The Importance of Biblical Realism

Ken Hamrick, owner of The forgotten Realist, has graciously allowed me to contribute a guest post on "The Importance of Biblical Realism." Ken himself has written on the subject of biblical realism more than any other living writer I know. We have corresponded many times in the past decade, over which he has helped me answer hard questions, directed me to Reformed resources, and has been a loving brother in Christ. 

The following is an excerpt of my contribution, and those interested in more are encouraged to follow the above link as well as to peruse other posts that Ken himself has written on his site: 

Nominalism and Biblical Realism: Defined and Distinguished

Consider a “nominal” Christian. These are people who say they are Christians but are Christians in name only (Mathew 7:21-22). They are not really Christians.

Or consider anthropology, the study of man. A nominalist regarding metaphysical universals may think or say that you and I are “human,” but in making such an ascription or predication, the nominalist would nevertheless deny that his or her concept of “human” corresponds to a reality such as human nature. Therefore, the ascription or predication the nominalist makes is nominal, or in name only.

W. G. T. Shedd concisely distinguishes nominalism from biblical realism – denying the former and affirming the latter (of which more shall be written below) – when he writes:

A species or specific nature then, though an invisible principle, is a real entity, not a mere idea. When God creates a primordial substance which is to be individualized by propagation, that which is created is not a mental abstraction or general term having no objective correspondent. A specific nature has a real existence, not a nominal. (Dogmatic Theology, page 768, link)

Now, the very citation of theologians such as Shedd proves that not all Protestants are nominalists about metaphysical universals. Still less is it possible to contend that Protestant theologians have been unaware of the subject. As Richard Muller says, “there is certainly evidence that Protestant theologians and philosophers were aware of the trajectories of thought that flowed out of the later Middle Ages into the Renaissance and Reformation eras—whether the Thomistic, Scotistic, or the nominalistic lines of argument” (Post Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 3, page 107).

Shedd and fellow Protestants have traced out biblical realism in theological loci such as anthropology, Christology, hamartiology, and soteriology.