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Upon This Rock: A Baptist Understanding of the Church
A recent conference at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary featured speakers addressing topics set forth in the article on “The Church” in the Southern Baptist Convention’s Baptist Faith and Message statement. Upon This Rock gathers those presentations and answers such questions as:
• What is the basis for our denominational distinctives?
• Are they merely a collection of “faded traditions” or true doctrinal necessities rooted in the Bible alone?
• Are they theologically rich cornerstones of faith that easily transcend time, culture, and preference?
Contributors include Malcolm B Yarnell III (“Upon This Rock I Will Build My Church: A Theological Exposition of Matthew 16:13-20”), Paige Patterson (“Observing the Two Ordinances of Christ”), Thomas and Joy White (“Church Officers and Gender: Can Women Be Pastors? Or Deacons?”) and Bart Barber (“A Denomination of Churches: Biblical and Useful”) as well as Jason G. Duesing, David Allen, Emir F. Caner, James Leo Garrett, Jr., and Byron McWilliams.
• What is the basis for our denominational distinctives?
• Are they merely a collection of “faded traditions” or true doctrinal necessities rooted in the Bible alone?
• Are they theologically rich cornerstones of faith that easily transcend time, culture, and preference?
Contributors include Malcolm B Yarnell III (“Upon This Rock I Will Build My Church: A Theological Exposition of Matthew 16:13-20”), Paige Patterson (“Observing the Two Ordinances of Christ”), Thomas and Joy White (“Church Officers and Gender: Can Women Be Pastors? Or Deacons?”) and Bart Barber (“A Denomination of Churches: Biblical and Useful”) as well as Jason G. Duesing, David Allen, Emir F. Caner, James Leo Garrett, Jr., and Byron McWilliams.
- GenresTheology
256 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
9 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Jason G. Duesing
27 books89 followersServing Christ at the end of all things (1 Peter 4:7) for the glory of God (1 Peter 4:11) and the joy of all nations (Psalm 67:4), Jason G. Duesing is the academic Provost and Professor of Historical Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary & College. Duesing earned his Ph.D. in Historical Theology and Baptist Studies from Southwestern Seminary in 2008. He also holds a M.Div. from Southeastern Seminary and a B.A. in Speech Communications from Texas A&M University in College Station.
Duesing is married to Kalee, and together they have two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve.
Jason G. Duesing can be reached via email at jduesing [at] mbts [dot] edu, on Twitter at @JGDuesing, on Instagram at @JGDuesing, and on Facebook.
Duesing is married to Kalee, and together they have two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve.
Jason G. Duesing can be reached via email at jduesing [at] mbts [dot] edu, on Twitter at @JGDuesing, on Instagram at @JGDuesing, and on Facebook.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 4, 2013
A great book on Baptist ecclesiology that speaks truth without apology, yet restrains from throwing any unnecessary punches.
April 16, 2015
Hailing from the faculty of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, Texas, Jason Duesing, Thomas White, and Malcolm Yarnell III join other writers and fellow faculty members (David Allen, Emir Caner, Paige Patterson, James Leo Garrett Jr., Bart Barber, Byron McWilliams, and Joy White) in exploring the complexities of the charge of Christ in building the church on earth. Their collective scholarship on the topic represent well the Southern Baptist seminary system. Including Joy White with Thomas White in the chapter on "The Offices and Women" as a strategic addition to the authorship of the book.
Summary
Upon This Rock begins with an introduction and first chapter that set the stage for the title of the book. Matthew 16:13-20 is exposited with tremendous clarity, especially with regard to the original Greek text. Yarnell lays a contextual, linguistic, and structural framework of the passage, giving apt attention to the confusion of petra, Petros, and Peter, saying, "petra has something to do with Peter, but the petra is not Petros. Petra is the confession of Petros; petra points to Jesus Christ" (35). Yarnell is always very clear in his writing and teaching, and does not shy away from challenging concepts; yet he addresses them completely and without relying significantly on extra-biblical material.
Chapters 2 and 3 have a different tone than the rest of the book (each chapter is written by a different author) and speak from a clearly Baptist perspective. They attempt to give an overview of alternative models for the local church.
Chapter 4 is a refreshing change, penned by Patterson. It is about the significance of the ordinances, specifically the identity of the people in participation. This perspective maskes this chapter a good fit for this book. After all, a people gathering together as a church must make decisions about how they prepare and offer the ordinances (most memorable in this chapter is the Lord's Supper) and who they disseminate them to. This defines the church.
Chapters 5-7 may be the least exciting unless the reader has had unfortunate past or present experience with a terribly dis-unified church. Actually, in this view, the chapters are perhaps quite rousing! The authors admit to several confrontations with church members expecting to be deacons, or people in present leadership positions that they have no business remaining in (153), etcetera.
Conceivably the most difficult of all topics in the book was co-written by the husband-wife team, White, answering the complex sociological question, "can women be pastors or deacons?" This is the most systematized and balanced collection of research and writing this reviewer has ever seen. Finally the book closes with T. White reacting to the term "universal church."
Critical Evaluation
There are a number of things a balanced-minded seminarian should loathe more than reading literature from writers of their own denomination touting their superiority to other denominations. Perhaps a preacher who believes in a prosperity gospel, for example. With disdain and superiority practically dripping off the pages, it is fortunate that chapters 2-3 were not the last things this reviewer read, or the whole book may have gotten one or two (out of five) stars. It is one thing to communicate what one thinks is a true interpretation and application of what the Bible says, as well as call out certain heresies; but to write amongst colleagues who presented a collective scholarly work and resort to praising Baptists as if it is a religion and not merely a denomination does not have it's place on this reviewer's bookshelf. Shame on Allen and Caner!
White does a decent job of warning church pastors against operating in the present with future universal church applications. He reminds readers (perhaps with greater brevity than required) that the universal church is a future church, and that people who claim to be members of a non-physical, non-local church are fooling themselves and others. He tackles more than he ought, though, when he lumps multi-site churches in with virtual communities, such as LifeChurch. This makes the supposition that most or all multi-site churches do not offer individualized pastoral care in line with John 21:17, as a shepherd feeds and cares for his sheep. Authors should not attack a system that they have not personally participated in, as it seems broad errors are made in the accompanying assumptions.
"Consumer-based church" (234), White says, is unbiblical and is apparent in churches which offer multiple styles of programming to suit the preferences of its attendees and members. This is indeed an erred view of corporate worship when it goes beyond meeting the needs of a worshipper's heart language. White talks about the benefits of children seeing their other family members worshipping God together, rather than being broken up in to preference groups. The real issue here is how the heart of worship is defined. It may be just as problematic to focus on the external "environments" (234)—that White spends a great deal of time expounding upon to illustrate his point. What should the fellowship of a church look like, however? White reminds readers with an extensive list on pages 237-238 that is based solely on Scripture. The espousal of this list should have made up the majority of this section of the chapter, rather than being judicious against the attempts of other congregations, especially with specificity in his naming of several churches.
Conclusion
Even though the full title of this book is Upon This Rock: A Baptist Understanding of the Church, this book at times goes beyond the word "understanding" and more toward "judgment." If it were not for the harshly pro-Baptist elements sprinkled throughout (with the exception of Yarnell's purely academic chapter, and T. and J. White's academic unpacking of women's roles in the church), this reviewer would recommend this title to all seminarians readying themselves for ministry. Because of this, blanket recommendation can only be made to Southern Baptists. Furthermore, this book would be very useful for pastoral search committees, elders, deacons, and other significant lay church leaders, particularly because it gives excellent argumentation for the identity of God's ordained church on earth. It will lead to a better understanding of the future universal church, and possibly to more denominational unity as these topics are explored fully together.
Summary
Upon This Rock begins with an introduction and first chapter that set the stage for the title of the book. Matthew 16:13-20 is exposited with tremendous clarity, especially with regard to the original Greek text. Yarnell lays a contextual, linguistic, and structural framework of the passage, giving apt attention to the confusion of petra, Petros, and Peter, saying, "petra has something to do with Peter, but the petra is not Petros. Petra is the confession of Petros; petra points to Jesus Christ" (35). Yarnell is always very clear in his writing and teaching, and does not shy away from challenging concepts; yet he addresses them completely and without relying significantly on extra-biblical material.
Chapters 2 and 3 have a different tone than the rest of the book (each chapter is written by a different author) and speak from a clearly Baptist perspective. They attempt to give an overview of alternative models for the local church.
Chapter 4 is a refreshing change, penned by Patterson. It is about the significance of the ordinances, specifically the identity of the people in participation. This perspective maskes this chapter a good fit for this book. After all, a people gathering together as a church must make decisions about how they prepare and offer the ordinances (most memorable in this chapter is the Lord's Supper) and who they disseminate them to. This defines the church.
Chapters 5-7 may be the least exciting unless the reader has had unfortunate past or present experience with a terribly dis-unified church. Actually, in this view, the chapters are perhaps quite rousing! The authors admit to several confrontations with church members expecting to be deacons, or people in present leadership positions that they have no business remaining in (153), etcetera.
Conceivably the most difficult of all topics in the book was co-written by the husband-wife team, White, answering the complex sociological question, "can women be pastors or deacons?" This is the most systematized and balanced collection of research and writing this reviewer has ever seen. Finally the book closes with T. White reacting to the term "universal church."
Critical Evaluation
There are a number of things a balanced-minded seminarian should loathe more than reading literature from writers of their own denomination touting their superiority to other denominations. Perhaps a preacher who believes in a prosperity gospel, for example. With disdain and superiority practically dripping off the pages, it is fortunate that chapters 2-3 were not the last things this reviewer read, or the whole book may have gotten one or two (out of five) stars. It is one thing to communicate what one thinks is a true interpretation and application of what the Bible says, as well as call out certain heresies; but to write amongst colleagues who presented a collective scholarly work and resort to praising Baptists as if it is a religion and not merely a denomination does not have it's place on this reviewer's bookshelf. Shame on Allen and Caner!
White does a decent job of warning church pastors against operating in the present with future universal church applications. He reminds readers (perhaps with greater brevity than required) that the universal church is a future church, and that people who claim to be members of a non-physical, non-local church are fooling themselves and others. He tackles more than he ought, though, when he lumps multi-site churches in with virtual communities, such as LifeChurch. This makes the supposition that most or all multi-site churches do not offer individualized pastoral care in line with John 21:17, as a shepherd feeds and cares for his sheep. Authors should not attack a system that they have not personally participated in, as it seems broad errors are made in the accompanying assumptions.
"Consumer-based church" (234), White says, is unbiblical and is apparent in churches which offer multiple styles of programming to suit the preferences of its attendees and members. This is indeed an erred view of corporate worship when it goes beyond meeting the needs of a worshipper's heart language. White talks about the benefits of children seeing their other family members worshipping God together, rather than being broken up in to preference groups. The real issue here is how the heart of worship is defined. It may be just as problematic to focus on the external "environments" (234)—that White spends a great deal of time expounding upon to illustrate his point. What should the fellowship of a church look like, however? White reminds readers with an extensive list on pages 237-238 that is based solely on Scripture. The espousal of this list should have made up the majority of this section of the chapter, rather than being judicious against the attempts of other congregations, especially with specificity in his naming of several churches.
Conclusion
Even though the full title of this book is Upon This Rock: A Baptist Understanding of the Church, this book at times goes beyond the word "understanding" and more toward "judgment." If it were not for the harshly pro-Baptist elements sprinkled throughout (with the exception of Yarnell's purely academic chapter, and T. and J. White's academic unpacking of women's roles in the church), this reviewer would recommend this title to all seminarians readying themselves for ministry. Because of this, blanket recommendation can only be made to Southern Baptists. Furthermore, this book would be very useful for pastoral search committees, elders, deacons, and other significant lay church leaders, particularly because it gives excellent argumentation for the identity of God's ordained church on earth. It will lead to a better understanding of the future universal church, and possibly to more denominational unity as these topics are explored fully together.
July 30, 2020
Aside from the first and last essays, this book was a struggle for me. Many of the authors represented a myopic, conservative perspective that puts up more walls than builds bridges in the SBC. The book’s topic is of great interest to me so I was disappointed to find it written in such a way that points away from the beauty of the tradition.
May 30, 2014
pretty interesting..... especially the last chapter about the local and universal church :)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews