This goes back to a series of posts about legalism, which I am calling covenant path marking so we can get it into our heads that humans have an inevitable tendency to turn specific behaviors into actions whereby we judge ourselves and others as fit for God. Each of them is seen in positive terms by practitioners because they are seen as actions that express faithfulness to the covenant. But, each of them can lead to distortion if they are... Read more

This post builds on my previous posts, starting with the post on Legalism by any other name. Richard Foster sketches the Charismatic tradition, the third “theory” of the Christian life, by looking at St Francis, the Apostle Paul, and William Joseph Seymour whose story today has been nearly forgotten but who had a major influence on the charismatic movement in the USA. Foster sees defining characteristics in the charismata (gifts), building in love, and the latter with four characteristics: responsibility,... Read more

Just in case you didn’t read this brief introduction yesterday, here it is again: No one has summarized the “theories” of the Christian life any more succinctly than Richard Foster, in his textbook quality Streams of Living Water. He charts out six traditions, and I will look at each and how covenant path marking (aka, legalism) finds its way into each. My prefatory remark for all of this: each of these traditions is valuable (I believe in each one) and... Read more

No one has summarized the “theories” of the Christian life any more succinctly than Richard Foster, in his textbook quality Streams of Living Water. He charts out six traditions, and I will look at each and how covenant path marking (aka, legalism) finds its way into each. My prefatory remark for all of this: each of these traditions is valuable (I believe in each one) and each of them is good for us, and in saying that each can develop... Read more

Covenant path marking. In his recent, technical, and not always well-written monograph, Jesus and Jewish Covenant Thinking (break the bank!), Finnish scholar Tom Holmen offers a new category through which we can process our “theories of Christian behavior.” In essence, Holmen contends that Jews sought for genuine covenant faithfulness and, attached to that seeking, each new group and movement developed a set of covenant path markers. Covenant path markers are specific behaviors — Sabbath, circumcision, food laws, tithing, fasting, divorce,... Read more