We can identify much of what we seek to do in everyday life as “practical theology.” We’ve grown accustomed to various mantras and assertions that “all of life is theological”—and it is. We cannot avoid thinking, feeling, and behaving in theological ways. All of life is under the lordship of Christ, and thus it is all, ultimately, of theological significance. Yet, if all of theology is not only Christ-centered and biblically-based but also “life-oriented,” as Leroy Forlines says, then what does it mean to do practical theology?[1] And how might Free Will Baptists foster a particular vision of this endeavor for the future?
I have written previously on the state of practical theology, especially within the context of modern youth ministry and how we might redeem that practice.[2] I am concerned that what is being done in the discipline of “practical theology” is actually quite problematic and can lead to some significant theological problems because its practitioners are either ignoring Scripture or else placing it on equal footing as experience, context and other concerns.
The solution to these problems may not be as far off as we might think. Of course, we want to bring any kind of theological reflection back to the Scriptures. Our desire is rightly to reflect God’s Word through faithful orthopraxy. The question becomes whether Free Will Baptists, as a faith tradition within orthodox, evangelical Christianity, will move along with these shifts in theological reflection, or if they will maintain a more holistic and historic understanding. Do Free Will Baptists have the resources within their own theology to help move practical theology forward for their adherents? The short answer to that last question is yes, I think it does.
Two men have occupied unique roles in the Free Will Baptist denomination over the past decades. F. Leroy Forlines and Robert E. Picirilli are mainstays in theological conversations about Free Will Baptist and Reformed Arminianism. What is unique about both of these men is their resolute focus on keeping their theological reflection focused on the tangible. Both Forlines and Picirilli have kept the truth of God “on the ground” and oriented towards the life of the believer. This article will examine how each emphasized special foci for their theological reflection and how Free Will Baptists can follow their example.
A Personal Theology
Much of Forlines’s theological reflection is rooted in the reality that Christians worship a personal God who has created us as personal beings with “total personalities.” Contrasted against the impersonal, materialistic, mechanistic worldview of naturalism, Forlines articulates a vibrant theology that is rooted not only in God’s personal nature but also in His creation of “persons” who then engage with God, others, themselves, and creation through designed relationships.
In The Promise of Arminian Theology, Andrew Ball highlights Forlines’s use of subjective language in the way that he talks and reflects about God’s truth. He writes,
[E]ven though our thoroughly modern culture privileges the epistemic values and methods of empirical science as being the absolute standards for any research project, there are some areas for which the scientific method cannot offer right answers, such as theology. . . . [O]ne cannot do theology from a completely neutral standpoint anyway because it’s very nature—the project of answering the inescapable questions of life—engages the total personality, which is one’s entire being: ‘Thinking and feeling must be found together’ because ‘we are deeply concerned and involved’ in our search for truth.[3]
As Ball notes, Forlines leads us into a theological method that emphasizes a holistic anthropology. While this emphasis is not unique to Free Will Baptists or to Forlines, this method does cause those wanting to do practical theology to be “concerned with thinking (the activity of the mind), feeling (the activity of the heart, which refers to the seat of our emotions), and acting (the activity of the will).”[4] Forlines invites those doing theology to involve their total being.[5]
After emphasizing the whole person, Forlines calls us to consider the whole of reality. Again, Forlines admits no neutrality but instead points out that each person sees the world through his or her own particular worldview.[6] As Forlines states, “There is no neutral platform from which to start. We cannot start from ‘nowhere.’ We must start somewhere. Honesty requires us to make this admission.”[7] As I have written elsewhere, he challenges us to embrace a full-orbed Christianity that bears the fruit of a fully experienced humanity.[8] For Forlines and for us, theology is immensely personal—and thus immensely practical. Of course, Forlines is not the only Free Will Baptist theologian to exemplify practical theology.
A Practiced Theology
In many ways, Robert Picirilli has also demonstrated what good practical theology looks like: a theology that is exegetically rich, systematically consistent, historically accurate, and practically relevant. His approach to theology is multi-layered and thoughtful, yet it is also practical; Picirilli consistently orients his biblical-theological thought toward the lived-life of his listener.
Certainly, Picirilli sees himself—and rightly so—as primarily an exegetical theologian. Methodologically, Picirilli consistently begins with the text itself to determine the meaning of the passage from its historical-grammatical context and to bring about a practical conclusion that honors fair and truthful exegesis. Yet what may distinguish Picirilli from other exegetical theologians is his insistence never to leave the truth on the pages of Scripture. Picirilli, ever careful in his exegesis, seems always to write works with his eye on the practice and “livability” of the truth that he is seeking to understand.
For example, after giving an exegetical theology for the role of the pastor in the New Testament in his book Teacher, Leader, Shepherd, Picirilli does not leave the subject alone. Though his exegetical study is rich with application throughout, he seeks to move a step forward. He finds it appropriate—it is!—to give some “practical suggestions” to pastors: (1) become a man of prayer, (2) give yourself to a lifetime of careful study of Scripture, (3) develop your ability to prepare and deliver sermons, (4) practice self-discipline, (5) guard your character, (6) give your family the attain they deserve, and (7) work on your people skills.[9]
This application-oriented focus is a pattern he follows elsewhere. At the end of Discipleship, Picirilli shows how this “new” understanding of personal salvation has implications for Christian practice. Picirilli gives specific attention to the implications for evangelism, ministry, and polity.[10] Both of these examples illustrate Picirilli’s practical emphasis, even in the process of exegetical theology. All believers should seek to emulate this pattern.
In Picirilli we find a great exemplar and should follow suit in being fair and truthful with the biblical text, all the while asking how it has implications for our own Christian living. His passion is to know the truth of God. Picirilli believes that the truth of God is of ultimate importance. In a short pamphlet on the fundamental doctrines of the faith, he wrote,
You may ask whether we need to discuss these [fundamental] doctrines. The answer is, we do. We must not take these fundamentals of the Christian faith for granted. Far too many Christians are much too vague in their understanding of these vital points of belief; and with secularism, scientism, intellectualism, materialism, and liberalism attacking Christianity at its very roots, Christians need to be well instructed and clear in their understanding.[11]
Picirilli has sought to love God and to love his neighbor in the pursuit of understanding and sharing God’s truth in livable ways. In my estimation, he has accomplished his goal.
Conclusion
Modern practical theology has largely focused too heavily on experience in its theological method. For many of these practical theologians, they place Scripture on equal ground with experience, context, personal journeys, and more.[12] For others, they bypass Scripture altogether. This inevitably places the foundation of theological reflection in the subjective experience of man, rather than in the objective revelation of God. In Forlines and Picirilli, Free Will Baptists find alternative paradigms worthy of our attention and imitation. We would do well to focus on God’s personal nature and on how that has direct implications for our lives today.
Forlines encourages us towards a theology for the whole person that considers the whole world—that we might give God the whole of what we have. Forlines focuses on a personal theology, rooted in a personal God, applied to the whole of the human person. And yet this approach is all rooted in the objective truth found in the Christian Scriptures.
Further, following Picirilli’s example we benefit not only working carefully with the biblical text but also with applying it. The Scriptures should stir in us a desire for obedience and discipleship. Its inerrant words should challenge us appropriately. These living words give us truth to know and to live. Both of these men challenge us to move from careful reflection to practice. The future is bright because of the examples that Forlines and Picirilli have already offered to us.
[1]F. Leroy Forlines, The Quest for Truth: Theology for Postmodern Times (Nashville: Randall House, 2001), 6; emphasis added.
[2]See Christopher Talbot “Practicing Theology in Youth Ministry” (paper presented at The Commission for Theological Integrity’s Free Will Baptist Theological Symposium, Randall University, Moore, Oklahoma, October 2018) and “Toward a Confessional-Practical theology” (paper presented at The Commission for Theological Integrity’s Free Will Baptist Theological Symposium, Welch College, Gallatin, Tennessee, October 2019).
[3]Andrew Ball, “The Theological Method of F. Leroy Forlines,” in The Promise of Arminian Theology: Essays in Honor of F. Leroy Forlines, ed. Matthew Steven Bracey and W. Jackson Watts (Nashville: Randall House Academic, 2016), 8.
[4]F. Leroy Forlines, Inerrancy and the Scriptures (Nashville: Commission on Theological Liberalism of the National Association of Free Will Baptists, 1978), 10.
[5]Ball, 16.
[6]F. Leroy Forlines and J. Matthew Pinson, The Apologetics of Leroy Forlines (Gallatin, TN: Welch College Press, 2019), 20.
[7]Forlines, The Quest for Truth, 5.
[8]Christopher Talbot, “Communicating the Gospel: The Church’s Mission and Ministry,” in The Promise of Arminian Theology, ed. Matthew Steven Bracey and W. Jackson Watts (Nashville: Randall House Academic, 2016), 230.
[9]Robert E. Picirilli, Teacher, Leader, Shepherd: The New Testament Pastor (Nashville: Randall House, 2007), 115–22
[10]Robert E. Picirilli, Discipleship: The Expression of Saving Faith (Nashville: Randall House, 2013), 189–98.
[11]Robert E. Picirilli, Fundamentals of the Faith (Nashville: Randall House, 1973), 6.
[12]For example, Soren Oestergaard and Simon Hall’s model places practical theology in the middle of a venn diagram in which context, tradition, and personal pilgrimage hold the same theological weight as Scripture. See Søren Øesteragaard and Simon Hall, “Focusing Youth Ministry through Innovation,” Starting Right: Thinking theologically about youth ministry, ed. Kenda Creasy Dean, Chap Clark, and Dave Rahn(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001).
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