Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 36:4 (Dec 1993)
Article: Narrative Theology And Apologetics
Author: David K. Clark

JETS 36:4 (December 1993) p. 499

Narrative Theology And Apologetics

David K. Clark*

I begin with a story. The professor spent quite some time one afternoon explaining an unusual assignment. It was not the normal research project, reaction paper, or book review. “No research is necessary,” Professor Rogers responded to quizzical looks and tentative questions. “Simply write a narrative that expresses your theology. Create theology in story form.”

The setting: graduate school in the mid-1970s. The most befuddled student: me. How in the world could I fulfill this requirement, I wondered? By now quite skilled in cranking out research papers of the usual sort, I was set back decades by this new assignment. Theology in story form? It sounded like theology in buzz groups (a low point in my scholastic pilgrimage). I remember neither what I wrote nor what grade I received. (I do not know whether to attribute this to psychological repression or God’s grace.)

At my first encounter with narrative theology, I resented feeling forced to deal with what I saw as a professor’s passing fancy. The veritable explosion of literature on narrative theology shows, however, that my judgment was as poor as the paper I delivered to Professor Rogers. The subject forces itself upon us simply by virtue of the wide following that narrative enjoys. I propose, therefore, to explore several facets of the current theological milieu, the place of narrative theology in that context, and ways in which evangelical apologists should respond.

I. The Emergence Of Narrative Theology

Most point to H. Richard Niebuhr’s essay, “The Story of Our Lives,” as the mustard seed that grew into narrative theology. The chapter emphasizes the early Church’s storytelling as the locus of revelation. The Church is not a group of disinterested spectators. As the Church recites its history, a confessing community moves by faith from observation to participation. Revelation, says Niebuhr, occurs in “internal history, the story of what happened to us, the living memory of the community.”1

A large tree grew from Niebuhr’s tiny seed. The narrative theme penetrates many theological disciplines: systematics, hermeneutics, ethics, preaching, pastoral care. Narrativism’s common theme is a “categorical

* David Clark is professor of theology at Bethel Theological Seminary, 3949 Bethel Drive, St. Paul, MN 55112.

JETS 36:4 (December 1993) p. 500

preference for story over explanation as a vehicle of understanding.”2 This implies, however, no clear and distinct notion of “narrative” or “story.” S...