Finding The Right Hills To Die On

Ideas

  • What is it?
  • Why it matters?
  • Application
  1. Introduction
  2. Exordium
  3. Narratio
  4. What is theological triage and why does it matter?
  5. What is theological triage?
  6. Why does it matter
  7. Point 3
  8. Conculsion
  9. Thesis
  10. Amplification
  11. Clincher

“The unity of the church is not an optional add-on–something we can get to later, once we’ve gotten our doctrine straight. The church’s unity is foundational to her identity and misson” – Gavin Ortland in Finding The Right Hills To Die On

In his book Finding The Right Hill To Die On, Gavin Ortland seeks to deal with the issue that the unity of the church is not optional. Christ prayed for the unity of the church (see John 17:20-23). Sadly as we look at the church today, it is often far from unified. We seem to be divided over everything. From large (and valid) docturnal disputes to small issues, the church seems to have a hard time agreeing on much.

Ortland seeks to help us understand when we should divide over doctrine and when we should “agree to disagree”. Some doctrines are more consequential than others. He calls this concept “theological triage”. Here he compares it to medical triage.

Now everyone understands how important triage is in a medical context…In the worst scenario, one person would die so another could have a bruise bandaged.

But we often forget to think in the same way about theology. Sometimes we flatten out all doctrine…More commonly, we have some kind of functional theological triage, but we have not thought it through very self-consciously. As a result, it is determined reactively by our circumstances and termperament rather than proactively by Scripture and principle. (Ortland, 2020)

This summarizes the main point of his book. Theological triage is important since without we waste precious time (and unity) on the wrong things. Yes, some things are worth dividing over, but if we divide over the wrong things, which we often do if we are reactive instead of proactive about triage, then we do unnecessary damage to the church. Instead we need to learn how to do effective triage.

Ortland suggests using a 4 rank scale to triage theological topics.

  1. Non-negotiables - Doctrines essential to the gospel (for example, the Trinity)
  2. Denominational level divison - Doctrines urgent for the health and practice of a church (for example, baptism)
  3. Coexist within a church - Doctrines that are important to theology, but that do not justify seperation (for example, the millennium)
  4. Doctrines that are practically unimportant (for example, the number of angels that exist)

In the book, he goes into details about each level and suggests which level different doctrines should be placed into. He suggests ranking doctrines on a few criteria. 1) How clear is the Bible on this doctrine? 2) What is it’s importance to the gospel? 3) What is the testimony of the historical church? 4) What is it’s effect on the church today? These four questions can help us rank different doctrines well.