David K. Clark - To Know and Love God: Method for Theology

Evangelical theology is a matter of thinking about and speaking to and for the God of the Bible, in his relation to all reality and all that we ourselves are and do. It is needed for doxology, for devotion, for discipling, and for directing our lives, and we cannot get on without it. Assuming this, philosopher-theologian David Clark sets forth a wide-ranging, constantly centrist, moderately technical, analytically alert demonstration of the what, why, and how of the evangelical theological task, interacting at each stage with rival positions. No comparable across-the-board vindication of evangelical mental method exists; this is a landmark book. Clarks ten-year trudge composing it was emphatically time well spent.

J. I. PACKER
Professor of Theology
Regent College

David Clarks To Know and Love God is the best antidote yet to the poison of anti-intellectualism that has sapped contemporary evangelicalism of much of its theological mettle. Clark deftly works his way through the traditional issues pertaining to theological method, yet he does so with an eye to our postmodern, multicultural, and spiritually starved situation. He makes a compelling case that cultivating and embodying the wisdom of God for daily living really is the most important thing Christians should be doing; he makes an equally compelling case that pursuing excellence in theologythe spiritual science by which we come to know Godis the best way to embark on the project. Clark has written the perfect introductory theological textbook for evangelicalism: the next generation.

KEVIN J. VANHOOZER
Research Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Christian theology must be biblically sound. However, if it intends to speak to people today, it also needs to be informed on the many issues providing a context for theology in contemporary culture. How does theology find its place in the context of pluralism, relativism, scientism, and its many other challengers? David Clark provides a thorough discussion of the issues that enables theologians to ply their trade with greater awareness and commitment. This book can serve as text-book as well as reference work.

WINFRIED CORDUAN
Professor of Philosophy and Religion
Taylor University

David Clarks book is an important statement of where evangelicals should stand on the major issues of the day.

RONALD NASH
Professor of Philosophy
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Increased fragmentation within the Christian community, specialization of the disciplines, skepticism about religious truth, and the implications of cultural and religious diversity all suggest that the time for evangelical systematic theology is past. Undaunted, David Clark has produced a carefully nuanced and extraordinarily rich discussion of the nature of theology and a sensible, constructive model for doing theology in todays world. Essential reading for evangelical theologians, philosophers, and missiologists.

HAROLD NETLAND
Associate Professor of Philosophy of Religion
and Intercultural Studies
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Astonishingly well-researched and persuasively argued, David Clarks To Knowand Love God is one of a kind. This book is the product of a mature theological mind that has found a balanced and articulate wisdom, and that refuses to settle for false dilemmas, overstatements, equivocation, or fuzzy half-truths. It is a prized example of the contribution that clear, analytic thinking can have for a robust, twenty-first-century evangelical theology. If you can read only one book on theological method, read this one.

JAY RICHARDS
Senior Fellow
Discovery Institute

Good texts on theological methodology are rare. David Clark has produced a first-rate treatment of this often ignored and misunderstood subject. This volume provides a substantial underpinning for the remainder of this excellent theological series published by Crossway.

GARY HABERMAS
Chairman, Department of Philosophy
and Theological Studies
Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary

Competence and sensitivity! Those two words always characterize Clarks work. Once again he has penetrated the rhetoric to offer a solid case for Christian faith in the real world.

L. RUSS BUSH, III
Senior Professor of Philosophy of Religion
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

TO KNOW
AND LOVE
GOD

Other books in the
Foundations of Evangelical Theology Series

Published:
No One Like Him
JOHN S. FEINBERG

The Cross and Salvation
BRUCE DEMAREST

Forthcoming topics:

Scripture
Man and Angels
Christ
The Holy Spirit
Sin
The Church
Eschatology

To Know and Love God

Copyright 2003 by David K. Clark

Published by Crossway Books
A division of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

First printing 2003

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture references are from the Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clark, David K.
To know and love God: method for theology / David K. Clark.
p. cm. (Foundations of evangelical theology)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 1-58134-484-8 (TPB.: alk. paper)
1. TheologyMethodology. 2. Evangelicalism. I. Title. II. Series.
BR118.C47 2003
230'.01dc21

2002156480

ML 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03
15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dedicated to:
Paul and Jim

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 4 DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES AND
THEOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

CHAPTER 10 CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND THE
WORLD RELIGIONS

INTRODUCTION
BY GENERAL EDITOR

Why another series of works on evangelical systematic theology? This is an especially appropriate question in light of the fact that evangelicals are fully committed to an inspired and inerrant Bible as their final authority for faith and practice. But since neither God nor the Bible changes, why is there a need to redo evangelical systematic theology?

Systematic theology is not divine revelation. Theologizing of any sort is a human conceptual enterprise. Thinking that it is equal to biblical revelation misunderstands the nature of both Scripture and theology! Insofar as our theology contains propositions that accurately reflect Scripture or match the world and are consistent with the Bible (in cases where the propositions do not come perse from Scripture), our theology is biblically based and correct. But even if all the propositions of a systematic theology are true, that theology would still not be equivalent to biblical revelation! It is still a human conceptualization of God and his relation to the world.

Although this may disturb some who see theology as nothing more than doing careful exegesis over a series of passages, and others who see it as nothing more than biblical theology, those methods of doing theology do not some-how produce a theology that is equivalent to biblical revelation either. Exegesis is a human conceptual enterprise, and so is biblical theology. All the theological disciplines involve human intellectual participation. But human intellect is finite, and hence there is always room for revision of systematic theology as knowledge increases. Though God and his Word do not change, human understanding of his revelation can grow, and our theologies should be reworked to reflect those advances in understanding.