Yet Ames had his day. His books were in the libraries of most New England clergy in the days before the United States, or the Presbyterian church, appeared on the scene. He taught in the Netherlands after being educated at Christ College, Cambridge under the great Puritan, William Perkins (1558-1602). He was called “the learned Dr. Ames.” His sterling work was The Marrow of Theology, a compendium of Puritan theology in the Reformed stream and Cases of Conscience, a detailed treatment of ethics that was a precursor to pastoral care literature and a genuine “pastoral” theology.
Why dust off Ames today?
The first sections of his Marrow are why. He defines theology as “the doctrine or teaching [doctrina] of living to God” (I.1.1). Ames splendidly captures the Puritan spirit of Reformed faith. In a nutshell he depicts theology at its best. Theology is not intellectualism or emotionalism or activism. Theology is “living to God.” Ames wrote: “Since the highest kind of life for a human being is that which approaches most closely the living and life-giving God, the nature of theological life is living to God” (I.1.5).
Ames says it is possible for humans to live “both happily and well.” But, he argues, “[euzoia] living well is more excellent than [eudaimonia] living happily” (I.1.8). Imagine that! It’s not the “pursuit of happiness” to which we are entitled, or should pursue — it is “living to God”!
The goal is to look in the right direction in life. This is what theology urges us toward. For Ames, “what chiefly and finally ought to be striven for is not happiness which has to do with our own pleasure, but goodness which looks to God’s glory” (I.1.8). We live unto God, coram Deo, before the face of God. Our energies are to be directed to God’s glory, not our own aggrandize-ment or enhancement. This is a basic Reformed instinct. Ames says theology helps us know what this means: “For this reason, theology is better defined as that good life whereby we live to God than that happy life whereby we live to ourselves” (I.1.8). It’s the “good life” directed to God’s glory rather than the “happy life” of self-fulfillment that is the goal of Christian living.
How do we know the shape of the “good life” or what it means to be “living to God”? We study theology! This is theology — “the doctrine or teaching [doctrina] of living to God.” No wonder Ames is right that “theology is not a speculative discipline but a practical one” (I.1.10). We may wish much of what has been written as “theology” in the centuries since the Puritan’s death had heeded his direction. Ames put it all together when he wrote:
Theology, therefore is to us the ultimate and the noblest of all exact teaching arts. It is a guide and master plan for our highest end, sent in a special manner from God, treating of divine things, tending towards God, and leading [us] to God. It may therefore not incorrectly be called theozoia, a living to God, or theourgia, a working toward God, as well as theology (I.1.13).
For Ames, “the two parts of theology are faith and observance” (1.2.1). Theology is “faith” which is “the resting of the heart on God” (I.3.1); and “observance” as what we do in “perform-ance of the will of God for the glory of God” (II.1.1).
Whither theology today? Especially, whither theology for pastors — those who are ministers of the gospel in the church and who lead the people of God?
If Ames is right on what theology is, then “doing theology” should be central to all we do as pastors. It is the axis of our identity. The “pastor as theologian” is not an incidental image of the pastor’s role and task. It shapes all because it encompasses all life. Theology is “the doctrine or teaching of living to God.”
Three dimensions emerge from this understanding of theology articulated by Puritanism’s “learned Doctor.”
1. We Study Theology. Theology helps us learn how to live to God. So we must study theol-ogy. Pastors should not leave their seminary theology textbooks on their shelves. They need to use these and study more. Reading serious theology can easily be a casualty of over-crowded pastoral demands. But this seriously undervalues the key reality of what theology is. How can we neglect this central means of learning how to live to God? Erasmus said, “Wear the old cloak. Buy the new book.” Would we do so today?
2. We Teach Theology. We study to learn. We learn to teach. Our church has let something significant slip if we have jettisoned language of the pastor as a “teaching elder.” If theology is the “teaching [doctrina] of living to God,” how can we fulfill our pastoral role unless we take considerable time and care to teach theology in our churches? Theology helps all Christians “live to God.” How will they know without a teacher? Vital theology taught in our churches is a crucial necessity if the church is to be renewed by those who know the reality of “living to God.”
3. We Live Theology. If theology is “that good life whereby we live to God,” and helps us know the will of God, then theology is not a subject detached from life, it’s of the essence of Christian living. There is the greatest difference between knowing “about God” and “knowing God.” Theology nourishes us. It’s how we seek our “highest end,” to help us look to God’s glory. Theology is “spirituality,” as the term is used today. But “spirituality” not theologically grounded cannot be genuinely vital. A theology of the “living and life-giving God” makes us who we are as Christians who devote our whole selves to “living to God.”
[Ames’ work is still in print as The Marrow of Theology, translated John D. Eusden (Baker, 1983).]
Posted Nov. 5, 2003
Donald K. McKim is editor for academic and reference works for WJKP and lives in Germantown, Tenn.
Send your comment on this guest viewpoint to The Outlook.
Please give your full name and hometown.
