Bryan Ball on his new book, the Bible and his birthday
Avondale Academic Press is celebrating the 80th birthday of an honorary senior research fellow at Avondale College of Higher Education by launching a commemorative book. Grounds for Assurance and Hope is a collection of biblical and historical writings by Dr Bryan Ball, a former president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific and principal of Avondale. The collection reflects Ball’s academic interests, including Puritan history and belief, the authority of the Bible and the history of English translations of the Bible, as well as theological topics such as redemption and eschatology. Ball answers questions about the book, the Bible and his birthday.
The challenge for any historian is to find relevance from the past. How do you keep history relevant?
History is essentially an account of people’s thoughts and actions rather than an impersonal sequence of events, dates and places. It becomes relevant when we understand that these people are very much like us—they often faced challenges similar to those we face today. Their lives are part of the continuing story of human existence, a story that’s moving to a final culmination and that frequently reveals God’s dealings with individuals and with nations.
One-third of your book is about historical theology. What can we learn from it to bring more meaning to our contemporary understanding of God?
Theology is our attempt to understand God and how He relates to us. Historical theology is the study of that process as it took place at a given time in the past. Knowing how this process took place can help us understand the process today, particularly by understanding why people believed as they did and whether or not their reasons for doing so were valid.
You’ve spent a lifetime writing about Seventh-day Adventist identity. Scripture has been your primary source. What if anything still surprises you when you read your Bible?
I’m constantly reminded of two things—the relevance of the Bible to human existence in general and to me personally in particular. I’m also pleasantly surprised by its constant freshness, which comes across in most modern versions.
You’ve shared your reading and research with others, including those outside your circle of influence within the Adventist Church. Why do you write and publish?
The short answer is to help others understand the essentials of the Christian faith. I also want to help people understand correctly what Adventists believe and why they believe it.
You’re an octogenarian now. As you look back over your faith journey, what is the one piece of advice you give to a believer and to a non-believer?
To those who already believe, I say, “Take courage: what you believe has a solid foundation in Scripture and in history.” As the apostle Peter explained, “We did not follow cunningly devised fables” in arriving at our conclusions. To those who do not yet believe and who may have doubts, a word of encouragement, “Take time: find out the facts and then separate fact from fiction.” This may require time and also honesty‚ especially honesty with oneself, and that’s often notoriously difficult. But the rewards are incalculable.
Grounds for Assurance and Hope
Grounds for Assurance and Hope: Selected Biblical and Historical Writings of Bryan W Ball is an 80th birthday commemorative selection reflecting Ball’s academic interests, including Puritan history and belief, the authority of the Bible and the history of English translations of the Bible, as well as theological topics such as redemption and eschatology. The book includes several previously unpublished chapters and contributions from other authors that provide a brief biography of Ball’s life and evaluations of his published works. Grounds for Assurance and Hope: Selected Biblical and Historical Writings of Bryan W Ball is available from Adventist Book Centres, the Avondale Online Store and Amazon.
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