One Whose Contributions Have Been Over- Looked? DA Carson

SBJT: Whom would you name as some- served as the minister of St. Peter’s, one whose contributions have been over- Dundee, since 1836. Though he was the looked? minister of this one “kirk” (church), his D. A. Carson: I confess I find the assigned reputation extended all over Scotland and topic this quarter unusually difficult. It is beyond. Throughout Scotland he was not that I cannot think of anyone who referred to as “the saintly M’Cheyne.” might qualify. The problem is that there Where M’Cheyne excelled was in his are so many who might qualify, and I mix of serious study and eminent piety. cannot find adequate criteria for adjudi- While still a theological student in cating among them. A friend of mine who Edinburgh, he met regularly with Andrew named his son Calvin told me (his tongue Bonar, Horatius Bonar, and a handful of only slightly in his cheek) that he would other earnest ministers-in-training. The have preferred Oecolampadius, but that purpose of these informal meetings was too few people knew who this hero of the to pray, to study, and to work through magisterial reformation was. Many have Greek and Hebrew exercises—disciplines wondered how influential Balthasar M’Cheyne preserved throughout his short Hubmaier would have become in the life. This group of students took the Bible Anabaptist wing if he had not been killed so seriously in their living and preaching so young. To make the matter of criteria that when the eminent Thomas Chalmers, still more difficult, I have to admit that vari- then Professor of Divinity, heard of the ous writers were a help to me when I was way they approached the Bible, he said, at some stage or other of my pilgrimage, “I like these literalities.” even though later reflection has led me to M’Cheyne was constantly attempting think less of their views. When I was four- to foster serious Bible reading. He pre- teen years of age, I read Watchman Nee’s pared a chart for the people of his own The Normal Christian Life, and found it a parish to encourage them to read through, wonderful incentive to personal holiness. in one year, the New Testament and I remain grateful for that spur to Psalms twice, and the rest of the Old Tes- holiness, even though a little more study tament once. (That chart is still very much has convinced me that in his major empha- in use. John Stott has followed the ses Nee is exegetically dubious, theologi- M’Cheyne Bible reading scheme for cally mistaken, and sometimes pastorally decades.) To one young man he wrote, dangerous. So where do I rank him? Moreover, a choice like this should be You read your Bible regularly, of course; but do try and understand made with respect to the readership. If all it, and still more to feel it. Read more D. A. Carson is Research Professor the readers of SBJT were professional aca- parts than one at a time. For of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical demics, my choice would be slanted in a example, if you are reading Genesis, Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He read a Psalm also; or if you are read- different way than if they were all voca- ing Matthew, read a small bit of an is the author of numerous commentar- tional evangelists. So bearing in mind the Epistle also. Turn the Bible into ies and monographs, and is one of this readership of this journal, I shall choose prayer. Thus, if you were reading the First Psalm, spread the Bible on the country’s foremost New Testament Robert Murray M’Cheyne . chair before you, and kneel and pray, scholars. His most recent book is The M’Cheyne was born in Edinburgh, Scot- ‘O Lord, give me the blessedness of the man let me not stand in the coun- Inclusive Language Debate: A Plea for land, on May 21, 1813. He died on March sel of the ungodly.’ This is the best Realism (Baker, 1998). 25, 1843, not quite thirty years old. He had way of knowing the meaning of the 78 Bible, and of learning to pray. So I recommend M’Cheyne—and not just M’Cheyne, but a host of pastor-theo- Stories of M’Cheyne are legion. At one logians who manifest similar values. They point he used to go for a walk on Mon- will inform our minds, warm our hearts, day with Andrew Bonar. The two men and steel our wills. served separate churches, but they often compared notes and prayed together. On SBJT: What do you perceive to be a one occasion Bonar told M’Cheyne that neglected influence or emphasis in on the previous day he had preached on evangelicalism? hell. M’Cheyne quietly asked him if he C. Ben Mitchell: To their own peril, had been enabled to preach it with tears. evangelicals, including Southern Baptists, It was Andrew Bonar who, after his have neglected liberal arts education that friend’s untimely death, collected some of develops a Christian worldview. It is not M’Cheyne’s letters, sermons, and miscel- that we lack colleges and universities. It laneous papers, and published them, along is not that we have been miserly concern- with a brief biography. The work appeared ing buildings and books. But, sadly, we in 1844 under the title Robert Murray have neglected the central core of classi- M’Cheyne: Memoir and Remains. Within cal education—the integration of faith and twenty-five years it went through 116 Brit- learning throughout a humanities curricu- ish editions, in addition to those in America lum. In an age of increasing specialization and elsewhere. It is still widely recognized a call to an emphasis on a broad-based as one of the great spiritual classics. humanities education may seem Pale- So why do I recommend M’Cheyne? olithic. Perhaps I am a young dinosaur. First, he typifies a host of ministers who But, in my view, evangelical students are, were scholar-practitioners, pastor-theolo- for the most part, worse off for their Chris- gians, serious students yet fervent evan- tian liberal arts educations, not better off. gelists. The bifurcation between scholar The reason evangelical students are ill- and pastor that cripples so much of min- prepared by most Christian colleges and istry today was not for him. Second, he universities is because very few of those brought piety and serious study together schools seem to be committed to traditional in unashamed union. So much of the humanities curricula from a Christian Western tradition of study magnifies dis- worldview. Students are untaught when it passionate distance from the subject. Cer- comes to integrating the disciplines under tainly we need the careful listening to the the rubric of a robust Christian world and text that avoids mere subjectivism. But our life perspective. So, instead of graduating C. Ben Mitchell is Assistant Profes- aim should not be to become masters of scholars whose faith shapes how they think sor of Christian Ethics at The Southern the text but to be mastered by the text. about the world and their place in it, these Baptist Theological Seminary. He has Third, M’Cheyne was passionately com- schools repeat the worn nostrums of a written widely on philosophical and ethi- mitted to reforming the church by the largely secular view of culture. cal issues, is currently the editor of Eth- Word of God, and did all he could to pro- A liberal arts education focuses on the ics and Medicine , and serves as mote a broad, deep, and reverent grasp big issues. Ultimate questions like the Consultant on Biomedical and Life Is- of Scripture. By his standards, so much nature of the universe, the meaning of life, sues for the Ethics and Religious Lib- ecclesiastical ministry today seems mis- the existence of God, and the problem of erty Commission of the Southern Baptist focused or even frivolous. evil occupy such an education. Moreover, Convention. 79.

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