Expository preaching conference: Reflection (part 2)

[continued from here and here]

Dr. Carson, in the later half of the morning, finished each day's morning conference with the topic of Preaching OT narrative: Preaching Nehemiah. In this, Dr. Carson uses the book of Nehemiah as a foil as to how to preach Narrative theology, while he starts off first with an overview of preaching.

The first thing Dr. Carson emphasized on is the genre of the Scripture passage under exposition. As it is self-evident, yet disturbingly hard to keep sometimes, we must respect the genre of the context of the text which we are seeking to exposit before we start expositing the text. A correct and pithy saying Carson told us is that 'Text without context is a pretext for a prooftext'. For those who may not understand this phrase, what it is saying is that utilizing a text of Scripture, rippped out of its original context, is a pretext, a devious pretension, to utilize the text just to prop up your position with some seemingly relevant Scriptures while in actual fact they probably do not suport your position. As such, Dr. Carson very much prefers the form of preaching called Expository preaching, of which I agree totally, as it 'forces' the preacher and/or teacher to follow the flow of Scripture and exegete accordingly, instead of imposing one's preconceived ideas onto Scripture (eisegesis). As Carson shared with us, a friend of his shared that he doesn't mind if a precher preached topically once a year, if he repents immediately afterwards. I concur whole-heartedly with the sentiment. Incidentally, one of my contention with Warrenism is that it promotes eisegesis by utilizing the fallacy of prooftexting, as what Warren has done throughout his book The Purpose Driven Life, which I have documented in my book Driven Away by Purpose.

Carson then go through some of the forms of theology we encounter in Scripture; namely Systematic, Biblical and Narrative Theology. Systematic Theology is the asking and answering of atemporal questions like 'Who is God', while Biblical Theology has an element of time in it. Thus, Biblical theology asks and answers such question as hoe does a certain theme runs through Scripture and how does an incident or book within the Bibe fit within the realm of redemption history. Carson also notes the danger of concentrating on biblical theology to the exclusion of systematic theology, as this would result in the person losing bearing within the great scheme of the Bible and without a strong biblical framework to ground his temporal reading of the flow of Scripture, resulting in chaos I might add.

The last form of theology to be looked at is Narrative theology. Now, narrative theology is a tricky word, and I do not like to use the term myself, seeeing as to how the Emerging Church Movement has utilized it in equation to story telling. Nevertheless, its definition as how Carson defined it is definitely valid, though I prefer to think of it as the narrative element in biblical theology. Carson also warns against the misuse and misappropriation of the term as being equitable to story telling. Instead, he speaks about the proper method of utilizing narrative theology, in the importance of the plot, of the characterization inherent within it and of the literary structure in the narrative under study. Looking at it this way would definitely yield important Scriptural information from the narrative, and thus aid in exegeting the Word of God.

Even with this proper approach, however, Carson warns us of the importance of subsuming the narrative under the Analogia Fide, or the Analogy of Faith. Everything we infer and derive from the narrative must needs be consistent with the whole of Holy Writ. Since narrative tends to be more subjective than the other two forms of theology, such consistency is very needful. An example of the importance of such a subsumption woud be in the instance whereby God is said to repent. Throwing away the Analogia Fide while emphasizing the narrative would lead one to embrace the heresy of Open theism. In order of objectivity therefore, Systematic theology ranks first and foremost, followed by Biblical theology and then Narrative theology. Proper subsumption of the various forms to those that are more objective would greatly aid us in doing proper exegesis and exposition of the Scriptures.

Finally, Carson speaks of the importance of locating inner canonical threads in the narrative and tracing them back to Jesus. Since Jesus is the Word and the focus of Scripture, all narrative must ultimately trace back to Him as primary importance. Of course, we do not overdo things and insist on inserting Jesus even when there is no warrent to do so. Rather, such should be something which comes naturally since the entire Bible is about Jesus and His salvation of His people on the Cross. And to this I heartily concur.

After a couple of applications, Carson ended this topic of his, which was also very good. In actual fact, it should not be just the pastors, theologians, or full-time workers who need to listen to it. Ordinary Christians should also be involved, since the skill to be learnt here are invaluable; the types and methods which we should be utilizing to grow deeper in the Word.

In the last post, we would look into Carson's talk on the Emerging Church Movement.

[to be continued]