Word and Spirit in the theological method of Carl Henry

Widely regarded as the dean of evangelical theologians in the 20th century, Carl Henry made signal contributions to the work of theological method that repay careful study. The basic commitments of Carl Henry's theological method remain valuable for use by evangelicals as a starting point for dogmatic inquiry---namely, his presuppositional apologetic, commitment to intelligible divine revelation, and his recognition of the value of created reason. Yet there are aspects of Henry's method that should be adjusted or expressed with greater theological precision. In particular, we will argue that there is much to be gained by refining Henry's theological method within an explicitly Trinitarian framework. As evangelical theological method is severed from its material principle---the triune God---it is susceptible to becoming an atheological method. With this in view, the crucible for our argument is the relationship between Word and Spirit, which though distinguished on the basis of processions in the Godhead are inseparable in terms of their ad extra mission. We argue that the root deficiency of Henry's method is an unintentional, functional separation of Word and Spirit evidenced by various features of Henry's approach. The concerns which result from this separation prevent even his favorable insights from being readily adopted among those sympathetic to his theological program. Our project proceeds first by offering a positive appraisal of key features of Henry's method before elaborating Henry's conception of Word and Spirit, noting the functional separation that emerges. We then constructively develop the doctrine of Word and Spirit by employing Trinitarian theology and theories of communicative action, such as speech-act theory, which develop divine revelation and its reception in Trinitarian terms. On this basis, we argue for the necessity of a theological theological method which pursues the knowledge of God by explicit appeal to the triune communicative economy. Such an approach, we argue, is consistent with Carl Henry's own Trinitarian instincts and offers a suggestive way forward for evangelical theology which incorporates Henry's best insights and remains faithful to his theological vision.