How Much Did the OT Writers Know? (2): The Spectre of Bibliological Eutychianism

Dr. Bill Evans

Dr. Bill Evans of Erskine College has written a post here regarding a growing theological controversy at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia (actually, it seems that the controversy has already been settled unilaterally).

At the heart of this controversy is the question, how much did the human authors of the Old Testament know when they were writing prophetically or typologically about Christ? Did they actually know they were doing typology?

Dr. Evans suggests that critics of the so-called “christotelic” interpretation of the Old Testament might be guilty of an unintended “bibliological Eutychianism.” Eutychianism was an early church heresy that blended the human and divine natures of Christ into a unique hybrid (a “tertium quid”), rather than holding his two natures together yet distinct. In the context of his post, Dr. Evans is referring to a view of biblical inspiration that ascribes to the human OT authors a quasi-divine insight that potentially compromises their own humanity.