13. Historical Theology and Doctrinal Precedents

Download: Restoration Theology Student Notes

Introduction and Purpose

• After biblical, systematic, analytic, and comparative theology, test your doctrine in the “laboratory of history.”

• If a belief is true, others likely saw it too over 2,000 years.

• Massive Christian literature survives:

  • 1st–15th centuries: 5,000–10,000 books

  • 16th–19th centuries: 200,000–300,000

  • 20th–21st centuries: 2–3 million + 20,000–25,000 new books/year

• Goal: Find doctrinal precedents; legitimacy if early voices agree.

Why Care About Historical Precedents?

• Restorationism is relentlessly past-focused: Aim to believe what apostles believed.

• Advances ok in uncovered areas, but consistency with early church preferred over contradiction.

• Full apostasy theory (whole church fell away) not supported: Jude 1:3–4 warns of intruders, but not total loss.

• Data shows slow evolution toward Catholic/Orthodox forms, not complete break.

• Historical theology explains how and why drift happened.

Defining Historical Theology

• Gregg Allison: “The study of the interpretation of Scripture and the formulation of doctrine by the church of the past.”

• Church history = events and people; historical theology = ideas/doctrines and how they changed.

Value of Historical Theology for Restorationists

• Early agreement gives legitimacy (e.g., if no evidence before Nicea, less likely original).

• No early articulation? Need explanation why not said in first centuries.

• If majority today reject your view, explain how/why church went off track.

• Protects against novel ideas; learns from past errors (e.g., indulgences, purgatory additions).

• Alister McGrath: Historical theology positive (learn from giants) and subversive (shows how theologians go astray).

Method and Challenges

• Use primary sources (original texts).

• Critical scholarship helps: authorship, dating, interpolations.

• Example: Victorinus’s Revelation commentary – Jerome edited out premillennialism; edited version copied more; original survives in modern editions.

• Tools: ANF/NPNF series (with caution), critical editions, recent translations.

Conclusion:

• Historical theology vital for restoration
• Seek old ideas, not new ones;
• Absence of early evidence requires explanation.

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