Retrieve the Past. Retain the Truth.

In recent years, evangelicals have in many ways rediscovered the riches of the Christian past. That’s not to say that historical consciousness was ever totally lost among evangelical Protestants. The basic parameters of historic Christian orthodoxy were always there. Still, the strengths of the evangelical movement tended to lie elsewhere: biblical exegesis, preaching, spirituality, missions and evangelism, political activism, and even mass media.

But today, it is not unusual to find evangelical theologians, pastors, and laypeople focusing on the Early Church Fathers, the medieval theologians, the reformers, and the post-Reformation scholastics.

These gestures toward theological “retrieval,” as it is often called, have produced many positive results. To pick just one example, controversies over the doctrine of the Trinity that erupted online 10 years ago this summer have been largely resolved in favor of explicitly creedal formulations. Evangelicals have discovered afresh the deeply biblical logic of the Nicene doctrine.

Some have wanted to press the retrieval project further, recovering not only the historic Christian doctrine of God but also historical perspectives on political theology especially. In one sense, this is a most welcome development, but it does raise important questions about how a Protestant agenda for theological retrieval should proceed. Let me offer a few suggestions that might guide us as we seek to retrieve the past in biblically faithful ways.

1. Hierarchy of Doctrine

We must keep in mind a hierarchy of doctrine. Every doctrine is important, but not every doctrine is equally important. Some doctrines are integral to the Christian faith, while other doctrines are derivative in the sense that they gain their force from the more central doctrines. The further the derivation proceeds, the less certain we can be of the conclusions reached.

Every doctrine is important, but not every doctrine is equally important.

For example, the doctrine of the Trinity is of greater moment than the specifics of church polity. It’s more important to be a Nicene Trinitarian than it is to be a Presbyterian or a congregationalist.

The same thing should be recalled as we seek to retrieve political theology. Political theology itself is of lesser moment than Trinitarian theology. It is not unimportant or unworthy of careful study. But contemporary Christians are not simply cherry-picking when they weigh, for example, Thomas Aquinas’s view on the Son’s divinity more heavily than they do his understanding of the justice of human slavery.

Even within our retrieval of political theology, fundamental principles such as natural law and human freedom and dignity carry more weight than specific applications (which are irreducibly local and particular).

2. Diversity Within the Tradition

We should be aware of the variegated nature of the Christian tradition. On precious few doctrinal issues does the Christian tradition admit only one orthodox position. The doctrines summarized in the ancient creeds and councils function as the baseline. But on many issues, it is better to speak of “traditions” (plural) rather than “the Tradition” (singular).

Political theology is especially tricky in this regard. Whose political theology should carry the most weight: the pre-Constantinian persecuted church of the early centuries, the late Roman and Byzantine eras, the medieval feudalists, the magisterial reformers, the free-church movements, the Erastians, the Scottish Covenanters, the Baptists of the early American Republic, or someone else?

It would be a mistake to enshrine our own political moment as the ideal to which the Christian message was inevitably leading, but it is just as precarious to assume that some previous “golden era” must be recovered as the definitive Christian position.

In any event, political principles must be adapted to local circumstances. We have to live where and when we are. Retrieval is not the same as repristination (simply restoring a previous arrangement to its pristine condition). History is not a story of unbroken progress, but neither is it a tale of perpetual decline. Some historical developments are positive (like the abolition of slavery), and Christians should be unembarrassed to say so.

3. Avoid Misusing the Tradition

We should avoid misusing the tradition for our predetermined agendas. This kind of abuse of the past happens, for example, when venerable principles like Augustine’s ordo amoris (the order of love) are used as cover for racial prejudice.

Or when the medieval formula gratia non tollit naturam sed perficit  (“grace does not destroy nature but perfects it”) is used to imply that anything “natural” in a postlapsarian context can be preserved uncritically. In its original context, this formula had to do with the integrity of human nature and its openness to divine grace, not with sanctioning the political and cultural assumptions of fallen humanity.

4. Critical Appropriation of the Past

We should avoid an uncritical appropriation of the tradition. This brings us to the heart of a Protestant approach to retrieval. We should show due deference to the Christian tradition, but Scripture still has pride of place as the sole, inspired, and inerrant Word of God. When it comes to our revered traditions and our heroes in the faith, we can walk and chew gum at the same time.

We should show due deference to the Christian tradition, but Scripture still has pride of place as the sole, inspired, and inerrant Word of God.

We can laud Luther’s defense of justification by faith alone and still find his sinful attitude toward Jewish people noxious and unbiblical. We can rely on Thomas’s Christology but reject his views on the inferiority of women. We can value Jonathan Edwards’s contributions and still find fault with his views on slavery.

The point of retrieval is not for history to supplant the Bible’s authority in our faith and practice. Instead, a careful study of the Christian past reveals many successes but also many failures as Christians (like us) have sought to order their lives according to the truth of God’s Word.