The Method of Theology: At the Table with Dr. Rhyne Putman

Why do you enjoy Mississippi State football?

Well, I was born in Mississippi, and that’s part of the cultural liturgy there. In fact, the day that you’re born, you get your birth certificate, your social security number, and they ask you whether you “Hail State” or “Hotty Toddy.” And I “Hail State” all day long. I’m a Mississippi State fan, which is a pretty sad way to live your life, truthfully. At least here at Southeastern, I’ve got a lot of opportunities for cross-cultural missionary work to Ole Miss fans like Dr. McKinion or Dr. Kellum, Alabama fans like Dr. Quinn, and LSU fans like Dr. Aucoin. They all need Jesus, and I’m happy to be here and sharing with them.

Tell us a little bit about the cowbell.

The cowbell in Mississippi State culture is really, really important. There are a lot of people who don’t like the sound of cowbells. They complain about the sound of cowbells in a football stadium, but when you come in with the presupposition that you’re rooting for Mississippi State and that’s the worldview that you’re bringing into the stadium, there is no sound more pleasant than 50,000 of these ringing at the same time. So, I love my cowbell, and I have a fever — and the only prescription is more cowbell.

As a student of the game, you study tactics, mechanics, and gameplay. How does understanding those things in football relate to understanding theological method?

Well, that’s a profound question. For one thing, I would say that when you think about football, it looks relatively simple. It looks like a 100-yard field where all the quarterback is having to do is toss the ball across to another side of the football field or hand it off to someone who is running up the middle. But the reality is, plays are much more complicated than that. I mean, you have 11 players on the offense, 11 players on the defense, and all of them have to be positioned at exactly the right spot at exactly the right time for an offensive or defensive play to work.

There’s a lot of strategy that goes into moving the football down a field the way that they do, and in the same way, reading the Bible and moving from the Bible to theology requires a lot of strategy, a lot of planning, and a lot of forethought. You’re thinking very seriously about a lot of different components, like what does the text say in its original context? How does it relate to the rest of the book? How does it relate to the rest of the New Testament or the Old Testament? How does it relate to the whole canon? We’re bringing in the resources of biblical theology and historical theology — what different people throughout church history have said about a particular topic — and we’re also thinking about things like the ethical implications of a biblical text and how we put it into practice. We’re thinking about things like not only how do we teach this doctrine but also how do we defend it in an apologetic setting and how do we preach it from the pulpit?

So theological method tries to look at all those various components that are coming together and create a game plan, if you will, for moving from the Bible to doctrine that can be preached and used in the local church.

Why is theological method important not only in the academy but also in everyday life?

Theological method does a couple different things. First and foremost, it gives us some real practical guidance for how we do theology. And in fact, there was a well-known reformed theologian named Gordon Spykman who once said, “Show me your method, and I will show you the end results of your theology.” So how you start with your theological method has considerable impact on what comes out in the wash with your final product, with your doctrine, with your theological system.

But theological method is also trying to answer some big questions about the nature of theology — what it is that theology is supposed to do. And the definition that I work with for theology is that it is the critical and organized reflection on God’s self-revelation in Scripture for the purposes of knowing and loving God and making disciples. And that to me is the end goal of what theology should do. And so, my theological method is informed by the Great Commandments. It’s also informed by the Great Commission, and also the Great Tradition of church history.

How you start with your theological method has considerable impact on what comes out in the wash with your final product, with your doctrine, with your theological system.

How do people commonly get theological method wrong, and what are some of the best ways for them to improve their theological method?

Classically speaking, we talk about four different sources in Christian theology — first and foremost, the authority of Scripture, the word of God. We talk about reason, that is our ability to reason based on what we see God doing in creation. We talk about tradition, or church history: How have various theologians throughout history interpreted a biblical passage, biblical idea, or a doctrine? How have the pastors that have poured their lives into you and discipled you interpreted Scripture and interpreted biblical doctrines? And then we also talk about experience, and experience is basically how we live out the Christian life — the way that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives and the way that we see God’s word confirmed in everyday life.

What happens is that there are various approaches to doing theology where these things get out of whack, if you will. For example, instead of emphasizing the final authority of Scripture, some people emphasize experience. And what happens at the end of the day when they do that is their feelings ultimately are their guide for what they believe about God and what they believe about his world, rather than what his truth says.

In the same way, people can emphasize reason to the neglect of Scripture, and sometimes that leads into some speculative theology the doesn’t line up with what the biblical text says. And then again, you have other traditions, like some of the high church traditions, which put a great deal of emphasis on tradition to the exclusion of Scripture.

For the person who’s trying to improve their theological method, what are some helpful ways to improve?

One thing I would say is read widely and don’t just read theological books that share your perspective. I think it’s a good thing to read broadly across the Christian tradition from different perspectives. I think it’s also good to read widely when it comes to biblical commentaries. That’s a really key part. One thing that’s really important is for a person to be aware of his or her own assumptions. What do you assume when you pick up the Bible? Do you assume that it is a perfect, infallible word from God? Or do you assume that maybe it’s a guidebook for life, but it doesn’t necessarily apply to you in every area? There are different ways that people approach the Bible, Jesus, God, humanity, so on and so forth. And so it’s important to know your own assumptions, convictions, and beliefs and to read widely. And then ask the question of yourself and of the word of God, “Is what I really believe what’s taught in Scripture or not?”

Ask the question of yourself and of the word of God, “Is what I really believe what’s taught in Scripture or not?”

How did you develop a passion for theology and ultimately for theological method?

The long and short version of the story as to why I decided to go towards theological method is that, when I was a young student in Bible college, I was really drawn to this organized way of talking about God. I was drawn to the idea that the triune God who is revealed in the New Testament is the same triune God who is at work in the Old Testament — that the Savior of the world, who was the Word made flesh in the Gospels, was also at work in the Old Testament. And that God is a God of love in the Old and New Testament, and he’s a God of justice and righteousness in the Old and New Testament.

And what happened for me specifically is that I was really interested in bringing theology and biblical studies together, and in fact, I was a biblical languages major in college and in seminary. I was a New Testament minor at the PhD level and took as many New Testament seminars as I did theology seminars. I’m deeply invested in biblical studies as a discipline. But I really wanted to find ways that biblical studies and theology could interact better, and theological method was the way that I found to do that because it is asking a lot of the same questions about how we move from the text to doctrine, how we do exegesis, how we do interpretation, and how it applies to everyday life.

Why should someone study theology at Southeastern?

I appreciate the fact that we don’t just do theology in a cul-de-sac. We are doing theology to go. That is our tagline. That’s what we’re ultimately aiming for as a Great Commission seminary, and that resonates with my vision and understanding of what Christian theology should be. And as we’re thinking in the classroom through theological topics, I really want to push students to think about how they are going to communicate these topics in their specific ministry settings, whether they’re working in children or youth ministry, preaching from the pulpit, counseling, or serving on the mission field and telling Bible stories to people who’ve never heard them before. I want them to think very clearly about theological and doctrinal truth that they can carry forward in fulfilling the Great Commission.