Who says learning theology requires multi-volume tomes? Okay, well, maybe it does, but you’re not likely to find a little book more fully packed with bite-size learning than this one – The Compact Dictionary of Theological Terms by Gregg Allison.
Hi, I’m Fred Zaspel, executive editor here at Books At a Glance, and today we’re talking to Gregg Allison, author of this wonderful new little book. Gregg, welcome! And thanks for talking to us today.
Allison:
Thanks Fred, for having me on.
Zaspel:
You’ve just recently returned from an extended stay in Europe for teaching – tell us about that just briefly.
Allison:
I was seven weeks in Europe. I started off at the European leadership forum in Poland, where I hit a number of breakout sessions for about 750 European evangelicals. I did a PhD seminar on Roman Catholicism, co-taught that with Leonardo de Ciddico and Michael Reeds down in Rome for about 20 students. And then I traveled throughout Italy basically teaching how to study the Bible, how to read the Bible and encouraging missionaries and pastors and church members along the way.
Zaspel:
Okay, before we go any further, tell us briefly what the book is, and what you’ve try to accomplish.
Allison:
It is a compact dictionary. It can actually fit in your pocket and it’s geared for laypeople to help them understand the basic theological terms that they may hear in a sermon, or if they are reading a book, they may come across and they are not familiar with. It’s a resource primarily for laypeople, so that they can engage theologically with conversations about doctrines.
Zaspel:
Give us a sketch of the scope. How many entries you’ve included, how long they are, what categories of theological terms that you included, those kinds of things.
Allison:
The book has 600 theological terms like incarnation or inspiration for inerrancy; and each of these terms is defined in about 100 words each. So it’s compact, it’s concise, and again, it is geared for laypeople, so it uses simple language so everyone can understand and be helped by it.
Zaspel:
Okay, let’s take a quick sample. Do you have the book in front of you?
Allison:
I do.
Zaspel:
“Eternal Generation” is a term long in use in the Christian Church, but events in recent days have brought it to a new prominence. What is eternal generation?
Allison:
Here’s my definition of “eternal generation”: With reference to the Son’s relationship with the first person of the Trinity, the Son is eternally generated or begotten by the Father. “Eternal generation” does not mean that the Son was created by the Father or that the Son’s divine nature is derived from His or that the Son is inferior. But it means that the Son is eternally dependent on the Father for His person of the Son. Affirmations that the Father grants the Son to have life in Himself, (John 5:26) and that the Son has been born of God, (I John 5:18) point to His eternal generation by the Father. That’s “eternal generation” in 100 words.
Zaspel:
That really is compressed and compact. I love it.
Some theological terms are more – how can I say it? – denominationally “loaded” than others. Terms like election or baptism or millennium, for example don’t share a common understanding Christianity-wide. How do you handle these kinds of terms?
Allison:
I handle these terms by attempting to fairly represent the two or three or various positions on them.
So for baptism, for example, I would treat both credobaptism, that is the belief that only those believers in Jesus Christ – adults, we would say – can be baptized; and I also treat paedobaptism, the idea that children or infants can be baptized; and I represent both of those positions. On the doctrine of election, I seek to represent both the Reformed view as well as the Arminian view. And again, my goal here is that the proponents of credobaptism and paedobaptism, the Reformed view of election, the Arminian view of election, would say that’s a fair definition of their view.
Zaspel:
You’ve included something extra in the back of the book for students working with other languages. I thought this was a helpful addition – tell us about it.
Allison:
In the appendix, I have taken 300 of the key terms – not the definitions, but the terms – and given their linguistic equivalents in French, German, and Korean. French and German for English-speaking students who are going to, for the PhD program, have to learn English and German; and Korean equivalents for the large number of Korean students who are now, thankfully, studying at seminaries in the English-speaking world.
Zaspel:
This book obviously reflects years of study and teaching, of course, but how long were you at work in putting all this together for publication?
Allison:
It took about four or five months of sitting down every day and enjoying defining these words. I first put together the list of 600 words; got the approval for those words by Baker; and then just began to work wherever I wanted to define the terms; worked with them section by section, word by word.
Zaspel:
Well, it’s really, really very impressive. Congratulations. It’s a great publication and it’s a great resource to have.
We’re talking to Dr. Gregg Allison, Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, and author of this really helpful new book, The Compact Dictionary of Theological Terms. It’s a very well-informed and very useful resource – you’ll love it. Get a copy, and you’ll find your theological understanding growing literally by the minute. It will be the best seven or eight dollars you’ve spent in a long time.
Gregg, thanks so much for your good book and for talking to us today.
Allison:
Thanks, Fred, I really appreciate the interview.