Take William Ames. He had an enormous impact on Dutch Reformed Theology (and therefore much of Reformed theology). He was present at the Synod of Dort and his opinions helped shape some of the conclusions reached. Nevertheless, if someone has heard of him, most likely they have only read his Marrow of Theology. This isn’t a bad thing, but there is so much more that one can read from him. He was a giant of the faith and very few would even know who he is.
One of my friends here (a fellow PhD candidate) and I have an on going conversation about what makes a theologian have a lasting impact. When talking about someone like say, Karl Barth, there is a school of thought that says he had some sort of innate genius. There are others who would argue that he happened to be the right person at the right time. As we discuss it more, I think that we are both convinced that lasting impact has more to do with the environment surrounding a person than the innate genius of the person. That is not say many of the people we remember weren’t geniuses. It is just acknowledging that there are many who were geniuses but have been forgotten.
We can look at countless examples of people that really should be more widely read than they are. Take William Ames. He had an enormous impact on Dutch Reformed Theology (and therefore much of Reformed theology). He was present at the Synod of Dort and his opinions helped shape some of the conclusions reached. Nevertheless, if someone has heard of him, most likely they have only read his Marrow of Theology. This isn’t a bad thing, but there is so much more that one can read from him. He was a giant of the faith and very few would even know who he is. Now take the countless number of saints who no one knows about (many times because their writings didn’t survive or they didn’t write). They lived, they died, and they were forgotten.
This conversation is interesting for PhD students mainly because there is a larger question of why does this matter? Will my research have a lasting impact? The honest answer to that question is probably not. The most I would hope for is that my thesis moves the conversation forward a little bit. However, having a massive impact, being a ‘Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, or Packer’, an honest assessment of things tells me that is probably not going to be the case.
It is easy to delude ourselves into thinking that we will make a bigger impact than we actually will. Yet, I am not writing this as a lament. I do not bemoan the fact that my research will most likely not be read in fifty years because this isn’t that important. Don’t get me wrong. I love what I am doing. I think it is valuable, but the important things are when I get home and pray, read, and spend time with my family. The important things happen on a Sunday morning as I gather for worship. The important things happen when I am at the gym making friendships with people I would otherwise never have the opportunity to talk with. The important things happen later this year when we pick our little girl and see our family change forever. These are the important things.
[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]
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