Sources of Light: Resources for Baptist Churches Practicing Theology edited by Amy L. Chilton and Steven R. Harmon (Mercer, 2020)
If Baptists do any theology, they tend to it a local level and see the Holy Spirit as illuminating what is needed to faithful be the church today. This is where Harmon and Chilton begin. I say 'if', because I am not altogether certain that Baptists in English congregations consciously do theology and tend to fall back to the question pragmatically of whatever works — this might include a theology but not one that perhaps bears much sustained reflection. (In the USA my sense there is a practice of what we might call adult Sunday School.) Sources of Light should be seen then as a call to more conscious theological engagement not just with the Bible, but with a plethora of wider sources/voices that take seriously listening to context and to history. It seeks to make more concrete an argument Harmon made in his earlier work Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future. It is an argument in a slightly different form that has been made by Stephen Holmes in his Listening to the Past.
Chilton and Harmon as editors have put together a wide-ranging set of chapters that take account of contextual theology: liberation, black, hispanic, asian, feminist, womanist, LGBTQ, immigrant, disability, and more. This is a call to move beyond just engaging with a white middle class Western theology that dominates both academy and church, to a much more diverse set of voices that can speak into the context of our congregations and also broaden horizons of understanding and experience. The second half the book is more historical and argues that we see sources of light in ancient confessions, Reformation confessions, Baptists confessions, as well those of pre-reformation women, the Catholic magisterium, liturgies, saints and ecumenical documents, both multilateral and bilateral. The chapters are different in style, some are an introduction to a particular source, others seek to make a particular argument. There is perhaps a sense of being overwhelmed by 23 different sources (and there are others that might have been included), but it is a demonstration of just how wide-ranging the practice of theology has become.
The book is an invitation to ministers/pastors and others with theological education to enable congregations, and perhaps also wider associations, unions and alliances to discover and receive all the sources of light God has given the church to enable it to be the church. This begins with ministers themselves engaging with perhaps a wider range of sources as they prepare sermons and offer teaching. It asks us how diverse are our mini-libraries. It also asks colleges and institutions preparing those for ministry what range of sources do students engage with. No longer can some of these sources be seen as optional, as one person tweeted last week: 'Black Church Studies and Black Liberation Theology should no longer be treated as electives in any theological curriculum anywhere. We need church leaders who are as fluent in James Cone as they are in St. Augustine.' And this is reflected in Mikael Broadway's chapter, arguably the most personal, in which he gives an account of his waking up to his whiteness. To comment on one other chapter, I might also highlight in particular Myles Werntz chapter 'Light for Navigating Moral Disagreement' which might be particularly helpful to Baptists as they continue to find a way through the differing responses to sexuality. He highlights three strands which focus on conversion, contemplation and the corporate.
Sources of Light is the kind of book to give to every minister as they embark on ministry, when they are given a Bible, they are also given a copy with the charge that they should always read the Bible with other sources that will help illuminate the Word. The book might be a reminder of all the sources they have listened to or not yet listened to. It might also be an interesting exercise if a copy of the book was given to every local Baptist church to see what interest it might generate, perhaps leading to the question, why did no one tell us that theology was this engaging? Our Baptist ecclesiology, local in emphasis, always has the temptation to listen to a small set of sources, Chilton and Harmon make the case for a more committed activity of listening, which might include listening more carefully to voices already present (but perhaps marginalised), but also to voices from the wider communion of saints. I hope Baptists receive the invitation.
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