Redemptive-Historical Preaching
Encyclopedia
History
Redemptive-historical preaching is a method of preaching that was forged in the fires of debate in the Reformed churchesReformed churches
The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...
of the Netherlands in the early 1940s. The debate concerned itself with the question: “How are we to preach the historical narratives of the Bible?”
On one side of the question were the proponents of “exemplaristic” preaching. This method of preaching taught that the biblical narratives in general, and the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
stories in particular, were to be preached as examples of how Christians today should (or should not) live their lives. Old Testament believers were held up as examples (or anti-examples, as the case may be, see for example Anti-Judaism
Anti-Judaism
Religious antisemitism is a form of antisemitism, which is the prejudice against, or hostility toward, the Jewish people based on hostility to Judaism and to Jews as a religious group...
) of how we should conduct ourselves.
On the other side of the debate were the advocates of preaching that was “redemptive-historical” (the term used to translate the Dutch heilshistorisch). They argued that Old Testament narratives are not given to us by God primarily to be moral examples, but as revelations of the coming Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
. The narratives of the Old Testament served as types
Typology (theology)
Typology in Christian theology and Biblical exegesis is a doctrine or theory concerning the relationship between the Old and New Testaments...
and shadows pointing forward in history to the time when Israel’s Messiah would be revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. In support of this view, the advocates of redemptive-historical preaching drew heavily upon the text of , where Jesus is teaching the disciples on the road to Emmaus: “And beginning with Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
and all the Prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
s, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (English Standard Version). Further support was taken from verse 44 of the same chapter, where Jesus says, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses
Law of Moses
The Law of Moses is a term first found in Joshua 8:31-32 where Joshua writes the words of "the Law of Moses" on the altar at Mount Ebal. The text continues "And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law."...
and the Prophets and the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
must be fulfilled.”
Explanation
In this way, then, the Bible is seen, not as a collection of abstract moral principles, but rather as an anthology of the events of God’s great works in history. The Bible is dynamic, for it is the unfolding story of the coming Christ, progressively revealing more and more about him throughout salvation history. This, then, is to be the way in which the narratives are to be preached: with a view towards showing how the text points towards Christ.This approach to preaching has its roots in a movement which preceded the 1940s. The Biblical-Theological movement originated in Germany under the liberal teaching and writing of Johann Philip Gable (1753–1826), who emphasized the historical nature of the Bible over against an overly dogmatic reading of it.
Nearly a century later, Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...
inaugurated its first professor of Biblical Theology, Gerhard Vos (1862–1949). Von was instrumental in taking the discipline of biblical theology in a more conservative direction, using it to vindicate the Reformed faith and historic Christianity over against theological liberalism
Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
.
Today, at least in North America, the redemptive-Jesus reins of preaching has been carried forward through the work of Northwest Theological Seminary
Northwest Theological Seminary
Northwest Theological Seminary is a theological seminary in the Reformed Christian tradition located in Lynnwood, Washington.-Founding:Northwest Theological Seminary was founded in 2000 in Lynnwood, Washington. There had long been a desire to bring a Reformed theological seminary to the Pacific...
, Westminster Theological Seminary
Westminster Theological Seminary
Westminster Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian and Reformed Christian graduate educational institution located in Glenside, Pennsylvania, with a satellite location in London.-History:...
, Westminster Seminary California
Westminster Seminary California
Westminster Seminary California is a Reformed Christian graduate educational institution located 25 miles north of San Diego, California in Escondido. It was initially a branch campus of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia until 1982 when it became fully independent...
and Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary.
Counterpoint
Opponents of redemptive historical preaching often fault this type of preaching as being weak when it comes to practical application of the Bible. They believe moral examples given in Scripture are undermined or diminished, and that redemptive-historical preaching can fail to challenge the listener to conduct consistent with Scriptural direction given in places such as Matthew 5-7Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
, and Romans and other Pauline Epistles
Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents...
.
Advocates of redemptive-historical preaching do believe application is necessary. However, the main controversy surrounding this preaching method is the question whether or not using the characters of the Bible as moral exemplars for the believers today diminishes Christ as the center of the text.