George R Knight - Foreword to Questions on Doctrines Revisited

Foreword
A. Leroy Moore has provided us with a helpful examination of one the thorniest problems in Adventism - the ongoing struggle that began in the late 1950s in reaction to the Evangelical/Adventist dialogues and the publication of Questions on Doctrine. The results of those meetings, and the General Conference-sponsored book they spawned, produced widely different responses from leading Adventist ministers. On the one hand, M. L. Andreasen interpreted the events surrounding the publication of Questions on Doctrine to be a sell-out of the denomination's theology in order to obtain Evangelical recognition. On the other hand, the General Conference leadership, represented by such men as R. R. Figuhr, L. E. Froom, and R. A. Andersen, saw the meetings, the book, and Evangelical recognition as a great blessing.

The varying reactions were vigorous and became increasingly acrimoninious over time as each side argued for its position. Unfortunately, when both sides seek to "win" an argument, balance tends to be lost as theological and personality polarization takes place. The major casualty in such situations is nearly always truth. And the cost of that casualty has hurt the Sevent-day Adventist Church more dearly than most realize. The denomination is now in the midst of a theological power struggle that fractured it for a half century. And, as in most cases of polarization, the parties have not come closer together over time. To the contrary, they have moved further apart as positions have solidified. And the stakes are not small. The very identity of Adventism stands at the center of the struggle.

It is into this controversy-laden arena that Dr. Moore enters, offering both parties a wake-up call and an olive branch. In the tradition of his very helpful Adventism in Conflict: Resolving the Issues that Divide Us (Review & Herald, 1995), Moore argues that most people only see half of the truth - neither side has all error, and neither side has all truth.  What is needed, according to Moore, is to get people thinking in a bipolar fashion that helps each side in a debate unite both poles of truth. That is, each party in a debate needs to integrate the correct ideas held by the opposition with the truths it has been defending. Only when both poles of truth are united can people hope to arrive at the closest approximation of God's truth and will.

Leroy Moore is onto something important here. And we would do well to listen to him carefully. The only way to health in Adventism is to move beyond the bipolarism that has divided the denomination since the late 1950s.

Questions on Doctrine Revisited is a detailed application of Moore's methodology. His aim in writing is to examine the fifty years of conflict in a manner that will enable the church to profit from past mistakes and to thus establish a basis for unity.

In Moore's treatment, there are no sacred Adventist cows as he writes with both conviction and passion. Each side is given credit for both its truths and its errors. And none of the controversial topics are left out, including the human nature of Christ, perfection, the role of the final generation, and so on.

In the process, Moore courageously takes all sides to task. But, and here is the crucial point, he does so in a manner that starts out with the principle that it is of the utmost importance - to put the best construction on each participant's motives and theological understandings. That spirit, which is the opposite of that which has too generally been exhibited in theological dialogue, is absolutely crucial in solving Adventism's theological difficulties in the early twenty-first century. Its opposite, what Ellen White in 1888 called "the spirit of the Pharisees" or "the spirit of Minneapolis" has in Moore's opinion to often driven the participants in the ongoing Adventist discussion.

In the spirit that Ellen White sought to foster in the midst of the 1888 controversies, Moore writes in first chapter that "though I discuss theological issues... my primary burden is not so much to relolve those issues as to suggest how we can work together to overcome the blindness that occurs... The resolution of our conflict must be a corporate undertaking... My emphasis is thus upon attitudes and methods that the Holy Spirit can bless in effecting a unity of spirit that too many resist for fear of compromise."

With that thought in mind, I would like to recommend Dr Moore's book as essential reading for all of those who have an interest in either the controversy over Questions on Doctrine or in the broader issue of a "Christian" approach to theological methodology.

George R. Knight
Andrews University (May 2005)