There’s been a multi-part exchange of posts between Rod Dreher and Damon Linker over the issue of gay marriage these last few days. Andrew Sullivan has also weighed in on the matter. Makes for some interesting reading.
Daily Archives: March 30, 2009
Again, Reformed Confessionalism
Posted by Halden
on March 30, 2009
12 comments
The current resurgence of confessionalism in conservative Reformed churches in America has pretty much convinced me that any notion of Reformed identity is self-referentially incoherent, at least in terms of praxis. The strong desire to preserve and codify the meaning of “being Reformed” requires that the confessions become the rule of faith and the criterion of membership for these churches. If you disagree with the confessions, you aren’t Reformed, end of story.
However, this notion of being “Reformed” as a completed, settled criterion is utterly contrary to one of the foundational theological underpinnings of the Reformation, namely the the church must be always reforming. Semper reformanda has ceased to be a “Reformed” distinctive. If you suggest a “reformation” to any confessional standard, you have to take your toys and go home since you’re no longer “Reformed” and should find fellowship with other such “non-Reformed” Christians.
Oddly enough the current resurgence of confessionalism among Reformed churches has taken them to the opposite extreme of actual Reformation theology. The fundamental axiom of Reformation theology is the church’s fallibility and constant need of self-examination. This new confessionalism precludes any such theological self-examination taking place within Reformed churches. They effectively taken on the same magisterial and ideological quality that they charge the Roman Catholic Church with. Ironic.
Are the “New Calvinists” Reformed?
Posted by Halden
on March 30, 2009
9 comments
Time Magazine ranks the “New Calvinism” as number three on the list of the top ten ideas changing the world. This is actually a self-applied term by the Mark Driscoll crowd, and basically it names a movement within the emergentish sector of evangelical Christians (i.e. middle class white people in their twenties and early thirties) toward a few theological emphases. Basically it amounts to an enthusiastic propagation of a strongly deterministic account divine providence and predestination, strong advocacy for a hierarchical theology of gender roles both in the church and home, and a zealous missiology.
One of the key adjectives for this group is the label “Reformed.” They take great delight in affirming their distinct status as the new heirs of the Reformed tradition. They love Spurgeon, Edwards, Calvin, and any and all things Puritan.
However, a look at the theological conflicts within the Presbyterian and Reformed churches in America reveal something interesting. Within actual Reformed churches there is massive infighting over what counts as truly being “Reformed.” Within the more conservative denominations there is a strong surge towards reasserting the Reformed confessions of the sixteenth century as the definition of what it means to belong to the Reformed tradition.
In short, in response to various theological developments, particularly related to Pauline scholarship, there is a massive resurgence of a rigid confessionalism as the definition of Reformed identity. And on the one hand, this is fairly reasonable, I think. After all, if you want the adjective to have an meaning as a moniker it has to have some concrete content. However, if the Reformed confessions are taken as a stable criterion of what counts as being “Reformed”, then the irony is that the New Calvinists are not Reformed at all. Key Reformed distinctives, like infant baptism, Christ’s Eucharistic presence, the threefold pattern of ministry, etc. are not embraced by the New Calvinists.
So, what we really have in this new movment is not actually a rebirth of “Reformed theology” in any historically meaningful sense. What we have is a typically evangelical gerrymandering of historical sources designed to support a few key theological commitments, namely to a strong theology of determinism and gender roles. So, the interesting question to be asking, then, is not “Why is Reformed theology making a comeback?” becuase it, in fact is not. Rather the interesting question is why is there such a substantial evangelical undertow attracting people to a strongly deterministic doctrine of God and rigidly defined gender roles?
Classic Mental Health Break
Posted by Halden
on March 30, 2009
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Painting of the Day
Posted by Halden
on March 30, 2009
3 comments
Discipleship Without Regret
Posted by Halden
on March 30, 2009
2 comments
Ben has pointed us to the relatively new book coauthored by Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier, Living Gently in a Violent World. One might argue that in some respects, Stanley has gotten more gentle as the years have gone on. Regardless, however, he’s definitely right in this remark:
“Long story short: we don’t get to make our lives up. We get to receive our lives as gifts. The story that says we should have no story except the story we chose … is a lie. To be human is to learn that we don’t get to make up our lives because we’re creatures…. Christian discipleship is about learning to receive our lives as gifts without regret” (p. 93).
I think the point about receiving our lives as gifts without regret is enormously important. The fact of the matter is that if we are going to be serious about our discipleship, we are all, in one way or another going to have to sacrifice our “dreams.” Being able to do so without regret is an integral part of the shalom the gospel proclaims. The question we all face is whether or not we really think that the journey of discipleship will leave us disappointed or not.
Will the Recession Engender Revolution?
Posted by Halden
on March 30, 2009
6 comments
An Adbusters editorial thinks it might indeed:
Young people in the West are pissed off as they stare into an increasingly empty and precarious future. If Obama’s stimulus packages fail and Sarkozy’s “new capitalism” doesn’t catch hold, “hope and change” will be mere campaign slogans — bearing no connection to reality. Left with forfeited promises, ravaged planetary ecosystems and forced to deal with the massive debt left to them by their parents, no amount of rhetoric will douse their generational discontent. Out of this frustration and anger, a charismatic new leader — a “Lily the Red” — may suddenly appear in Berlin, or Berkeley or maybe Beijing and spark a wave of protests around the world.
The recent food riots may also be a harbinger of things to come. The world’s one billion slum dwellers are the real victims of the economic collapse and it’s only a matter of time before a leader emerges from among them to call for a jihad against the decadent West. His fiery speeches will trigger massive protests against the richest one billion, whose economic philosophies and immoral five-planet lifestyles are accelerating climate change and propagating misery and inequity throughout the world. He will lead the call for a radical new frugality in Western lifestyles, repayment of the West’s ecological debt and a democratic overhaul of the UN Security Council, the IMF and World Bank.
This year, or maybe next, our neoliberal world order will explode like a million fireworks against the night sky and we shouldn’t doubt or fear, but celebrate, because one dream is ending and another being born.
The Recession in Pictures
Posted by Halden
on March 30, 2009
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Slate has put together a pretty cool slideshow of photos documenting the current economic situation in America. My favorite so far:
Wendell Berry: On Stage
Posted by Halden
on March 30, 2009
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Interesting news from fans of Wendell Berry. Apparently his poetry has served to provide the source material for an on stage play, entitled “Wild Blessings.” The Actors Theater of Louisville will stage a production drawn exclusively from Berry’s poems, including his famous “Mad Farmer Liberation Front.”
When asked about the matter, Berry had this to say: “I didn’t know what to think. I still don’t know what to think. . . . After I see it I guess I’ll have an idea.”
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