CCS SysTheo

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CCS SysTheo

• Issues in Modern Theology
• The Historical Jesus, The New Perspectives on
  Paul, The Emergent Church

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The Historical Jesus

• A Modern Scholarship movement to make distinct
  the Jesus of History and the Jesus of Faith
• Claims that the Jesus worshipped today is a
  fabrication of historical biases
• Early quests Albert Schweitzer, Thomas
  Jefferson
• Latter quests The Jesus Seminar, N.T. Wright,
  Ben Witherington

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Problems with the Historical Jesus

• The Bible is being handled by modern Higher
  Critical Methods
• The Bible is being handled like a mere book
• These quests only appear after the
  Enlightenment and only abide in modern,
  neo-orthodox theology
• The Christ of Faith has been the only Christ of
  Christianity since the Ascension
• It is a reconstructionist movement with liberal
  agendas

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THERE IS ONLY ONE JESUS
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The New Perspectives on Paul (NPP)

• A reconstructionist movement that posits that the
  Doctrines of Faith versus works that modern
  theology sees in the writings of Paul are the
  fabrication of the likes of Martin Luther Paul
  never wrote against the Law, just racism
• They would claim that the old perspective was
  that Paul allowed for a Covenantal Nomism or
  law of the Covenant, but did not allow for
  Israel to hold out the Gentiles from the covenant
  blessings

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So . . . (they say)

• Paul never had a problem with Jews living by the
  Law
• This was the nature of Second Temple Judaism
• Paul was merely telling the Jews that Messiah
  calls them to reach out to the Gentiles
• So, Pauls critique of the Jews in Romans and
  Galatians was not soteriological in nature,
  rather it was missiological in nature
• We only think that Paul was against adding the
  Law to Christ, because Luther was mad at the
  Catholic Church and superimposed that critique of
  works-salvation onto Paul in the text

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Proponents of the NPP

• E. P. Sanders in, Paul and Palestinian Judaism
  (1977)
• James D. G. Dunn labeled the movement , The New
  Perspectives on Paul and became the forerunner
  in 1982
• N. T. Wright has written a large number of works
  aimed at popularizing the new perspective outside
  of academia

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Problems with the NPP

• Jacob Neusner, a Jewish (non-Christian) Scholar
  says,
• In regard to Palestinian Judaism, Sanders book
  is so profoundly flawed as to be hopeless, and I
  regret to say it, useless in accomplishing its
  stated goals of systematic description and
  comparison.
• It is a movement, again that is relegated to the
  modern Enlightenment era, alone
• It is a caricatured methodology of assumptions
  built one one another as fact
• It is very significant, as if you go back and
  change the history or context of a work you
  have a butterfly effect

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GOD HAS ALWAYS WANTED OBEDIENCE INSTEAD OF
SACRIFICE

• So has
• Jesus (Matt. 520)
• The author of Hebrews (Heb. 104)
• James (James 28)
• NOT JUST A PAUL/LUTHER THING . . .

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THE EMERGENT CHURCH

• A Late 20th and 21st century movement that is
  ecclesiological in nature
• It blurs almost all boundaries described as
• Protestant, post-Protestant, Catholic,
  evangelical post-evangelical, liberal,
  post-liberal, conservative, post-conservative,
  anabaptist, adventist, reformed, charismatic,
  neocharismatic, and post-charismatic
• Claims that the Church is still emerging, and
  thus cannot be closed to a certain time period or
  the writings of that time period

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Implications of the Emergent Church

• Tradition cannot be a guide by virtue alone
• This can include the tradition of the Bible
• Since the Spirit of God is still the same Spirit,
  He can speak today as He did with the apostles of
  the Bible
• The most important thing is that you have an
  unbiased authentic experience with Jesus
• People need to be Christ Followers, not Christians

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An Example Rob Bell
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Problems with the Emerging Church

• Postmodern and Existentialist in nature, there
  are no true definitions to work from
• The Canon of Scripture is not a dated, suggestive
  work (Hebrews 412)
• Even with the so-called shedding of binding
  rules, there is the binding rule of shedding
  binding rules
• For the modern Christian, The Emergent Church is
  welcoming, yet a wolf in sheeps clothing, for at
  its heart, this view puts men back in the place
  of authority again

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JOHN 1717 SANCTIFY THEM IN YOUR TRUTH, YOUR
WORD IS TRUTH
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CCS SysTheo

• Issues in Modern Theology
• The Historical Jesus, The New Perspectives on
  Paul, The Emergent Church