Liberty Theological Seminary Book Critique on Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ Submitted to Dr. Christopher Moody in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of this course THEO530- B02LUO Systematic Theology II June 26, 2015 Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………....3 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………….3 Critique ………………………………………………………………………………………..…4 Conclusion ………... ………………………………………………………………………….…7 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………..9 Introduction In their book, Believer’s Baptism, the authors Schreiner and Wright attempt to incorporate their views on why baptism is essential in the Christian church. Along with its importance they also go further by promoting the believer’s baptism over infant baptism. They begin by attacking the Christian claim found among many that baptism is a trivial issue. They quickly negate this statement with an alternate point of view, that Christians who suffered persecution and martyrdom did not believe it to be so. Summary Placing aside the foreword and introduction, there are ten chapters or sections to this book.
Unitarian Progression Over Time It is fascinating to observe the fluidity of religious traditions over time. The liberal movement, specifically Unitarian, has adapted in subtle but important ways. Ralph Waldo Emerson's “Harvard Divinity School Address” will be the 1838 starting point, and an excerpt of A Theology for the Social Gospel by Walter Rauschenbusch[1] will be the end point. With these texts we have a framework in which to observe a small portion of the Unitarian path. These two writers do share many theological similarities, as they are both religious liberals.
“[The church] should be purified of their unregenerate members…heretical clergymen…bishops and archbishops, but they were nevertheless churches and must be embraced as churches” (Morgan 31). These non-separating Puritans made it their goal to create a superlative Christian community in the New World. In doing so they hoped to serve as an example to encourage reform within the Church of England. Morgan, author of The Puritan Dilemma, describes the non-separating Puritans overall view of the Church of England to be more positive than negative. “[The church] had bought the means of salvation to many of their members and might still do so” (Morgan 31).
On one hand, the Enlightenment views saw God as a far away figure that did not interfere with the lives of humans. The Enlightenment was a period of intellectual growth that tried to explain the true nature of mankind and how it progresses. One of the most important theorists for The Enlightenment was John Locke. John Locke created a theory called tabula theory, which had important assumptions about human nature and undermined Christian assertion that humankind was inherently sinful. Another person who also criticized some of the religious views was Pierre Bayle.
(Across the Spectrum 4) Understand the significance behind authorial intention as it relates to Genesis 1 and the literary framework view. Note that according to this view, the author was interested in thematic rather than chronological organization. What does this mean when applied to the age of creation debate? (Across the Spectrum 4) How does the literary framework view respond to the accusation that it acquiesces to liberal theology? (Across the Spectrum 5) Be able to define and distinguish between the three views of the imago Dei (the image of God in which humans were created) offered by the textbook: 1) the substantival view, 2) the functional view, and 3) the relational view.
Dawn. Wells wishes to make readers aware of the effects of mixing modernity and culture with religion. He makes mention that the centrality of this book focuses primarily upon the church taking a turn towards modernity and the effect the world and secular culture has placed upon this concern. Because of Wells’ observation of the church’s decline in morality, he often refers to some Christians as consumers of a marketing strategy. What is meant by this?
I believe these two viewpoints in this chapter are equally convincing and valid, they demonstrate how puritan’s attitude toward the Indians changed over time. From John Eliot’s account of his interaction with the Native American tribes, we can tell that he viewed the Indians as subjects for conversion to Christianity and treated them fairly. “It may be they are better soil for the gospel than we can think”, said John. It’s necessary to take into account the motivation of puritan colonists here. They believed that they are “God’s chosen people”, called by God to build a “city on the hill” in the newfound land.
Enlightenment thinkers had three main long term beliefs that helped to shape America’s government. The first was belief in progress. The idea of progress was born after the scientific revolution, which influenced people to use human reason to solve social problems. Secondly, it caused people to stop looking at their church for guidance and to start using reason and logic to solve problems. The Enlightenment thinkers also wanted to abolish religious superstitions and promote tolerance of all religions.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X had two different methods on how to effectively bring about change in the civil rights movement. To begin, King was adamant that the only way to bring the two societies together was through non-violence (Penrice “Martin…”). He became more persistent with this idea in 1950 when he was sparked by the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. King found that Gandhi’s teachings jelled with his own Christian beliefs (specifically the biblical philosophy to “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemies”), as well as his intolerance for racial injustice…King became convinced that a philosophy based on love could succeed as a “powerful and effective social force on a large scale” and adopted the philosophy of nonviolent direct action. (Penrice “Martin…”) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was extremely effective in bringing the white and black societies together in a peaceful manner.
He opens his speech by acknowledging the role of religious groups in the building of the American society. This is an issue that had no coverage in Johnson’s address. While Reagan concentrates on religious beliefs as the instigators of social growth and development, Johnson preferred that use of education and riches as the means to achieve the same goal. This contrast is evident in the way these two presidents gave their opening speeches. The other big contrast between these two speeches is Reagan’s reiteration the freedom and liberty are things that can only be enjoyed with the full blessings of God (Rodgers, 2011, p164).