Oct 13, 2026 · 2 hr 6 min · 14 segments
Theological retrieval has become a common phrase in evangelical theology—but what does it mean, and how should Baptists approach it? In the first episode of Faculty Lounge, Patrick Schreiner is joined…
Ronni KurtzHost
Patrick SchreinerHost
Gavin OrtlundGuestJohn MeadePanelistAndrew KingPanelist
Peter GurryPanelistSo it's been, I don't know if you're paying attention, but it's been 10 years since the Trinity debates, and if people don't know what that was, online things about the Trinity and how we describe the Trinity kind of blew up online, so it's been 10 years, 2016, since that happened.
And so we thought it would be a good idea to sit down and talk about what is theological retrieval, how do you do it well, what are the benefits, what are the dangers, and maybe one of the questions we should ask towards the end is h- have we gone too far with this as Evangelicals? So we all teach as, at an Evangelical school, and so we wanna talk about this kind of movement of theological retrieval.
But the way I wanna start, actually, is by, um, acting kind of as the skeptic, and what I mean by that is I think pastors will probably be interested in this, maybe, maybe interested in this, but they might also wonder, like, why does this matter? Is this an academic fad? I, I'm, I'm preaching the scriptures week in, week out, uh, trying to exegete the text, and when you say theological retrieval, it sounds like something you guys maybe in your faculty lounge talk about, but maybe it doesn't have a lot of impact upon me and my preaching.
Like, how does this relate to issues like sola Scriptura? So I wanna throw out that question first and just ask you, like, for the everyday pastor or the minister of the gospel, does this conversation matter? And if it does matter, why does it matter? So, uh, maybe Ronnie or Sam, if I can pitch that to you guys and see what you think about that.
I, I think one thing that I would... [sighs] It might sound odd, but as we were even thinking about doing this episode, um, I obviously, given, you know, what, what I write about, what I think about, I have an interest in this conversation, I have a stake in the conversation.
But what's interesting about, like, my stake or interest in the conversation is I don't consciously think of this as a movement, or I don't think of myself as, like, part of a movement.
I think of it more as, like, a particular theological method that has been helpful for me, uh, uh, throughout the course of my career, both pastoral career and academic career.
And so I would say, um, this matters insomuch as any kind of retrieval can give us a better view of God.
And insomuch as that's the goal, then it can be helpful, like any other kind of intellectual field can be helpful.
The goal that I'm after in returning to classical sources, to old sources, to classical ways of thinking, what I'm after is the glory of God and the good of His people, and if there is help to be had from returning to old sources on those fronts, the glory of God and the good of His people, then it will always matter.
Yeah, I, I like to think about theological retrieval as fundamentally a, a conviction of, uh, belief in Christ when He said that He would build His church and that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it.
Um, if we believe that that's true, then it's, it's a faith position to say that the, the church has never been altogether forsaken by-
And so, um, yeah, I think it's a, it's a position of humility to, um, sort of recognize that we're not the first people on the planet-
... to, uh, come to God's word, and so we come to God's word w- with the, you know, just like how we would sit t- sit down with a group of other people and s- and sort of say, "W- what are you looking at?" Or we're reading contemporary commentaries and that kind of thing, um, and we're anticipating when John is gonna write a biblical commentary and looking forward to receiving that.
Um, but, uh, uh, so we do that with contemporary thinkers and with people in our own lives, but, um, we, uh, it's a, it's a kind of position of humility to sort of recognize there are other people who have done that as well, who have, uh, looked at the scriptures, have contemplated God, um, have contemplated His word, and so yeah, uh, uh, we don't want to be hubris in the way that we approach God's word.
So it's been, I don't know if you're paying attention, but it's been 10 years since the Trinity debates, and if people don't know what that was, online things about the Trinity and how we describe the Trinity kind of blew up online, so it's been 10 years, 2016, since that happened.
And so we thought it would be a good idea to sit down and talk about what is theological retrieval, how do you do it well, what are the benefits, what are the dangers, and maybe one of the questions we should ask towards the end is h- have we gone too far with this as Evangelicals? So we all teach as, at an Evangelical school, and so we wanna talk about this kind of movement of theological retrieval.
But the way I wanna start, actually, is by, um, acting kind of as the skeptic, and what I mean by that is I think pastors will probably be interested in this, maybe, maybe interested in this, but they might also wonder, like, why does this matter? Is this an academic fad? I, I'm, I'm preaching the scriptures week in, week out, uh, trying to exegete the text, and when you say theological retrieval, it sounds like something you guys maybe in your faculty lounge talk about, but maybe it doesn't have a lot of impact upon me and my preaching.
Like, how does this relate to issues like sola Scriptura? So I wanna throw out that question first and just ask you, like, for the everyday pastor or the minister of the gospel, does this conversation matter? And if it does matter, why does it matter? So, uh, maybe Ronnie or Sam, if I can pitch that to you guys and see what you think about that.
I, I think one thing that I would... [sighs] It might sound odd, but as we were even thinking about doing this episode, um, I obviously, given, you know, what, what I write about, what I think about, I have an interest in this conversation, I have a stake in the conversation.
But what's interesting about, like, my stake or interest in the conversation is I don't consciously think of this as a movement, or I don't think of myself as, like, part of a movement.
I think of it more as, like, a particular theological method that has been helpful for me, uh, uh, throughout the course of my career, both pastoral career and academic career.
And so I would say, um, this matters insomuch as any kind of retrieval can give us a better view of God.
And insomuch as that's the goal, then it can be helpful, like any other kind of intellectual field can be helpful.
The goal that I'm after in returning to classical sources, to old sources, to classical ways of thinking, what I'm after is the glory of God and the good of His people, and if there is help to be had from returning to old sources on those fronts, the glory of God and the good of His people, then it will always matter.
Yeah, I, I like to think about theological retrieval as fundamentally a, a conviction of, uh, belief in Christ when He said that He would build His church and that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it.
Um, if we believe that that's true, then it's, it's a faith position to say that the, the church has never been altogether forsaken by-
And so, um, yeah, I think it's a, it's a position of humility to, um, sort of recognize that we're not the first people on the planet-
... to, uh, come to God's word, and so we come to God's word w- with the, you know, just like how we would sit t- sit down with a group of other people and s- and sort of say, "W- what are you looking at?" Or we're reading contemporary commentaries and that kind of thing, um, and we're anticipating when John is gonna write a biblical commentary and looking forward to receiving that.
Um, but, uh, uh, so we do that with contemporary thinkers and with people in our own lives, but, um, we, uh, it's a, it's a kind of position of humility to sort of recognize there are other people who have done that as well, who have, uh, looked at the scriptures, have contemplated God, um, have contemplated His word, and so yeah, uh, uh, we don't want to be hubris in the way that we approach God's word.
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