Editorial: Reflections On Retrieval And The Doing Of Theology -- By: Stephen J. Wellum

Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 23:2 (Summer 2019)
Article: Editorial: Reflections On Retrieval And The Doing Of Theology
Author: Stephen J. Wellum


Editorial: Reflections On Retrieval And The Doing Of Theology

Stephen J. Wellum

Stephen J. Wellum is Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and editor of Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. He received his PhD from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and he is the author of numerous essays and articles and the co-author with Peter Gentry of Kingdom through Covenant, 2nd edition (Crossway, 2012, 2018) and God’s Kingdom through God’s Covenants: A Concise Biblical Theology (Crossway, 2015); the co-editor of Progressive Covenantalism (B&H, 2016); the author of God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of the Person of Christ (Crossway, 2016) and Christ Alone—The Uniqueness of Jesus as Savior (Zondervan, 2017); and the co-author of Christ from Beginning to End: How the Full Story of Scripture Reveals the Full Glory of Christ (Zondervan, 2018).

Today, in evangelical theology, there is a strong and legitimate emphasis on “retrieval theology.” A number of books have been published calling the church to retrieve the past to enable the church to live faithfully today according to Scripture (for example, see the recent books by Gavin Ortlund, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals [Crossway, 2019] and Scott Swain and Michael Allen, Reformed Catholicity: The Promise of Retrieval for Theology and Biblical Interpretation [Baker Academic, 2015]). But what exactly is “retrieval theology” and how do we do it?

Kevin Vanhoozer defines retrieval theology as “theological discernment that looks back in order to move forward” (Biblical Authority after Babel [Brazos Press, 2016], 23). For him, such a “retrieval” entails that we do more than simply repeat the past; instead our aim is to reform our theology, first by Scripture and then by the tradition, so that we can faithfully live as the church today. Obviously, few would deny the importance of learning from the past; indeed “retrieving” the theology, insights, and confessions of the church in

previous eras. “Retrieval,” in this sense, is vitally important for theology. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, and we fail to learn the lessons from historical theology to our peril.

However, as important as retrieval is for our doing of theology today, legitimate questions arise regarding how best to do so and its relationship to sola Scriptura. In fact, questions about this relationship arise in at least two related areas.

First, what exactly is the relationship between sola Scriptura and retrieving the tradition in ou...

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