The New Atheism
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 54, No. 1 – Fall 2011
Managing Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
By Paul Brewster. Baptist Thought and Life. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2010. 224 pages. Socftcover, $24.99.
In his new book, Andrew Fuller: Model Pastor-Theologian, Paul Brewster contributes to the ongoing revival of Andrew Fuller studies. This developing interest in Fuller (an eighteenth-century English Particular Baptist) should warrant a hearty welcome from Baptists (and other free church traditions) because of his influential role in the recapturing of indiscriminate gospel proclamation and missionary endeavor among the eighteenth-century Particular Baptists. Fuller’s significance as a theologian was great, and yet, the practical implications of his doctrinal convictions were no less noteworthy. Fuller tirelessly labored as the secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) and as a local pastor. And this brings us to the thesis of Brewster’s new book: Fuller’s theological vision was in no way a mere theoretical enterprise; rather, his theology animated his pastoral duties, and, for this reason, Fuller is a model for ministers today who are concerned about the connection between theology and practice.
Brewster begins this task by providing the reader with the historical context— Fuller’s biographical data in particular. A review of Fuller’s family background and early childhood is presented, leading up to his Christian conversion in his teenage years. This is important ground to cover since Fuller was raised under the shadow of hyper-Calvinism and, as a result, was hindered in his embrace of the gospel. HyperCalvinism argued that one cannot simply approach the cross of Christ. Individuals who maintained this “false” Calvinism (as Fuller called it) insisted that one must have a “warrant” of faith in order to come to the cross. Such a “warrant” as this was essentially an inner acknowledgment that one was among the elect. Fuller overcame, through the work of the Holy Spirit, this theological impediment and was converted in 1769. Brewster goes on to examine Fuller’s call to vocational ministry, his experiences as a pastor, and his service to the BMS leading up to his death.
Chapter two investigates Fuller’s theological method. Though his theological education was informal, Fuller was a well informed and well grounded theologian. Brewster highlights several aspects of his doctrinal method. First, Fuller maintained the need for a system. Even though Scripture itself is not a systematic presentation of theology, a system is nonetheless a tool for the Christian, to be used as an aid in understanding sacred truth. Second, the Bible was primary and central in Fuller’s theological process. For Fuller, no doctrinal system could supersede the role of Scripture. Brewster also discusses the role of personal experience and accountability as discernable characteristics in Fuller’s theological method.
Brewster’s third chapter analyzes Fuller’s soteriological orientation. This theological exposition of Fuller’s doctrine of salvation is carried out through the template of the five Dortian soteriological markers (TULIP). Essentially, Brewster (like Thomas Nettles) seems to affirm Fuller’s faithfulness to all five points of Dortian Calvinism. Others have interpreted Fuller’s soteriology differently over the years. James Leo Garrett, for example, has previously asserted that Fuller only maintained two points of Calvinism—though Garrett has recently reconsidered his position, affirming that Fuller was certainly in closer adherence to Dortian Calvinism than he had previously stated.
Brewster is also careful to include in this chapter a discussion on the various modifications in Fuller’s Calvinistic soteriology. For instance, while maintaining an association with the doctrine of limited atonement, Fuller, argues Brewster, flirted with governmental language, though never abandoning the atonement as substitutionary. And, of course, Brewster highlights Fuller’s commitment to an evangelical Calvinism—a Calvinism in which indiscriminate gospel proclamation is a key and prominent feature.
What impact did this theology have upon Fuller in a practical sense? Chapter four tackles this very question. Brewster explores Fuller’s many and varied gospel labors. Fuller’s role as a pastor, for example, is discussed here. He not only preached earnestly to his home congregation, but he also engaged in village preaching—laboring for the souls of lost humanity. And of course, Brewster examines Fuller’s key involvement in the BMS as an administrator and a defender of missions. Brewster also rightly includes here a section on Fuller’s role as an apologist for Christian truth. This section surveys Fuller’s efforts against such ideologies as: Deism, Socinianism, Universalism, Sandemanianism, and Antinomianism. Brewster’s book is concluded in chapter five and two helpful appendices are also included for the interested reader: a transcription of Fuller’s confession of faith (appendix 1), and an article Fuller contributed to a theological dictionary on Calvinism (appendix 2).
One minor critique is in order here before Brewster’s well deserved accolades begin. Brewster’s interchangeable use of the terms “high-Calvinism” and “hyperCalvinism” lacks precision, given the discernable differences between these two groups historically. Peter Toon, in The Emergence of Hyper-Calvinism, has argued convincingly that there are clear distinctions between high and hyper-Calvinism. High-Calvinism is a subtle hardening of John Calvin’s theology beginning with Beza and later articulated at the Synod of Dort. Hyper-Calvinism is a further development in which (among other things) justification resides in eternity rather than in time and space (eternal justification), there are no offers of grace, and the moral law is not acknowledged as an aid in sanctification (antinomiamism).
If this categorical template is valid, then it seems as though Fuller’s role in developing evangelical Calvinism was a move away from hyper-Calvinism more so than high-Calvinism. This may be observed in Fuller’s description of his childhood pastor. According to Fuller, Pastor Eve’s ministry had little or nothing to say to the unbeliever. Brewster, as a result, describes Eve as having “shortcomings as an evangelist” (12). However, the real problem with Pastor Eve (and others who were oriented in this way) was not that he had shortcomings as an evangelist, but that he was no evangelist at all. And so, hyper-Calvinism seems to be the most accurate description for this theological distinction that Fuller spent much of his life combating. It should be noted, however, that Brewster’s conflation of these two terms was an attempt to use the language that Fuller and others used in that day.
Regardless of this trifling criticism, Brewster’s work on Fuller must surely be regarded as a gem. First, Brewster provides the reader with a meaningful introduction to the life and ministry of Andrew Fuller—and in doing so has reminded contemporary readers how a moderate or evangelical Calvinistic soteriology (Fullerism) is a viable option for Baptists today. Second, in the process of analyzing Fuller’s doctrine and practice, Brewster directly engages Fuller’s writings with great frequency, thus making this book a valuable resource to students of Baptist history, since a number of the quotes used are not available in Fuller’s published works. Finally, Brewster’s work is a success because it touches on an important facet in the Christian life, namely, that theology must never be a solely intellectual endeavor; rather, it must ever be connected to one’s devotional and practical life. Andrew Fuller has been convincingly portrayed, by Paul Brewster, as an appropriate example of this important intersection between doctrine and practice.
