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More Notes on Eugene Boring's Disciples and the Bible · Scripture-ish

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SPEAKER_00: Hi, this is Ed Gallagher.
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I am reading my essay called More Notes on Eugene Boring's
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Disciples and the Bible.
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So I'm returning to Eugene Boring's book called Disciples and
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the Bible,
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which came out in 1997.
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SPEAKER_00: So yes, it's a 30-year-old book, but I just now read it or read
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SPEAKER_00: couple of months ago, and I've got a lot of notes on it.
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So I have already done one post at my Substack and the audio
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recording of it.
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SPEAKER_00: Reviewing the book,
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you can go back and catch that if you go to the Substack for
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this particular
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SPEAKER_00: audio recording, there's a link there to the previous post.
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SPEAKER_00: And you can read my review of his book or listen to me read that review.
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But there was so much of interest in the book that I need a
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second post on it.
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SPEAKER_00: So this is going to be divided into a few different categories.
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SPEAKER_00: First up is Alexander Campbell.
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There were several things I learned about Alexander Campbell
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from reading the book
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SPEAKER_00: Disciples in the Bible.
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SPEAKER_00: On Campbell's canon within the canon,
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SPEAKER_00: one new thing for me was Campbell's canon within the canon.
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SPEAKER_00: Of course,
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I knew that this would be the New Testament and more
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specifically Acts and the
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SPEAKER_00: epistles.
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I knew this not only through having read about the history of
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the Stone Campbell
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SPEAKER_00: movement,
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but from personal experience of Campbell's intellectual
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descendants that is growing
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SPEAKER_00: up in the churches of Christ.
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SPEAKER_00: But what was new from Boring's book,
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SPEAKER_00: new to me,
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was that Campbell's own canon within the canon was less acts
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and more epistles.
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SPEAKER_00: I would have assumed the opposite.
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SPEAKER_00: Before reading Boring,
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if you had asked me to identify the one book of the Bible that
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has been most
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SPEAKER_00: important to churches of Christ,
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SPEAKER_00: without hesitation,
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SPEAKER_00: I would have said the Acts of the Apostles.
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SPEAKER_00: Indeed, I have said such a thing, and I remain convinced that it is true.
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SPEAKER_00: I have experienced it.
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SPEAKER_00: More than any other book,
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it is the book of Acts that has been cited to justify different
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practices in the
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SPEAKER_00: churches and schools I have known.
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How to become a Christian,
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how to worship,
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how often to take the Lord's Supper.
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There are other Christian groups that are known more for their
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emphasis on,
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SPEAKER_00: let's say,
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SPEAKER_00: Paul's epistle to the Romans.
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SPEAKER_00: I would not locate churches of Christ among them.
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So it is interesting to me that for Campbell,
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the epistles were more influential than Acts.
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SPEAKER_00: From Boring's description,
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SPEAKER_00: it seems that Acts was not in the first rank for Campbell,
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SPEAKER_00: but probably ahead of the Gospels in terms of importance.
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SPEAKER_00: It was the evangelist Walter Scott, and later J.W.
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SPEAKER_00: McGarvey,
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SPEAKER_00: about whom more in a moment, who bequeathed to us our emphasis on Acts.
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I certainly would not have picked Hebrews as the most
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influential biblical book,
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SPEAKER_00: though I would have ranked Hebrews ahead of Romans.
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SPEAKER_00: According to Eugene Boring,
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SPEAKER_00: Hebrews was the canon within the canon for Alexander Campbell,
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SPEAKER_00: the most important biblical book for Campbell.
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SPEAKER_00: That's a surprise for me, just as Boring says that it surprised him.
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When Boring said that there was one particular section of the
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epistles that was
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SPEAKER_00: especially important to Campbell,
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SPEAKER_00: I had no idea what section he meant.
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SPEAKER_00: It was Hebrews.
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SPEAKER_00: Boring does say that Romans was very important to Campbell,
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SPEAKER_00: close to Hebrews in Campbell's thought.
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SPEAKER_00: And again, Boring says,
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SPEAKER_00: One could say that Romans and Hebrews were central to Campbell's thought,
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SPEAKER_00: but this would be misleading because,
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SPEAKER_00: as he goes on to explain,
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SPEAKER_00: Hebrews was,
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SPEAKER_00: in fact,
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SPEAKER_00: more important than Romans.
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SPEAKER_00: So, all very interesting.
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Also new to me,
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the implications that Boring draws from this favoritism of the
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epistles.
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SPEAKER_00: According to Boring, Campbell's Christology was Pauline.
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SPEAKER_00: meaning propositional,
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with little reflection on the actual life of Jesus as narrated
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in the Gospels.
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SPEAKER_00: Here's a quote from page 75.
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This Pauline Christological perspective carried with it as its
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corollary that
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SPEAKER_00: Christian life would be conceived not as following Jesus,
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SPEAKER_00: but
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SPEAKER_00: but as response in faith to the exalted Christ within the church.
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SPEAKER_00: Of course,
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it wasn't new to me that Revelation has played a limited role
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in the restoration
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SPEAKER_00: movement,
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but it was new that one corollary is that disciples do not
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anticipate the imminent
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SPEAKER_00: return of Jesus,
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SPEAKER_00: just as Campbell did not.
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SPEAKER_00: All right, now Campbell and restoration.
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SPEAKER_00: What about the claim that Boring makes that,
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SPEAKER_00: quote,
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Alexander Campbell was not as restorationist oriented as either
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his father or his
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SPEAKER_00: contemporary Walter Scott,
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SPEAKER_00: but he did use the language of restorationism,
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SPEAKER_00: which was inherent in the Protestant tradition from which he sprang.
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SPEAKER_00: That's from page 82.
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SPEAKER_00: I wonder if this is right.
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Compare what Richard Hughes says in the first edition of
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Reviving the Ancient
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SPEAKER_00: Faith,
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where he shows that the early Campbell was much more ready to
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talk about a
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SPEAKER_00: restoration of Christianity than the later Campbell.
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SPEAKER_00: Campbell explicitly magnified his restoration movement over the
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SPEAKER_00: Luther's Reformation.
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SPEAKER_00: This is from Campbell in 1825, this long quote.
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SPEAKER_00: Celebrated as the era of Reformation is,
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we doubt not but that the era of restoration will as far
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transcendent in importance
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SPEAKER_00: and fame through the long and blissful millennium as
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SPEAKER_00: As the New Testament transcends in simplicity,
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SPEAKER_00: beauty,
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SPEAKER_00: excellency,
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SPEAKER_00: and majesty,
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the dogmas and notions of the Creed of Westminster and the
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canons of the Assembly's
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SPEAKER_00: Digest.
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SPEAKER_00: This is still Campbell.
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Just insofar as the ancient order of things or the religion of
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the New Testament is
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SPEAKER_00: restored,
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SPEAKER_00: just so far has the millennium commenced.
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SPEAKER_00: All right, so that is the early Campbell.
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SPEAKER_00: The above,
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that quotation is from the end of his first article that's
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titled A Restoration of
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SPEAKER_00: the Ancient Order of Things.
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SPEAKER_00: Of course,
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SPEAKER_00: he had a series of articles,
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SPEAKER_00: like 24,
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SPEAKER_00: 25 articles with that title,
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SPEAKER_00: A Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is from the very first one.
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SPEAKER_00: It appeared in his early journal, The Christian Baptist in the year 1825.
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SPEAKER_00: And you can find it online.
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SPEAKER_00: I've got a link on the substack.
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SPEAKER_00: The later Campbell,
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SPEAKER_00: according to Richard Hughes,
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SPEAKER_00: was less interested in restoration,
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SPEAKER_00: which is a change,
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SPEAKER_00: Hughes documents this,
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SPEAKER_00: a change already seen by an opponent of Campbell's.
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SPEAKER_00: In 1855,
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SPEAKER_00: this opponent named Jeremiah Jeter,
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SPEAKER_00: who wrote and published a book called Campbellism Examined.
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SPEAKER_00: So Boring's assessment,
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SPEAKER_00: quoted earlier,
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SPEAKER_00: reflects the mature Campbell,
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SPEAKER_00: that he's not as interested in restoration,
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SPEAKER_00: more than the young firebrand.
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The quotation from Boring comes in a section in which Boring
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argues that Campbell
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SPEAKER_00: wasn't as committed to pattern restorationism as his followers.
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SPEAKER_00: Here's another quotation from that section.
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SPEAKER_00: So this is boring.
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SPEAKER_00: Once the movement had become a denomination of considerable size,
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SPEAKER_00: a denomination for which he rightly felt some responsibility,
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SPEAKER_00: he settled matters of the life and practice of churches,
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SPEAKER_00: not by an appeal to a New Testament pattern,
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SPEAKER_00: but by appealing to common sense and practicality.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, my impression and my
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my recollection of having read these other books is that I
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think Richard Hughes
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SPEAKER_00: would agree with that.
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And also,
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for instance,
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Douglas Foster,
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who wrote a biography of Campbell a few years ago.
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SPEAKER_00: All right.
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SPEAKER_00: But speaking of Campbell's leadership of the denomination,
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I was intrigued that Boring was able to cite a statement from
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Campbell himself
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SPEAKER_00: using that term about his own movement,
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SPEAKER_00: denomination.
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SPEAKER_00: So this was in 1843 in, in the lead up to the Campbell Rice debate.
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SPEAKER_00: In the lead up to that debate,
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SPEAKER_00: Campbell wrote to a man,
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SPEAKER_00: not Rice,
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SPEAKER_00: but some other man on Rice's team.
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SPEAKER_00: What was Rice of Presbyterian?
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And,
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uh,
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Campbell wrote to this other man and said,
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you represent a denomination.
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SPEAKER_00: So do I. And, and, um,
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SPEAKER_00: Boring was able to cite this.
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SPEAKER_00: I've got the link to this statement on the substack.
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SPEAKER_00: I've got a link to it, and I've actually got a screenshot of it.
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SPEAKER_00: A little bit more of the context.
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SPEAKER_00: He says, you represent a denomination.
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SPEAKER_00: So do I. You have had frequent consultations among yourselves.
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SPEAKER_00: I have not had one with my brethren till my arrival in this city.
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SPEAKER_00: From then,
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SPEAKER_00: from them,
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SPEAKER_00: I have learned how we,
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SPEAKER_00: as a denomination,
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SPEAKER_00: have been assailed both in Kentucky and Tennessee by your representative,
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SPEAKER_00: Mr.
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SPEAKER_00: Rice.
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SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the screenshot I have,
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SPEAKER_00: but you can go to the book to find more of the context.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, other stuff I learned about Campbell.
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SPEAKER_00: I appreciated Boring's comments on how Campbell treated Acts 837.
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Okay,
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so Campbell published his own translation of the New Testament
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called the Living Oracles.
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In this translation,
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he had to decide what to do with verses that were in the King
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James,
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but...
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SPEAKER_00: were not well attested in Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.
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SPEAKER_00: And one of these verses is Acts 8.37.
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That's the verse where the Ethiopian eunuch confesses faith in
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Christ and then
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SPEAKER_00: immediately is baptized.
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SPEAKER_00: This is by Philip the Evangelist.
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SPEAKER_00: Because this verse records a pre-baptismal confession,
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SPEAKER_00: it has become influential in Churches of Christ.
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SPEAKER_00: You'll often hear, or especially in earlier chapters,
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You would hear preachers cite Acts 837 as like the proof text
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that you need to
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SPEAKER_00: confess Christ before baptism.
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SPEAKER_00: Whatever influence this verse has exerted on Churches of Christ,
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SPEAKER_00: apparently it was not owing to Campbell's influence.
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In the first edition of his translation,
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Campbell printed the verse in italics.
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SPEAKER_00: And in subsequent editions, he omitted the verse entirely.
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SPEAKER_00: Another note,
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SPEAKER_00: point about Campbell.
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Campbell accepted the silly interpretation about the camel
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through the eye of a needle.
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SPEAKER_00: This is in reference to Mark 10,
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SPEAKER_00: 25,
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where Jesus says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye
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of a needle than for
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SPEAKER_00: a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
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SPEAKER_00: And there's this dumb
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SPEAKER_00: interpretation that says,
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SPEAKER_00: well,
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what Jesus meant was that eye of a needle refers to a gate in
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Jerusalem and a camel
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SPEAKER_00: could get through the gate.
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SPEAKER_00: It would just have to get down on its knees and sort of crawl through.
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SPEAKER_00: It's difficult, but not impossible.
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SPEAKER_00: That's, of course, an absurd interpretation of
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SPEAKER_00: I mean,
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SPEAKER_00: it's not modern,
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SPEAKER_00: it's medieval,
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but we don't have any ancient evidence that there was any gate
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in Jerusalem called
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SPEAKER_00: the eye of a needle.
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SPEAKER_00: It's just, you know, that's not what Jesus meant.
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SPEAKER_00: I think we can be pretty clear on that.
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SPEAKER_00: But Campbell accepted it, so that's too bad.
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He even put a note advocating this interpretation in his Bible
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translation.
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SPEAKER_00: I will note as well that Campbell was a rich man.
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I appreciated the discussion as to whether Alexander Campbell
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was a scholar.
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SPEAKER_00: Boring does conclude that quote,
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SPEAKER_00: Campbell was a scholar,
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SPEAKER_00: even though Boring acknowledges that quote,
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SPEAKER_00: Campbell was not only a,
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SPEAKER_00: excuse me,
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SPEAKER_00: Campbell was not only not a member of,
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SPEAKER_00: he was utterly unknown to the scholarly community of his own generation.
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Boring justifies his evaluation of Campbell by providing a
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three-part definition of a scholar.
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SPEAKER_00: Number one, one who studies.
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SPEAKER_00: Number two,
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one who bases his conclusions on evidence rather than tradition
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and publishes these
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SPEAKER_00: conclusions.
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SPEAKER_00: And number three, one who uses the prevailing methods of scholarship.
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And according to Boring,
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quote,
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Alexander Campbell qualifies on all points.
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SPEAKER_00: One last thing about Campbell.
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There's a section in Boring's book called Holistic but
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Discriminating in which
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Boring lists three points of emphasis for Alexander Campbell's
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interpretation of
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SPEAKER_00: the Bible.
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The three points of emphasis are dispensationalism,
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mighty acts of God,
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and soteriology.
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I think it would be interesting to have a discussion with
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church people about these
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points of emphasis from Campbell and to what extent churches of
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Christ have
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SPEAKER_00: maintained these emphases and whether we should.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay.
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SPEAKER_00: Now leaving behind Alexander Campbell,
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SPEAKER_00: we go to another point I want to make about Boring's book,
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SPEAKER_00: restorationism and biblical criticism.
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Boring sees these two principles as incompatible,
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restorationism and biblical criticism.
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SPEAKER_00: This is a quote from page 112.
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SPEAKER_00: It has not always been so clearly seen,
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SPEAKER_00: according to Boring,
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SPEAKER_00: that the affirmation of biblical criticism,
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SPEAKER_00: though compatible with unity,
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SPEAKER_00: cannot be harmonized with restorationism.
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SPEAKER_00: This is still boring.
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The first generation did not see this because their advocacy of
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biblical criticism
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had not yet led to the insight that neither the Bible nor the
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early church had
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SPEAKER_00: were what the restorationist ideology had conceived them to be.
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SPEAKER_00: Again, that's from Boring, page 112.
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SPEAKER_00: He says the same kind of thing a few times in the book.
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I've got other page references on my Substack that
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restorationism and historical
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SPEAKER_00: criticism are incompatible.
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SPEAKER_00: I disagree.
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SPEAKER_00: Restorationism coheres necessarily with biblical criticism.
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SPEAKER_00: I have taught this for years to my ministry students.
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If the Bible and the early church are different from what
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restorationist ideology
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SPEAKER_00: has conceived them to be,
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SPEAKER_00: and that's what Boring is saying,
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SPEAKER_00: then the ideology must bow to the truth.
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SPEAKER_00: That doesn't make the restoration impulse wrong.
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SPEAKER_00: It is an expression of the restoration impulse.
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SPEAKER_00: All right, here's another quote from Boring.
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SPEAKER_00: This is from page 364.
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It is biblical criticism that lets us see both the early church
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and the Bible in a
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SPEAKER_00: light that is no longer compatible with restorationism.
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Historical criticism of the Bible lets us see both that there
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is no single pattern
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in the New Testament church that can be restored and that the
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Bible is not the kind
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of book that can be interpreted legalistically as the
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constitution that authorizes
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SPEAKER_00: some practices and not others.
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SPEAKER_00: Well,
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SPEAKER_00: what I think Boring is really arguing,
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SPEAKER_00: though he doesn't say it in this way,
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SPEAKER_00: is that we have done restoration poorly.
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I don't see that he provides a compelling argument that we
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should abandon restoration.
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SPEAKER_00: restorationism altogether.
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SPEAKER_00: In fact,
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SPEAKER_00: Boring later says that what we need is not repudiation of restorationism,
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SPEAKER_00: but reinterpretation of what we're doing,
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SPEAKER_00: what is restorationism.
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And he points to a book chapter by Mark Toulouse and an essay
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by Clark Williamson
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SPEAKER_00: as good examples for us on how to do that reinterpretation.
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SPEAKER_00: Now let's get to J.W.
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SPEAKER_00: McGarvey.
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SPEAKER_00: The middle chapter of Boring's book, which is chapter six, compares J.W.
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SPEAKER_00: McGarvey with H.L.
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SPEAKER_00: Willett.
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SPEAKER_00: Before reading this book,
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SPEAKER_00: I was not familiar with the name Herbert Lockwood Willett,
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SPEAKER_00: who died in 1944 after a long career at the University of Chicago.
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SPEAKER_00: He does not have a Wikipedia page, by the way, this H.L.
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SPEAKER_00: Willett, so...
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SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure how well he's remembered these days.
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SPEAKER_00: I was familiar with J.W.
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SPEAKER_00: McGarvey, though.
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He was much adored at Freed Hardman when I was a student there
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in the late 90s and
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SPEAKER_00: early 2000s,
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SPEAKER_00: even though he had been dead for about 100 years by then.
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SPEAKER_00: During those years of my being a student at Freed Hardman,
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I acquired McGarvey's book called Short Essays in Biblical
19:55
Criticism and his
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original commentary on Acts and his commentary on Matthew and
20:02
Mark and his little
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SPEAKER_00: book on Deuteronomy.
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SPEAKER_00: Or was it on Jonah or maybe both?
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SPEAKER_00: I can't remember.
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SPEAKER_00: I also purchased his Gospel Harmony.
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SPEAKER_00: He's got a book called The Fourfold Gospel, which harmonizes the gospels.
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SPEAKER_00: The FHU professors adored McGarvey.
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Actually,
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as I opened my copy of the commentary on Acts,
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I am reminded of how I acquired it.
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SPEAKER_00: On the first page, I wrote my name and then the note, inherited from dad.
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And now I recall that my father had acquired a fairly
20:37
impressive biblical studies
20:39
SPEAKER_00: library,
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SPEAKER_00: especially in books by authors within Churches of Christ,
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SPEAKER_00: and he gave all these books to me upon my graduation from FHU.
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SPEAKER_00: I recall hearing at FHU two stories about McGarvey.
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SPEAKER_00: First,
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SPEAKER_00: McGarvey,
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SPEAKER_00: who died in 1911,
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SPEAKER_00: left a congregation in Lexington over the use of instrumental music.
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And when he first arrived at his new church home,
21:11
an a cappella congregation,
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SPEAKER_00: One of the elders greeted McGarvey with the comment,
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SPEAKER_00: we've been expecting you or something like that.
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SPEAKER_00: And the second story,
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SPEAKER_00: not much of a story,
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SPEAKER_00: is that when McGarvey died,
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there appeared in the London Times an obituary that referred to
21:31
McGarvey as the
21:33
SPEAKER_00: ripest Bible scholar in America.
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SPEAKER_00: I have serious doubts about the point of this story, this second one.
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SPEAKER_00: I do believe that probably an obituary ran in a prominent newspaper,
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SPEAKER_00: perhaps the London Times,
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SPEAKER_00: and I'm sure the obituary referred to McGarvey as,
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SPEAKER_00: quote,
21:54
SPEAKER_00: the ripest Bible scholar in America.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: That word ripest is too odd to have no connection to an actual obituary.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: At least that's my guess.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: But I am convinced that the obituary was not written by a Times editor,
22:12
SPEAKER_00: but was printed after being submitted by a fan of McGarvey's,
22:16
just as local newspapers today print obituaries written by
22:21
family members of the
22:22
SPEAKER_00: deceased.
22:24
I have never run across McGarvey's name cited in any work of
22:29
biblical scholarship,
22:30
and I would imagine that among the group of scholars meeting at
22:34
the Society of
22:35
SPEAKER_00: Biblical Literature annual meeting in,
22:37
SPEAKER_00: let's say,
22:38
SPEAKER_00: 1905,
22:39
SPEAKER_00: no one had ever heard of him.
22:43
I wonder if any of his books found an audience outside his own
22:47
church circles.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: What does Boring not like about McGarvey?
22:55
SPEAKER_00: He attributes to McGarvey this viewpoint,
22:57
SPEAKER_00: quote,
22:58
SPEAKER_00: those of false or perverted faith are seen as morally reprobate,
23:05
SPEAKER_00: not merely doctrinally mistaken.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: They are deceivers and hypocrites whose motives are impure.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: In response,
23:16
SPEAKER_00: I can say,
23:16
SPEAKER_00: first of all,
23:17
SPEAKER_00: that this viewpoint is very familiar today in American politics.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: People who do not share your viewpoint are wicked.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: Second,
23:29
SPEAKER_00: I am not sure to what extent this is an accurate description of McGarvey,
23:34
SPEAKER_00: but I wouldn't argue against it.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: Third, a question.
23:40
To what extent is the sentence quoted from Boring a true
23:46
depiction of reality?
23:50
Or let's go to another sentence from the same page,
23:53
page 212 of Boring's book.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: Heresy,
23:56
SPEAKER_00: this is the quote,
23:57
SPEAKER_00: heresy is not merely an intellectual misstep,
24:01
SPEAKER_00: but an expression of sin.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: False faith is inevitably bound up with a false heart.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: But I wonder, is there not some truth in this?
24:17
SPEAKER_00: Or at least people have long thought so.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: Indeed,
24:21
SPEAKER_00: these comments from Boring describe McGarvey,
24:25
SPEAKER_00: he says,
24:26
but Boring himself also says they reflect views found in the
24:29
early church.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: On the other hand,
24:32
SPEAKER_00: as to whether people who hold false beliefs really are wicked,
24:36
that is a question that is easier and more safely considered in
24:42
the abstract,
24:45
SPEAKER_00: not tied to any particular false Christianity.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: False in scare quotes.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: When we disagree with people,
24:56
we should keep the discussion at the level of ideas and not
25:00
descend to personal
25:02
SPEAKER_00: attacks.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: To the extent that McGarvey did that, he damaged the church.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: But I will say for myself, it's easier said than done.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now McGarvey on the book of Acts.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: McGarvey wrote two commentaries on Acts,
25:22
an original commentary published in 1863 and a new commentary
25:28
published in 1892.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: You can find both of these online.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: I've got links to them on the substack.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Boring makes it clear that the new commentary,
25:39
SPEAKER_00: 1892,
25:40
SPEAKER_00: became significant in the history of the disciples.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: And Boring assumes the same to be the case in Churches of Christ.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: In fact,
25:49
SPEAKER_00: Boring claims,
25:50
SPEAKER_00: quote,
25:51
the co-editor of the Churches of Christ journal Gospel Advocate
25:55
once pronounced the
25:56
SPEAKER_00: New Commentary on Acts the greatest uninspired book ever written.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: That's from page 248.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Boring provides no citation.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: and does not identify the co-editor in question.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: But I knew who it was.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: Before reading this comment from Boring,
26:16
SPEAKER_00: I had already been thinking about what Guy N.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: Woods had said about McGarvey's commentary.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: And I have no doubt that Guy N.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: Woods is that co-editor of The Gospel Advocate that Boring mentioned.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: But I was positive that
26:35
that Woods had made the comment about the original commentary
26:38
and not the new commentary.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: But where did I read that?
26:43
SPEAKER_00: So I did some digging.
26:45
I thought I must have read Woods' comment,
26:49
which I would have read it like 25 years ago.
26:52
I mean,
26:52
it's been a long time,
26:53
probably in my student days at Freed Hardman.
26:56
I thought I would have read that in one of his volumes of
27:00
questions and answers.
27:02
that he compiled from questions he received as the answer man
27:09
at the Freed Hardman
27:10
SPEAKER_00: lectureship back in the 1960s and 1970s.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: I went down to our library and pulled the two volumes off the shelf.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: I started with the second volume on a hunch, which proved to be wrong.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: I flipped through both volumes for almost two hours.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: I cannot say the time was wasted.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: There is much of interest in these volumes.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: Near the end of volume one, I finally found the question.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: Here's the question.
27:41
What books have you found to be most helpful to you in your
27:44
work as a preacher of the gospel?
27:47
SPEAKER_00: The first book, Woods Lists, is McGarvey's original commentary on Acts.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: Ah, there it is.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: So boring was wrong.
27:59
well,
28:00
wrong about which edition of McGarvey's commentary was being
28:04
referenced.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: It was the original commentary.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Guyon Woods offers this comment.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: Any work of man will exhibit imperfections,
28:15
SPEAKER_00: and there are views,
28:17
SPEAKER_00: not many,
28:18
SPEAKER_00: in this work which I do not follow,
28:20
SPEAKER_00: yet I regard it as the greatest uninspired work ever written.
28:25
Mastery of this matchless work will equip one better to preach
28:29
the gospel than all
28:31
the knowledge contained in a hundred works of theology often
28:36
seen on the shelves of
28:38
SPEAKER_00: preachers today.
28:39
The gospel advocate in making this work available again made a
28:44
contribution of
28:46
SPEAKER_00: inestimable value to the cause of Christ.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay, a few more points on McGarvey.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: My search through these volumes by Woods,
28:56
SPEAKER_00: the question and answer volumes,
28:58
SPEAKER_00: also led to another interesting discovery.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: Woods has this to say about McGarvey.
29:04
The London Times once said that McGarvey had the most thorough
29:10
and profound
29:11
SPEAKER_00: knowledge of the English Bible of any man on earth.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's interesting, isn't it?
29:19
SPEAKER_00: Nothing about ripest there.
29:21
So I wonder if I'm wrong about that particular description
29:28
having been in the London Times.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: But at any rate,
29:31
I do find it interesting that Wood specifies that it was the
29:34
English Bible that
29:36
SPEAKER_00: McGarvey was an expert in.
29:38
And that agrees with Boring's description of McGarvey as
29:42
professor of English Bible.
29:46
Boring starts his discussion of McGarvey by warning his readers
29:50
that we should not
29:51
SPEAKER_00: make fun of McGarvey or think him completely unworthy of our attention.
29:58
That's interesting because these comments show that Boring
30:00
assumes an audience that
30:02
SPEAKER_00: has heard negative things about McGarvey,
30:04
SPEAKER_00: which I never have.
30:07
But his discussion of McGarvey does show the weakness of the
30:10
man and an approach to
30:13
SPEAKER_00: the Bible different from my own.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: According to Boring,
30:18
SPEAKER_00: in reference to McGarvey,
30:19
SPEAKER_00: quote,
30:20
what he had was a rationalist system that feared critical
30:26
biblical study because it
30:27
SPEAKER_00: messed up his system.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: Here's another longer quote.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who would know firsthand something of the history of disciples,
30:36
SPEAKER_00: theology,
30:37
or biblical interpretation must read McGarvey's new commentary
30:41
on Acts of the
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Apostles.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: At least the introduction and his commentary on chapters 1 and 2,
30:49
McGarvey's commentary on Acts is one of the classic documents
30:53
of disciples'
30:54
SPEAKER_00: history.
30:56
and about McGarvey's instruction of students at the College of
31:00
the Bible in Lexington.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: Here's a quote from Boring.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: In actual practice,
31:06
SPEAKER_00: during the students' first three years at Lexington,
31:09
SPEAKER_00: McGarvey restricted biblical study to the content of the biblical text,
31:13
SPEAKER_00: filtered through his own unconscious hermeneutic and tradition,
31:18
SPEAKER_00: While in his judgment,
31:19
SPEAKER_00: the students' ears were too tender for criticism,
31:23
he then introduced critical issues filtered through his own
31:27
perspective only in the
31:29
SPEAKER_00: fourth year.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: Now,
31:31
I can say this is exactly what I experienced at Fried Hardman
31:35
University in the
31:36
SPEAKER_00: late 20th century.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: All right, now on leaving McGarvey, going to the five-finger exercise.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: The five-finger exercise refers to a formula for becoming a Christian,
31:52
originally developed by the early 19th century evangelist
31:56
Walter Scott and
31:57
SPEAKER_00: universally known in Churches of Christ and the Disciples,
32:02
SPEAKER_00: I think,
32:03
SPEAKER_00: in an altered form of
32:06
SPEAKER_00: as follows.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: It's hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: These points,
32:12
SPEAKER_00: counted off on the fingers,
32:15
SPEAKER_00: explain a person's responsibility for accepting God's offer of salvation.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: It is often called the plan of salvation.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: Hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: It has been extraordinarily influential.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: Here is now a quote from Boring about it.
32:34
The plan of salvation became the one overarching framework for
32:39
the interpretation of the Bible.
32:42
This represents the triumph of Scott over Campbell and Stone in
32:49
this aspect of the
32:50
SPEAKER_00: second generation's developing hermeneutic.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: In the first generation,
32:55
Thomas and Alexander Campbell's themes were unity and
32:58
restoration and focused on
33:00
SPEAKER_00: the problem of a divided church and human creeds that caused division.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: Walter Scott,
33:06
SPEAKER_00: this is still boring,
33:07
SPEAKER_00: Walter Scott comes into the mix late with a different agenda,
33:13
SPEAKER_00: evangelism,
33:14
SPEAKER_00: conversion,
33:16
SPEAKER_00: acts.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: In the second generation,
33:19
SPEAKER_00: when there was a separate movement concerned with its own growth,
33:22
Scott's plan of salvation became a hermeneutical focus for
33:27
disciples' theology in a
33:29
SPEAKER_00: way it had not been previously.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the quote.
33:36
Now,
33:36
Boring doesn't like this influence of the five-finger exercise,
33:39
and I don't either.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
33:41
SPEAKER_00: it's a fine formula when it stays in its lane,
33:45
but it shouldn't be considered the hermeneutical key to any
33:49
part of the Bible,
33:50
SPEAKER_00: much less the entire Bible.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: But Boring wants to replace it.
33:55
This comes up in the final chapter when Boring proposes a new
34:00
five-finger exercise.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't really like Boring's proposal.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong,
34:09
SPEAKER_00: his new five-finger exercise,
34:11
SPEAKER_00: which summarizes the story of Scripture,
34:13
SPEAKER_00: is fine.
34:15
I just don't see why it would need to be called a five-finger
34:19
exercise or why it
34:21
SPEAKER_00: should replace the traditional one based on Scott's model.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: The traditional five-finger exercise addresses a different issue,
34:30
SPEAKER_00: not the meaning of the Bible,
34:31
SPEAKER_00: but the response of the individual to God's offer of grace.
34:37
That seems to me still necessary,
34:39
and I don't get Boring's idea that it is no longer relevant.
34:45
Boring even implies at one point that his new five-finger
34:49
exercise is designed to
34:50
SPEAKER_00: address the question,
34:52
SPEAKER_00: what must I do?
34:54
SPEAKER_00: But it clearly does not address that question.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: It summarizes the entire story of the Bible,
35:00
SPEAKER_00: and the Bible,
35:02
SPEAKER_00: as Boring says at various points in this book,
35:05
SPEAKER_00: is not relevant.
35:07
all about what an individual should do to respond to God's
35:12
offer of grace.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: All right, now I'm going to talk about an insular reading strategy.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: There is a common view today,
35:25
SPEAKER_00: especially in very conservative churches of Christ,
35:27
SPEAKER_00: that one should read material,
35:30
SPEAKER_00: especially Bible class material,
35:32
SPEAKER_00: only from people in churches of Christ.
35:37
Boring spends some time emphasizing that early disciples'
35:41
writers typically do not
35:44
SPEAKER_00: follow this strategy.
35:46
They do not cite disciples' writings,
35:49
not even the writings of Alexander Campbell.
35:52
Boring discusses this point in respect to Isaac Errett,
35:57
Robert Milligan,
35:59
and B.W.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: Johnson.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: About Johnson, Boring says, he mentions no disciples scholars.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: Even his brief discussion of Acts 238,
36:10
SPEAKER_00: linchpin text in the disciples schema,
36:13
SPEAKER_00: since Scott's gospel restored in Campbell's Christian system,
36:17
SPEAKER_00: does not refer to Scott or Campbell,
36:20
SPEAKER_00: but cites the German scholar Meyer.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: Thus his volume is not disciples propaganda, says Boring.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: So the insular reading strategy with which I am familiar,
36:34
SPEAKER_00: read only our authors,
36:36
SPEAKER_00: does not characterize our 19th century forerunners.
36:43
If I were to make an argument for the more recent insular
36:48
reading strategy,
36:49
SPEAKER_00: I guess I would say the following.
36:52
Church Bible class teachers who are almost always theologically
36:56
uneducated might
36:59
not recognize the problematic doctrines put forward by a
37:03
Presbyterian or Catholic
37:05
SPEAKER_00: or atheist,
37:07
but they are perhaps familiar with the issues that they would
37:10
consider problematic
37:11
SPEAKER_00: that might be broached by a member of the Church of Christ.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: I myself,
37:17
SPEAKER_00: in my role as Bible class coordinator at church,
37:19
SPEAKER_00: do not follow this line of thinking,
37:21
SPEAKER_00: but I suppose that it might be the way others reason it out.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: Of course,
37:27
SPEAKER_00: as everybody knows,
37:28
a reader will encounter all sorts of dangerous nonsense in
37:32
books published by
37:34
SPEAKER_00: authors in Churches of Christ,
37:35
SPEAKER_00: so the insular reading strategy won't protect you there.
37:39
But maybe a member of the Church of Christ would be more likely
37:42
to recognize the
37:43
SPEAKER_00: dangerous nonsense from our own folks.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: That's just a thought.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here are some more notes, just random notes.
37:56
Most of the early restorers kept a diary in Latin,
38:01
according to Boring,
38:02
including Barton Stone.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: That surprised me.
38:05
SPEAKER_00: Walter Scott, Alexander Campbell.
38:08
I was surprised that Stone also picked up Greek and French and
38:12
later even some Hebrew.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: He used the King James version, but sometimes criticized it.
38:18
Stone exhibited no awareness of modern critical scholarship in
38:22
relation to the
38:23
SPEAKER_00: authorship of biblical books or other matters.
38:28
SPEAKER_00: Here's another point.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: According to Boring,
38:31
historical criticism is necessary for the unity of the church
38:35
and thus for
38:36
SPEAKER_00: theology.
38:39
SPEAKER_00: I wonder what Brad East would say to this.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: According to Boring,
38:47
SPEAKER_00: another point,
38:48
SPEAKER_00: we should lean into our own tradition,
38:51
SPEAKER_00: our historical situatedness.
38:56
SPEAKER_00: I like that idea.
38:58
That's partly why I want to,
39:02
you know,
39:02
why I reject Boring's rejection of restorationism.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: All right.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time,
39:10
SPEAKER_00: according to Boring,
39:11
we should recognize the whole history of the church for 2000
39:14
years as our history,
39:16
SPEAKER_00: our tradition.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I like that, too.
39:19
That agrees with Leonard Allen's point,
39:23
major point in his book,
39:25
In the Great Stream.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: Boring discusses the meaning of belonging to the church.
39:33
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I got out of that.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: We trust our ancestors in this matter.
39:38
SPEAKER_00: We are humble, not insisting that we could do a better job.
39:46
SPEAKER_00: Another point.
39:47
The second paragraph of chapter 3 of Boring's book is
39:51
important,
39:51
especially this.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: He says,
39:53
"...the first-generation disciples had been aware of philosophy
39:59
and the categories
40:00
SPEAKER_00: of philosophical thought."
40:03
It was the second and following generations that had grown up
40:07
only in the American
40:09
SPEAKER_00: disciples' tradition that was oblivious to philosophy,
40:14
SPEAKER_00: and they supposed they were devoid of it.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: See, they were being naive.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: Boring says the second generation thus had a naivete.
40:25
SPEAKER_00: The first generation did not have.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: I think that's an important point.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: All right,
40:31
and here is just a bizarre statement from Robert Milligan that
40:36
I learned in
40:39
SPEAKER_00: Boring's book.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: Robert Milligan thinks that the epistle of Barnabas,
40:44
SPEAKER_00: which is not in the New Testament,
40:46
SPEAKER_00: of course,
40:46
SPEAKER_00: it's an early Christian writing from the early second century.
40:50
He thinks it was written about the year 72 AD by Barnabas,
40:56
the companion of Paul.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: And he quotes it in his book, Scheme of Redemption.
41:03
SPEAKER_00: I find that just strange.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: I wonder how representative that view was at the time.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: Anyway,
41:11
SPEAKER_00: in conclusion about Boring's book,
41:14
SPEAKER_00: it is very much worth reading and taking copious notes,
41:19
SPEAKER_00: as I'm sure you've been able to tell I did when I read it.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: It offers a great education on one angle.
41:26
SPEAKER_00: of the reception of the Bible in the Stone Campbell movement.