11 – Distinctive doctrine
As soon as you say, “I’m a Christadelphian” you can expect to be asked what we believe or what makes us different. That can give an excellent opportunity to offer a summary of our distinctive beliefs, but where do you start? As ever, it all depends – on who you’re talking to, what the conversation has been about, and what degree of interest there really was, when the enquiry was made.
“Tell me more …”
If the enquirer wants to know more about our beliefs, which books might you reach for in your library to further that interest and present a rational and structured explanation of what the Bible teaches? In the first place, you might want a booklet or two to whet the appetite and the standard pamphlet series produced by the office of The Christadelphian covers a wide range of subjects from Who are the Christadelphians? right through to Sunday and the Sabbath. Such pamphlets can also be useful if you are preparing a Bible talk on a first principle subject, for the format has to be short and snappy and the writers have to condense their understanding of the subject into far fewer words than in a full-length book.
Assuming the enquirer returns with a determined look, intent upon finding out more, what then? If they have a lot of Bible knowledge already and can cope with careful and detailed analysis, some of our stalwart publications like Christendom Astray or Elpis Israel might be useful. However, now that people have little Bible knowledge, they may need a gentler introduction, useful though those two pioneer writings most certainly are.
To answer such an enquiry about our beliefs and practices, Brother Harry Tennant wrote a book in 1986 called The Christadelphians: What they Believe and Preach. Its 294 pages start with creation and finish with the importance of fellowship and the ecclesia, and signs of the imminent coming of Christ. It was revised in 2004 and re-titled What the Bible Teaches, to put the focus on the Bible as the origin of all that we believe, and both versions are still in print. That work is effectively an updated Christendom Astray, dealing with the same issues in a rather gentler manner, but also giving a lot of quoted scriptural support.
It could be, of course, that the enquirer wants to know more about the Bible, rather than about us and our specific beliefs. A general overview is provided by the Study Guide, 66 Books of the Bible, mentioned in an earlier Library feature; but for a much more detailed review, Exploring the Bible by Brother David Evans starts in Genesis and goes step-by-step right through to the missionary journeys of Paul, before dealing with some specific topics and the challenges of discipleship. This exploration is structured into twenty-six parts, including questions for each lesson, so it can be used as a correspondence course or as the basis of a study class with interested friends. It ends with a fifty-point summary of Bible teaching.
Specific doctrines
If you want something that feeds your own interest in specific Bible doctrines, perhaps to answer queries about problem passages, or just to understand our doctrinal position more fully, there is a wide range of books to choose from. More advice is available here, including where you can get this material either in hard copy or electronic format.