CT Interviews Keener about "Miracles"

The December issue of Christianity Today magazine features an interview with New Testament scholar Craig Keener about his brand new book, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts (Baker Academic).

The article was posted online yesterday and can be read here. [UPDATE 12/27/11 --- Christian Book Distributors has also posted an interview. You can access the audio of Matthew Miller's chat with Keener here.]


[UPDATE 1/5/2012 --- CBD's Miller selects Miracles as the book of the year for 2011.]

Keener is professor of New Testament at Asbury Seminary. He has authored several scholary works on the NT including commentaries (such as, The Gospel of John) and monographs (such as, The Historical Jesus of the Gospels).

Top biblical scholars are not spare in their praise of Miracles. Craig Evans, professor of NT at Acadia Divinity College, says, "Craig Keener has written arguably the best book ever on the subject of miracles."

Richard Bauckham, professor emeritus of NT Studies at St. Andrews University, adds, "Craig Keener's discussion of New Testament miracles adduces a uniquely -- indeed staggeringly -- extensive collection of comparative material .... Keener mounts a very strong challenge to the methodological skepticism about the miraculous to which so many New Testament scholars are still committed. It turns out to be an ethnocentric prejudice of modern Western intellectuals. So who's afraid of David Hume now?"

Other scholars weigh in with their endorsements here.

Keener's blog can be read here and a video of him discussing his journey to faith can be seen here.

Craig has been featured on this blog many times, including an eight-part interview series, Fridays with Craig Keener, in 2008.

Wright at Willowcreek

New Testament scholar N. T. Wright has come out with a new book entitled, Simply Jesus (HarperOne), and recently gave a talk with same title at Willow Creek Community Church.

On Sunday, November 6, Wright spoke at the megachurch pastored by Bill Hybels. Willow Creek, in the Chicago, Illinois suburb of South Barrington, is one of America's largest churches.

Both the video and audio recordings of the talk can be linked to here.

A parable about a parable

Written by Dr. N. T. Wright, research professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

It is based on a passage in the Gospel of John (10:22-42). It was published in a commentary for lay readership, John for Everyone (under the name, Tom Wright). The volume is part of the New Testament for Everyone series.

The video was produced by members of the staff at Calvary Church in Santa Ana, CA.

New editor for the NICNT

Gordon Fee

The news was released yesterday that Eerdmans publishing house has chosen Fuller Seminary's Joel Green to replace Gordon Fee as editor of the New International Commentary on the New Testament series.

Fee, emeritus professor of New Testament at Regent College, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

In addition to editing the series for twenty years, Fee wrote three of the commentaries (1 Corinthians, Philippians, and the Thessalonian letters).

Fee's most recent publication, The Eerdmans Companion to the Bible (co-edited with Robert L. Hubbard Jr.), was released last month. New Testament scholar Nijay Gupta has written a brief, but very helpful, review of it. You can read it on his blog.

Green, author of NICNT's volume on Luke, wrote warmly of the impact of Fee's scholarship on Eerdmans' blog yesterday:

"... Gordon Fee published what would quickly set the bar for the evangelical community, his NICNT volume on 1 Corinthians: clearly written, eminently readable, a model of exegesis in the service of the biblical text, biblical interpretation for the church .... Gordon has stood tall at the helm for more than twenty years, and I for one am immensely grateful to him for his service as editor of the NICNT .... Gordon's fingerprints will remain on the series for years to come. New volumes will appear soon, written by authors he has recruited. These include commentaries on Hebrews, for example, as well as on the Gospel of Mark and Galatians."

Scot McKnight, also an author in the series (the James volume), commented on his blog yesterday about Green's appointment.

A brief tribute to Fee's career was published on this blog in July 2008. Charisma magazine featured him in its September 2010 issue.

Books, books ... and yet more books

Some of the summer was spent in the college library (and on the internet, of course) --- and it was not without profit.

For one thing, there are a lot of books that have been recently published and a lot that are soon to be released that I think you should know about, so here goes.

First, a little news to break: Tremper Longman III confirmed for me a week ago that he is updating his Old Testament Commentary Survey. He expects this fifth edition to be finished by December, so look for it in 2012. (He also said Donald Carson is updating his New Testament Commentary Survey. That makes seven editions for NTCS). These surveys are vital in keeping a pastor's library up-to-date.

Craig Keener, a friend of this blog, is starting at his new post at Asbury Seminary this fall, and has an important book being released, as well. Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts should be in stores in October. New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham says of Miracles:

Craig Keener's discussion of New Testament miracles adduces a uniquely --- indeed staggeringly --- extensive collection of comparative material. That eyewitnesses frequently testify to miraculous healings and other 'extranormal' events is demonstrated beyond doubt. Keener mounts a very strong challenge to the methodological skepticism about the miraculous to which so many New Testament scholars are still committed. It turns out to be an ethnocentric prejudice of modern Western intellectuals. So who's afraid of David Hume now?

The Kingdom New Testament: A Contemporary Translation by N. T. Wright is the same translational work that Wright used in his For Everyone ... series, according to NT scholar Michael Bird. It is just a matter of having Wright's translation conveniently under one cover now. Look for it in October, as well. [UPDATE 9/1/11 - Wright is interviewed about the translation by Ben Witherington III here.]

F. F. Bruce was in the vanguard of a generation of evangelical scholars that emerged in the 20th century. His story gets told in Tim Grass's F. F. Bruce, A Life: A Private Person ... A Fearless Scholar, which is said to be coming out in January 2012.

One of the new books that I have gotten my hands on is the helpful work by Nijay Gupta, Prepare, Succeed, Advance: A Guidebook for Getting a PhD in Biblical Studies and Beyond. There are a lot of questions potential scholars have and finding a mentor patient enough to walk them through all of the answers is not as easy as it may seem. Nijay, whose PhD was earned at the University of Durham in the United Kingdom, is that patient mentor. He walked the PhD journey and is now returning to smooth the path for others.

[UPDATE 8/31/11 - Just learned that Ben Witherington III has a brand new book similar to Gupta's. It's called, Is There a Doctor in the House? An Insider's Story and Advice on Becoming a Biblical Scholar]

If there's something better than having at your disposal the books of five knowledgeable scholars taking different sides in a debate, it's having those five viewpoints all under one cover. The doctrine of justification has been probed quite a bit the last few years, and now we will be treated to Justification: Five Views in November. The traditional Reformed view is presented by Michael Horton, the progressive Reformed view is written by the aforementioned Michael Bird, the New Perspective is represented by James D. G. Dunn, Veli-Matti Karkkainen has the Deification view, and Gerald O'Collins and Oliver Rafferty present the Roman Catholic view.

EVANGELICALISM

Christian Smith challenges the way some evangelicals handle the Scriptures in The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture. You can see Smith talking about the book in these five videos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. [UPDATE 11/17/11 - Robert H. Gundry, a favorite scholar of mine, reviews Smith's book here. He is not favorably inclined towards it.]

In 1994, historian Mark Noll took evangelicals to task in The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Eerdmans).  Now in 2011, Noll is writing to describe what it looks like when evangelicals honor God with their minds in his book, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind. Noll summarizes the goal of his book here.

In September, another "views" book hits the shelves, Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism. Kevin Bauder writes on Fundamentalism, Albert Mohler presents conservative/confessional evangelicalism, Regent College professor John Stackhouse Jr. writes on generic evangelicalism, and Roger E. Olson is the presenter for postconservative evangelicalism.

PENTECOSTALISM

The modern Pentecostal movement has been with us now for over a hundred years. It has an ever-increasing cadre of theologians (like Amos Yong and Veli-Matti Karkkainen), bible scholars (like Gordon Fee), and historians (like Vinson Synan and Edith Blumhofer). Particularly exciting to me is the new book Studying Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods. The University of Birmingham's Allan Anderson joins Yong, Karkkainen, Cecil Robeck Jr., and 12 others to not just tell the story of Pentecostalism, but to also suggest methodology and categories for studying Pentecostalism.

Historian Grant Wacker says that R. G. Robins's Pentecostalism in America is,

... the definitive study of the history of American Pentecostalism. It is hard to say which is most impressive: the breadth of the research, the beauty of the writing, or the astuteness of the insights. And it represents the art of critical empathy at its best. We are not likely to see another book of this quality on this subject for years to come.

Finally, while not about Pentecostalism, Finding Pieces of the Puzzle: A Fresh Look at the Christian Story, is written by historian and former Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada minister, Dr. Ronald A. N. Kydd. The publisher says that this is a retelling of church history "carried from the first to the twenty-first century by a series of mini-biographies .... Watching Christians of the past face their challenges helps us understand who modern Christians really are."

Barnhouse and the Assemblies of God



Barnhouse

The story is told of the late Donald Grey Barnhouse out for a walk with a protege when the famed preacher noticed some birds on his property. Taking careful aim with his shotgun, Barnhouse hit his target.

"That's one less grackle to bother my bluebirds," he celebrated.

When the pair arrived at the dead bird, Barnhouse saw that he had erred; it was not a bothersome grackle lying there, but a bluebird. He used the accident to exhort his protege --- the late apologist, Walter Martin.

You are right in defending the faith from it enemies, but you are too inclined to 'shoot from the hip,' even as I was when I fired at this bird. In the excitement of the moment, it looked like a grackle, but a closer examination would have saved its life and my feelings. It is not wrong to contend for the gospel, but it is wrong to shoot first and ask questions later. What you think might be a grackle, and apostate, or an Antichrist might well be a bluebird you looked at in a hurry. (told by Richard Mouw in Christianity Today November 2006, p. 98)

Barnhouse was not just repeating advice he read somewhere in a book. He had spent a great deal of 'ecclesiastical ammunition' in his career trying to rid the Body of Christ of 'grackles.'

Early in my ministry I conceived the idea that I must strike out against all error wherever I saw it. I used only one kind of ammunition. I hit an error wherever I saw it. If it was Christian Science, Unitarianism, or in Romanism, I swung hard. If it was in some fundamental leader with whom I was in ninety-five percent agreement, I swung hard at the five percent. (Barnhouse in Eternity January 1953, inside cover)

Early in the 20th century, the young Pentecostal movement also found itself in his 'sights,' but much later when Barnhouse dramatically adopted a more irenic approach to other Christians, the Pentecostals became beneficiaries of that change. In fact, the new relationship was highlighted by Barnhouse preaching for a week at Central Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri in 1958 (Springfield is also home to the head office of the Assemblies of God).

A NOTEWORTHY CAREER

At the summit of his career as a preacher, Donald Grey Barnhouse was a force to be reckoned with. He crisscrossed the nation --- and the globe --- preaching and teaching. By his own estimate, he preached approximately 12,000 sermons in a three-decade span.

... Barnhouse is to be remembered as a gifted, independent, expository teacher of the Scriptures who, prior to television and the advent of Billy Graham, spoke personally to more individuals than any Protestant religious leader of his generation. (C. Allyn Russell in the Journal of Presbyterian History, Spring 1981, p. 38)

His influence was enhanced by his nationwide radio ministry, the Bible Study Hour, which at the time of his death was being "heard over 455 stations" (Russell, p. 37). He founded, wrote for, and edited a magazine called, Eternity. Additionally, he pastored the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylania from 1927-1960 (he was followed in that pastorate first by James Montgomery Boice, and later by Philip Ryken).

The 'stage' that Barnhouse walked onto was largely framed by the modernist-fundamentalist controversy in the early 1900s. According to Pentecostal scholars William and Robert Menzies,

By 1925, the era of the infamous 'monkey trial' that lampooned belief in a literal biblical creation, Fundamentalism had been driven from positions of authority in most of the great denominations. From then on, they engaged in a form of guerilla warfare. (Spirit and Power: Foundations of Pentecostal Experience, p. 29)

Church historian George Marsden further explains,

So the fundamental doctrines for which they fought included the virgin birth of Christ, his miracles, his bodily resurrection, his substitutionary atonement for sin, and his second coming. Of particular importance was the nature of the authority of Scripture. Modernists, influenced by higher criticism, emphasized the Bible's human origins; fundamentalists countered by affirming its inerrancy in history and science as well as faith and doctrine. (Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism, p. 4)

So the fight was on and Barnhouse was a willing --- and able --- combatant. At the Bible Institute of Los Angeles he had been a student of R. A. Torrey, who thought so much of him that he lent him his class notes. More intense training came from the fundamentalist 'stars' at Princeton Theological Seminary --- B. B Warfield, Robert Dick Wilson, and J. Gresham Machen.  According to C. Allyn Russell,

Barnhouse's theology was a combination of dispensationalism, Calvinism, and fundamentalism. He spent a lifetime emerging from and modifying his early training in dispensationalism; he gained his Reformed theology at Princeton Theological Seminary; and, he formed his own brand of fundamentalism as the result of independent study of the Scriptures. (Russell, p. 38)

With his training and beliefs intact, he was off to proclaim the Gospel, while battling modernism and any other errors he could find --- even in his own denomination, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA). In fact, criticism of PCUSA ministers that he thought were in error earned him censure by the denomination in 1939 (e.g., on the radio he said, "within the sound of my voice there are two Presbyterian ministers who are treasonably disloyal to the gospel of Jesus Christ." Russell, p. 46).

Barnhouse was certainly not alone in his bombast. Historian Joel Carpenter points out,

Militancy was the mark of fundamentalism, and ideological militancy especially. Fundamentalists were, in other words, a contentious lot, and they held up confrontation as one of their principal duties (Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism, p. 64).

AT ODDS WITH PENTECOSTALS

Some of that militancy was directed against Pentecostals, who had arrived on the scene at the turn of the century. Pentecostals, thus called because they relate their practice of speaking in tongues to the phenomena that occurred on the Day of Pentecost in the book of Acts, came to be identified as a movement having its beginning in 1906 on Azusa Street in Los Angeles (there had been an outbreak of tongues-speaking in Topeka, Kansas in 1901, as well). While they felt they had biblical precedent for what they had experienced, there was much rejection of that claim, often vociferously, as Allen Anderson reports,

The fact that Pentecostals were isolated, rejected and ridiculed by established churches, especially by fundamentalists, eventually resulted in an anti-ecumenical attitude. These Pentecostals saw no reason to cooperate with what they perceived as the old and corrupt churches that had ridiculed them. At the forefront of this attack were leading contemporary fundamentalist preachers like Benjamin Warfield, Henry Ironside and Campbell Morgan, who reportedly called Pentecostals 'the last vomit of Satan'. (Anderson, p. 62).

Characteristically, Barnhouse got involved, writing an editorial in 1933 in Revelation (the magazine he started previous to Eternity). Gerald Wayne King recounts Barnhouse's charges (and Pentecostal pioneer Stanley Frodsham's rebuttal) in his 2009 PhD thesis. The charges went this way,

Barnhouse provided an unflattering description of Pentecostal worship, accusing them of avoiding the full title 'Lord Jesus Christ' and of devaluing the blood of Christ. (Disfellowshipped: Pentecostal Responses to Fundamentalism in the United States, 1906-1943)

The rejection of Pentecostals was not universal, however. A new organization, being spearheaded by Harold J. Ockenga and J. Elwin Wright, was open to having Pentecostal membership.

During World War II, American Evangelical leaders were charting a course for concerted action, desiring to form a collective voice to speak for their interests and not being content to be represented to the public by the World Council of Churches and its American counterpart, an entity that came to be known as the National Council of Churches. One hundred fifty leaders gathered in St. Louis in a constitutional convention for the formation of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in 1942. (Menzies, p. 28-29).

When the NAE was officially formed in 1943, two Pentecostal denominations were charter members --- the Assemblies of God and the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee. As Gary B. McGee explains, it was a new day for Pentecostals,

Membership brought several valuable benefits. Foremost, the NAE conferred recognition as evangelicals on Trinitarian Pentecostals. No longer to be viewed as sectarians or cultists, they could now take their seats with other evangelicals. Although other members strongly disagreed with distinctive Pentecostal teachings, they no longer considered them heretical. After all, each body within the NAE had its on doctrinal distinctives. (People of the Spirit: the Assemblies of God, p. 232)

McIntire

Of course, there were those that simply could not stretch their tents far enough to make room for the Pentecostals. Carl McIntire, who in 1941 had founded the fundamentalist American Council of Christian Churches, was particularly vicious and uncharitable in his obstinance. Pentecostal historian Vinson Synan records,

In his Christian Beacon, McIntire bitterly assailed the Pentecostals and the NAE by saying: "Tongues" is one of the great signs of the apostasy. As true protestant denominations turn from the faith and it gets darker, the Devil comes more into the open, and people who are not fed in the old line denominations go out to the "tongues" movement, for they feel that they have some life. (The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States, p. 207)

While not as harsh as McIntire, Barnhouse was not comfortable with Pentecostal membership in the NAE. Historian Edith Blumhofer writes,

Although the participation of Pentecostals did not prompt debate among NAE founders ... it troubled some fundamentalists and some Pentecostals. In 1944, for example, Donald Grey Barnhouse ... called on the annual NAE convention to solicit old-line denominational participation to counterbalance Pentecostal influence. Barnhouse unequivocally declared that the NAE could not be a meaningful force unless it was controlled by well-established denominations. (Restoring the Faith: the Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture, p. 187)

While Barnhouse has been clearly proved wrong on that count (the NAE continues to this day --- with the Assemblies of God as its largest member), the year 1944 stands out in that account.

The death of his first wife in 1944 in her mid-forties, after a lengthy bout with cancer affected Barnhouse deeply. During her final illness, Barnhouse and his wife had quietly called for elders from one of the Pentecostal churches to anoint her ceremonially with oil and to pray for her healing. (Russell, p. 49)

Whatever Barnhouse thought about Pentecostals up to that point --- whether or not they had correct doctrine, or whether or not their membership would harm the NAE --- he believed at that moment that God would, or could, respond to their prayers for healing. That is, at least, what his son told C. Allyn Russell in an interview in 1979,

Barnhouse accepted the claim of the elders that his wife had been healed. When she died, however, Barnhouse was shaken doctrinally and as well as emotionally. Donald Grey Barnhouse, Jr. declared that his father "did not seem quite so totally confident about anything after that." (Russell, p. 49)

A STUNNING REVERSAL 


One could easily imagine that this was the end of involvement with the Pentecostals for Barnhouse. After all, he "quietly" summoned them --- and still lost his dear wife. But, less than nine years later, Donald Grey Barnhouse stunned the religious community in the United States when he made an announcement that was tantamount to saying that he was going to be a lot more careful about what kind of birds he was shooting at. He penned a New Year's resolution for Eternity's January 1953 issue that declared that he wanted to broaden his circle of fellowship --- and he was not going to do it in a quiet, stealthy manner. There for all to read was,

In this same spirit I have had good fellowship with men who might be called extreme in their adherence to some doctrine, such as that which fosters so-called manifestations of the Holy Spirit. When we talked together I found that we had Christ in common. It was wonderful.

Barnhouse accounted for this dramatic change by explaining that his very full and productive schedule, as well as, his combative personality had not left much room for the receptivity of love. He seemed to be expressing that he was running his 'engine' with a crankcase low on oil. Then, on the 25th anniversary of his pastorate at Tenth Avenue, there was a celebration where the congregation really poured in the 'oil.'

I began to think that perhaps a whole lot of people did love me, and suddenly I saw that this was going to make a big difference in a lot of things. (Eternity, January 1953, inside cover)

In effect, Barnhouse was going to take the love his congregation had shown him and pass it on. The doctrinal battles of yesteryear seemed to fade in importance as he wrote,

I want to make my circle of Christian fellowship on the basis of the fact that a man is going to be in Heaven with me. If he is, then why not get a little closer together here and now. (Eternity, January 1953, inside cover)

It was in that same New Year's resolution that Barnhouse made the statement about "hitting hard" at five percent disagreement even when there was 95 percent agreement with another fundamentalist. Interestingly, those same percentages came up again about four years later when he advanced further his fellowship with Pentecostal christians. Barnhouse, Walter Martin, and two more ministerial associates were invited to the Assemblies of God headquarters in Springfield in 1957 for dialogue and fellowship. After a day of "marvelous unity" around those things which were mutually believed, a second day of dialogue touched on the topics of physical healing and those with gifts of healing, or healers.

There was considerable discussion on these points. I am not attempting to express the Pentecostal position, for I am not sure that they are in greater unanimity than the rest of evangelicals. Nevertheless, as one of the Pentecostal brothers said, "We are in agreement in 95 percent of our positions." (Eternity, April 1958, pp. 8-9)

So, what fell into the five percent? (A five percent that Barnhouse no longer felt compelled to "swing hard at", though he was firmly in disagreement.) There were three areas. First, whereas the Assemblies of God stresses that healing is in the atonement, the Barnhouse group expressed that God could intervene with healing, but that "it is not always His will to heal." Also, they did not believe in "divine healers." Second, the Barnhouse group could not accept the Pentecostal belief that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an experience subsequent to conversion with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Finally, the issue of women ministers was disagreed upon; the Assemblies have women who preach to the full assembly of believers, while Barnhouse did not think that was scriptural.

By having Barnhouse preach in the Central Assembly of God pulpit for one week in 1958, the Assemblies of God leaders were signalling their unwillingness to "swing hard" at the five percent, as well. Barnhouse was both gracious and candid in reporting the invitation to his Eternity readers,

It is good for the whole body of Christ to notice that a Presbyterian minister who adheres to the Westminster Confession is an acceptable guest in a Pentecostal assembly. I go with the desire to learn everything of the graces of God that He can show me. I do not believe that my views will be changed about the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. I shall confine the subjects of my messages to those doctrines on which we are in full accord. (Eternity, April 1958, pp. 8-9)

That still left Barnhouse with lots of biblical text to roam in because, despite earlier misunderstandings, there was much that was mutually believed.

Pentecostals had always been evangelical in doctrine, teaching, among other doctrines, the infallible authority of Scripture, justification by faith, the Virgin birth, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, and the second coming. Yet their emphasis on Holy Spirit baptism with speaking in tongues, belief in the full restoration of the gifts of the Spirit, and prayer for the sick set them apart. (McGee, p. 232)

Donald Grey Barnhouse died in 1960, two years after preaching in Springfield. The Christian Century, by no means a fundamentalist journal, had this to say in an obituary,

His theology was conservative, and he was honorable in controversy as well as other relationships. As a journalist as well as a commentator, he witnessed to the integrity that should characterize a Christian in those vocations by responsible and honest handling of the truth. (Christian Century, December 7, 1960, p. 1428)

Did Barnhouse earn such praise by softening to the point of compromise late in life? Was he being feted because he stopped shooting at any 'birds' overhead --- grackles or bluebirds? The answer is, no. After the New Year's resolution of 1953, Barnhouse challenged groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and Unitarians, as well as, individuals like Reinhold Niebuhr, Elton Trueblood, and the late Albert Schweitzer. He was still zealous for what he believed to be the truth; but he had learned to evaluate the criteria of spirit, as well.  He evidences this in his recounting of the meeting in Springfield.

Our conference began with prayer, and long before the last man had prayed I was convinced that these were Christian brethren. No matter what differences might develop in our conversations, I was sure that these men were fully committed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they they honored, worshipped and owned Him as Lord of all. (Eternity, April 1958, pp. 8-9)

The fighting fundamentalist had found "a still more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31, NRSV)