Ep. 43 - Why Christians Disagree | When Doctrine Divides the People of God by Rhyne R. Putman

It is nothing new that Christians disagree about theology and how to interpret Scripture. But why does this happen? If we don’t assess our disagreements, our debates will only devolve. In this episode I review When Doctrine Divides the People of God: An Evangelical Approach to Theological Diversity by Rhyne Putman. It’s published by Crossway in 2020. This book is a helpful guide for thinking through the causes of theological disagreements in the church and helps to chart a course toward understanding and productive relationship. If you’re looking for a resource that will explain the factors that may contribute to these debates and how to move forward, this is a book definitely worth your time.

0:00 Introduction
1:31 Overview
9:09 Pros
10:21 Cons

When Doctrine Divides the People of God by Rhyne Putman

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Why Christians Disagree | When Doctrine Divides the People of God by Rhyne R. Putman

It's obvious people disagree about theology or even how to interpret scripture, but what is less obvious is why we disagree. What are those reasons or mechanisms that lead to that disagreement? If you've ever been in the middle of a theological debate, it can be difficult to assess what is causing the dispute, let alone how to productively move forward. Without some form of analysis, the disagreement is just going to devolve. That's why I've found this book helpful. The book is when Doctrine Divides the People of God an evangelical approach to theological diversity by Ryan Putman. It's published by Crossway in 2020 and is 314 pages. This book is a helpful guide for thinking through the causes of theological disagreements in the church and it helps to chart a course toward understanding and having productive relationships. If you're looking for a resource that will explain the factors that may contribute to these debates and tensions and how to move forward, this is a book definitely worth your time. I'm going to give an overview of the book, along with some pros and cons. I see in the book. I'm JC Schroeder and this is Bite Size Seminary. Putman's emphasis in the book is on theological and scriptural disagreements. There is some natural overlap with other disagreements that we have, say cultural or political, but that's not the focus in this book. That's probably another book that we need In this discussion on disagreement. He wants to celebrate both doctrine and difference. He limits his scope to fellow evangelicals with common convictions about the sufficiency, clarity and an erency of scripture. Putman describes in the acknowledgement at the end of the book that the book is for the wider group of evangelicals, but it began as something for his home denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. I'll mention this later but I think this comes out in some ways throughout the book. The book is divided into two sections Part one why we disagree about doctrine, and then part two about what we should do about doctrinal disagreement. The first part, about the reasons for disagreement, is a bit longer than the second section on what to do with that disagreement. In this first section he gives five reasons in five chapters for the mechanisms for theological disagreement. Putman pulls from several different disciplines, giving helpful introductions, and then highlights how they shape our disagreements. He explains these well with many helpful examples, with an eye always to applying this to the area of disagreement. I think this section is a real gem and real helpful section of the book. The first two chapters deal more so with hermeneutics or the rules of interpretation. He shows how our approach coincides with our view of scripture, as well as how we employ, or even fail to employ, those rules. If you've ever taken a hermeneutics class before, a lot of this material would be familiar to you. But it can be a helpful refresher that our basic approach to the text can lead to some of our disagreements. The difference here could be more methodological than anything else, and if we don't acknowledge this we could be talking past each other. He also discusses the role of logic and reasoning. In chapter three he distinguishes between deduction, induction and abduction, and we may follow one mode of reasoning, one of those, while our partner is following another. This again causes for further misunderstanding and disagreement, for whatever reason. When we start to talk about logic, my brain just kind of melts. But Putman, I found, gives a helpful and easy to read starter here for us, very, very helpful, even for an income poop like me. He also recognizes and explains the role our emotions play in our debates with chapter four. By this he's not talking about, like me, getting angry with a person I can't believe you said that but the role that my emotions play in the theological choices I make. We would like to think, and I would like to think that we look at all the data and we're super rational individuals and then we come to a firm, clear decision with that we can hold with courage and conviction. But Putman notes that we quote feel around our world before we reason about it. End quote. This is part of our humanity and it needs to be recognized. We need to recognize that reason side, the logic aspect, which we're easy to recognize, but we also need to recognize the emotional side that influences our choices. Both our reason and emotions need to be considered, evaluated and led Along with this. He has this helpful pastoral note. I like this little quote about using our reason and emotions. Well, he says quote I must practice epistemic humility and emotional maturity. End quote. We need both of those things in our lives as we think about Scripture and as we talk about Scripture. The final chapter of the first section of the book is all about our biases, specifically with tradition and even the danger of self deception. I found his section on confirmation bias to be really good. This is where we are selective with data that only favors our own position and we discount anything that's contrary. I think a lot of times, as believers we hold to some arguments that have some serious flaws to them and we don't want to admit that we have some lacking in the data or in our logic or something like that. So what ends up happening is we convince ourselves we don't really have any problems with our position or argument because I have some data to support my case. That's confirmation bias. So with that, not only do we have a little bit of data, but I dismiss everything else. So Putman helpfully walks the reader through how to analyze your own beliefs. It can be easy to spot and accuse others for having biases, but we must analyze, admit and correct our own. The second section of the book deals with the practical aspects of what we do now with our disagreement. Putman first discusses how we should evaluate ourselves and others as we think about our beliefs and if we should retain them or change them. Here he's drawing from a field called the epistemology of disagreement. Doesn't that sound cool? He gives very clear parameters to help answer if we should retain or change our beliefs. The next chapter deals with theological triage, or the rankings of doctrines based on their relative importance to the gospel and Christian practice. He talks about how to faithfully do this, both being faithful to the Word and being faithful to our fellow believer. This is perhaps the most large-scale practical component of the book. Without this sort of triage ranking system, we can easily major on the minors. He concludes the book with the story of the theological dispute between George Whitfield and John Wesley over Calvinism and Arminianism. He describes their initial close friendship and fellowship but then also talks about their eventual split. This serves as a sobering reminder of the cost of division. But the story also speaks of Wesley and Whitfield's reconciliation and the regret they had for their actions in the split. But he emphasizes how they were brought back together after doing more of this theological triage work. Putman uses the story to show the destruction of not doing theological disagreement well and the hope of doing better and of reconciliation. Now for some of the prose of the book. Overall, this is a good and helpful book on a topic that many Christians experience but don't have much guidance on. I think the real strength of the book is the bringing together of the several different disciplines, such as logic, epistemology, hermeneutics, into one whole package. It is clearly written and it has a pastoral heart. That's the thing I like about Putman in this book and I really appreciate about him. There's many things, but he doesn't just speak in an academic way or just speak of academic things. His goal is to bring unity in the church, to have conviction and to have courage, but also compassion and unity among the church. That's this real heart and that comes through in the book, and that's a huge pro for this book. Putman does not lose the end goal for the immediate task. He's not just like so nitpicky on this one particular issue that he loses where this is going in the overall discussion. He grounds the discussion in helpful examples as well, so you can see how this might play out in real life. Now I do have two cons, but they don't take away from the book's benefits overall. The first thing is length. Putman gives quite a bit of breadth, with many examples. I wonder, though, if the people who would need this book the most won't have the time to read it all. Like when you're in a theological debate, you might want something a bit shorter, but and you can always read selectively or skim as needed, but I think it is a little bit long, especially if you're in kind of a crisis mode. The second thing I'll mention is a slight nitpick. The book has a narrower theological focus. As I mentioned earlier, putman is writing to the broader camp of evangelicals and are in-house debates. He mentions his concern for his own denomination and really the book comes out of his heart for his own denomination and I love that he is trying to address a felt need in his home church. But I did find myself wanting a little bit more direction or discussion with disagreeing with those that are less like me, so I think maybe that is just one area that could have been broadened a little bit of how do I disagree with people that I have less shared value with? Perhaps Overall, this is a helpful and needed book for the church today. If you're trying to understand why believers disagree and how we can positively move forward, this book is definitely worth your time. Alright, that's all I've got. If you're interested in more book reviews, check out the playlist on the screen now. May the Lord bless you and thanks for your time.