It seems to me that there's a fight going on right now over exactly what it means to be "Reformed." Now, I'm generally Reformed, but in a kind of post-Barthian, Moltmannian way. The term means little to me, and I don't regard Calvin, Westminster, or Dordt too highly. So, I really don't have a dog in that fight.I wonder what Tony means by "moderately Reformed"?
But for those of you who do, I'd say, "Wake up!" I talk to a lot of moderate Reformed folks, and they generally poo-poo the "Reformed Resurgence" of Piper, Driscoll, et al. They consider the conservatives to be modern-day fundamentalists, to be ignored like all other fundamentalists. But I say to all Reformed Moderates, watch out! The conservatives are building a movement, and they're happy to be ignored.
Meanwhile, Christianity Today is planting it's flag in ground on the same territory as the conservatives. For three issues in a row, they've shown their true colors: 1) a cover story on the preeminence of the penal substitution, 2) a cover story on the conservative Reformed movement (an article which has been described to me as "uncritical" and "polemical"), and 3) a 50th anniversary issue that leaned heavily on Reformed experts -- at the expense of other voices -- to predict the future of evangelicalism.
Like I say, I'm really watching this all from the sidelines (except when Emergent gets dragged into the fray). But I will say this: if the moderates ignore the conservatives, the conservatives will win.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Tony Jones and "Reformed"
Tony has some thoughts here about what it means to be "Reformed". He says:
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I don't know what he means by moderate, but I do know that CT was co-founded by Carl F.H. Henry who is the textbook definition of conservative and basically founded fundamentalism. So it doesn't seem that odd to me that CT would take such a stance. Although, to be honest, they do seem to have wandered a bit from those roots in the recent past.
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