Curate’s Chronicles

Now and again I find myself reading blogs / articles to do with the “Federal Vision” and people such as Doug Wilson, Peter Leithart, James Jordan and others. These names may mean nothing to you, but don’t stop reading. They are a group of church leaders in America, all Presbyterian (I think), who are promoting certain doctrines and practices such as:

• Postmillenialism, i.e. the Church will grow and grow, discipling the nations, before Jesus returns;
• Liturgical renewal e.g. lots of (vigorous!) psalm singing, weekly communion;
• Strong view of baptism i.e. someone who is baptised must be considered a Christian unless they are excommunicated.

This is a hopeless summary of a big issue! But it’s all introduction to the main point, which is to say: go here and read these articles! If the names I’ve mentioned make no sense, you will feel like a stranger entering into a strange debate. That’s okay, don’t let it worry you. The once sentence summary is: a big debate within Presbyterian circles about whether the “Federal Vision” represents honest Reformed / Biblical Christianity, or whether it’s a great big danger. Even if the details go over your head, read the articles and enjoy some delightful paragraphs and intriguing ideas. I’ve enjoyed listening on the debate because I enjoy discovering Christians who a) love Jesus and b) uphold a very ‘high’ view of the Bible, but whose practices are often very different from mine, or at least what I’m used to.

Here’s a few sentences to whet your appetite…

1. The Bible is given to help us mature and grow up as images of God so that we take dominion wisely over all of life.

2. The Bible is also given, because of Satan’s rebellion, to teach us holy war against principalities and powers.

3. The Bible is also given, because of Adam’s rebellion, to show us the history of redemption.

4. Because God is Three and One, so is human society, and so the history of redemption is not just about the salvation of individuals but also about the salvation of societies.

5. Jesus Christ has been given all power and authority, and has commanded His people to disciple all nations, promising to be with them and strengthen them by His Spirit until this has been accomplished. There can be no question that Jesus will successfully accomplish this programme, and at the end deliver all to the Father.

Now, these five aspects are rejected by many if not most modern Calvinists…

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When Descartes says, “I can doubt that I exist, therefore I exist,” he reduces everything to the individual. When Rosenstock-Huessy counters, “Others speak to me, and that’s how I know I exist,” he is rejecting that individualism in favor of a Christian view of reality.

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Here are the themes of this essay:

1. Theology today is done in the academy, by academics. The Reformed churches are pastored by academically-trained men, more than a few of whom wish they were seminary professors.

2. Almost none of these men has ever seen any military service.

Now, let us consider the men who wrote the Bible and the context in which the Bible was written. The Bible was written by warriors and by men engaged in warfare. It was not written by academics. The academy is not the right context for understanding the Bible.

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The Calvinistic churches are little more than extensions of the academy. The black robe is the robe of the scholar, not the angelic white robe of a worship leader. The heart of the meeting is the long lecture-sermon. Candles? No! Colored paraments on table and pulpit? No! Flowers? Maybe. The darkest part of the room is the center where the dark wood table and the dark wood massive pulpit and the black-robed preacher are. It’s like looking into hell itself.

But let us consider what a Christian view of the Church would be. It would be a place of transformation, not merely of information. Marshaling the people into an army of psalm chanters would be at the top of the list. Indeed, in seminary several psalms would be chanted every day in chapel. The music in the church would be loud, fast, vigorous, instrumental, martial. There would be real feasts. People would be taught that when God splashes water on you, He’s really doing something: He’s putting you into His rainbow.

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(Note: “Calvinistic” is clearly a negative term here, but the author very much likes Calvin and is in fact claiming to be more authentically ‘Calvinist’ than those who are “Calvinist”. So don’t get worried if you think Calvin’s okay!)

I was preaching yesterday on John 10:1-15 (which is 2/3 of the Good Shepherd passage). Naturally, Ezekiel 34 was the OT reading. In both there is criticism of false shepherds who abuse and harm the sheep; in Ezekiel the particular charge is that the bad shepherds “eat the curds, clothe [themselves] with the wool and slaughter the choice animals” without care for the sheep.

Later I was reading the Sunday Telegraph and found this article about some of Iran’s clerics. The summary says it all:

“The Ayatollah Khomenei brought millions on to the streets of Iran to overthrow the decadence of the Shah. Now the late leader’s grandsons and other Iranian clerics face a backlash over their families’ fondness for fast cars, big houses and hot tubs.”

(NB the sermon is here)

The caricature of Calvin has him sitting alone, writing dry academic theology. The reality is far different, as anyone who’s actually read Calvin’s Institutes knows very well!

But there’s more. An article here (at www.rts.edu/quarterly/fall01/james.html) describes Calvin’s love of mission and supporting missionaries / church planters around the world.

You can hear the original talk (1 hr 45min) at this site if you use iTunes. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to get iTunes working with Linux so if anyone downloads it will you e-mail it to me!!  (Update - thank you TS for doing this, and for not commenting on the [alleged] superiority of Mac to Linux…)

[HT: Between Two Worlds]

First new post in a long time, and here’s a great clip from a recent episode of ER in which a dying man gets frustrated with a liberal chaplain.
“I need a real chaplain who believes in a real God and a real help. … I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to get forgiveness because I am running out of time.”

(HT: A Rambling Guy)