academy validated teaching, or an official teaching growing out of a
centralized Roman church. It grew and flourished as a sort of
noncentralized federation of churches, maturing and multiplying throughout
the world. It was clearly a local church-based movement.
Toward a New Paradigm: Doing Church-Based Theology in Culture
One of the main reasons we need to work towards a new paradigm in doing
theology today, and at one level, break with the traditions of the Western
church, is that important aspects of the New Testament didache have been
lost in the marrying of theological discussion to the academy, creating
Western philosophy, and that philosophy has set the categories and
questions more than the Scriptures themselves. Also, the official church
(Roman Catholicism and eventually a majority of the Protestant church) has
remained more committed to the official church traditions (creeds,
catechism, etc.) than to the apostles doctrine, in all its completeness.
Essentials of Sound Doctrine, BILD-International Leadership Series I course, currently

being field tested.
8
A very significant body of writing on the early church has emerged in the last couple of
decades, which contributes significantly to understanding the early churches and the process
of establishing them in the apostles teaching. Some of the more helpful texts include: The
Household of God: The Social World of the Pastorals, by David Verner (Scholars press,
1983), Paul and the Thessalonians (Fortress, 1987), Paul and The Popular Philosophers
(Fortress, 1989), Social Aspects of Early Christianity (Fortress, 1983), all by Abraham
Malherbe, The Origins of Christian Morality: The First Two Centuries, by Wayne Meeks
(Yale, 1993) and Heirs of Paul: Pauls Legacy in the New Testament and in the Church
Today, by J. Christian Beker (Fortress, 1991).
How do we go about this new theological process in a way which is both

critical, in the sense that we do not ignore the insights and lessons of the
church through the centuries and are well informed of our culture and
historical times; and yet set free from the trappings of our Western
conversation to freely approach doing theology in culture?
Guiding Principles:
1.
The process of doing church-based theology in culture must be truly

church-based at its very heart and soul. Ever since the early church
the process has been primarily rooted in the academy and in official
theology of the centralized, institutional church. But, in the traditions
of the early churches, evidenced in Irenaeus and the Antiochian
tradition, theology was done naturally, as part of the life of the
churches. In the process of shepherding believers and guarding the
truth in their churches, leaders addressed the issues which surfaced as
part of establishing the churches and their witness in the world.
Theology in all cases was a matter of establishing churches and their
witness in the world. Today the whole concept of doing theology
must be rethought. Was Jesus doing theology in culture when He
was training the twelve? Was Paul doing theology when he was
establishing the churches? Karl Barth, who many consider to be the
father and very early forerunner of this new emerging historical
paradigm of the church, put it well in a paper given to the Protestant
Theological Faculty, April 10-12, 1934, in Paris.
"Theology is not a private reserve of theologians. It is not a private
affair for professors. Happily, there have always been pastors who
understood it better than most professors. Nor is it a private affair for
pastors. Happily, there have always been church members and many
congregations who have discharged its function quietly but
vigorously while their pastors were theological babes and barbarians.
Theology is a matter for the church. It does not get on well without
pastors and professors. But its problem, the purity of the church's
service, is put to the whole church. There are in principle no nontheologians in the church. The term "laity" is one of the worst in the
vocabulary of religion and ought to be banished from Christian
conversation."
10
We need to return the primary task of doing theology in culture to the

churches, who are in the process of becoming established, and working
out their witness, in community, amongst a culture in which it desires
to dramatically impact with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. The process of doing church-based theology in culture must be
biblically based in its overall approach. This is difficult to sort out
as well, since today much of our hermeneutical methods and systems
of doing theology are so far removed from the church that it actually, at
times, gets in the way of the church doing good theology.
Hermeneutics were distorted by the Catholic church in the medieval
years, using allegory to validate interpretations not defensible from the
literal Scriptures; and by the scientific approach of the enlightenment
church, which reduced the beauty of a community of faith doing
theology in dialogue, to an individualistic, almost scientific enterprise
for professionals, if not in practice, at least in the minds of the
churches. Theology itself has been dominated by a pattern of

systematizing which we call systematic theology. Western systematic
theology has its roots in Western philosophy, which has its roots in
the Greek academy. While at one time called dogmatics, out of a
design to defend the faith of the churches, contemporary systematic
theology poses a series of questions and a way of categorizing which is
quite foreign to matters of the churches. It does fit quite comfortably
in academia. The whole system needs to be rethought. Two
evangelicals who have done tremendous work, calling for us to
fundamentally rethink these systems are Walter Kaiser and Elliott
Johnson9. Johnson, along with Kaiser are calling for a hermeneutical
revolution in which we develop a focus on the authors intended
meaning as expressed in a biblical text. Kaiser has gone further than
hermeneutics alone, and is calling for us to rethink our manner of
theologizing as well, turning our attention to a relatively recent
discipline - biblical theology. The biblical theology movement,
attributed by many to Brevard Child10, himself a new paradigm thinker
in the tradition of Karl Barth, focuses on allowing the biblical canon to
speak for itself and a method of study in which the Scriptures are
studied in the order in which they were written. This allows themes to
surface and make their own emphases, with a categorization system of
theology set in tune with these emphases. The problem today, is that
our church traditions and theological institutions are dominated by
systematic theology, which is often our starting point for doing
theology. A careful, disciplined, biblical theology approach will
obliterate our Western, systematic theology approach and categories.
We have to radically adjust our method to a purely biblical-based
approach if we ever expect churches to do fresh, relevant theology in
culture.
3.
The process of doing church-based theology must be done in the

culture in which the churches are being established, and by those
churches themselves. One of the most respected educational theorists
worldwide, Paulo Freire11, has demonstrated quite convincingly, that
effective education of the people involves engaging them in a
problem-posing process, from the base of their culture and current life
situation. In this process they begin to interact with the larger world
and its knowledge base, and through that interaction develop a critical
consciousness, and are able to put that new knowledge to use in their
lives and impact the culture in which they live. William Dyrness, in
his book Invitation to Cross-Cultural Theology: Case Studies in
Vernacular Theologies, builds on the same idea, although he does not
Expository Hermeneutic: An Introduction, by Elliott Johnson (Zondervan, 1990). Toward an

Exegetical Theology, by Walter Kaiser (Baker, 1983).
10
Three books are most helpful in understanding Childs and the biblical theology movement:
Biblical Theology in Crisis (Westminster, 1970), Introduction to the Old Testament as
Scripture (Fortress, 1979), and Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testament (Fortress,
1992).
11
His two most important books, and must reading for any educator, are Pedagogy of the
Oppressed (Continuum, 1984) and Education for Critical Consciousness (Continuum, 1994).
Other helpful works include Learning to Ask Questions: A Pedagogy of Liberation
(Continuum, 1992), Pedagogy of the City (Continuum, 1993) and Pedagogy of Hope
(Continuum , 1994). Also helpful is a book by a long time comrade Reading Paulo Freire: His
Life and Work, by Moacir (Suny, 1994).
11
work with Freires material. He examines the theology of five

movements of churches, four in developing countries. He asks the
question how can they develop theologically, building on their
foundation, which he calls their vernacular theology? This theology
is often much like that of the early New Testament churches. That is,
how can they get into the theological conversation worldwide, grow in
their understanding, and thus do theology in culture, without being
corrupted by the Western churches? He concludes that they must learn
to do theology themselves, in their culture, and develop what Freire
calls a critical consciousness.
What might this process actually look like? Several significant models
have been recently set forth by very substantive theologians who have a
tremendous understanding of the paradigmatic issues being set forth in
this paper. Their ideas are well worth reflecting upon. The first is
Harvie Conn12, who advocates doing biblical theology in culture,
carefully reasoning why it should be the foundation of the process. A
second is Edward Farley13 who advocates returning to the wisdom
tradition of the pre-enlightenment days. He calls for a three step
process: 1) interpretation of tradition, where we examine the deep
structure of the roots of our traditions to create awareness; 2)
interpretation of truth, where we revisit the Scriptures (and other source
documents); and 3) interpretation of action, where the church builds
whole new categories of theology in culture. Building upon Farley,
Don Browning14 adds an additional and final stage in the process,
which he calls strategic practical theology. He calls on the church to
build whole new ministry paradigms through this process. Browning
also believes that this theologizing should take place in community,
and illustrates the validity of this process by working his model out in
the community life of four different churches.
Our new paradigm must encourage churches to evaluate their existing
theology in light of the New Testament didache, and develop more indepth theological understanding, while preserving the natural
theologizing process in which all dynamic church movements have
emerged.
12
4. The process of doing church-based theology must be rooted in a true

sense of an international movement, especially in the emergence of
respect for the theologizing process of Third World churches. Every
indication is, that all Western cultures are truly post-Christian, and the
Western church will continue on its nominal course. If the Western
church has to spend a significant amount of its time digging itself out
of its traditions, and reeducating its congregations, while many of the
Two-Thirds World churches are able to start fresh in a sense, building
12
Eternal Word Changing Worlds: Theology, Anthropology and Mission in Trialogue, by

Harvie Conn (Zondervan, 1984). Note especially chapter 6, Theology and Theologizing: A
New Course.
13
The Fragility of Knowledge: Theological Education in the Church & University, by
Edward Farley (Fortress, 1988). Especially note chapter 7, The Structure of Theological
Study: Mapping the Terrain.
14
A Fundamental Theology:
Descriptive and Strategic Proposals,
by Don S. Browning (Fortress, 1991).
its first level New Testament didache type theology, we can expect
some of the most innovative and stimulating theology to come from
these young developing churches. The interchange process may
ultimately be more needed by the Western churches than the developing
churches. Those of us from the west must shed our colonial Western
type thinking, and learn to hold our Western tradition with healthy
suspicion. All of us regardless of our traditions or place in the world,
must do what we can to foster a genuine fellowship of local churches
worldwide, engaged in doing theology in culture.
A Working Model:
We want to put forth a rather simple process for doing theology in culture.
It assumes a church-based context, much as described in these three churchbased articles. This process is diagrammed in Figure 2, Doing Theology
in Culture. Note that this is just an overview; the whole process demands
an article itself in order to fully explain the concepts. The process involves
three basic phases:
Phase 1: Build a Framework from Scripture
Most theology in culture models pass over this stage very quickly, yet
this is where we lay the entire foundation upon which we will build our
cultural categories and ministry paradigms. Even though the phases are
cyclical and in one sense always going on simultaneously - as the
theologizing process is by nature a constant exercise of the churches - it will
take several years for a group of churches to lay this framework from
Scripture in a careful and disciplined manner. This process involves
revisiting the apostolic teaching as delivered to the first churches, and
establishing our churches in this teaching. Then it is necessary to get a
grasp on the Scriptures as a whole, including each major era or division of
Scripture, including the argument and intent of each book, and all of the
major teaching passages. The final aspect of this stage is to develop a
biblical theology (longitudinal themes and major topics as they naturally
unfold in the Scriptures), which will actually become the clay for molding
ministry paradigms and actually doing theology in culture.15
Phase 2: Systematically Address Cultural Issues and Questions
This phase is important because it involves beginning to match biblical
ideas with the ideas, issues and questions of a given culture and begins the
process of framing the truths of Scripture in such a way that the church
matures in culture, becoming able to problem solve and address tough
issues. This enables it to guard the truth in the midst of competing cultural
ideas; against distortions of the truth which will arise from within the
church; and to fully penetrate the culture in which it resides with the truths
of the gospel. To theologize properly at this stage, it is important for
churches to build fresh categories and questions out of their culture and to
truly interact with the biblical categories from disciplined biblical theology
15
This process (sections to books to teaching passages to biblical theology) is patterned after
Walter Kaisers two ground breaking works - Toward an Exegetical Theology (Baker, 1981)
and Toward an Old Testament Theology (Zondervan, 1978).
13
study. It is tempting here, especially for developing churches, to turn to

Western systematic theology, with its questions and categories, rather than
beginning to do its own theology in culture. The reason that this should be
avoided is not so much that systematics cant transcend culture (although it
almost never does because even good systematics needs to be rooted in
culture), but that Western systematic theology has been dominated by the
academy and the official church since the early church. It is on a different
agenda, often asking fundamentally different questions from those who are
doing theology in the life of the local church. Several recent works have
surfaced which can help guide us in this process16, but it is often by just
the natural process, over a period of years of establishing churches and
doing disciplined biblical theology, that the cultural categories begin to
emerge.
Phase 3: Develop Practical Theology for Ministry
The essence of this phase is ministry paradigm building in culture.
Churches will eventually develop common ministry structures to do
ministry on a broad level among the churches. Some of our paradigms
today include youth ministry, Sunday school, seminaries, and Christian
counseling. We all know how they work, and they may or may not fit well
with the basic patterns set forth for the churches in the teaching deposited to
the New Testament. Here we need to build slowly, taking care that our
initial ministry strategies, which often grow into whole paradigms for
doing ministry, are laid consistently with the first principles of Christ
(the apostles teaching) and not the first principles of the world, or of our
Western traditions. We will often need to take time, at this stage, as
suggested by Browning, Farley and others, to examine our own deep
structures of tradition and practice in order to see past our man-made
ministry paradigms which are rooted in syncretistic cultural practices - often
the problem in developing churches, or in deep church traditions - often the
problem in established Western churches. This is the most challenging and
exciting phase of the process. To see a model of this entire process, see
appendix II of this article, taken from the final project guide in the BILDInternational Leadership Series II course entitled Doing Theology in
Culture.17
14
It may be helpful to note here that the BILD curriculum is consistent with
the entire doing theology in culture process described in this article. It
has grown out of this process in the life of a local church as it attempted to
establish itself in its cultural setting; build new ministry paradigms; and
raise its critical consciousness for more effective ministry here and around
the world. It has been effectively used, tested and improved by being used
in the life of other churches in various parts of the world. It has taken
twenty years to work it out in culture, including a ten year process of
16
One of the most practical is a recent book by Robert Banks, Redeeming the Routines:
Bringing Theology to Light (Victor Books, 1993). I also find the several books by William
Dyrness very stimulating in this regard: Old Testament Theology (IVP, ), Christian Apologetic
(IVP, 1983), Invitation to Cross-Cultural Theology (Zondervan, 1992) and Learning About
Theology from the Third World (Zondervan, 1990). As far as the broad cultural categories of
a post-modern paradigmatic nature, Bosch and Kung are very helpful.
17
Doing Theology in Culture, BILDInternational Leadership Series II
course, currently in design phase.
shifting from Western systematic theology to a thoroughly biblical

theology approach. The church is still in the painful process of retooling
its ministry paradigms, in a culture often resistant to change. It will take
another ten years to finish the biblical theology side of the curriculum (of
which it is already fifteen years into that process, and 30%-80% completed,
depending upon the course.
The curriculum itself is now structured to guide churches through the
theologizing process of this article. All of the courses take into account
the complete theologizing process described above, and are designed in such
a way as to facilitate each local church interactively theologizing in
community.
Leadership Series I is designed to guide churches through revisiting
the apostolic tradition - the didache, the first principles, in a careful and
disciplined manner.
Leadership Series II is designed to take churches through the entire
process in a more in-depth way, gaining a grasp of the whole of the
Scripture; carefully constructing a complete biblical theology; guiding
the first steps in systematically addressing cultural issues and
categories and developing practical theology for ministry.
It is also structured to help churches encounter the Scriptures in somewhat
the same order and manner as the early churches did themselves (part of a
biblical theology approach), first getting the apostles doctrine, with special
emphasis on Paul, whose job was to bring to light Gods plan and
administration for the churches, and then against the backdrop of the entire
Scriptures. The BILD curriculum is just one example of the new type of
resources needed to help equip churches in this emerging post-modern
world.
Conclusion:
By extensive interaction with the Scriptures themselves, accompanied by a
careful reflection on our own deep traditions, we can begin to address
cultural issues and questions and develop practical ministry paradigms,
which accurately reflect the apostolic teachings, and address afresh
contemporary culture. This theology in culture needs to grow out of the
churches, not the academy or the official church; out of churches who are
establishing themselves and their witness in the world - church-based
theology.
The church-based movement, and church-based theology is not about
renewing traditional seminaries and mission agencies. It is not about
putting new wine in old wineskins. It is not about reengineering. It is not
about propagating our particular tradition. It is about lateral thinking. It is
about radical thinking. It is about returning to our foundations and
rediscovering the centrality of the local church in a way which has not been
fully seen since the early church. It is about churches all over the world, in
partnership with other churches as they seek to do theology afresh,
revisiting the didache of the New Testament, and building paradigms for
this new time in history.
15
Doing Theology in Culture:

Building an Apostolic Belief Framework
Figure 2
Build a Framework from Scripture
identify the essentials of sound

doctrine (i.e. the apostolic kerygma
and didache)
summarize the basic message of
scripture (world view statement)
do extensive biblical theology work
(theology of books, teaching
passages, authors, sections of
scripture, testaments, longitudinal
themes, major topics, etc.)
Systematically Address Cultural

Issues and Categories
Develop Practical Theology for Ministry
evaluate current ministries in light of

scripture and culture
personal/family ministry strategies
(outreach, work, community service,
education, use of gifts, time, money, etc.)
church ministry strategies (assisting
churches in need worldwide, relief and
development, outreach in the community,
pastoral care
16
basic cultural challenges to

Christianity (defense of the faithapologetics)
social, political and economic issues
and problems of a culture (response
of believing community to the
culture around them)
differing world view and religious of
the culture (how to relate, love,
defend faith)
everyday living in the community
and the world (family, money,
work, relationships, time, priorities,
ministries, etc.)
Appendix I: Traditions, Patterns and Sound

Doctrine in the Church
The Growth of Apostolic Doctrine:
There is a body of teaching delivered by Christ to the apostles that was intended
to be followed by all the churches that includes a core body of teaching as well
as a way of life to be lived out by churches everywhere. This teaching should be
carefully built into the infrastructure of the life of every new church and every
new believer. ("all the churches" cf. 1 Corinthians 11:1-2,16; 7:17; 14:33; 8:1624; 2 Thessalonians 1:4)
Existence of this Body of Teaching:

In Acts: The apostles' teaching - Acts 2:42
From its inception, the church recognized the teaching of the apostles (Acts
2:42). This teaching, which began orally and grew throughout the life of
the church in the form of letters by the apostles and their key fellow
workers, was considered authoritative for the churches and was referred t o
as the apostles' doctrine or teaching, the deposit of faith, the faith, the
doctrine, etc. The churches referred to the core gospel of this teaching as the
kerygma, and the teaching of ordered living in the community as the
didache. Despite distinguishing the two by name, there was much overlap
in these categories, both in the New Testament and in the writings of the
early church.
In Paul's Writings:
Early writings: traditions, instructions, commandments

Paul understood that what he was delivering to the churches was a
body of teachings that he received from the Lord (1 Thessalonians
4:2), and that they were to be followed by all of the churches. On
several occasions he referred to the traditions they had received from
him. The term "traditions" (from the Greek word "paradosis" - that
which is passed on) refers to the teaching delivered by Paul and the
other apostles. This seemed to be the way Paul summarized this
teaching in his early letters and is the concept picked up in church
history, especially by the Catholic church when it refers to three
authorities: the Bible, tradition, and the papal system. (cf. 2
Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6; 1 Corinthians 11:2; also Colossians 2:8).
The Colossians passage helps us remember that we are just referring t o
Paul's emphasis of terms at different stages of writing, not rigid
categories, such as only using paradosis in his early letters.
Obviously, he uses the term in Colossians, emphasizing that we are
only looking at patterns, which are none-the-less very useful. He
referred to the people who would not follow this teaching as unruly
(from the Greek word "ataktos"), which refers to someone who is out of
step or disorderly (1 Thessalonians 5:14; 2 Thessalonians 3:6,11).
middle writings: rule of faith, pattern, and elementary principles

In his middle writings, Paul challenged the churches to stay with the
system or standard of truth which he taught them and they saw in him.
17
Two key words appear: "attitude" (from the Greek word "phroneo"),
which refers to a way of thinking or pattern of thinking and living
(Philippians 2:5; 3:15), and "standard" (from the Greek word
"stoikion" or "stoikeo"), which refers to the rule or standard of faith
delivered by Paul (Colossians 2:8,20; Philippians 3:16; Galatians
4:3,9; 5:25; 6:16). Paul also referred to this body of truth as the faith,
which he was delivering (cf. with the Greek word "pistis" in Acts 16:5;
Philippians 1:27; Colossians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 13:5). Again, Paul
expected them to be obedient to the faith, to be solidly in it, and t o
strive for its preservation. It is interesting to note that the concept of
the rule of faith was the first term the early churches in the second
century used to describe their summaries of the apostles' doctrine,
which later grew into the creeds.
later letters: deposit of sound doctrine, and sound principles

Paul began focusing more on the soundness of this doctrine or
teaching in his last letters, which were written to his two key leaders:
Timothy and Titus. He knew that many would come along after his
death and try to distort the doctrine he had left the churches, not only
its accuracy, but its soundness, as well. This infers that he understood
his doctrine not as merely a system of truths, but a way of life also. The
core truths of the faith could never be divorced from the conduct of the
believers. Paul referred to this body of truth as a deposit, which he
entrusted to Timothy. He told Timothy to retain the "standard" (from
the Greek word "hupotuposis" - outline sketch, ground plan, rough
draft forming the basis of a fuller exposition, Linguistic Key) of sound
words (2 Timothy 1:13) of this deposit. The main term Paul used i n
these letters was "sound doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:10; 6:3; 2 Timothy
1:13; 4:3; Titus 1:9, 13; 2:1-2). Doctrine is from the Greek word
"didache" or "didaskolos," which refers to the teaching that had been
entrusted to Paul, which he passed on to the churches. It is now the
responsibility of faithful men like Timothy and Titus to help preserve
the deposit of sound doctrine and entrust it to others who can in turn
teach others (2 Timothy 2:2). The result is a perpetual preservation of
the apostolic deposit to the churches. This teaching centered around
the kerygma, which was the proclamation of the gospel, and the
didache, which was the teaching that all believers and churches needed
to orient their lives around.
In the General Epistles:
18
The General Epistles refer to the teaching as the faith delivered to the
apostles. A concern among these writers, especially Peter and Jude, was
the preservation of the faith from false teachers. The spirit of these
letters is probably best summarized by Jude, who called the believers
"to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered t o
the saints" (Jude 3). The writers of these epistles had clear
understanding of the existence of a body of truth, delivered by the
apostles, that was once for all delivered to the churches to be followed
carefully.
Role of Apostolic Doctrine in Shaping and Stabilizing the

Early Churches
Paul, his team, and the other apostolic leaders saw it as one of their primary
responsibilities to establish these new churches in the body of teaching
delivered to them. They referred to the teaching by many names: the
traditions, the faith, the apostolic doctrine, etc., which is detailed above. In
Paul's work with the Thessalonians we have one of the clearest pictures of
how this body of truth shaped the early churches; how others came along t o
try to challenge this teaching; and how the apostles fought this effort, and
used it to stabilize and establish the churches. The process is visualized o n
the chart "Establishing the Thessalonian Community." Paul expected the
churches to hold to the traditions - the teaching which he delivered t o
them, and had received from Christ. Anyone who did not was considered
unruly, and eventually had to be dealt with firmly. These traditions
included the gospel and all directives, both propositional and ethical,
conduct type truth. As seen on the chart, there was a normal process which
all churches went through in order to become established, a process
summarized by Malherbe in Paul and the Thessalonians: The
Philosophical Tradition of Pastoral Care.
The Process of Establishing the Early Churches in the Apostles

Doctrine:
1.
Founding the Community - In this stage a group of believers

responded to the gospel as it was proclaimed (the kerygma), and their
conversion was reinforced, by careful instruction in the gospel after
they believed. The conversion needed to be reinforced, not as a desire
to reform, but as a dynamic conversion, a transfer, on the basis of
God's work, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God. (1
Thessalonians 1:1-2:12)
2.
Shaping the Community - In this stage the church was instructed in the
traditions (the teaching, the didache) of the apostles. This was a body
of teaching delivered by the apostles, which all churches and
individual believers were expected to follow. Paul established the
churches in this didache through three means:
a. by teaching the church initially 2:1-12
b. by returning to visit the church 2:13-20
c. by sending a team member if he was not able to go 3:1-10
3.
Stabilizing the Community - In this stage, which seemed inevitable for

every church to pass through, almost as if it was a necessary part of the
maturing process, Paul had to reinforce his teaching by clarification
and exhortation. This was partly because many followed him around,
or followed after him, trying to get the churches out from under his
influence. Again, Paul followed the same pattern in trying to get the
churches to hold fast to the apostles teaching: He challenged them t o
hold to his teaching: (1 Thessalonians 3:1-5:28; 2 Thessalonians)
a.
b.
c.
by sending letters which clarified his teaching and

challenged them to hold firm
by sending men from his team with the letters and
authorizing them to deal with those who would not conform
by visiting them himself if possible.
19
The Essentials of the Apostolic Doctrine

The apostolic doctrine itself now needs to be summarized. The early church
did this in two categories: the kerygma (which centered around the gospel
and its core truths, and the didache (which centered around the core
teaching delivered to the church which shaped their community belief
system and life together). The following is a summary of the essentials of
this body of truth deposited to the churches. The two categories - the
kerygma and the didache - in one sense are arbitrary, and overlap, or may
completely include the other in some texts, but are useful for summary
purpose, and fairly reflective of the order of the delivery and the early
categorization of this deposit as it was made. Besides the careful review of
the New Testament letters, in the order they were written, two books have
greatly influenced this summary:
The Apostolic Preaching and Its Development, by C.H. Dodd
Gospel and Law, by C.H. Dodd
The Kerygma:
1.
2.
3.
4.
This gospel was prophesied beforehand in the Scriptures, as part of

God's unfolding plan to bless the families of the earth through the
seed of David, in the form of a New Covenant in which there would be
forgiveness of sin, and a placing of God's Spirit within man.
This gospel was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the seed of
David, the King of Kings, born of the Holy Spirit, who came in the
flesh, lived a sinless life, died, was buried and rose again on the third
day according to the Scriptures, and is seated at the right hand of the
Father.
This Jesus will come again to judge the earth, and set up the kingdom
of God for all time, and after having abolished all rule and authority,
will reign forever and ever.
Those who hear this message, and believe, will receive forgiveness of
sins, and be given the Spirit of God as a pledge of their inheritance as
they eagerly await the Savior who will return for them.
(Galatians 1:1-5; 3:1-18; 1 Corinthians 15; Romans 1:1-7; 4:24,25;
Ephesians 1:1-3:21; Colossians 1:9,10; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:15)
The Didache:
1.
2.
20
3.
4.
5.
6.
Each believer is instructed to lay aside his old life, renew His mind i n
the teaching, and conform his new life to the will of God. (Ephesians
4:22-24; Romans 12:1,2)
A set of virtues, only possible through God's resources, are t o
characterize each believer. (Galatians 5:22-33; Colossians 3:12; 2
Peter 1:1-11)
Individual households must be ordered properly, consistent with
God's created design for man and for the Church. (Ephesians 5:22-6:9;
Colossians 3:18-4:1; 1 Peter 3:1-7)
God's household, the church, the pillar and support of the truth, must
be properly ordered according to sound doctrine received from the
apostles, especially Paul. (1 Timothy 3:14-16; Titus 1:5-2:15; 2
Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6; Ephesians 3:1-13; Colossians 1:24-29)
Each must be committed to do his part, both generally in one another
ministry, and specifically in the use of his gifts in the building up of
the church. (Romans 12:3-16; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6)
A pattern of relationships within the church must be observed,
characterized by love, brotherhood, mutual acceptance and respect, i n
7.
8.
which each is to diligently pursue unity in the bond of peace.

(Romans 12:9-15; 14:1-7; Philippians 1:27-2:4; Ephesians 4:1-6)
A pattern of relationships in the world must be observed, characterized
by respect for government, employees and other authorities, and love
and good deeds toward neighbors and those in need. (Romans 13:1-7;
Titus 2:14; 3:1,14)
Each must lead a responsible and sober life, working hard, providing
for his own, making the most of the time (because the days are evil)
and keeping on the alert for Satan and his strategies. (Ephesians 5:122; 6:10-18; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15; 1 Peter
5:6-11)
21
Appendix II: Toward a Belief Framework in

Culture
Phase 1: Build a Belief Framework in Culture:
I. The Essentials of Sound Doctrine
The apostolic doctrine itself now needs to be summarized. The early church
did this in two categories: the kerygma (which centered around the gospel
and its core truths, and the didache (which centered around the core
teaching delivered to the church which shaped their community belief
system and life together). The following is a summary of the essentials of
this body of truth deposited to the churches. The two categories - the
kerygma and the didache - in one sense are arbitrary, and overlap, or may
completely include the other in some texts, but are useful for summary
purpose, and fairly reflective of the order of the delivery and the early
categorization of this deposit as it was made. Besides the careful review of
the New Testament letters, in the order they were written, two books have
greatly influenced this summary:
The Apostolic Preaching and Its Development, by C.H. Dodd
Gospel and Law, by C.H. Dodd
The Kerygma:
1.
2.
3.
4.
22
This gospel was prophesied beforehand in the Scriptures, as part of

God's unfolding plan to bless the families of the earth through the
seed of David, in the form of a New Covenant in which there would be
forgiveness of sin, and a placing of God's Spirit within man.
This gospel was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the seed of
David, the King of Kings, born of the Holy Spirit, who came in the
flesh, lived a sinless life, died, was buried and rose again on the third
day according to the Scriptures, and is seated at the right hand of the
Father.
This Jesus will come again to judge the earth, and set up the kingdom
of God for all time, and after having abolished all rule and authority,
will reign forever and ever.
Those who hear this message, and believe, will receive forgiveness of
sins, and be given the Spirit of God as a pledge of their inheritance as
they eagerly await the Savior who will return for them.
(Galatians 1:1-5; 3:1-18; 1 Corinthians 15; Romans 1:1-7; 4:24,25;
Ephesians 1:1-3:21; Colossians 1:9,10; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:15)
The Didache:
1.
2.
3.
Each believer is instructed to lay aside his old life, renew His mind i n
the teaching, and conform his new life to the will of God. (Ephesians
4:22-24; Romans 12:1,2)
A set of virtues, only possible through God's resources, are t o
characterize each believer. (Galatians 5:22-33; Colossians 3:12; 2
Peter 1:1-11)
Individual households must be ordered properly, consistent with
God's created design for man and for the Church. (Ephesians 5:22-6:9;
Colossians 3:18-4:1; 1 Peter 3:1-7)
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
God's household, the church, the pillar and support of the truth, must
be properly ordered according to sound doctrine received from the
apostles, especially Paul. (1 Timothy 3:14-16; Titus 1:5-2:15; 2
Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6; Ephesians 3:1-13; Colossians 1:24-29)
Each must be committed to do his part, both generally in one another
ministry, and specifically in the use of his gifts in the building up of
the church. (Romans 12:3-16; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6)
A pattern of relationships within the church must be observed,
characterized by love, brotherhood, mutual acceptance and respect, i n
which each is to diligently pursue unity in the bond of peace.
(Romans 12:9-15; 14:1-7; Philippians 1:27-2:4; Ephesians 4:1-6)
A pattern of relationships in the world must be observed, characterized
by respect for government, employees and other authorities, and love
and good deeds toward neighbors and those in need. (Romans 13:1-7;
Titus 2:14; 3:1,14)
Each must lead a responsible and sober life, working hard, providing
for his own, making the most of the time (because the days are evil)
and keeping on the alert for Satan and his strategies. (Ephesians 5:122; 6:10-18; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15; 1 Peter
5:6-11)
II. Summary of Biblical Message Statement and Biblical World View

(Developed in the Covenants, Unity of Scripture and Biblical World View
course.)
Central Message Statement:

To unfold the central plan (eternal purpose) of God, in which He redeems for
Himself a people for all eternity, demonstrating His manifold wisdom to the
rulers and authorities in heavenly places, supplying His people who are
commissioned to be a witness to His purpose, with a book which contains
all the essential insights and guidance needed to effectively assist Him i n
carrying out His purpose
by setting the stage for the revealing of His plan in the narration of the
creation and fall of man, along with the glimmer of a promise of
restoration imbedded in the curse to the woman and traced up to the
seed of Abraham, as well as giving insight into the major themes
necessary to understand to live in harmony with God's created order,
and man's propensity to resist that order (Gen. 1-11)
by revealing the promise to bless all the families of the earth through
Abraham and his descendants, sovereignly forming those descendants
into a nation through whom God would reveal Himself and His plan t o
all the other nations, contracting with the nation concerning how they
should live, as well as giving insight into living by faith in the plan
of God, and man's propensity to resist that plan and go his own way
(Gen. 12-Deut. 34)
by recording the history of the nation of Israel, through which God
sovereignly continued to unfold His plan, revealing an additional
aspect of His promise to bless all the families of the earth in the
covenant with David, which looks forward to a coming seed of David
who would rule forever, continuing to give insight into living by faith
in the plan of God, again emphasizing and illustrating man's
propensity to resist that plan and go his own way (Joshua through
Esther)
23
by preserving the psalms of David and those who wrote in his

tradition, providing the people with a sort of "divine hymnbook" for
worship and reflection by the people of God, both individually and
corporately, that they might internalize the Word up through the
Davidic era, and continuing down to the post-exilic time, that they
might acquire a heart for God (Psalms)
by preserving the wisdom of Solomon and those who wrote in his
tradition, providing the people with a sort of "divine guide to skillful
living" for use in all areas of family, community and national life, that
they might acquire a heart of wisdom (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song
of Solomon)
by recording the prophetic word of the prophets, who called Israel t o
court for her constant disobedience to the Law (Mosaic) covenant,
announcing impending judgment, while providing an ever broadening
picture of the coming Messiah and the New Covenant which would
replace the Old (Mosaic) Covenant which would lead to all the
promises to Israel being fulfilled, giving the people of God insight
into the true condition of their hearts and exhortations to proper
repentance and a godly morality (Isaiah - Malachi)
by interpreting in narrative form, the transition between the Old and
New Covenants, in four different accounts of the life and ministry of
Christ, in which Jesus and His offer of the kingdom was rejected, and a
new phase in the plan of God revealed - His church - in which Christ
gathers together and begins building this new community over which
no force, even the gates of Hades, would be able to prevail, as well as
giving keen insight into true faith and commitment, and principles for
living life under the New Covenant (Matthew - John)
by recording, in narrative form, the expansion and establishment of
Christ's new covenant community, His church, and in the letters of
Paul, establishing the churches in the gospel and in the details of
Christ's plan for the building and functioning of His church - a design
which when followed will ultimately cause the rulers and authorities
in heavenly places to recognize the manifold wisdom of God, giving
insight into living in Christ as individuals, as families and as local
churches (Acts & Paul's epistles)
by recording, in letters from other apostles, instructions designed t o
protect and establish the churches, with special emphasis on handling
false doctrine of a Jewish nature (Hebrews - Jude)
24
by recording, in the apocalyptic visions of John, the consummation of

the whole plan of God, bringing to finality all of the motifs begun i n
Genesis 1-11, as well as giving us a model, in Jesus' evaluation of the
seven churches, of how to keep perspective amidst physical and
spiritual warfare, remaining a faithful witness for Jesus (Revelation)
Basic Statement of World View:
The universe is under the sovereign direction and control of the God
revealed in the Biblical Canon and He has a plan for His creation, which i s
unfolding toward an end in which He will return and set up His kingdom
through His Son Jesus Christ, to which all history points. Until such time,
He has directed His church, under the authority and direction of His Word,
and in the midst of a fallen world under the control of Satan, to carry out
His purposes - until Christ returns for His Church
Corollary Universal Realities:

1.
One can expect both history and life to be consistent with the
Scriptures, as well as find all the life direction and guidance
needed for all the choices and decisions which one will face
throughout his life.
2.
Carrying out God's purpose will always be met with a certain

opposition since Satan is in control of the world in which we live
and the spirit of the age will be running contrary to the direction
and purposes of God.
3.
Christ's church is at the center of the purpose and plan of God for
this time, therefore the purpose of God which should drive the
believer today ought to be the purpose for the church - which can
be summarized as follows: To be subservient to Christ as He seeks
to build His church and ultimately His kingdom, which primarily
involves maturing in Christ as individuals and as a community,
impacting our own community with the gospel, and becoming a
participant in the progress of the gospel worldwide - evangelizing
new communities as God opens doors and helping existing
churches throughout the world become established, mature and
multiply.
4.
With Church at the center of God's plan for this age, the question
growing out of the covenants is what will happen to Israel in the
future. It appears, that since the covenants are rooted in historical
reality, that they will have to be historically fulfilled in the
future, leading one to believe that the promises to Israel will be
historically fulfilled in the future.
5.
As a Christian, I must be careful how I use the Old Testament and

the Gospels, since they were written or recorded events of those
under the Mosaic Covenant. Those portions of Scripture are just
as important in the life of the churches and individual believers,
when carefully interpreted., as the rest of the New Testament.
III. Biblical Theology Work

The Scriptures are our database for systematically addressing the
cultural issues and categories in the next phase of our process of
building a belief framework in culture. The following is an outline
guide of the types of contributions each section of Scripture makes t o
this overall framework. The eight biblical studies courses in the
Leadership Series II are designed to do extensive work in each of these
divisions.
The Pentateuch
All foundational concepts of a world view: revelation of

God's person, creation questions, purpose on earth, man and
woman, marriage, family, history framework - nations,
lives of believers
life situations and choices

The narrative books are excellent for seeing the whole lives
of believers, as well as being able to see the individual
choices they made, and how they handled their problems. An
excellent tool would be to develop a life-development time
25
line of all of the major (and eventually minor) biblical

characters to use as prototypes for use in counseling. The
lives of those we are seeking to help will parallel at least one
biblical character.
The Former Prophets
A continuation of the Pentateuch
Development of God's covenants and plan of history

The Latter Prophets
A continuation of the Pentateuch and Former Prophets
Issues of the nations and the future - justice, sin, wealth,

poverty, etc. particularly helpful in developing the broad
questions of other religions, world affairs, economic,
political and social problems
The Writings
Wisdom Literature
Proverbs--general skill in living life

The main topics include: character development, work,
honest and fair practices, good use of money, a well-ordered
home, an excellent wife, discipline of children, dealing
wisely and fairly with people, control of emotions and words,
handling conflict, living harmoniously in community,
dealing with authorities.
Ecclesiastes--meaning and purpose in life

This book is excellent for dealing with life's inequities, as
well as finding its meaning and purpose. Excellent to build
an apologetic, philosophical framework
Song of Solomon--skill in romantic love and marriage
26
Psalms
The psalms are excellent for dealing with all sorts of problems.
This can best be visualized by understanding the different types
of psalms. Here are just a few.
psalms of individual laments and penitential psalms

These are excellent for helping people through individual
difficulties, the grief process, as well as working through
failure, repenting, and recovering to a right relationship with
God.
psalms of trust and meditation

These are excellent for gaining a healthy focus on life, for
quieting anxiety, and building trust.
salvation history psalms

These are excellent for gaining perspective on life and
history and a confidence in the control of God over all of life
and its events.
psalms of praise and thanksgiving

These are excellent for keeping a positive focus in life,
keeping one's heart in tune with God, and for use in song and
memorization. All are key to sound emotional health. Also,
the Psalms are intended to keep God's kingdom purposes and
promises living in the heart of each believer.
The Gospels
placing of Christ in the overall plan of God, clarifying the

plan of God
a complete example of living a godly life
skill in sharing our faith
dealing skillfully with people
getting to underlying problems, to the real issue
asking key questions

The gospels expose us to the master counselor. Here we can
see counseling and shepherding in full action. This material
would be excellent for developing a skills manual in how t o
deal with people, ask questions, get to the underlying
problems, and direct the person towards his greatest need:
the gospel.
Acts & The Pauline Epistles
the mission and purpose of the church
the church in the world - in a community, under a

government, as a witness
the basic teaching delivered to the churches; their way of

working and functioning
basic teaching for the marriage and family; how to order their
lives as members of Christ's church
use of time, talents and money
solving the basic problems of new believers - early epistles
helping believers get their life purpose in focus - prison

epistles
helping believers stay sound and healthy, with well-ordered

lives and homes - pastoral epistles
These epistles are the heart of the training of each believer.
The early epistles bring the gospel to bear on most all the
problems these new believers brought with them into the
churches, and focus on how to grow in the Word, and walk
with the Spirit in their new lives. The middle set focuses o n
continuing that walk, bringing into much clearer focus their
new life in Christ and the importance of devoting their lives
to Him and His purposes. The final set of letters focus o n
sound living over the duration of their lives in community
with other believers.
The General Epistles
helping believers stay with the faith
dealing with those who might potentially leave the faith

These letters are a helpful resource for those who are i n
danger of losing their faith, or possibly returning after
having left or backslidden for a period of time. They are
useful also for identifying warning signs in a person which
might lead to an abandonment of the faith.
Johannine Literature:
a significant contribution to apologetics, keys to bringing

about belief
a complete view of God's plan for history: the nations, the

church, Israel
a view intended to help the churches in any culture survive

the persecutions and keep perspective in light of God's
overall plan
27
Phase 2: Systematically Address Cultural Issues &

Categories:
The following is a brief example of some of the issues and categories which
need to be addressed by churches in the United States as we enter the
twenty-first century, churches which are well off and in a position to help
less fortunate churches in our inner cities and around the world, as well as
living in a declining, affluent culture.
Basic Challenges to Christianity (Defense of faith, apologetics):
New age movement
Exclusion of religion from schools, universities and public

debate
Social, Political and Economic Issues and Problems:
racial tensions and inequities in culture
feminism and its cultural and familial transformations
the social services - counseling centers, rehabilitation systems,

prison system, welfare, etc.
educational system and Christian alternatives
relief and development - to Christians, in the community, around

the world
ethics - abortion, euthanasia, birth control, gun control, use of

genetics, use of medicine to prolong life, financial and
stewardship issues of health care
use of new information society - fiber optics highway

communication system, computers, media communications,
satellites, travel, global information markets
use of church resources - buildings, money, technology

Differing world view and religions:
response to one ecumenical religion
expansion of Islam
sharing our faith in the new global information market place

where we encounter different religions everyday
28
Everyday Living in community:
careerism and the life of the church
ethics in business
family - marriages role in today's society, care of parents,

training of children (public, private or home schooling)
life in an information, technological society - busyness, mobility,

debt
daily routines - commuting, shopping ,eating, sleeping,

television, hospitality, eating, drinking, etc.
use of time, talents, money
work and leisure
communicating and relating
ministry - gifts, skills development, volunteer service
care of elderly, widows, parents
our witness in the community - time, skills, hospitality,

availability, etc.
Phase 3: Develop Practical Theology for Ministry:

Evaluation of Current Ministries in Light of Scripture and Culture:
Example of the process:
See the Leadership Series I course: Counseling, Shepherding and the
Early Church, which models the whole process of building from the
original kerygma and didache, looking outward to the whole Scripture,
critiquing the current evangelical model, and developing a practical
theology model.
Personal/Family Ministry Strategies:
These are personal/family ministries which appear to need to be
rethought:
development of profession and career
training of our children
serious ordered religious learning as in other areas - career as
an example
use of time, talents, resources for the ministry
household outreach strategy
Church Ministry Strategies:
These are ministries which appear to need to be rethought:
counseling, the church and use of psychology and

psychiatry (pastoral care strategy)
program-based church ministries
Sunday school - the central means for training children in the

faith
a Christian subculture which separates Christians from the

world (its own music, entertainment, educational systems,
social gatherings, etc.)
seminary and mission forms - in light of society paradigm

shifts, institutionalization of systems and the new
information society
Note on the BILD curriculum (see next page for illustration of whole
curriculum):
Leadership series I is designed to lay essential ministry foundations,
to the point of developing a ministry strategy for all essential
ministries growing out of the kerygma and the didache, as well as to
lay essential academic foundations for framing in an initial belief
framework. The Leadership II series is designed to build on that initial
framework with a more careful look at doing theology in culture, and
then carefully developing a framework from Scripture with the eight
theology in culture courses. After the data from the eight courses, it i s
all put back together in the last course: Constructing a
Comprehensive Belief Framework in Culture". It then should be
rounded off with five additional theology in culture courses, which
need to be designed for a particular culture by those in the culture
itself. This will provide examples of both addressing cultural issues
and categories and developing practical theology for ministry; and i t
will be a prototype to unleash a healthy, infinite "theological process"
for the church in that culture. An example in the above culture
scenario might be a course on The New Age Movement.
29
BILD Curriculum
Leadership Series
Leadership Series I
Essential
Foundations
1. Acts: Keys to the Establishment and
Expansion of the First-Century Church
2. The Pauline Epistles: Strategies for
Establishing Churches
3. Understanding the Essentials of
Sound Doctrine
Academic
Studies
Spiritual
Formation
1. Character of a Leader
2. Habits of the Heart
3. Ministry Priorities &
Personal Management
4. Ministry Perspectives:
Conflicts Without and Fears
Within
Ministry Philosophy
and Skills
1. Interpreting the Word I:

Principles and Procedures
2. Interpreting the Word II:
Languages and Study Aides
3. Preaching and Teaching
4. Covenants, Unity of Scripture,
and Biblical Worldview
1. The Family and the Early

Church
2. Evangelism and the Early
Church
3. Shepherding, Counseling
and the Early Church
4. Leaders and the Early
Church
Leadership Series II
Toward a Theology
in Culture
1. Doing Theology in Culture
30
Toward a Theology
in Culture - I
Old Testament Theology
1. The Law
2. The Former Prophets
3. The Latter Prophets
4. The Writings
Toward a Theology
in Culture - II
New Testament Theology
1. The Gospels
2. Acts and Pauline Epistles
3. The General Epistles
4. Johannine Literature
Building a Theology
in Culture
1. Constructing a Comprehensive
Belief Framework in Culture

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NEW PARADIGMS FOR THE POST-MODERN CHURCH

It is absolutely essential, at this point in history, for the church to

NEW PARADIGMS FOR THE POST-MODERN CHURCH

We stand on the brink of a new era, an era, which if properly understood

Let us begin by examining the great theological conversation through the

NEW PARADIGMS FOR THE POST-MODERN CHURCH

has dominated throughout the centuries. In one sense, the collective

The Apostles Doctrine

Medieval RomanCatholic Paradigm

Cultural Context of the Great Theological Conversation

mid 20th cent.

The Enlightened Church

The Reformed Church

The Catholic Church

(See also Boschs Theology of Mission Paradigms built upon Kung)

Kungs Paradigms of Theology

Dominant Carriers of the Conversation:

Posture Towards the First Principles:

The Early Church

early 4th cent.

Preserving the Apostles Doctrine Through the Centuries

The First Principles Through the Centuries

New Testament Church

NEW PARADIGMS FOR THE POST-MODERN CHURCH

It seems timely, at this point in this treatise, to address several implications

We need lateral thinking, not neoclassical thinking. Edward de Bono

2. We need to revisit the first principles (apostolic teaching) in a very

We need to view the great Western theological conversation as a mixed

4 . We need to rediscover the local church and its central role in

Very early on there was an understanding in the New Testament churches

NEW PARADIGMS FOR THE POST-MODERN CHURCH

comprehensive guide to revisiting the apostles tradition, see Appendix I:

Essentials of Sound Doctrine, BILD-International Leadership Series I course, currently

How do we go about this new theological process in a way which is both

The process of doing church-based theology in culture must be truly

We need to return the primary task of doing theology in culture to the

NEW PARADIGMS FOR THE POST-MODERN CHURCH

churches. Theology itself has been dominated by a pattern of

The process of doing church-based theology must be done in the

Expository Hermeneutic: An Introduction, by Elliott Johnson (Zondervan, 1990). Toward an

work with Freires material. He examines the theology of five

4. The process of doing church-based theology must be rooted in a true

Eternal Word Changing Worlds: Theology, Anthropology and Mission in Trialogue, by

NEW PARADIGMS FOR THE POST-MODERN CHURCH

study. It is tempting here, especially for developing churches, to turn to

NEW PARADIGMS FOR THE POST-MODERN CHURCH

shifting from Western systematic theology to a thoroughly biblical

Doing Theology in Culture:

Build a Framework from Scripture

identify the essentials of sound

Systematically Address Cultural

Develop Practical Theology for Ministry

evaluate current ministries in light of

basic cultural challenges to

NEW PARADIGMS FOR THE POST-MODERN CHURCH

Appendix I: Traditions, Patterns and Sound

Existence of this Body of Teaching:

Early writings: traditions, instructions, commandments

middle writings: rule of faith, pattern, and elementary principles