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11a - Even more distinctive
SHOULD you want to study our distinctive doctrines in more detail, here are some further recommendations.
General
You can do no better than starting with the Birmingham Amendment Statement of Faith (the so-called BASF) to see how our early brethren defined their understanding of “the faith which was once delivered to the saints”. In 30 short statements it seeks to describe what sets us apart from others and the subsequent 35 “Doctrines to be Rejected” remind the reader that there has been some contention over the years amongst ourselves about certain doctrines, and that widespread error still prevails in the established churches. The Commandments of Christ are also published in the same booklet, to remind us that faith and works have to complement one another.
If you want a bit more explanation about this statement, in 1991 the CMPA published Studies in the Statement of Faith which, in 145 pages, gives some useful background and explanation. Should you want to delve more deeply into the reason why some of the wording took the form it did, the biography of Robert Roberts by Brother Islip Collyer, his autobiography My Days and My Ways, or his biography of Brother Thomas, Dr. Thomas: His Life and Works, could be useful background reading. And a perusal of early back numbers of The Christadelphian magazine would fill in any gaps. That is now available in Libronix format (The Christadelphian Magazine 1864-2000) and even earlier material is soon to become available on CD-ROM. But if you prefer bound volumes, far more second-hand ones have become available since the electronic version was published (as some readers have taken the opportunity to recover some shelf-space!), and CSSS have been regularly reprinting them; so far they have released volumes between 1864 and 1887.
Mention was made earlier of Elpis Israel and Christendom Astray, both of which have been reprinted in recent years to make them a bit more readable. Some of the earlier editions were in rather small print, especially Christendom Astray, and the latest versions are much more accessible. There are plenty of secondhand copies available, should you decide to start an Elpis Israel class, and very occasionally the original version of Christendom Astray can be found, entitled Twelve Lectures on the Teaching of the Bible (first published in 1862). If you want to access these pioneer works electronically, they are both on the Christadelphian Works CD-ROM (Vol. 2), in Libronix format, or, in pdf format, you can find them on The Christadelphian Bookshelf 2004, together with a lot of other doctrinal material.
Brother John Carter wrote his own summary of Christadelphian beliefs in 1963. Called God’s Way it is sub-titled “A Restatement of the Full Christian Gospel” and is typical of his careful and rational approach. It also demonstrates how widely read he was, as it contains many extracts from contemporary writers who set out their own doctrinal position. This provides an excellent model for today’s speakers who might profitably read up a little about twenty-first century doctrinal views. The study of a standard evangelical book like T. C. Hammond’s In Understanding Be Men, John Stott’s Basic Christianity or Tom Wright’s Simply Christian can be helpful in showing how little scriptural evidence there is to support erroneous doctrine. And that sort of examination will also concentrate the mind when identifying scriptures which might need to be correctly explained when dealing with particular doctrines.
Of course, it will be come as no surprise to readers of this site, when I say that you can go more deeply into doctrinal matters if you wish. The last three books mentioned are lightweight summaries of standard evangelical views, but systematic theologies abound, in which people have attempted to explain their views in great depth. One of the more popular ones is Wayne Gruden’s Systematic Theology, published by IVP and Zondervan, which is also available in electronic format. We have no such in-depth consideration in one volume (the nearest is Elpis Israel, and that is not structured in the same way). But Alva G. Huffer has written a book simply called Systematic Theology, published by the Restitution Herald, and whilst his views are not entirely in accord with ours, it contains some really useful material. Much of this is accessible online, in correspondence course format.
Over the years several other attempts have been made to explain our beliefs in a simple and straightforward way. A Declaration of the Truth Revealed in the Bible contains a straightforward presentation of 28 propositions, with the scriptural passages which support them set out in full. The Christadelphian Instructor, first written by Brother Robert Roberts in 1886, has a useful set of questions and answers which can serve as a checklist for someone who is learning about the things we believe. Sometimes controversy or uncertainty has produced some useful clarification. If you’re never read it, the Unity Agreement which helped resolve problems in Australia is well worth reading, including the Bible Talks given by Brother John Carter about the person and work of the Lord Jesus, which are included in the booklet.
Brother Harry Tennant wrote Back to the Bible in 1962 when, in just 82 pages, he set out his understanding of simple Bible truth, much as Brother Alfred Norris had done in 1948, when he published Understanding the Bible, a 159 page book which has just been reprinted by The Christadelphian Tidings. The Gospel Proclamation Society had earlier published What the Church Should Teach, edited by Brother Ernest Kendal, and that has stood the test of time surprisingly well.
There were early attempts to present an overview of the Bible, at a time when Bible knowledge was reasonably good. Brother Robert Roberts wrote two such books, The Ways of Providence and The Visible Hand of God, in which he shows how God was at work in Bible times, providentially or evidently, to accomplish His gracious purpose. Brother W. H. Boulton wrote God-Spell in which he retold the story of the Bible in simple terms and the Christadelphian Mutual Improvement Societies Union published in 1946 an Outline of the Bible, again edited by Brother Ernest Kendal.
Recently the CBM has tried a different approach, using the Letter to the Romans as the basis of a ‘teach-yourself’ book which, starting with the apostle’s statement of faith in Romans, shows how to read and understand the whole of the Bible. Structured as a set of lessons, including both questions and answers, this book works systematically through all our key doctrines and includes a summary of our understanding. Published in 2006, it is called Understand the Bible for yourself.
Pamphlets
Reference was made earlier to the availability of pamphlets on most of our key doctrines and, whilst a full set is available from the CMPA, other preaching organisations have different material. In Britain the CALS produces a range of such booklets, as does the CBM. Whilst the latter are predominantly written for overseas use, and therefore use English which is as simple as possible, now that there is such mobility of movement around the world, the availability of such material should not be overlooked. Nor, of course, should the use of preaching magazines like Glad Tidings which are specifically written to introduce readers to the Bible in an attractive and readable way. An introductory subscription would have the benefit of keeping any early interest alive for a period of six-months.
Go here and here for more information.
Problem passages
When presented with difficult passages of scripture, which are being misconstrued by others, help is at hand. Wrested Scriptures, written by Brother Ron Abel is available online (follow the links), and the printed version is now being revised and enlarged and should be available next year, God willing. That handbook deals with a lot of wrong doctrinal views held by other religious groups, and is an extremely useful compendium of information. Brother Harry Whittaker has written A Look at Those ‘Difficult’ Passages, a short work which contains some useful exegesis and some explanations which may not appeal to everyone. Our standard commentaries on particular books (more details later) also deal with such passages (like John chapter 1) as the exposition proceeds, as do the books which deal in detail with specific doctrines.
Specific doctrines
As the need arises, books are written to explain our views about certain doctrines and to refute false ones. These have not always been written by members of the Central fellowship, and certain Dawn publications are now much used and appreciated. An exhaustive list of what is available would make this Appendix too long, but here is a summary and a brief review:
The Trinity
Brother Percy White wrote a nice general study of the topic The Trinity: Analytically Examined and Refuted which is still in print, and can be found online. Brother John Allfree has published a helpful booklet Trinitarian Texts Examined, which does just what it says, and if you like reading debates, the transcript of one he held with an evangelical is also available.
Two more substantial works merit consideration. In 1995 Brethren Broughton and Southgate wrote The Trinity: true or false?, which contains over 400 pages of careful reasoning; and A. H. Buzzard and C. F. Hunting have produced The Doctrine of the Trinity – Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound. This is not a Christadelphian publication but we would agree with their views almost entirely. I have heard this declared “The most useful book to refute the Trinity that has ever been written!” One interesting feature is that it includes a wide range of views from within the academic and religious world in which doubt is expressed about the doctrine. (It is often the case that many religious people outside our community hold views on particular doctrines that accord with what we believe; Alva Huffer’s book makes that very clear.)
If you want to delve into the history of how the doctrine of the Trinity was formulated, R. E. Rubenstein has written about it in an interesting manner in When Jesus Became God, a nice tongue-in-cheek title. That was written in 1999 and published by Harcourt, Inc.
The Holy Spirit
An upsurge of Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal views in the 1970s led to a spate of publications about that time, as we tried to define our position in relation to the continuing work of God in our midst. The earliest attempt by Brother Alfred Nicholls, in 1976, was The Spirit of God and he followed that up with The Evangelical Revival, published in 1983. Six years later, Brother Fred Pearce wrote God’s Spirit in Work and Word in which he carefully examines every usage of the word “spirit” in both Testaments. Some people think that a very under-used book and it certainly contains some very helpful analysis.
Meanwhile the Testimony Committee contributed Spirit in the New Testament by Brethren Edward Whittaker and Reg Carr; Logos published The Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit Gifts by Brother Graham Pearce; and Brighton Ecclesia in South Australia contributed The Spirit by Brother Aleck Crawford. So, there is plenty to choose from and all those publications have something useful to contribute to an understanding of the subject.
The Devil
Brother Peter Watkins wrote The Devil: The Great Deceiver in 1971 – a very helpful straightforward exposition of a difficult subject. In particular he shows how and why ‘devil’ and ‘demon’ terminology entered Jewish vocabulary. A study written by a “Mr Epps” titled The Devil has been reprinted by the Detroit Ecclesial Library, as his views are in agreement with ours. That was first published in Glasgow in 1899 and is in very small print, but it contains interesting argumentation and it is always encouraging to find people who agree with our understanding of the scriptures, at least on this issue.
Several booklets have been written about the separate subject of Demons. One Demons in the Bible by Brother Tony Fitzgerald was published in 1996, and can also be tracked down online whilst John Allfree wrote Demon Possession. More recently, Brother Andrew Perry has published a 317 page book, Demons, Magic and Medicine.
Life after death
Here is just one more topic to illustrate the way in which specific doctrines can be examined in more and more detail. Brother Robert Roberts wrote Man Mortal as an answer to a book by F. W. Grant; and Brother C. C. Walker took a different approach to the same subject in his Old Testament Doctrine of Eternal Life. Brother Percy White (who wrote the Trinity book) also wrote The Immortality of the Soul, which has now been reprinted by CSSS.
The belief in conditional immortality (which is the view we hold) is a subject which has obtained widespread support outside our community. J. Agar Beet was a Methodist, but his book The Immortality of the Soul accords entirely with our views and he is by no means alone in that respect. Henry Constable wrote Hades – or the Intermediate State of Man and The Duration and Nature of Future Punishment; F. W. Farrar wrote Eternal Hope to explain similar views; G. Waller produced The Biblical View of the Soul and an accompanying Concordance of the Soul, the Intermediate State and the Resurrection; and in 1958 Oscar Cullmann published Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? in which he opted for the latter as the Biblical hope. And no review of these titles would be complete without a mention of the 1945 review of doctrine by the Anglican Church Towards the Conversion of England, in which it was declared that:
“Revelation and reason alike point to this inevitable consummation. The idea of the inherent indestructibility of the human soul (or consciousness) owes its origin to Greek, not to Bible sources.”
Doesn’t that just gladden your heart? If you have recommendations about a particular book which has helped with a specific doctrine, please let us know.
