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Copyright © 2018 Joseph Kirk Tyrpak All Rights Reserved. the Southern Copyright © 2018 Joseph Kirk Tyrpak All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has permission to reproduce and disseminate this document in any form by any means for purposes chosen by the Seminary, including, without limitation, preservation or instruction. THE SPIRITUALITY OF DAVID BRAINERD: A SUMMARY AND CRITIQUE __________________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary __________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry __________________ by Joseph Kirk Tyrpak December 2018 APPROVAL SHEET THE SPIRITUALITY OF DAVID BRAINERD: A SUMMARY AND CRITIQUE Joseph Kirk Tyrpak Read and Approved by: __________________________________________ Michael A. G. Haykin __________________________________________ Joseph C. Harrod Date______________________________ ii To my parents, Peter Noel and Jannifer Sue Tyrpak, the primary examples and teachers through which “the Lord . brought me to a hearty desire to exalt him, to set him on the throne and to ‘seek first his Kingdom,’ . which is the foundation of the religion Jesus Christ has taught” (Matt 6:33) iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE ......................................................................................... vi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1 Aim of the Study ................................................................... 5 Reason for the Study ............................................................... 5 Observations ........................................................................ 9 Statement of the Problem ....................................................... 18 Thesis Statement ................................................................. 19 Methodology ...................................................................... 20 2. DAVID BRAINERD’S UNDERSTANDING OF CONVERSION: THE BEGINNING POINT OF AUTHENTIC SPIRITUALITY ................................................. 21 Introduction ....................................................................... 21 Formative Historical Influences on David Brainerd’s Understanding of Conversion ............................................. 23 Doctrinal Foundations that David Brainerd Taught as Necessary to Conversion ..................................... 28 Practical Methods that David Brainerd Employed to Promote Conversion ....................................... 32 Personal Accounts of Conversion That David Brainerd Described ................................................ 37 Conclusion: A Systematic Summary of David Brainerd’s Understanding of Conversion ............................... 44 3. DAVID BRAINERD’S UNDERSTANDING OF LOVE: THE ESSENCE OF AUTHENTIC SPIRITUALITY ............................ 47 Introduction ....................................................................... 47 iv Chapter Page David Brainerd’s Early Articulations of the Essence of Spirituality .............................................. 48 David Brainerd’s Developing Understanding of the Essence of Spirituality .............................................. 55 David Brainerd’s Most Mature Expressions of the Essence of Spirituality .............................................. 62 Conclusion: A Systematic Summary of David Brainerd’s Understanding of the Essence of Spirituality ............................................. 74 4. DAVID BRAINERD’S UNDERSTANDING OF EVANGELICAL HUMILIATION: THE DAILY EXPERIENCE OF AUTHENTIC SPIRITUALITY ..................................................... 76 Introduction ....................................................................... 76 David Brainerd’s Personal Experience of Evangelical Humiliation Throughout His Adult Life .............................................................. 78 The Historical Roots of David Brainerd’s Understanding of Evangelical Humiliation ................................................................. 90 Conclusion: A Systematic Summary of David Brainerd’s Understanding of Evangelical Humiliation ............................................... 96 5. A THEOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF DAVID BRAINERD’S UNDERSTANDING OF SPIRITUALITY.................................................................... 98 Introduction ....................................................................... 98 A Theological Critique of David Brainerd’s Understanding of Conversion: The Beginning Point of Spirituality ........................................... 99 A Theological Critique of David Brainerd’s Understanding of Love: The Essence of Spirituality ................................................... 108 A Theological Critique of David Brainerd’s Understanding of Evangelical Humiliation: The Daily Experience of Spirituality .................................. 115 Conclusion ...................................................................... 127 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................ 129 v PREFACE I am grateful to many people without whose encouragements this thesis would never have been written. First, I thank my immediate family. Hannah, thank you for your loving commitment to me. Throughout the hundreds of hours I invested in this paper, you have wonderfully cared for our four children (we only had two children when we began to pursue this degree), you have graciously tolerated my absence on many evenings and “days off,” and you never stopped encouraging me to finish. You are my dearest friend and teammate. Thank you, Karis, Tori, Jordan, and Vera. You have followed Mommy’s lead in your constant happiness for me as I have worked so hard at becoming a doctor, even though the kind of doctor that I actually will be is not nearly as exciting as the kind of doctor that most of you imagine I will be. Second, I thank my church family, Tri-County Bible Church in Madison, Ohio. Thank you for supporting me in so many ways throughout my years of doctoral studies. From my first days as your pastor, you have upheld my family with generous support and constant prayer, and you have expected me to pursue professional development. More specifically, thank you, fellow elders at Tri-County. Your friendships have been one of God’s sweetest gifts to me. Thank you for sharing the weight of some of my pastoral responsibilities as I have devoted time to education. And, Greg, Mark, Lee, and James, your prayer and accountability throughout the past ten months have propelled me toward the finish line. Thank you. Third, thank you, faculty members at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. James M. Hamilton, Jr., thank you for your warm teaching on the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament. God has used you to deepen my delight in vi Scripture. Dr. Timothy K. Beougher, thank you for challenging me to continue in my reading of David Brainerd. After you read my brief research paper on Brainerd’s evangelistic theology and methodology, you offered a few personal words of meaningful encouragement that inspired me to study Brainerd’s life more extensively. And Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin, thank you for committing yourself to coaching me through this thesis and serving as my faculty supervisor. Your critical feedback has significantly improved the organization and readability of the final product. Finally, thank you, Dad and Mom. I dedicate this thesis to you. Almost twenty years ago you gave me my first copy of Brainerd’s diary. It was one of hundreds of excellent books you have encouraged me to read throughout the years. Thank you for nurturing me to value books, education, history, theology, and critical thinking. Most significantly, by your example and teaching you have nurtured me to treasure the Scripture and the glorious Savior whom it reveals. I will never cease to thank you for your love for me—nor will I ever cease to thank God for you. Joe Tyrpak Madison, Ohio December 2018 vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION David Brainerd (1718–1747) was born in Haddam, Connecticut. His father Hezekiah died when David was nine years old, and his mother, Dorothy, died when he was thirteen. Brainerd believed that he was converted at twenty-one, a few months before entering college. (For a timeline of Brainerd’s adult life, see figure 1.) At twenty-three, Brainerd was expelled from his ministerial studies at Yale College for privately criticizing a tutor’s lack of spirituality. After his expulsion, Brainerd was supported by a few ministers in Connecticut, with whom he finished his education and by whom he was licensed to preach. Within a few months of his itinerant preaching, Brainerd was commissioned to serve as a missionary to the American Indians under the auspices of the Society in Scotland for the Propagation of the Gospel (SSPCK).1 For his first year of mission work (April 1743–May 1744), he was stationed at Kaunaumeek (present day East Nassau, New York) under the oversight of John Sergeant (1710–1749), who lived twenty miles east in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. For his second year of work (May 1744–June 1745), he evangelized the Indians at the Forks of the Delaware (present day Easton, Pennsylvania). Finally, Brainerd moved to Crossweeksung (present day Crosswicks, New Jersey) and worked among the native Americans from June 1745 to June 1746. In that year Brainerd baptized thirty-eight Indian adults who had converted to Christianity. In the spring of 1746 Brainerd moved this fledgling congregation from Crossweeksung to Cranberry (present day Cranbury, New Jersey) and remained with 1 Much of the wording
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