The Biblical Research Institute (BRI) is a service organization of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, providing theological resources to the world church and promoting the study and practice of Adventist theology and lifestyle. Recently Ministry magazine editors Nikolaus Satelmajer (NS) and Willie E. Hucks II (WH) spoke with BRI director Ángel M. Rodríguez (AR), Th.D.; Kwabena Donkor (KD), Ph.D.; Ekkehardt Mueller (EM), Th.D.; and Gerhard Pfandl (GP), Ph.D.; associate directors. This article presents some excerpts from that conversation.
NS: What is the Biblical Research Institute all about?
GP: The Biblical Research Institute was established as a service department by action of the General Conference Committee in 1975. The historical roots of the institute go back to the Defense Literature Committee, established in 1943, and the Committee on Biblical Study and Research, established in 1952.
AR: Among its many functions, perhaps the basic one is to act as a resource center on doctrine and theological issues for the world church. That means providing books, materials, articles, and so forth. The second one is to promote the unity and theology of the world church. The interaction with the church’s theologians is more dynamic, and we hope that as a result of listening to each other, we will be able to strengthen the theological and doctrinal unity of the church.
KD: There is also a critical aspect to what we do. That’s when you have to look at an issue and say, “How does this square up with what we believe?” Then we have a constructive aspect. We don’t stay with just what we have; we explore to see what else is there. That’s when we discover a new dimension of doing theology. Then there is an apologetic task—to clarify what we as a church believe so that others will understand us better.
NS: I am impressed that the BRI Committee depends on the work of many individuals around the world. How is your work done?
AR: We have four theologians—resident theologians here at the General Conference— that head up the Biblical Research Institute. We don’t claim to know everything. So, we have a larger group of theologians and a few church administrators who make up the 40-member Biblical Research Institute Committee (BRICOM) that meets twice a year. The committee comes together and looks at issues, and BRI gets guidance from them. They go through articles, materials, and manuscripts and critique them before we publish any of them. We listen very carefully to their advice because we want to represent the thinking of the world church.
EM: We also use persons who are not part of the committee. Thus we have access to other scholars. In our recent Bible conference in Turkey, we involved many scholars, teachers, and church leaders who are not part of BRICOM. To work with this teamwork of scholars was very rewarding. We are also involved with GRI (Geoscience Research Institute). Then there are matters involving faith and life, direction and mission of the church, and when such issues involve theology, BRI is called upon to participate and give its counsel. For example, in the recent “Growing in Christ” addition to the church’s fundamental beliefs, BRI was quite involved. So it is in the preparation of Sabbath School lessons.
AR: One important point. It is necessary for our readers to understand that the BRI does not produce any doctrine. It works with the positions that the world church adopts during the General Conference Session.1 Our responsibility is to take that which the church considers to be truth and work with it, trying to deepen its understanding.
NS: So who defines doctrine?
AR: The church, the world church, as it understands the Scripture.
EM: The entire church does theology.
NS: And maybe, more fundamentally, the Scripture defines doctrine and the church as a whole interprets. Is that not what we as Adventists have said historically?
AR: It seems to me that historically we have worked with the scriptural position that the Spirit works through the church, and He creates a consensus of belief. It may take months or years, but He creates a consensus among believers, and this consensus becomes the Adventist way of life and thought. A General Conference session simply acknowledges what the Spirit has done among us. And then officially the church embraces that kind of consensus created by the Spirit.
WH: What are some of the theological issues that Christianity faces today?
AR: Perhaps the first one is the role of the Bible in theology and doctrine. This is a serious matter. In many circles, the Scriptures have been set aside.
KD: Perhaps underlining this idea of putting aside Scripture is the whole question of the role of the supernatural. Once you begin to question the supernatural, the first doctrine that gets attacked is the doctrine of God. Your understanding of God affects everything else you say about anything. Thus we see the rise, even among some Evangelicals, of open theism.
NS: Open theism?
KD: Open theism says that God has a relationship with reality that is not fixed but open-ended. For example, has God foreordained how history would end? The open theists would say that He hasn’t. Open theism is an attempt to minimize the involvement of God and the supernatural in history.
GP: In other words, open theism suggests that God does not stand sovereign over history, but He’s part of history. He does not know the future in details, but only in outline.
EM: Let’s come back to the Scripture. There seems to be greater emphasis on the reader than the original author. The reader approaches the Scripture with criticism, and as a result the historicity of events is thrown off. For example, many theologians reject a literal resurrection, and hence they don’t accept the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. What does that do to my faith? Well, it affects my perception of God. It affects my perception of eschatology, and then my perception of how I should live my life. Does morality matter? Thus, you see, if you reject the historical, Protestant principle of the authority of Scripture, where do we go?
AR: Back to your question about issues among Christians in general. Look at the Evangelical community in North America and its direct involvement in politics. The situation raises many issues with respect to the role of the church and the state: To what extent should the church use the secular system to promote its views? This is an important issue for us because of the prophetic scenarios and the role the Christian world will play as it seeks support from the political arm to promote its cause.
WH: What are some of the theological issues facing the Adventist Church?
GP: The interpretation of Scriptures is one. What method do we use? How do we interpret prophecy? Do we throw out historicism and replace it with futurism or preterism? Then there is the issue of Creation. We have had four conferences on the issue, and that shows how significant the problem is to us as a church. There are other problems, like the Trinity, which is under heavy attack, and the issue of salvation and how it is related to the Cross.
KD: Inspiration is a signifi cant issue. There is a tendency to emphasize the human aspect of the prophet, of the writer of the Bible, and de-emphasize the divine aspect. Again, it is the same idea of diminishing the supernatural. Some even deny the creative fiat of God, who spoke and it was.
AR: If you look at the issues that are debated the most, it’s very easy to see that they are the core of what makes us the church, and what defines our identity. If you look at the Creation, Creation is a seven-day event. Is there anything more offensive to the scientific mind of the twenty-first century than to say that Creation was completed in seven days? The seven-day Creation is perceived by many as an academic insult, an intellectual suicide, and therefore there is a strong reaction among a limited number of individuals in our midst. I want to point that out carefully. When you look at the world church in general, I think the world church with the theologians around the world, the majority is solidly with the church on this issue. But you do have this vocal minority that’s trying to influence the way we think. Then there is the interpretation of the apocalyptic prophecies. Some Adventists feel uncomfortable with the way we interpret these prophecies. They would say, “We believe in the ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, but don’t say anything about 1844 or the 2,300 days.” Yet the pre-Advent judgment, 1844, and seven-day Creation are part of the very core of who we are.
NS: You’re talking about five, six, seven doctrines—however many—that identify Seventh-day Adventists. Do you feel that’s where the battle is?
GP: That’s where the battle is. However, some theologians have problems even in respect to the second coming of Christ. They believe in the second coming, but when pressed a little, they will tell you that they don’t know how this is going to happen.
KD: It becomes an existential matter.
GP: Four other issues also need to be mentioned. The remnant issue is one that is highly debated. The Spirit of Prophecy is another. And then you have the sanctuary truth, which is specifically Adventist. Even the Sabbath has come under attack recently. These are fundamental truths that mark us as a church, and they are under attack today, not from outside but from within. To preserve these theological positions is to preserve our identity and unity.
AR: I want to emphasize to the readers that the world church is standing firmly on who we are, what our message is, and what our mission is. The number of theologians who are trying to push the church away from the identity acquired from the Bible is rather small, but vocal.
EM: There’s another issue that I want to mention, which is not so much theological but nevertheless an important concern that affects the church. At the church membership level, there is a declining interest in Scripture—to study it daily, to define one’s belief and lifestyle by what it says, to build one’s future on its promises. Members make a theological decision when they accept or neglect the Scripture. For example, if I opt for a particular lifestyle, do I seek what the Scripture says about it and let the “Thus saith the Lord” govern my decision? Neglect of Scripture at the practical and personal level may be a danger for the entire church.
AR: This is an area in which the theological and the practical side of the Christian life interact. The decline in the study of Scripture really has an impact on the life of the church. It’s a matter of time. This is something that we at BRI are very concerned about. I know that church leaders are also concerned, and so is Ministry magazine. And this brings us to the role of pastors. After all, pastors are the ones interacting with church members on a regular basis.
KD: Along with this declining interest in Scripture, we also notice a disinterest in theological issues at the local church level. This is what I might call a new mysticism in Christianity in which what matters is not doctrine, but an immediate feeling—a “feel-good” satisfaction—that also affects one’s concept of preaching and worship.
NS: Are you differentiating between having joy in the Lord and just some emotional experience?
KD: I’m not saying we shouldn’t enjoy our worship experience, but when worship has no theological basis or content, you are in trouble, and you think of worship in terms of its cash value.
NS: Cash value of worship?
GP: The focus is on the people, not on God. It’s what they can get out of the worship service.
EM: Some are just not interested in theology and doctrine.
WH: When I was teaching pastoral ministry, I used to tell my students there are three types of pastors in terms of preaching. The preacher who does theology well, but can’t preach; the preacher who can preach well, but doesn’t really do theology; and the one who can blend theology and preaching. How does a preacher blend theology with practics?
AR: As a preacher, a minister cannot function properly without interacting with theology. The fundamental source of preaching is Scripture. As a preacher prepares the sermon, he or she must spend time with the Scripture, drawing from it a message from God. The moment you begin to reflect on Scripture—what it says about God, this interaction with me, and you—you are doing theology. In my early ministry, I relied quite a bit on the writings of professional theologians, and then compared that with the Scriptures, trying to find my way through a mass of information. This is what most pastors do. They turn to the Scripture, reflect on it, use the resources, and then they go to the pulpit and try to make the Scripture meaningful to the congregation. It seems to me that this is something that everybody in the church should do. So when we limit theology to the academic area, to the one who was trained to do theology, we are doing damage to the community of believers. As we said earlier, theology is the result of the work of the Spirit in the community of believers, and that includes theologians, pastors, and church members. And pastors are in the middle—between the academic and the community—struggling to mediate theology in understandable and practical terms.
GP: I completed my theological studies at Avondale in Australia. At that time there were a lot of things going on, and the field was theologically very active. During the first seven years of my pastoral ministry, I spent the mornings in my library, and the afternoons and evenings in visiting. If you don’t spend time with the Lord, with Scripture, and with your books, you won’t have anything to preach. Later as a teacher, I always told my students to first feed themselves. If you don’t spend time in study and prayer, you will not have anything to give to others.
KD: Sometimes there’s a tendency to think that spirituality is different from truth or theology. Such an attitude leads to the position that one could be a very good preacher and preach spiritual sermons, without bothering about doctrine. That attitude needs to be changed to realize that truth and spirituality go hand in hand.And once I have made that mind change, I can see that truth ministers spirituality, and that my preaching must rightly divide the Word (2 Tim. 2:15).
EM: I pastored for about 16 years. I tried to be at home in the morning. I devoted time to study, pray, and also do some administrative duties. I tried in my ministry to focus more on biblical sermons than on topical sermons. I’ve noticed many pitfalls with topical sermons. Early in my ministry, I noticed that often I came to a text with a preconceived idea. To deal with this problem, I always took pains to translate the text. I never preached on a text without having translated the text and done the work for myself. That was a rule I made right from the beginning. But if you can’t translate the text, you can still study the text carefully in its context. Follow the principles of exegesis, and apply the text to the situation. Your sermon will carry a definite, biblical authority.
AR: I realize ministers are very busy. Nevertheless, they need to keep themselves well-informed about theology because everything they do is somehow connected with it. Ministry is a theological task. Ministers have to define what the church is and what it is in respect to the universal church. Church members come to church to learn from the Scripture, to hear the Word proclaimed. This places an ethical burden on the minister, and the minister must make sure that those who come to get a scriptural understanding get it and that they get it correctly.
EM: Often a church member would say, “I cannot go to my pastor with theological questions; he won’t answer it.” This is sad. Even if a pastor is unable to answer right away, he or she should go home, research the issue, and give a knowledgeable answer. Such a step would strengthen the member’s appreciation for Scripture. I want to touch on another endemic issue—a seeming dichotomy between systematic theology and applied theology. Such a dichotomy is unnecessary, and pastors and theologians need to reject that artificial divide. Both systematic and applied theology are needed in Christian faith and proclamation.
NS: A significant number of pastors in various parts of the world have no theological training at all. That’s very scary.
EM: What’s scary to me is that these people may become church leaders, and they know nothing about theology.
NS: Church historians say that churches go through cycles. A church starts out with a certain mission, and as it grows the mission gets watered down and organization takes over. Organization evolves to institutions. And then the church fossilizes. The original mission tends to fade away. How do you see the Adventist Church in that concept of history?
AR: I haven’t done any scientific study of this phenomenon. If the church stops growing, it will be impossible to stop the process of initial enthusiasm fading away. As long as the church is fulfilling its mission, and is going out and bringing first generation Adventists, you will keep the church alive and this spirit of expectation will remain. In places where you see strong institutionalization, church growth seems to slow down or reach a plateau. But where the church is actively involved in preaching the gospel, with the second and third generation of Adventists deeply involved in the mission—that keeps the hope alive and keeps the church from beginning to fossilize. It seems to me that’s why the Lord put together a message and a mission. You cannot keep them apart. You cannot say, “we have the message, we are Adventists,” and do nothing else. You keep the message alive by sharing it, involving others. That, in my opinion, is probably one of the two elements in preserving the church, and the first love of the church until the end.
KD: I believe the more we become the people of the Bible, the more we will keep the initial excitement.
NS: You are all experienced, ordained ministers as well as trained scholars. I have a personal question for each of you. What gives you hope personally? What nourishes your spiritual life?
GP: When I worked in Australia, what gave me hope was going out to the islands and seeing the kind of primitive Christianity where people were not spoiled by the so called “good life.” And even today, when I go around the world, I see how people struggle, how they live out their faith. That gives me hope that Adventism is still alive.
KD: I will just go back to what Ellen White said. “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.”2 Being a pastor in Canada I didn’t really have that much time to look at these theological issues, but since I’ve been here at BRI, I’ve looked at some of these materials, and I am amazed how the Lord has guided the church through these theological landmines. I believe that if He has done it in the past, He will do it again.
EM: I believe that God is the Lord of the church, and I believe that He will see to it that she reaches her final destination. I am also confident that He will always have people that are completely consecrated to Him and willing to serve Him in whatever capacity is needed. I can see the enthusiasm of our young people who are moved by the Holy Spirit, loving God and ministering to others. What nourishes my spiritual life is my devotional time and my daily walk with Jesus. These are important to me, because it is in Him whom I trust and in whom I hope.
AR: On a personal level, my hope is centered in Christ, what He did for me on the cross, His substitutionary death for me—and then connected to that, the consummation of that hope in the second coming. For me, the second coming is what orients me, constantly orients me. With respect to my church, I see the best years ahead of us. I don’t see us heading toward a collapse. I see us heading toward the most glorious consummation, the most glorious experience of the church.
NS: You’re not concerned about a theological black hole ahead of us?
AR: No. I believe this movement is in the hands of the Lord. To remove anything from the hands of the Lord is not an easy task. I see the church going from victory to victory. I see in the church a new generation of theologians coming out, fully committed to the church, to its message, and to the mission of the church. I’m beginning to see in the church a revival of love for evangelism. In all the divisions, there is a tremendous concern for evangelism. I see leaders taking seriously their responsibility as leaders. What gives me hope is that I see the hand of the Lord leading the movement.
NS: What you, as ministers charged with guarding the theology of the church, are saying is that hope is nourished by Scripture and mission.
1 Regular General Conference sessions are held every five years. The next one will be in 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
2 Ellen G. White, Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, (Boise, ID: Pacific Press® Publishing Association, 1915), 196.
