a debt to the Victorians, and the importance of church councils
Victorian Anglicanism wouldn’t be the first place I’d look for orthodox theology and rigorous churchmanship, but the fact remains that much of what we have translated for us today from multiple eras of church history, we owe to Oxbridge educated Victorian Anglican clergy. Think of the whole raft of clerics or classics geeks (but I repeat myself) who contributed either to Philip Schaff’s many volume set of early church works or the Parker Society’s translation and publication of early Reformation works. Maybe there is something to this whole Latin fad.
We have Bullinger’s Decades as a result of the Parker Society. A pdf available free online attributes the preface to the Decades to the Parker Society editor of the work, Thomas Harding, but that must be a mistake. I’m reading the Reformation Heritage reprint, but I can’t find where they name the author of the preface. The evidence of the preface itself is that it comes from relatively early in the English Reformation. The point is, we have this work because of the efforts of those who were both interested in church history and highly skilled in linguistics, and that long after the work fell out of ordinary use. I don’t know how popular Bullinger’s Decades were in mid-late 19th century Anglican circles, but – because of the Parker Society’s work – they’re certainly experiencing a renaissance today. Perhaps there’s a lesson there, something along the lines of Jesus’ teaching about a seed falling into the ground and dying, only later to bear fruit. How many of us are tempted to despair when we don’t see what we think is the appropriate fruit of our labours? Even the existence of this book reminds us we persevere today in the labours God has given us, and we leave the results in his hands.
Whoever wrote the preface, it abounds with pastoral insight. ‘All spiritual shepherds should see carefully to the feeding of the flocks committed to their charge.’ Reads like the beginning of Gregory’s Book of Pastoral Rule. This is a theme we need reminded of again and again. That the spiritual sheep under our charge are ‘not beasts, but men; the very images of God himself endued with everliving souls’, shows the gravity of the responsibility of shepherds of the souls of Christ’s sheep.
The preface seeks to defend the use of these sermons in the church. Brushing aside a version of ‘no creed but the Bible’ biblicism, it argues that what is necessary for the sheep is that they receive scripturally soaked and soul-nourishing food from their shepherds. Of course sheep need food from their shepherd that he has prepared specially for them, but what shepherd would be so proud as to think that he alone may speak to his flock? There is an encouragement here. Many Christians listen regularly to podcasts or sermons from outside their own churches. That’s not so different to the Reformation practice of publishing and distributing sermons of notable preachers. As long as sermons or podcasts are biblically grounded (and we have to recognise that many in the ‘Christian’ world are not), and as long as these online resources aren’t stealing the hearts of the sheep away from their own local shepherds, praise God for the accessibility of good teaching today. May that practice long continue.
But to Bullinger himself!
The Decades begins with a recap of church councils. Not the place most of us would begin a summary of the Christian religion. Apparently Bullinger’s introductions/prefaces are omitted from the RHB reprint (rather disappointing), or if they’re in this set I haven’t found them yet. But a note at the beginning of his exposition of the first four councils explains that Bullinger’s purpose in looking at these councils is to prove that the Reformation church was simply trying to recover that theology and practice of the New Testament and the early church. Nothing new or radical here. Just what Christians have always believe. With our penchant for novelty and theological exploration today, the Reformers ache for their people to love simply biblical Christianity is a striking contrast, and one that’s personally comforting. Don’t you long for stability in the church? Not stuffiness or that funky smell you get in so many churches built in the mid 20th century. But reliability. The quality of not being blown about and tossed around by every political or sociological crisis of the day. Don’t pastors get so tired of being expected to talk about the latest news items? Let’s talk about what the church has always thought was important. That should keep us busy enough.
And yet, even this examination of the early church reminds us the there are theological wars we simply have to fight. We don’t get to choose the high ground from which to fight these battles or the time at which we’d like to engage; often times the enemy comes to us from unexpected quarters. We still have to hold our ground and defend the truth. Not out of a love of warfare, but from a love for the truth. Because truth matters. Christian truth matters. A denial of Christ’s deity is a matter of spiritual life or death. Our very salvation hinges on a right understanding of Christ’s nature as both God and man. Doctrine matters; it’s worth fighting over. There’s so much conflict in Christian circles that’s just silly, unnecessary. But there are issues we have to be prepared to bare our blades over. Who Christ is. What justification is. What repentance is. What sanctification is, and that it is necessary. What man is, and how that relates to how we think about man and woman, gender and sexuality, marriage. There are certainly eras of the church in which we can see unnecessary conflict, senseless division, futility ravaging the church. But there are others, like those of the early church and the Reformation and the early 20th century, that remind us that right doctrine is essential for the salvation of our souls.
A few brief lessons from the preface and first chapter of the Decades:
- Bullinger has both a high view of scripture and a high view of the church, as in the church historical. Scripture has ultimate authority as the word of God, but we should care how the church has understood this. Early church theology isn’t ultimate, but it’s a good tool by which to check our understanding today. This is true of any era of church history. Novelty should absolutely terrify us.
- Churchmanship and theology are work. I cannot imagine how tiresome crafting some of these creeds must have been. Bullinger only examines the first councils, and the amount of time just these ecclesiastical meetings must have taken, the amount of theological wrangling, the amount of dealing with personalities at the table; it sounds absolutely exhausting. But it’s necessary work. Loving the church and loving theology are essential for the protection and feeding of those for whom Christ gave his life.
- Church history matters. It can give us a breath of fresh air when we’re exhausted by the futility of our own battles today. It can give us insight into how to fight the battles we face in our own time. It can correct excesses or defects in our theology. It can encourage our practice as pastors. Or it can just feed our souls. But it matters. Praise God for those before us who have preserved these works for our edification.
Next time, Bullinger and the word of God.
