Beyond the Silence: The Role of Silence in Determining Authority

Rating:
Summary: He Started the Conversation
Review: Despite some possible flaws in his presentation of this subject, John Brown at least got the conversation started! Another reviewer points us to a book by F. Lagard Smith on a similar subject: Keep in mind that Mr. Smith wrote his book after Mr. Brown and may have been greatly influenced by it. As a matter of fact, several books have been written on this subject since Brown's book came out. In any case, Mr. Brown was very brave to admit that he preached for decades using "the law of silence", which he now thinks was wrong. More preachers and teachers and leaders in our churches should be willing to open themselves up to ridicule in this way when necessary. That's called leadership. So what that he's not as scholarly as law professors like Smith! At least he had the guts to stick his neck out and say what so many of us were thinking. This book outlines all the common arguments and presents solid scriptural reasons to refute them. He plainly lists all the scriptures so you can look it up and decide for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond the Silence is freeing
Review: John Brown is very well versed in "Church of Christisms" and presents his excellent study of the arguments which he used for years in support of the authority of Biblical silence. Brown now exposes the hidden flaws of the arguements supporting the widely accepted Church of Christ hermaneutic of the authority of silence and gives convincing evidence that Biblical Silence is mythological and proves nothing.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond the Mark
Review: The author attacks the "law of silence," a law he attributes to the traditional hermeneutic of "command, example, and necessary inference" applied in many churches of Christ. He describes the law as "anything that is not specifically authorized is not allowed." He criticizes this law as impossible to apply consistently and as "productive of division and great harm to the cause of Christ."

The author begins his attack on the "law of silence" with the assertion, "Silence is like blankness; it is nothing." To illustrate this, on page 3 of the book he states that the next page is blank and challenges the reader with the statement, "What do you see on it? You see nothing, otherwise it would not be blank." On page 5, he continues his argument with the assertion, "Silence is like blankness; it is nothing."

Ironically, this "blank page" illustration undercuts the author's central premise. Not only can one say that the completely blank page between the numbered pages 3 and 5 is page 4 as surely as if the number were written on it, the very reason the author included the blank page in the book was to attempt to communicate something! What the illustration actually proves is that silence may or may not say something, depending on its context. That is a profound point, although not the point the author intended to make.

In the chapters that follow, the author suggests that the "law of silence" he is attacking is widely applied in the churches of Christ. Late in the book, however, he acknowledges that virtually every church of Christ in the world accepts many things that would be prohibited by the "law of silence," including church buildings, gospel invitations at assemblies, baptistries, English (or other) translations of the Bible, church literature (other than the Bible), congregational singing, song leaders, pitch pipes or tuning forks, singing in harmony, pews or other seating in church buildings, two separate meetings on Sundays, meetings during the week, Sunday school classes, handshaking (as opposed to the "holy kiss" of Scripture), missionary journeys by auto, horseback or airplane, and the use of projectors, videos or other visual aids in teaching or preaching.

Again, the author undercuts his own argument. If virtually every church of Christ in the world accepts most or all of the above things as within Scriptural authority, then virtually no church of Christ in the world actually applies the "law of silence" the author is attacking. The author, in other words, is not attacking a real position, merely a "straw man."

After knocking down this "straw man," the author claims victory for his position, which, in essence, is that the silence of Scriptures is not prohibitive, but permissive. He attempts to place some limitations on this position, stating that silence should not be read to permit things that are specifically condemned, things that are prohibited in principle, things that would prevent compliance with express commands, and things that are contrary to the "instinctive" or "inner law" of conscience "which God has written in the heart of man."

These limitations are so nebulous that virtually anything not expressly condemned could be justified under the author's hermeneutic. The only practical limitations on the work and worship of the church would be the fads and inhibitions of each generation. Judged by the author's indictment of the "law of silence" as difficult to apply and productive of division, his own hermeneutic appears to be a step backward.

The author's argument includes critiques of many of the so-called "proof texts" for the principle that silence can be restrictive. Some of these critiques appear valid. Others appear strained. Surprisingly, the author makes no attempt to discuss Matthew 28:18-20, a passage that is very difficult to read consistent with his position that lack of affirmative authority is generally permissive.

Despite its serious flaws, this book does make some needed points. Among these are that the old hermeneutic of "command, example, and necessary inference" has led some in the churches of Christ to focus on the letter of the law to the exclusion of its spirit, context, and core message, that not everything must be specifically authorized, that not all commands are universally applicable, that not all examples are limitations on authority, and that "reasonable inferences" should not be mistaken for "necessary inferences." On those points, the book has its place for the careful student. A more thoughtful and compelling critique of the old hermeneutic--along with a more workable refinement--can be found in F. LaGard Smith's 1992 book "The Cultural Church."