Caleb Lenard has an important essay here arguing for the necessity of historical theology. Theology must always be done in community with both the contemporary and historical church. As the church has effectively severed itself from historical theology, it finds itself in a quagmire of heterodox and heresy that was rejected long ago by the church (such as as the rejection of the historic doctrine of Hell in favor of either universalism or annihilationism.) Historical theology acts as a safety guardrail to keep the contemporary church to keep within the bounds of Biblical theology.

“John of Salisbury nearly ten centuries ago said that, “Bernard of Chartres used to compare us to dwarfs perched on the shoulders of giants. He pointed out that we see more and farther than our predecessors, not because we have keener vision or greater height, but because we are lifted up and borne aloft on their gigantic stature. Salisbury, even as a medieval humanist and bishop of Chartres who lived from 1115-1180, speaks to us today. His point is that we gain knowledge and understand the world around us because of the efforts of those who have gone before us.

But what happens if we ignore those who have come before? To ignore voices from the past is to be guilty of chronological snobbery.[3] It reveals our hubris in assuming that we have no need for the past riches of the Christian inheritance. Furthermore, what if the evangelical yearning for a deep sense of transcendence—despite our twenty-first-century entertainment-driven, fad-based Western society—could be found in such historical connectedness? History and tradition are imperative for our understanding of Christian doctrine and righteous living. And not only are they imperative, but they speak to a serious need in the life of the modern church. How do people living today know the content of the “…faith that was once for all delivered to the saints?” (Jude 3) unless this truth has been revealed, entrusted, and passed down to them through the ages? The theological discipline of historical theology helps us to do just that—to stand on the shoulders of giants as we pass on and contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Churches of our day must engage in historical theology not only because it is wise and timely but because it is necessary.“