Theology and Evangelism

Evangelical Theology Transcendence and immanence define the way persons relate to each other (Willsey, 2003). Transcendence do with the fact that one person is not another person while immanence do with closeness of relationship. Grenz and Olsen believe that transcendence and immanence are expressions of how God relates to His creation. Their book; God and the World in a Transitional Age (1992), is said to give their interpretation of how religious theology developed in a modern age along with how they saw the divine transcendence and immanence from evangelical viewpoint.

In their opinion, they argue that Christian theology for many years have always sought a balance between the biblical truths of the divine transcendence and immanence (Grenz and Olson, 1992, p. 295). Grenz and Olsen understanding of revelation is that God is within humanity and his plans towards mankind are discovered upon seeking His Gospel (Grenz & Olson, 1992, p. 292). In summary, this essay will critically evaluate evangelical theology in terms of the assertion of Grenz and Olson by exploring God's transcendence and immanence in relation to the evangelical theology.

Evangelical theology has to balance between divine transcendence and immanence so as to discern factual biblical truths. To achieve this, the evangelical theology also has to stay within the limits of modern theology interpretation. In their book, both Grenz and & Olsen argued that the relationship between transcendence and immanence is the central theological concern that contributes to determining theological path which was taken in last hundred years. The divine transcendence and immanence appear to exclude each other.

For instance, transcendence claims that supernatural being who is God is above the world, while immanence inaugurates the idea that God is present within the physical world and "involved with the processes of the world and of human history" (Grenz and Olson, 1992, p. 291). What should be understood here is that, however much contradictious transcendence as well as, immanence may appear at times; both refer to God's relationship with man within and outside this world.

That is, being God is the creator, he also has the ability of distancing himself from the world as he enforce his powers to show human beings that He is not dependent as they are. Grenz and Olsen also argue in their book that evangelicals still function among forces of modernism as well as, keeping to the traditions of balancing divine transcendence and immanence.

The two gives an example of two evangelical theologians by the names Bernard Ramm and Carl Henry who were able to maintain friendship by holding discussions with people who differed on their traditional views of divine transcendence and immanence. Ramm and Henry were both representatives for evangelism who addressed issues dealing with modern theology (Spradley, 1992). Henry was not a systematic theologian; however he continued to remain the speaker of the evangelical tradition.

Henry has also offered evangelical movement, an example of academically informed critique of the developments within the wider stream of twentieth century theology. Henry's primary purpose was to level a critique of modern mentality as well as, setting forth an evangelical alternative; however, he never tackled the challenge of delineating a complete systematic theology (Grenz and Olson, 1992, p. 296). Henry's concern for revelation led to the final major feature of his thought of emphasizing on the doctrine of God as the linchpin of theology.

The link between revelation and God is said to have been forged by Henry's concept as the mediating agent of the divine self-disclosure. In his understanding of divine transcendence and divine immanence, is that, the word of God comes from beyond the world, being divine transcendentally given while not immanent in man as a conception achieved by human imagination.

Because of this emphasis on transcendence and immanence, he therefore asserted that the question concerning the Scripture was the final analysis not an issue concerning the Bible but not God himself (Grenz and Olson, 1992, p. 294). Grenz views on transcendence immanence asserts that the word of God; that is Bible is nothing more than a servant of the unveiling of Jesus Christ who came from Scripture, and that the Scripture is a testimony that allows Jesus to be known to all humankind.

Actually, what Grenz and Olson have attempted to do in their work is to show how theology can be reduced to two basic Christian truths that is transcendence and immanence. The concern in regards to transcendence and immanence was whether the interpretations could actually respond accurate enough not to favor one concept which would have served as one given culture in another's detriment (Grenz, 1994). Grenz states that God should not be identified with the world; however people should understand.