{"id":290,"date":"2017-09-06T22:13:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T22:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/divergence.blog\/?p=290"},"modified":"2017-09-06T22:13:00","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T22:13:00","slug":"the-reformed-tradition-a-gateway-theology-maybe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2017\/09\/06\/the-reformed-tradition-a-gateway-theology-maybe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reformed Tradition: A Gateway Theology? Maybe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Most of us don\u2019t go from one paradigm to another quickly, or in one move.\u00a0 Some have, but most don\u2019t (my opinion).\u00a0 I know it was a slow process for me (maybe I\u2019m just slow!).\u00a0 It was a series of awakenings over time.\u00a0 In popular culture, we talk about \u201cgate-way\u201d drugs.\u00a0 Supposedly, some moderately dangerous drugs lead to more dangerous ones.\u00a0 The Reformed tradition and theology were, for me, a \u201cgateway\u201d theology leading, not to something more dangerous (although, maybe\u2026) but out of<\/em> funda-gelicalism, so, I think toward a better way, a \u201cgateway\u201d then, in a positive sense.\u00a0 You get my point\u2014this was a good gateway.<\/p>\n

Although I was Southern Baptist, I wasn\u2019t really that familiar with the Reformed tradition<\/a> (other than in a very general sense). \u00a0I thought of Catholics in a Chick Track<\/a> sort of way (ignorantly) and knew that Southern Baptists were Protestants (and right about everything, of course\u2026). \u00a0The first awakening for me was in seminary.\u00a0 In seminary, even evangelical ones, students are made to read outside (thank God!) their normal parochial favorites, which is often the best-selling popular pastors or theologians writing practical helps or theology for laypeople.\u00a0 Simply having to read the writings of those outside modern popular fundamentalist and evangelical authors, including the ancient Fathers, the Magisterial Reformers, etc., was significant in my journey.<\/p>\n

The next awakening, was being drawn to pastors and theologians who, in my mind, were so insightful in their critiques of fundamentalism and aspects of evangelicalism.\u00a0 They often touched on, or articulated, many of the things I also felt regarding funda-gelicalism\u2019s teachings, methods, worship, and sensibilities but couldn\u2019t quite put my finger on.\u00a0 I began to notice a common thread.\u00a0 These critiques were drawn mostly from the Reformed tradition (for more on the difference between the Reformed tradition and fundamentalism\/evangelicalism see here<\/a>).\u00a0 Some of the people I read were Michael Horton, Peter Leithart, Doug Wilson, David F. Wells, Kim Riddlebarger, R.C. Sproul, Mark Dever, James Montgomery Boice, people from the White Horse Inn, Ligonier Ministries, etc.<\/p>\n

I was also heavily influenced by those who identified as evangelicals but, to their credit, were still critical of many of its aspects and these were people like\u00a0Mark Noll\u00a0<\/a>and Os Guinness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t, of course, stop there.\u00a0 There were many more awakenings (more posts on that in the future).\u00a0 But that is part of my journey. \u00a0Note too that it wasn\u2019t simply reading different information, or obtaining different head knowledge that made the difference, part of these awakenings, for me anyway, were in sensibility, and with my spirit, my heart.<\/p>\n

So, watch out kids, don\u2019t drink too deeply from the Reformed tradition or those evangelicals serious enough to be critical of their own tradition, you may (or may not\u2014we\u2019re all different) find yourself imbibing even more powerful elixirs of faith, practice, and theology.<\/p>\n

Cheers.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of us don\u2019t go from one paradigm to another quickly, or in one move.\u00a0 Some have, but most don\u2019t (my opinion).\u00a0 I know it was a slow process for me (maybe I\u2019m just slow!).\u00a0 It was a series of awakenings over time.\u00a0 In popular culture, we talk about \u201cgate-way\u201d drugs.\u00a0 Supposedly, some moderately dangerous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[143,266,380],"class_list":["post-290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-evangelicalism","tag-michael-horton","tag-reformed-tradition"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Reformed Tradition: A Gateway Theology? 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