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P.T. Forsyth, 'the Positive Gospel', and the Church

P.T. Forsyth, 'the Positive Gospel', and the Church <jats:sec><jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The Congregationalist theologian P.T. Forsyth urgently implored the Church to attend to what he termed 'the Positive Gospel'. The positive gospel was a gospel of finality, looked to the cross as God's holy judgement on the wreck of sin, and viewed the work of Jesus as an incursion into human life rather than a placid evolution from within. A robust understanding of the Church and its ministry flourished or withered in proportion to its concentration on this gospel. A church which skipped past the positive gospel would find that it was exercising a ministry of impression rather than regeneration. On the other hand, a church sustained by the positive gospel would carry out its vocation with a healthy combination of decisiveness and litheness. There is much of value in Forsyth's porous understanding of the relationship between the positive gospel and the Church, but lurking in Forsyth's language is the lure to neglect the embodied reality of the Church and its ministry.</jats:p> </jats:sec> http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Ecclesiology Brill

P.T. Forsyth, 'the Positive Gospel', and the Church

Ecclesiology , Volume 5 (1): 28 – Jan 1, 2009

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2009 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1744-1366
eISSN
1745-5316
DOI
10.1163/174553108X341279
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

<jats:sec><jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The Congregationalist theologian P.T. Forsyth urgently implored the Church to attend to what he termed 'the Positive Gospel'. The positive gospel was a gospel of finality, looked to the cross as God's holy judgement on the wreck of sin, and viewed the work of Jesus as an incursion into human life rather than a placid evolution from within. A robust understanding of the Church and its ministry flourished or withered in proportion to its concentration on this gospel. A church which skipped past the positive gospel would find that it was exercising a ministry of impression rather than regeneration. On the other hand, a church sustained by the positive gospel would carry out its vocation with a healthy combination of decisiveness and litheness. There is much of value in Forsyth's porous understanding of the relationship between the positive gospel and the Church, but lurking in Forsyth's language is the lure to neglect the embodied reality of the Church and its ministry.</jats:p> </jats:sec>

Journal

EcclesiologyBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2009

Keywords: PREACHING; CROSS; CHURCH UNITY; SALVATION; P.T. FORSYTH

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