The Hope of the Gospel

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Dr. M. Daniel Carroll Rodas talks to Dr. Mark S. Young about his book on theological education and the next evangelicalism

Detail from “The Gospel Compass for Sailors of All Nations” (ca. 1880), designed by W.C. Miles. Source: Time and Tide Museum of Great Yarmouth Life, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, UK. Photo: Leo Reynolds

 

Old Testament professor Dr. M. Daniel Carroll Rodas talks to Denver Seminary president Dr. Mark S. Young about his book The Hope of the Gospel: Theological Education and the Next Evangelicalism (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2022), which argues for returning evangelicalism to its core commitments.

“We read the Bible too simplistically,” Dr. Young tells Dr. Carroll. “We interpret the Bible too arrogantly, and we apply the Bible too selectively.” Some of us, for instance, treat the Bible like “a handbook with tips for, you know, better living: how to parent your children; how to use your money; how to overcome whatever X,Y,Z. So a lot of evangelical preaching lands on these practical tips of how to live a better life. And, indeed, the Bible is full of wisdom, but it's not just a handbook for happy living.” Dr. Young adds that readers latch on to the idea that the text is “inerrant,” so “we interpret it very arrogantly and say this is the only way this passage can be understood. And then, when I say we apply it selectively—if we're honest with ourselves—we have a canon within the canon. We all choose passages that we say are going to shape the way we do things.”

Along with the book, this conversation is part of the Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) series, an initiative out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology that "gathers diverse groups of people for critical, theological conversations about the meanings and purposes of theological education. The project begins with a recognition that theological education is between the times, on the way. And it works in the confidence that we do not walk this road alone."

 
 
 

“Mark Young writes as thoughtfully as an evangelical and as insightfully as the president of a leading American seminary. Evangelical theological educators should read this book because it will remind them of the gifts that have distinguished this evangelical movement and point them to the generative work that needs to be undertaken to extend those gifts into the future. Others should read this book because it gives needed clarity to the identity confusion evangelicalism is experiencing and provides valuable insight into the work of evangelical theological schools.”

— Daniel O. Aleshire
Executive Director, Association of Theological Schools (1998-2017)

 
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Daniel Carroll Rodas

Dr. M. Daniel Carroll Rodas is the Blanchard Professor of Old Testament at the Wheaton College Graduate School. He holds a ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary and a PhD from the University of Sheffield, both degrees in Old Testament. Dr. Carroll Rodas is half-Guatemalan (his mother was Guatemalan) and was raised bilingual and bicultural. In his youth he spent many summers in Guatemala and later taught many years at El Seminario Teológico Centroamericano in Guatemala City. He has taught Old Testament at Denver Seminary, where he founded a Spanish-language lay training program. At Wheaton, he hopes to model a commitment to connecting careful biblical scholarship with the mission of the church as it engages today’s complex realities. Dr. Carroll Rodas is the author of The Lord Roars: Recovering the Prophetic Voice for Today (Baker Publishing Group, 2022), The Bible and Borders: Hearing God's Word on Immigration (Brazos Press, 2020), and The Book of Amos (New International Commentary on the Old Testament) (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020).

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Mark S. Young

Dr. Mark S. Young, president of Denver Seminary, is a theological educator and pastoral leader with over 40 years of global ministry experience. Prior to joining Denver Seminary in 2009, he served as professor of world missions and intercultural studies at Dallas Theological Seminary from 1995–2009 and was the founding academic dean of the Biblical Theological Seminary in Wroclaw, Poland.

Dr. Young has authored several publications, including The Hope of the Gospel: Theological Education and the Next Evangelicalism (Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2022); One True Story, One True God: What the Bible Is All About (Our Daily Bread Publishing, 2021); “Marriage and the Mission of God,” published in Marriage: Its Foundation; Theology and Mission in a Changing World (Moody Press, 2018); and “Recapturing Evangelical Identity and Mission,” published in Still Evangelical? Insiders Reconsider Political, Social, and Theological Meaning (InterVarsity Press, 2018). He has also presented on issues in theological education and mission for numerous international symposia and conferences.

Dr. Young holds a PhD in Educational Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a ThM in New Testament Literature and Exegesis from Dallas Theological Seminary. He serves as the board chair for the Association of Theological Schools and is a member of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education, Evangelical Theological Society, OMSC Missions Leaders Forum, and several other organizations. He has been married to Priscilla Young for nearly 40 years, has three children and eight grandchildren.

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