Michael Horton - Pilgrim Theology: Core Doctrines for Christian Disciples

W hether you realize it or not, you are a theologian. You come to a book like this with a working theology, an existing understanding of God. Whether you are an agnostic or a fundamentalist or something in between you have a working theology that shapes and informs the way you think and live. However, I suspect that you are reading this book because youre interested in examining your theology more closely. You are open to having it challenged and strengthened. You know that theology the study of God is more than an intellectual hobby. Its a matter of life and death, something that affects the way you think, the decisions you make each day, the way you relate to God and other people, and the way you see yourself and the world around you.

I have written this book on the heels of another theology book entitled The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way. As I explained in the introduction to that book, the old Reformed theologians would sometimes refer to their summaries of the faith as our theology. They referred to it this way for two reasons. First, to indicate that what they were writing was distinct from Gods own self-understanding. This is why they would sometimes use the term ectypal when talking about their theology. Though it sounds somewhat technical, an ectype is simply a copy, with the archetype as the original. Talking about theology as ectypal, then, is a humble admission that only Gods own self-knowledge is original (archetypal). All that we say about God is a copy, subject to error. We will never know anything exactly as God knows it. Instead, we know things as he has revealed them to us, accommodating his knowledge to our feeble capacity to understand.

Second, the older theologians referred to their summary of faith as our theology to make it clear that it was not just my theology their own individualistic understanding of God. To study theology involves entering into a long, ongoing conversation, one that we did not begin. Others have been talking about God long before you or I entered this discussion. We do not read the Bible somewhere off by ourselves in a corner; we read it as a community of faith, together with the whole church in all times and places.

Because our theological understanding is necessarily limited and finite, subject to our sinful biases, affections, and errors, I follow a venerable Christian tradition by referring to this volume as a pilgrim theology for those on the way Christians who humbly seek to understand God but who are aware of their own biases and sinful tendencies to distort the truth. Older theologians used this term to distinguish our theological understanding from that of the glorified saints. A day will yet come when we are glorified and the effects of sin fully conquered, and our understanding of God will be fuller, more complete. Even in this condition, however, we will still be finite and our theology will remain ectypal creaturely. Yet it will no longer be a theology for pilgrims. It will no longer be subject to sinful error. Then, we shall know, even as we are fully known.

So consider this book a map for pilgrims people on the way, those on a journey seeking theological understanding for life in this world and the world to come. This book is more than simply an abridgment of The Christian Faith. Instead, I have sought to write for an entirely new and wider audience. Ive intentionally tried to make it useful for both group and individual study, and have included key terms, distinctions, and questions at the end of each chapter that are linked to words in bold font within the text. Though this book is less detailed than my longer systematic theology, it is written to serve as something of a travel guide to help you on your own journey of theological understanding, showing you the proper coordinates and important landmarks youll need to recognize along the way.

Although it is the study of God, theology has a reputation for being dry, abstract, and irrelevant for daily living. Many Christians assume that we can just experience God in a personal relationship apart from doctrine, but thats impossible. You cannot experience God without knowing who he is, what he has done, and who you are in relation to him. Even our most basic Christian experiences and commitments are theological. I just love Jesus, some say. But who is Jesus? And why do you love him? I just try to live for the Lord. Is this Lord Yahweh, the Creator and Redeemer who reveals himself in Scripture, or an idol? What is this Lord like, what does he approve? What are his attributes? And is there any good news to report concerning this Gods actions in our history, or are you just trying to be a good person? What happens when you die? Whats the future of this world? These are not abstract questions, but questions that haunt our hearts and minds from childhood to old age. We can suppress these questions, but we cannot make them go away. Reality forces us to bump into them. The burden of this book is to elaborate the claim that God has revealed answers, though we will not like all of them.

In this regard, Christianity is a unique religion. The starting point and endgame of the Christian faith are distinct from every other way people tend to approach religion and spirituality. Today, especially in the West, most people tend to associate religion with the inner realm of the individual soul (mysticism) or with principles for individual or social behavior (morality), or perhaps though less often these days with intellectual curiosity and speculation (philosophy). Mix elements of these three mysticism, morality and philosophy together and stir in a generous dose of Yankee pragmatism, and the result is an eclectic soup that is easy to swallow. The goal of life is often viewed as some form of personal or collective happiness. If a person can mix in a bit of wisdom from various other perspectives to spice things up, all the better!

The faith that springs from the Bibles story of God is entirely different. We could even say that it has a different horizon. The triune God is the sun on this horizon, and we orient ourselves to this sun, not the other way around. Instead of starting with ourselves our plans, purposes, dreams, and accomplishments and seeking to learn how God can serve our goals and desires, we begin with God, who