Reformed Systematic Theology Textbooks: Hand Maiden To The Enlightenment Privatization Of Faith -- By: William Edgar

Journal: Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal
Volume: RPTJ 02:2 (Spring 2016)
Article: Reformed Systematic Theology Textbooks: Hand Maiden To The Enlightenment Privatization Of Faith
Author: William Edgar


Reformed Systematic Theology Textbooks:
Hand Maiden To The Enlightenment
Privatization Of Faith

William Edgar

Interim President of Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA.
Previously, Dr. Edgar pastored the Broomall Reformed Presbyterian Church, in Broomall, Pennsylvania.

Introduction

Using words from Revelation, the climactic chorus of Messiah sings about Jesus Christ. “King of kings, and Lord of lords” is the central theme, while singers comment, “Hallelujah,” and exult, “And He shall reign forever and ever.” At its first production in London, King George II stood at these words, out of respect for the only King of kings, his King. His subjects rose with their king to honor their King. To this day, audiences do the same when they hear the joyous proclamation, “King of kings, and Lord of lords.”

In an apocryphal scene in the movie Chariots of Fire, which nevertheless correctly captures Eric Liddell’s faith, “God above country,” the Scottish sprinter resists the Prince of Wales’ demand that he run in the Paris Olympics on Sunday. Liddell says to the Prince, “God made countries. God makes kings, and the rules by which they govern. And those rules say that the Sabbath is His. And I for one intend to keep it that way.”

Christ’s Kingship Over The Nations In Reformed Systematics

Both the oratorio Messiah by Handel and the movie Chariots of Fire more clearly and truly teach that Jesus is King over nations than do most Reformed systematic theology texts used to train Reformed preachers and through them the Christian Church. The Reformed Presbyterian Seminary uses Robert Reymond’s 1998 text, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith.1 It teaches little about the kingship of Christ and less about civil government, except for a page in which Reymond takes Theonomists (and Calvin and Luther) to task for confusing church and state. My grandfather, John Coleman, taught systematic theology at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in the 1930s and 1940s, using a 1907 text written by the Baptist Augustus Strong. Strong devotes four pages to Christ’s office of Prophet, seventy-two pages to his office as Priest, and one page to his office as King over the Church. Regarding civil government, Strong is

silent. Westminster Seminary uses the late seventeenth century text by Francis Turretin. He does not address issues of Civil Government and is mainly concerned to establish the spiritual nature of Christ’s Kingship over the Church. Westminster also uses Bavinck’s systematic theology, which confesses that Christ is King...

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