Journal: Journal of Ministry and Theology
Volume: JMAT 23:1 (Spring 2019)
Article: Toward A Dispensational Missiology: Eschatological Parameters For The Global Task
Author: Chris Burnett

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Toward A Dispensational Missiology:
Eschatological Parameters For The Global Task

Chris Burnett

Charles Taber, important trainer of Bible translators and avid mission theorist, faithfully advanced anthropological and linguistic strategies on the use of Scripture in the global church. Yet a few troublingly dismissive phrases seem to summarize his experiences of years of contextualizing the Bible in West Africa: “We had found out in the field… that the national church was capable of being guided by the Holy Spirit using the Scriptures. We also found it no longer possible to trust the dispensational hermeneutic that I had learned from childhood.”2 Taber seems to suggest that the more he was exposed to a West African method of interacting with Scripture, the more he grew to distrust the literal, historical, grammatical interpretive method.

Anti-colonial rhetoric that decries white late-modern-era theology and its bibliological commitments is not uncommon in contemporary evangelical literature.3 Some mission theorists

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who influence overseas practitioners today present unchallenged presuppositions on the role of Scripture, and in so doing seem to radically diminish the centrality of Scripture in engaging cultures.4 But trivializing the advancements of the dispensational hermeneutic in forming global theology is a poorly presented argument.

For example, it hardly seems plausible that such an influential linguist and missionary as Taber would come to disregard a hermeneutic known for its faithful search for the original meaning of Scripture, especially when compared to the theological landscape of Africa, known for promoting a culture-first reading.5 Equally strange is Taber’s suggestion that any

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local church, in West Africa or elsewhere, can ensure a Spirit-led interpretation of the Bible without a commitment to both rigorously understand the authorial intent of a passage and to find the appropriate local application in keeping with a consistently literal reading of Scripture.

What additional benefits might Charles Taber have offered if he had upheld the dispensational hermeneutic in all areas of the missionary task? How would promoting a consistently literal approach to the text in the global church bring theological clarity to evangelism and discipleship? Could the application of the dispensational hermeneutic in nation...