Shaking Up The Church

I found this article while browsing through Josh Harris's blog. I don't know Josh. I do know his brothers and his parents a bit (my dad and his dad, Greg Harris, were key people in the early homeschool convention circuit).

Anyway, the article is quite good. It is spotlighting a trend in theological thought that I think is good. Basically it is getting back to God's sovereignity and power, something that has been overlooked (at the worst) or at least not emphasized enough in recent decades.

The primary person who is responsible for this resurgence is John Piper, interestingly enough. It is also a resurgence of the doctrines that Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield and Charles Spurgeon propounded.

Its exuberant young advocates reject generic evangelicalism and tout the benefits of in-depth biblical doctrine. They have once again brought the perennial debate about God's sovereignty and humans' free will to the forefront.
The evidence for the resurgence is partly institutional and partly anecdotal. But it's something that a variety of church leaders observe. While the Emergent "conversation" gets a lot of press for its appeal to the young, the new Reformed movement may be a larger and more pervasive phenomenon. It certainly has a much stronger institutional base. I traveled to some of the movement's leading churches and institutions and talked to theologians, pastors, and parishioners, trying to understand Calvinism's new appeal and how it is changing American churches.

The theological depth attracted Harris. "Once you're exposed to [doctrine]," he said, "you see the richness in it for your own soul, and you're ruined for anything else."
He notices the same attraction among his cohorts. "I just think there's such a hunger for the transcendent and for a God who is not just sitting around waiting for us to show up so that the party can get started."

That's right, Reformed Theology. I go to a Reformed church (Prebyterian Church of America, not to be confused with Presbyterian Church of the United States of America, which is liberal).

The article is extremely interesting. It also points out something that I think is important.

Cochran bolstered his arguments by boasting that he had never even read Calvin. Indeed, the renowned reformer appears not to be a major figure among the latest generation to claim the theology he made famous. Centuries ago, George Whitefield, the Calvinistic Methodist evangelist of the First Great Awakening, similarly argued: "Alas, I never read anything that Calvin wrote; my doctrines I had from Christ and his apostles; I was taught them of God."

The point being, people aren't thinking this way just because they are latching on to some theologian or theology. They are thinking through what the Bible says.

Now, that doesn't mean that because you aren't Reformed you aren't thinking through what the Bible says. I don't mean that.

But in a broader sense, regardless of what theology you hold to, if you get it from the Bible and not from some system or some person other than Jesus Christ, you are on the right track.

Ultimatly, as my dad says, it is what the Bible teaches that you should follow, not what someone else who read the Bible says it says.

Anyway, a great article, it points out the trend, shows some of the roots of Reformed theology and the roots of the current resurgence, and also points out the problems that Reformed theology has (namely in evangelism) and points out the answers to that.

All in all, very interesting.

By the by, I have put up a few links on the side. One is to Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York. Tim Keller is a great teacher and pastor, and his Q and A (which are available for free download off the site) are quite good.