The Bible is not a dogmatic handbook but a historical book full of dramatic interest. Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments
When I got Michael Horton’s book The Christian Faith A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way, I was glancing through it, all 1000+ pages. I had no intention of starting to read it but as I looked at the introduction it pulled me in. I searched for a pencil to underline and make notes. I was hooked.
Horton’s introduction is titled The Dogma is the Drama: A Theology for Pilgrims and taken from a Dorothy Sayers’ quotation from her book Creed or Chaos where she was explaining that the Christian story is interesting, “and the dogma is the drama”. Horton then looks at four aspects of theology: drama, doctrine, doxology and discipleship.
Drama: The Greatest Story Ever Told
What it is about stories that draw us in? So often when I want to get across a point to students, whether they are second graders, or eleventh grades I tell a story. There is power in stories.
I am not sure where I first came across the idea of the story and Christianity. I may have gotten it when I read Frederick Buechner’s Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale.
It is possible to think of that truth as tragedy, as comedy, and as fairy tale. The Gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgive, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy, And yet, so what? So what if even in his sin the slob is loved and forgiven when the very mark and substance of his sin and of his snobbery is that he keeps turning down the love and forgiveness because he either doesn’t believe them or doesn’t want them or just doesn’t give a damn? In answer, the news of the Gospel is that extraordinary things happen to him just as in fairy tales extraordinary things happen…It is impossible for anybody to leave behind the darkness of the world he carries on his back like a snail but for God all things are possible. That is the fairy tale. All together they are the truth. (p. 7,8)
That thought was expanded somewhat when I read John Eldredge’s Epic: The Story God is Telling which had some good aspects but I felt he didn’t make the Gospel as central to the story.
In The Christian Faith, Horton wrote that, “The drama determines the big questions as well as the answers. The doctrines are convictions that arise in light of that drama.”(p. 15) We as Christians “answer these big questions by rehearsing the story of the triune God in creation, the fall of the creatures he made in his own image, the promise of a redeemer though Israel and the fulfillment of all types and shadows in the Incarnation, life death, resurrection ascension and return of Jesus Christ.” (p. 14) This is the Reformed view of looking at the Scriptures and life through the creation, the fall, redemption and consummation.
Horton said that “the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds are not just a list of key doctrines; they are a confession in the form of a story, our shared testimony to the most significant facts of reality.” (p. 14) So at my church when we quote the Apostles’ Creed each Sunday in response to the question, “Christian, what do you believe?” we are answering by telling the story. I have never thought about it this way. Some Christians do not like to say the Creeds regularly, as they think it becomes a routine and then doesn’t mean as much. But, we tell stories that we love over and over again. Children, often say, tell it again. Think about that next time you say one of the creeds. You are telling a story.
Then Horton discussed the concept of beliefs, facts and narrative in modernity. “Once upon a time in the West, one could become an atheist or deist only with considerable difficulty; the widespread narrative within which everyone operated rendered unbelief implausible. Today, it is exactly the opposite. To believe in the triune God of Scripture who speaks and acts in history requires an act of apostasy from the assumed creed of our age.” (p. 15) The more I read philosophy; I see how true this is. Horton said that, “All of our worldviews are stories… The prophets and apostles were fully conscious of the fact that they were interpreting reality within the framework of a particular narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation, as told to a particular people (Israel) for the benefit of the world. The biblical faith claims that its story is the one that God is telling, which relativizes and judges the other stories about God, us, and the world…” (p. 17) He briefly addressed some of the worldviews from the ancient Greek philosophers, the Enlightenment, Descartes, and others and their metanarratives. Horton does not let modern views of metanarratives get in the way. Whether you want to call Christianity a metanarrative or not is not necessary, the narrative is still true. He stated that, “the Christian faith is a counterdrama to all of the meganarratives and metanarratives of this passing age–ancient, medieval, modern, and postmodern.” (p. 19).
Horton ended this section by reminding us that the Christian faith is an unfolding drama and we are included in the cast and are no longer spectators. (p. 19) I found this Drama section very interesting as it reinforced the concept of the story of Christianity. Horton also gave me insights into how I, as a storyteller can tell that story. What a story it is!
This is just the first section on the introduction answering ‘why theology?’ Horton definitely gives food for thought. Though this post will stop here, in the coming week we will look at the next section Doctrine: The Grammar of Faith. Make sure you have your own copy of The Christian Faith A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way so you can join in the discussion.
How does thinking of Christianity as a story strengthen your faith and your witness?
