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Leaven Leaven Volume 2 Issue 3 The Restoration Ideal Article 16 1-1-1993 The Origins of the Restoration Movement: An Intellectual History, The Origins of the Restoration Movement: An Intellectual History, Richard Tristano Richard Tristano Jack R. Reese [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Reese, Jack R. (1992) "The Origins of the Restoration Movement: An Intellectual History, Richard Tristano," Leaven: Vol. 2 : Iss. 3 , Article 16. Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol2/iss3/16 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Religion at Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Leaven by an authorized editor of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].

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Page 1: The Origins of the Restoration Movement: An Intellectual

Leaven Leaven

Volume 2 Issue 3 The Restoration Ideal Article 16

1-1-1993

The Origins of the Restoration Movement: An Intellectual History, The Origins of the Restoration Movement: An Intellectual History,

Richard Tristano Richard Tristano

Jack R. Reese [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven

Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology

and Philosophy of Religion Commons

Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Reese, Jack R. (1992) "The Origins of the Restoration Movement: An Intellectual History, Richard Tristano," Leaven: Vol. 2 : Iss. 3 , Article 16. Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol2/iss3/16

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Religion at Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Leaven by an authorized editor of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].

Page 2: The Origins of the Restoration Movement: An Intellectual

46 Leaven, Summer1993

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BOOKSBOOKSBOOKSBOOKSBOOKSBOOKSBOOKSBOOKSBOOKSBOOKS

The Second Incarnation: A Theology for the21st Century ChurchRubel Shelly, Randall J. HarrisHoward Publishing Company, 1992

Shelly and Harris have done their readers agreat service by articulating in a thoughtful andreadable way their thinking on the nature of thechurch. This book comes at a time when by all countsChurches of Christ are in the midst of an identitycrisis, and quite possibly what some are calling a"paradigm shift." Given Shelly's prominence aspreacher, lecturer, and author, this book takes onadded significance. It will doubtless be widely readand much discussed and could prove to be a book ofconsiderable historical significance.

As a collaboration, the book is essentiallyseamless. The authors write, for the most part, inone voice, though there are times when the preacher(Shelly) can be distinguished from the professor(Harris). The book is greatly enriched by the breadthand variety ofsecondary sources quoted throughout,and one senses that it is here that the reader owes agreat deal to Harris' training and expertise.

The book is an ecclesiology- a study of thechurch - offered in a different key from what haspreviously passed under that heading in the historyofour movement. The primary categories ofthe pastdo not appear in prominence here. Gone are thefamiliar headings "The Name of the Church," "TheFounding of the Church," "The Organization of the

Jack Reese, Editor

Church," "The Worship ofthe Church," and so on.What Shelly and Harris promise instead is an ar-ticulation of the church as the continuation of theministry ofJesus - a second incarnation. The bookasks the question''What if Jesus were a church?" Itis their hope that this question will provide thetheological energy for our tradition to move pur-.posefully into the next century.

While tying ecclesiology to Christology isnot an earth shattering breakthrough, it is regret-tably a concept that has gone largely unexplored inour movement. Simply by focusing the questions ofecclesiology in this way the authors have providedan invaluable service. The extent, however, towhich they pursue this noble enterprise is a bituneven. Sometimes the Christology that providesthe foundation for the ecclesiology is more implicitthan explicit. This is not to say that some sectionslack a Christological focus altogether, but ratherthat a more vigorous exploration of the relationshipbetween the person of Jesus and the church couldhave been achieved.

This lack ofChristo logical exploration couldbe due to the fact that this is a book of the times. Inaddition to charting a positive course for the churchin relation to Jesus, the authors have the addedburden of dismantling to some extent the type ofpattern thinking that has produced the traditionalquestions concerning the church listed above. Infact, this aspect of Shelly and Harris' work may bethe far more significant contribution for many who

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read it.The book is divided into four sections. The

first (A New Doctrine of the Church? Possibilitiesand Limitations) clears the underbrush by pre-senting the church as a dynamic, forward-lookingentity that can and must change to meet the chal-lenges of being Christ's presence in a changingworld. Using the language of Jesus, they suggestthat while the wine is unchanging, the wineskinmust always be new to accommodate the ever bub-bling nature of the gospel. The section ends byexploring the role of scripture as an anchor for thechurch. Here they provide what so many havewaited to see - an articulation of a hermeneutic.

The second section (Fundamental Concep-tions) traces three images of the church that theauthors see to be central to the biblical witness: theBodyofChrist; a Pilgrim Church; and the Fellowshipof the Spirit. By emphasizing the body of Christ asthe fundamental image ofidentity for the church theauthors suggest a shift must occur in our thinkingabout the church from "institution to person, patternto principle, deed to motivation." While all of thematerial in this section is thoughtful and provoking,new ground may be covered for many readers in thesection on the pilgrim church.

As a pilgrim church, God's people neverdelude themselves into thinking they have arrived.They are always a people on the way. As such, thechurch is not so much an entity with its eye fixed onthe rear view mirror of church history. But it looksforward, confessing its failings, trusting in the mercyof God, and eagerly awaiting its consummationwhen Jesus returns. This concept requiresreorientation for a restoration people. At the veryleast it suggests that restoration is an ongoing pro-cess. Yet, the implications appear to strike evendeeper, to the very notion of restoration itself. Inwhat sense is restoration a valid notion in light ofthechurch's identity as a pilgrim people? The readerawaits the authors' answers to this question untilthe last chapter.

The third section of The Second Incarna-tion deals with what the authors term "Fundamen-tal Relationships." The church relates to God inworship. The church's life is forged through itsinternal discoveries as it practices compassion, en-couragement, and confession. The church relates tothe world through service, deliberate acts ofjusticeand mercy, and through prophetic utterance. Anentire chapter is related to evangelism.

The last section of the book picks up againmany of the concepts raised early and continuedthrough the chapter on the pilgrim church. Thesection is entitled, "Ecclesiology and Eschatology."

The Restoration Ideal 47

The final chapter asks the burning question of thebook. "Does the church discover its identity and findits mission via a backward-looking gaze? Or do welive and function as aforward-Iooking people?" Theiranswer to both questions is a qualified "yes." Sincethe past contains the life of Jesus it has an au-thoritative hold on the church. The author's alsoaffirm the importance ofthe Acts and epistles for theordering ofthe church's life. Yet, "while rooted in thepast, ... , the church's passion must always bedirected toward the future. Christianity which istrue to its origins must always be eschatalogical."

The chapter preceding spells out the impor-tance of baptism and the Lord's Supper as futureoriented events. While both find their definition inrelation to the past, both constantly urge us to lookforward when the work begun in our baptism iscomplete. This chapter might hold fertile ground forus to consider the notion of restoration given thefundamental notion of the church as a forwardlooking, pilgrim people. Rooted in the past, yetlonging for a future, the church lives out of a funda-mental story ,which by its very nature allows thechurch to be dynamic and responsive to future chal-lenges and opportunities. This approach is sug-gested by the authors in the final chapter, but itsexplicit exploration could shore up some of the am-biguity in the hermeneutic suggested in chapter 2.

In the final analysis the authors give usmuch to think about. There are certainly places todisagree. There are even more places to stop andthink and wish for more instruction from thesegifted thinkers. To conceive of the church in theways they suggest will introduce changes into ourcongregations. They successfully and gently pointout some of the weaknesses of our early patternthinking and lift our gaze to see a different pattern.They compel us to see the true identity ofthe church,less in its institutional forms, and more in thecharacter and person of her founder. The implica-tions of this ecclesiology, if diligently pursued, couldconsume a church's agerida for years to come. Sucha church would undoubtedly find God's renewingpresence.

Mark LoveGresham, Oregon

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Baptism and the Remission of Sins: An His-torical Perspectiveedited by David W. FletcherJoplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company,1990. 432 pp.

Early in both the Stone and Campbellmovements baptism forced its way to the center ofconcern. It has continued to do so throughout theRestoration Movement's history. The viewdevelopedby Alexander Campbell, characterized by RichardTristano as "a via media between the evangelicalprotestant and Roman Catholic" (The Origins ofthe Restoration Movement: An IntellectualHistory, p. 91), was that a real change of state iseffected in the immersion ofbelieving penitents. Inthe 1830s when John Thomas began teaching thatpersons immersed by Baptists or others outside theMovement must be baptized, Campbell vehementlyopposed him. In the context ofthat dispute, however,a woman from Lunenburg, Virginia, wrote Campbellasking if only the immersed could be counted asChristians. His answer was no. Campbell's positionin these controversies set the stage for theMovement's major baptismal conflicts.

The Thomas position (comparable to theLandmark Baptist position which opposed "alienimmersion") was embraced byAustin McGary in the1880s who promoted it through the Firm Foun-dation. This time the oppositionwas DavidLipscomband the Gospel Advocate. Lipscomb insisted thatpeople immersed to obey God were scripturallybaptized, regardless of their knowledge of the act'seffectsatthetime. Though the McGary viewbecamedominant in Churches ofChrist, the issue has neverentirely subsided. In the most recent treatment ofthe question, Jimmy Allen of Harding Universitydefends the Libscomb position in his bookRebaptism.

The questions raging on the other side fo-cused on how to regard unimmersed believers. Arethey saved? If so, can they become members in ourchurches? Some were willing to say yes to both. In1963 Joseph Belcastro surveyed the roots of the so-called open membership controversy among theDisciples, detailing the variety of positions on therelation of baptism to salvation throughout churchhistory and in the Restoration Movement (TheRelation of Baptism to Church Membership).

The present volume, then, follows in a longtradition of literature on baptism in the Stone-Campbell Movement. It is a collaborative effortbetween scholars fromChurches ofChrist (a capella),independent Christian Churches and Churches of

Christ (instrumental). Though separated by otherhermeneutical matters, these bodies share the heri-tage of belief in immersion of believing adults forremission of sins.

In ten thorough chapters the contributorscover everything from the early leaders' theologicalbackground in Reformed and Independent thought(Jack Cottrell and Lynn Mclvhllan), the early viewsof Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell (MichaelGreene and John Mark Hicks), through the JohnThomas controversy and the Lunenburg Letter<RoderickChestnut and John Mark Hicks), to morerecent controversies over rebaptism and openmembership (Jerry Gross and James North). In thefinal chapter, editor David Fletcher writes on thedesign of baptism in the New Testament.

The matter ofbaptism is much more than anacademic question-it is also starkly practical. Thisbook brings that fact to the fore and will help thosein the front lines of ministry deal with it in a moreinformed way both biblically and historically.

Douglas A. FosterAbilene Christian University

Center for Restoration Studies

In Search of Christian Unity: A History of theRestoration Movementby Henry E. WebbCincinnati: Standard Publishing Co., 1990. 492 pp.

In Search of Christian Unity is an excel-lent new history ofour American Restoration Move-ment, written from the perspective of the Indepen-dent Christian Churches. Dr. Henry Webb, whoholds two Ph.D.'s in church history (Xavier Univer-sity and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary),has taught at Milligan College for many years. Hisbook is a good example of why new histories areneeded. For thirty years, we have relied on Murch'sChristians Only for a history from the IndependentChristians' perspective, and we now have a fine newhistory to replace Murch's out-of-date work.

Webb has devoted 248 pages to the nine-teenth century and 211 to the twentieth-a goodbalance. His treatment of the Stone-Campbell de-cades breaks little new ground. But this is notsurprising when their stories have been told so oftenin earlier works. Webb's handling of these years iswell organized, well documented, and easy to read.But it does seem that Webb, as so many others,focused on Campbell's leadership to the neglect ofStone. Stone's name does not appear in any chaptertitle. A chapter on "Religion in Early America" has

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fourteen pages about Stone's work with hardly amention of men such as Rich Haggard and JohnMulkey. Webb gives five chapters to Campbell andcalls him "the unrivaled leader" of the movement.

Perhaps the new video documentary, "LikeFire in Dry Stubble: The Life of Barton W. Stone"(which includes many comments from Dr. Webb),will give some new insights into Stone's importancein the movement.

The decades following the civil war were"the dark ages of controversy and stagnation," ac-cording to Webb. He identifies many causes for theChristian Church/Church of Christ division at theend of the century, including the music controversy,the missionary society and its support of the Northduring the Civil War, varying understandings ofwhat it meant to restore the primitive church,questions about the silence of scripture and socio-logical differences between the victorious North andprostrate South. Webb's analysis, in my judgment,is thorough and accurate.

Webb's treatment of the twentieth centuryhas five chapters (127 pages) about the controver-sies that led to the rupture between Disciples andIndependents. Those ofus in the non-instrumentalchurches who are not aware of the impact of theo-logical liberalism on many brethren in the North,and who have not followed their controversies over"open membership" and "restructure," will find thissection ofWebb's book most helpful.

Like James DeForest Murch, Webb hasclosed his history with a chapter about each of thethree wings ofthe Restoration Movement today, andthese chapters are well done. It does seem to me thatWebb may have relied a little too heavily on left-of-the-center sources, rather than the mainstream, forsome of his appraisals of us.

The first printing of the book has manyprinting errors. One dropped out two or three linesoftype from a critical explanation ofthe designationshe would use for the various wings ofthe movement(p. 12). The book has no index in the first printing,but one is supposed to be added in later printings.

Overall, I think Webb has given us an out-standing new history. I am using it as a requiredtext in my course in restoration history at AbileneChristian University-a recommendation thatspeaks louder than words.

Bill J. HumbleAbilene Christian University

The Restoration Ideal 49

The Origins of the Restoration Movement: AnIntellectual History,by Richard Tristano.Atlanta: Glenmary Research Center, 1988.

This recent work by Richard M. Tristanoprovides a helpful perspective in tracing the intel-lectual sources of the Restoration Movement. It isall the more interesting because it is written fromthepoint-of-view ofan "outsider." Tristano's researchwas sponsored by the Glenmary Research Center, aRoman Catholic institution in Atlanta, and, perhapsto the surprise ofmany, his discussion ofthathistoryis largely sympathetic.

Tristano's most significant insights centeraround the inherent intellectual and philosophicaltensions in the very fabric of the Restoration ideal.At the heart of the movement were impulses whichwere basic to its existence but which were difficult toharmonize.

The central tension revolved around thestrong desire both for unity and truth. From the verybeginning, the American Restoration Movement wasa unity movement. In discussing the work of Tho-mas Campbell, Tristano says, ''What distinguishesRestorationism from Protestant ecumenism is thatthe Restoration Movement soon became an effort toeliminate denominations and to substitute an actualunification of the Church of Christ."

While virtually all the early leaders camefrom the Presbyterian Church, significant dialoguewas held with members from a wide diversity ofdenominations. In fact, for seventeen years, thechurches associated with Alexander Campbell wereofficiallymembers of the Redstone Baptist Associa-tion. The driving vision in the early years of themovement was the uniting (or ultimately theelimination) of various denominations within onechurch.

But they must be united under the truth ofthe New Testament. The goal was not mere insti-tutional unity but unity established onbiblical truth.This impulse drove Restoration leaders to makeseveral conclusions clearly at odds with contempo-rary American Protestantism, most notably the beliefin the necessity ofbeliever's baptism by immersionfor the forgiveness of sins. This and other doctrinalconclusions led to the ostracization of the Restora-tion churches by other religious groups and causeda crisis of purpose. Can the drive for truth becompromised for the sake ofunity? Can the drive forunity be compromised by too narrow an under-standing of truth?

Tristano handles this issue with greatsympathy. Both impulses were legitimate and clearly

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biblical. But both had their down sides in. themovement. The impulse to unity often led to easyecumenism and theological relativism (with fewabsolute truths). The impulse for truth often led toexclusivism and arrogance and an open rejection ofany religious tolerance. Some Restoration preach-ers became highly dogmatic and argumentative. Asa result, the two primary impulses became almostmutually exclusive. Ironically, the movement whichoriginated from a desire for unity quickly divided.And the consequences of those divisions remainamong Restoration churches at the end of the 20thcentury.

Other intellectual tensions lay at the heartof the movement. Many argued, for example, thateveryone can see the Bible alike. On the other hand,they argued that all individuals can interpret theBible for themselves. But as individuals interpretedfor themselves, they found they often interpreteddifferently. These and other philosophical tensions '.made resolution difficult and often sowed the seedsof division.

Tristano does an excellent job in tracing theorigins ofRestoration thought to the philosophies ofThomas Reid, John Locke, and other Europeanscholars, and also to the Radical Reformation ofcenturies before. He also describes well the interre-lationship of the followers of Stone and Campbell,

their eventual merger, and the seeds of disagree-ment that continued for the decades that followed.Further, he indicates the power ofRestoration pub-lications in advancing certain theological positionsand forming patterns ofRestoration orthodoxy.

Finally, Tristano demonstrates the anti-emotionalism that permeated especially theCampbell wing of the movement. He describes thecontext of frontier revivalism against which manyRestoration leaders reacted.

Tristano's closing lines are worth quoting.He attempts to answer whether or not this unitymovement, with all its divisions, is a failure. Heanswers in the negative. "The need which theRestoration Movement perceived was how to balancethe human liberty which Americans cherish withthe message of the Gospel, which after all is notabout the diversity but the unity ofhumanity. Howcan we balance the human need for pluralism andauthor~ty, individual conscience and community,~leratlOn and religious certitude? These are ques-tions for our own age. In these questions, in theseperceived needs, rests the genius of the RestorationMovement."

Jack R. ReeseAbilene Christian University

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