AFRICANUS JOURNAL Vol. 13 No. 1 | April 2021 africanus journal vol. 13, no. 1 April 2021 Contents 3 Goals of the Journal 3 Life of Africanus 3 Other Front Matter 5 Inaugural Acceptance Speech Fall 1969 Harold John Ockenga 9 Serving the Global Church as a World Christian Daewon Moon 13 Not by Might or Power but by My Spirit Ursula Williams 19 Boulders, Bridges, and Destiny and the Often-Obscure Connections William C. Hill 23 God's Masterpiece Wilma Faye Mathis 29 My Spiritual Journey of Maturing (or Growing) in God's Love and Faithfulness Leslie McKinney Attema 35 Navigating between Contexts and Texts for Ministry as Theological- Missional Calling while Appreciating the Wisdom of Retrievals for Renewal and Lessons Learned from My Early Seminary Days David A. Escobar Arcay 39 Review of Why Church? A Basic Introduction Jinsook Kim 41 Review of 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy and Titus Jennifer Creamer 44 Review of The Story of Creeds and Confessions: Tracing the Development of the Christian Faith William David Spencer 48 Review of Serve the People Jeanne DeFazio 1 50 Review of Three Pieces of Glass: Why We Feel Lonely in a World Mediated by Screens Dean Borgman 54 Review of Healing the Wounds of Sexual Abuse: Reading the Bible with Survivors Jean A. Dimock 57 Review of A Defense for the Chronological Order of Luke's Gospel Hojoon J. Ahn 2 Goals of the Africanus Journal The Africanus Journal is an award-winning interdisciplinary biblical, theological, and practical journal of the Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME). Its goals are to promote: a. the mission and work of the members and mentors of the Africanus Guild Ph.D. Research Program of Gordon- Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston; b. the principles of the Africanus Guild (evangelical orthodox Christian men and women who are multicultural, multiracial, urban-oriented, studying a Bible without error in a cooperative way); c. Christian scholarship that reflects an evangelical perspective, as an affiliate of GCTS-Boston. This is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes high quality articles in areas such as biblical studies, theology, church history, religious research, case studies, and studies related to practical issues in urban ministry. Special issues are organized according to themes or topics that take seriously the contextual nature of ministry situated in the cultural, political, social, economic, and spiritual realities in the urban context. Scholarly papers may be submitted normally by those who have or are in (or are reviewed by a professor in) a Th.M., D.Min., Ed.D., Th.D., ST.D., Ph.D., or equivalent degree program. Two issues normally are published per year. https://www.gordonconwell.edu/boston/africanus-journal/ © 2021 by the Africanus Guild Life of Julius Africanus Julius Africanus was probably born in Jerusalem, many scholars think around a.d. 200. Africanus was considered by the ancients as a man of consummate learning and sharpest judgment (Ante-Nicene Fathers 6:128). He was a pupil of Heracles, distinguished for philosophy and other Greek learning, in Alexandria, Egypt around a.d. 231–233. In a.d. 220/226, he performed some duty in behalf of Nicopolis (formerly Emmaus) in Palestine. Later he likely became bishop of Emmaus (Eusebius, History, VI.xxxi.2). Origen calls him “a beloved brother in God the Father, through Jesus Christ, His holy Child” (Letter from Origen to Africanus 1). Fellow historian Eusebius distinguishes him as “no ordinary historian” (History, I. vi.2). Eusebius describes the five books of Chronologies as a “monument of labor and accuracy” and cites extensively from his harmony of the evangelists’ genealogies (History, VI. xxxi. 1–3). Africanus was a careful historian who sought to defend the truth of the Bible. He is an ancient example of meticulous, detailed scholarship which is historical, biblical, truthful, and devout. Even though Eusebius describes Africanus as the author of the Kestoi, Jerome makes no mention of this (ANF 6:124). The author of Kestoi is surnamed Sextus, probably a Libyan philosopher who arranged a library in the Pantheon at Rome for the Emperor. The Kestoi was probably written toward the end of the 200s. It was not written by a Christian since it contains magical incantations (Oxyrhynchus Papyri III.412). The Greek text of Africanus’ writings may be found in Martinus Josephus Routh, Reliquiae sacrae II (New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 1974 [1846]), 225–309, and Martin Wallraff, Umberto Roberto, Karl Pinggéra, eds., William Adler, trans., Iulius Africanus Chronographiae: The Extant Fragments, Die Griechischen Christlichen Schrifsteller 15 (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2007). The extant writings of Julius Africanus may be found in vol. 1, no 1, April 2009 edition of the Africanus Journal. Other Front Matter Editorial Team for the issue: Cassidy Jay Gossage, J. Saemi Kim, Seong Park, Nicole Rim, John Runyon, Aída Besançon Spencer, William David Spencer Resources: Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary faculty publications only and hard copies of this journal may be ordered by emailing [email protected], [email protected], or telephoning the CUME library at 617-427- 7293. Each author is solely legally responsible for the content and the accuracy of facts, citations, references, and quotations rendered and properly attributed in the article appearing under his or her name. Neither Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the Africanus Guild, nor the editorial team is responsible or legally liable for any content or any statements made by any author, but the legal responsibility is solely that author’s once an article appears in print in the Africanus Journal. Summary of Content: Seven articles celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary by its first president and six of its multicultural graduates with advice for future seminarians. The book reviews discuss church life, Bible commentaries, theology, domestic violence, and fiction. 3 the africanus guild L to R: Quonekuia Day, Mark Chuanhang Shan, Jennifer Creamer “If not for the Africanus Guild, I would not even think of getting a Ph.D. and would not have had the chance to teach my own course at Gordon-Conwell, and be trained to be a Bible teacher, and for this I am most grateful.” –Benjamin Fung Benjamin Fung’s Ph.D. was received from North-West University in South Africa 2017 Quonekuia Day and Mark Shan are Ph.D. candidates with London School of Theology. Jennifer Creamer received her Ph.D. from North-West University in 2016. The Africanus Guild is a support program set up to assist selective, underrepresented constituencies to pursue research Ph.D.s from North-West University and London School of Theology. The Guild is especially oriented to the multicul- tural, multiracial urban scene. Accepted students are mentored by a Gordon-Conwell faculty member. Candidates may complete the Th.M. at the Boston campus and then apply to the Guild. 4 1 Inaugural Acceptance Speech Fall 19691 Harold John Ockenga Mr. Chairman; Mr. President of the Board of Trustees; Dr. Billy Graham; Trustees; members of the honored platform party; members of the academic community; members of the faculties; students; staff; friends; ladies and gentlemen: I am very much moved, of course, by these words and I willingly and humbly accept the opportunities and the responsibilities which devolve upon me in the inauguration as President of Gordon College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. I have asked myself, and other people have asked too, why, when I was engaged in a rewarding and satisfying field of service in a day of student insurrection, revolt, riot and protests, when apparently college presidents are abdicating their responsibilities and fleeing their posts, that I should come to a campus with its tumultuous conflicts and tensions. I suppose I owe an answer to that, to myself and to my peers of the day. The primary answer would be, I believe, that God wants me there and that is why I am accepting this responsibility, and am entering into these opportunities. However, I might say a few things by way of response. One of these concerns my purpose in accepting such a great responsibility. It is to claim the Covenant position for the young people of the church. Does that mean that we are not concerned about the masses of young people out in the world who do not call themselves Christians? Of course not. We are tremendously concerned about them. But when we establish a Christian college and a Christian theological seminary, we are concerned with young people of the Church. We are concerned with those who are in the Covenant position as the children of God. And that means then, several things. I think it means that these young people who are under the pressures philosophically, socially, and personally, by the attacks upon the Christian position, can survive the confusion in which so many find themselves at this time. Young people are faced with a sense of futility, with nihilism, with the meaninglessness of life; they are resorting to all kinds of answers, except the answer the Church can give and which we can give through our Christian faith. I believe there must be an instruction that is given in basic Christian teaching. This is what we call Christian theism – not a mere belief in God and absolute law and the value and responsibility of man, but a theism which is revealed in God’s Word, is redemptive through Jesus Christ and which acknowledges the sovereign reign of deity. I believe that we have to move out of the mere realm of philosophy and bring theism into the area of Christian life. Now this means the creation of an atmosphere for Christian education, which is conducive to these things. I am getting awfully tired, and I hope some of you are, of the sophisticated viewpoint that to be intellectual and to be educated you have to be physically dirty, be a moral pervert and a social revolutionary. I don’t believe it is so. I believe that we can be intellectual and we can have an academic atmosphere and be in an academic community and reemphasize the virtues, the Christian virtues of purity, honesty, and industry and charity and courtesy, and the other things that traditionally we would accept in a Christian community. That does not mean that we want hothouse education. In the Song of Solomon the author invokes the north wind. He says, “Come, O north wind, blow upon my garden, that the spices may flow out thereof.” In other words, we do not create a hothouse in which we are going to inculcate certain attitudes in the lives of these young people. We want them to have true freedom of person and research. But it is a fallacy of the first order to say that to make a value judgment on drug addiction or on sex perversion, or upon alcoholic indulgence you have 1 This is the acceptance speech on Oct. 22, 1969 by Rev. Dr. Harold John Ockenga as president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Gordon College. It followed a sermon by Dr. Billy Graham. 5 to participate in them. You can make a value judgment by resistance to these things, as well as by participation in them. In my opinion then, we ought to have the communication of knowledge within what may be called the Christian framework of philosophy. There was a day, of course, when the great intellectual institutions did that. But from the days of the Harvard Report on, it has been commonly accepted that there is no integration in modern learning or modern education. This is a time when we need once again to call at least some of our educational institutions back to this theistic position in which we affirm that God is there, that God’s law is based upon His existence, that God is, that this is woven into the warp and woof of the universe, including the nature of man, that man has been made in the image of God and although that image is perverted today, he is still responsible according to the law of God, that man is capable of infinite potentialities for good or evil, that he may be redeemed from any perversion which is there through the fall, and that he may live with a redemptive influence in society itself. Now this is our Christian viewpoint. We need to inculcate this in a framework within which we do our research. Christian research is not limited because it works upon presuppositions because all research is based upon certain presuppositions, and we must admit the bias which we have in calling for this kind of Christian institution. I submit to you that if we are to have a Christian institution today–and we unabashedly and without apology announce that this is what we intend to have–then it will be upon such a framework. That means, I suppose, that I ought to say just a word about my own philosophy: a philosophy that is based upon Biblical theism. It is the fact that God is there. It is the belief that derived from this, there are certain moral standards and truths and values which do not change with the changing of the times. Today we resist the vast influence of what we call “circumstantial or environmental ethics,” as such. We believe that there are certain standards that are derived from the Revelation of God, given to us in Scripture. And with this viewpoint, then we approach the whole educational scene. This means there must be an interpretation of the movements of the day in the light of what is given to us by God, that which has been revealed in his Word. Also it means that in the disciplines of the classroom, there is an integration of learning with the presuppositions with which we approach these various tasks of our educational responsibilities. Practically, this means we turn to our faculties and we believe that these men on our teaching staff, having such a commitment, will be able to re-state the Christian faith with relevance for our own day; that they will be able not only to re-state it, but they will be able to apply it unto the various phases of life which are the points of tension and conflict facing us today. They will be able to re-introduce these integrating factors into all aspects of our existence, relating to education, entertainment, the economic order, our family relationships, the cultural scene, and what has been called the great “divorce” can end. It means that we can bridge the gap. If we are to do this, it will certainly demand the support of the Christian community. It will demand your assent; it will demand your prayer support, your material support. There is no use talking in the Christian community about what we call a “Christian university,” unless we can establish at least a Christian college and an overarching great theological institution dedicated to revealed Christianity. We believe we can have this and that there can be once again inspired in the lives of young men and women a love of their country instead of shame of their country, defense of instead of an apology for their country. They can see their nation in the great sweep of history, what it has achieved and what it has offered to the world; the refuge it has been to the peoples of the world and the moral leadership it has given to the world, with the result there can be once again an honest and devout patriotism – a Christian patriotism without saying “my country, right or wrong.” I believe that we can inculcate this. 6 I believe that in our young people today there can be instilled a motivation for service. Not some disdain for these things, but an honest motivation because of their gratitude to God and their love of Jesus Christ, resulting in an investment of their lives in such things as self-sacrificing service which the evangelical community has accomplished through the centuries. I believe also that it can give them a challenge to move into the humanitarian areas where there is no “divorce” in the Gospel between a personal gospel and a social gospel, but where both are brought together in the conviction of the individual so that he expresses his life in a social framework and responsibility. This can be done. Perhaps this may seem an anachronism to some of you. It may seem that we are trying to turn the clock back, but I believe that if we can do this, it will be a catalyst in society, in the great educational system of our day, and if it can be multiplied in enough instances, it could save this nation from the holocaust which seems to be imminent if we do not have that kind of change. I certainly would support what Dr. Graham said about the young generation, that we face the fact of their sincerity, their dedication, their willingness to sacrifice and to see change. I believe this is all a challenge for good. I believe the time has come when we as individuals must accept something more than the autonomy of the human mind, something more than a return to the Aristotelian dictum that man is the measure of all things. We have to return to the “Given” on which ground western civilization was built, maintained its greatness and achieved its influence throughout the world. This is the great Judaeo-Christian tradition of the belief in God, in absolute moral law, in the value and responsibility of man, and in the expression of this in the society in which we live. If we do, we certainly can live. I trust that at Gordon, both the College and the Theological Seminary and any other school that may be established in the future, we will devote ourselves to this end. Certainly I dedicate myself to this task. Thank you very much. For nearly half a century, Harold John Ockenga’s name was virtually synonymous with that of evangelicalism as he voiced its concerns and convictions and provided leadership for nearly every one of its institutions: serving as founder and first president of the National Association of Evangelicals for United Action; as president of the American Board of the World Evangelical Fellowship; as president, co-founder and later Chairman of the Board of Fuller Theological Seminary; as Chairman of the Board of Christianity Today; as a director of the Christian Freedom Foundation; as a member of the board of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association; as editor of the Evangelical Book Club; as chair of the National Association of Evangelicals’ International Commission; and as the founding president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In addition to these tasks, he found time to write some fifteen books including Our Protestant Heritage (1938); The Comfort of God (1944); Our Evangelical Faith (1946); The Spirit of the Living God (1947); Women Who Made Bible History (1961); A Christian Primer (1966); No Other Lord (1969), and scores of articles, to produce over one hundred archival boxes of letters, journals, date books, and memorabilia, to produce nearly three thousand manuscript sermons and addresses and to leave a legacy of active ministry around the world. A native of Chicago, his own education included degrees from Taylor University, Westminster Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh along with several honorary degrees. Before taking on the role of president of Gordon College and Divinity School, he was the pastor of the influential Park Street Church in downtown Boston for 33 years. 7 “A Charge to Keep is an accessible, scholarly history that tells the story of Gordon-Conwell from its founding by Billy Graham and Harold Ockenga to the present day. Dr. Rosell thoughtfully chronicles how professors, students, administrators, and trustees alike developed an academically rigorous culture that remained faithful to the confessional tradition. I was inspired to read this engaging account of how powerfully my alma mater helped shape and advance the evangelical movement in America.” —CHRIS CHUN, Gateway Seminary “Rosell’s work offers a model for how the story of a theological seminary ought to be written. . . . He shows how the seminary has provided a consistently strong evangelical witness since its founding in 1969, but he also acknowledges painful moments of personal and theological tension. In short, in Rosell’s hands, a distinguished seminary receives the distinguished history it deserves.” —GRANT WACKER, Duke Divinity School “Rosell finds at the heart of Gordon-Conwell a vision of provid- ing rigorous biblical training for Christian thinkers as an antidote to anti-intellectualism in the evangelical church. This deeply researched and insightful history is in part a celebration of that vision and the extraordinarily committed faculty, staff, and community members who made it a reality; and in part a prophetic call for the seminary to continue to serve, at a high level, the intellectual needs of the church.” —ADRIAN CHASTAIN WEIMER, Providence College available in bookstores • (541) 344-1528 • [email protected] • www.wipfandstock.com 8 Serving the Global Church as a World Christian “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NIV). Daewon Moon A Calling to Serve the Global Church Having grown up in an evangelical Presbyterian church in Seoul, South Korea, as an undergraduate, I was involved in the international mission organization Youth With A Mission (YWAM). I attended YWAM’s Mission Conference every summer, where I heard about and met missionaries from all around the world. In addition, I participated in several short-term mission outreaches to China, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. Through all of these experiences, I came to realize that God was calling me to serve as an international missionary. This calling was not merely a temporary passion but a strong conviction that grew clearer and firmer year after year. Right after our marriage in 2006, my wife and I moved to Switzerland for missionary training with YWAM. In Switzerland, we explored a distinctive cross-cultural environment. As we realized how much we enjoyed our life and ministry with people from different cultural backgrounds, it became even more obvious to us that God invited us to serve His people beyond our own culture. After our training concluded, we served for a year as short-term missionaries in Uganda, Burundi, and Madagascar. During that time, God confirmed our calling as missionaries to Francophone Africa, where there was more need for missionaries than there was in Anglophone Africa. Theological Education in Boston After much prayer and consideration about my future, I decided to pursue advanced theological studies in the United States to equip me to teach well and to train local pastors in Africa. I began my theological study at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton in 2007. I chose Gordon-Conwell because of its evangelical piety and academic excellence. The interdenominational nature of the seminary attracted me to a great extent because I desired to serve the global church across denominational boundaries. In many ways, Gordon-Conwell was a perfect place that God prepared for me. During my M.Div. years, I enjoyed studying biblical languages and exegesis, which are the crucial foundation of all Christian ministries. The exegesis courses that I took provided strong biblical bases for mission and evangelism. For example, I was excited to read books like Mission in the Old Testament: Israel as a Light to the Nations by Dr. Walter Kaiser, President Emeritus of Gordon-Conwell. As a prospective missionary, I was particularly fascinated to take mission courses with Dr. Timothy Tennent and church history courses with Dr. Garth Rosell. Their insight and expertise opened my eyes to see mission movements from a broader historical perspective. After Dr. Tennent left Gordon-Conwell to become the President of Asbury Theological Seminary, I concentrated on studying the history of evangelical missions with Dr. Rosell. I greatly benefitted from my independent research course with him about nineteenth-century mission history. In my final year at Gordon-Conwell, my academic and spiritual mentor Dr. Edward Keazirian encouraged me to study with Dr. Dana Robert at Boston University. Until that point, I hadn’t even thought about pursuing a doctorate. By God’s grace I was admitted to BU’s Ph.D. program. Under Dr. Robert’s exceptional supervision, I was introduced to the emerging field of research called World Christianity. I have learned that the history of Christian mission provides a wonderful framework for grasping the meaning of Christianity as a multicultural global religion. I was thrilled to explore mission history that demonstrates a unique characteristic of the Christian faith: that it is both universally applicable and locally inclusive. My personal calling to mission and scholarly understanding of World Christianity became integrated during my doctoral program in Boston. 9