Saturday, February 27, 2016

Internet Round-Up: Of Presidents and Popes

  A few items from the web for your weekend perusal.  A few were already on my Facebook, so apologies for any redundancies.

1) James KA Smith, philosophy professor at Calvin College, wrote a solid piece on the potential Democratic nominees and student debt, which can be found here.  I would suggest that you pair it with some American Vision pieces on the costs (financial/material and otherwise) of higher education today.

2) This piece on the idea of "shadowbanning" should demonstrate why I believe there is reason to fear the end of the era of free speech in the West.  It would behoove all of us to keep an eye on who is being appointed to regulate what in the arena of social media.

3) CNN ran a story on the Pope and his waffling on the "lesser evil" of contraceptives in the face of (yet another) thing that makes it uncomfortable to be both a humanist (and a humanist Bergoglio certainly is) and an opponent of contraceptives, namely the Zika virus.  Irrespective of my views either of artificial contraception or the Pope, this is both fresh evidence of his worldview inconsistency, and the fact that said inconsistency is not entirely self-generated.  The post Vatican II milieu, and the oddly discordant hardline stance on artificial contraception occurring at the same time have increased the number of objects kept in the air by the papal jugglers more than once.

4) For those interested in the history and background of traditional dispensationalism, or for John MacArthur fans interested to find evidence that his views are not generated by a life of isolation in the theological woods, Louis Sperry Chafer's tract on dispensationalism is available at Amazon for 99 cents.  It is not a pretty edition, in fact it defines the expression "no frills", but at that price, who can complain?
I conclude with two pieces from "The American Conservative" relevant to the (increasingly disastrous-looking) Presidential election cycle, one of which reflects statements I made a number of weeks ago in regards to the "Rise of Trump".

5) The first describes the element of American politics behind the Donald (and other aspects and personalities of this election) that can be described, in some sense, as "fascistic".  One of the things appreciable about this piece is that it is at least partially clinical/analytical.  Winners, writing the history as they do, "fascism" has been relegated to the domain of ad hominem, such that a logical fallacy has been created to designate "an appeal to Hitler", whereas "socialism" is not only a term with a meaningful dictionary definition in the American political consciousness, but a badge certain holders of public office wear with pride.  Ironically, the American unwillingness to analyze the fascist boogeyman (which stems allegedly from abhorring it), has made some Americans unable to identify it.  (This may be a theme deserving of stand-alone posts).

6) The second is a political tactics post about the Rubio campaign.  I'm mostly linking to it because it combines two of my favorite things: in-depth discussion of Presidential campaign strategy, and Napoleonic metaphor. 

Until next time, may we all continue to grow up in the Head, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

~JS

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Visions, Federal and Otherwise, or "dry Baptists, secret Lutherans and other oddities" (1)

   As addressed in other entries here, the modern Reformed and Paedobaptist (I dislike the habit of leaving the second term off and simply letting Baptists figure out what you mean) community has been riven by a specific set of issues for quite a while, and as the advocates of what is typically viewed as the novel position refuse to go away, that rift has widened.  I refer of course to what has been known, depending on who you are asking, as the Federal Vision (or federal vision "movement", hereafter FV), Auburn Avenue theology, "monocovenantalism", or Shepherdism.  Apart from hopefully shining greater light on the origin of that array of nicknames for the perspective, I am embarking on a mission with several diverse goals regarding it.  Firstly, I hope to give a broad outline of what unifies the perspective (and what diversifies it), and how it is delineated from what I will at this point call the "traditional/confessional" perspective (hereafter TC).  Secondly, I want to get into the meat and potatoes by reviewing and examining some key portions (or at least portions I found particularly interesting) of the book of essays published by some of the key figures of the movement itself, aptly entitled "The Federal Vision".  Third, or rather intermingled with these, I want to provide commentary and concerns on the movement as a whole as the work progresses.  I don't know how long this project will take, how many pages it will cover, or how many posts it will occupy.  With that utter lack of confidence instilled in my beleaguered readership, I begin with some basics and background.

   One name given to FV, which typically has been assigned by it's foes rather than it's friends is "Shepherdism", and this is due to the fact that in order to give background to the FV controversy, and why people outside the perspective criticize it, I have to begin with earlier controversy which resulted in the expulsion of Norman Shepherd from Westminster Seminary Philadelphia (WSP).  Shepherd was the heir of John Murray's post at WSP, and after almost a decade of controversy over various issues, was dismissed in 1981, left his presbytery (where he was facing disciplinary review as well) and joined the Christian Reformed Church in North America for the remainder of his pastoral career.  While issues surrounding his dismissal were varied, the two that stood out most in the Westminster community and the OPC as a whole were: 1) Shepherds insistence on rejection of the Standards formulation of the CoW, replacing it with a system wherein Adam and the rest of man were all in the CoG, 2) a formulation of justification by faith which taught that "only obedient faith" perseveres or justifies.  This second view may seem in the brief space I have allotted to it to be mere biblical truism to the Reformed reader abreast of the distinction between sanctification and justification, but as I hope to show in controversy surrounding modern FV proponents, similar views present greater difficulty than can be resolved by harmonizing Romans 5 and James 2.  Additionally, point one above, the denial of the Covenant of Works as understood by the WCF, will be a feature common to, (but not universally accepted by all promoters of) FV, which explains the accusation noted at the outset of "monocovenantalism".  Several FV men participated in the publication and authorship of a Festschrift for Norman Shepherd provocatively titled Obedient Faith, so while I cannot spend further time (and have no expert opinions to offer) on the influence of Shepherd on FV generally, his career and ideas will be relevant to consider in this post and those that follow.  On a related note before moving on, overreaction to Shepherd's (and Murray's) positions on the Covenants resulted in much of the dustup at Westminster West over "Klinean Republication"...but that's a story for another time.

Moving from there, the key element to what is now known as FV began with the presentations and papers resulting from the pastors conference at Auburn Avenue PCA in Monroe Louisiana, 2002.  The four conference speakers at this, the first "Federal Vision conference" were Steve Schlissel, Steve Wilkins, John Barach and Douglas Wilson, and the topics addressed were primarily those of covenant theology.  The controversy that brewed over the papers presented at the conference was partially summarized in the positions affirmed and denied in a joint statement on the "Federal Vision" signed in 2007 by eleven minsters of the PCA and the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC).  At the end of this statement, under "Some Points of Intramual Disagreement", was a paragraph stating:
 "Some of these areas [of disagreement, JS] would include, but not be limited to, whether or not the imputation of the active obedience of Christ (as traditionally understood) is to be affirmed in its classic form. Some of us affirm this and some do not. Another difference is whether or not personal regeneration represents a change of nature in the person so regenerated."

While this phrasing highlights that there are differences on key doctrines within the FV "stream", there were also many key affirmations, including shared postmillennialism, denial of Christian neutrality in "secular" politics, and a denial that
"...Adam had to earn or merit righteousness, life, glorification, or anything else."  1

  The significance of this to disagreement between some confessional Presbyterian thinkers and the FV men will become more clear, but should already have more light placed on it by the above mention of Shepherd's elimination of the WCF's formulation of the CoW.  The linked FV joint statement should be read by anyone looking to grasp the related issue.

I'd like to wrap up this post with a list some basic elements of agreement and disagreement within FV, and also a few key disagreements between FV and more "traditional/confessional" or "TR" perspectives.  However, it should be remembered that the existence of the first list precludes the universality of the second, in other words, not all attacks launched from the TR camp can be said to be equally directed against all FV men, even within the eleven signatories of the joint statement.

   To begin, a few areas of mutual agreement among all FV men, briefly summarized.

1) Baptism, including of infants, truly makes all those to whom it is applied, truly united to Christ (in some sense, although which sense varies depending on which FV man you ask), truly part of his Church and truly a participant in the New Covenant.  To the extent that the New Covenant is the covenant of Regeneration, all persons partaking of Triune Baptism can be said to participate in "regeneration" in some sense, although not necessarily unto eternal life.

2) Justification and Regeneration, while bearing the traditional/confessional reformed definitions, are multi-faceted, and can occur in different senses for different persons. 

3) God's decree comes unequivocally to pass, and includes all things in time, including justification unto eternal life, individually declared in eternity past.  However, this justification is not the only human experience of justification in the sight of God.

4) It is impossible to please God through covenant membership alone, and the faith men are called to in Word and Sacrament must be the living and active faith of James 2.

5) Denial that "law" and "gospel" are, or should be used as, hermeneutics, accompanied by affirmation that saved persons can hear all parts of Scripture as good news, while unregenerate persons hear all parts of the Scripture as "the savor of death".

6) A real, but spiritual and non-local, presence of Christ in the Supper, and participation therein in confirmation of New Covenant membership.

7) It is possible to apostatize from the New Covenant, and breakers of the NC receive greater condemnation than pagans.  However, it is not possible for the decretally elect to fall away from Christ.

  However, there are likely as many differences as there are unifying elements, including in no particular order:

1) Paedocommunion.  While the "joint statement" affirms the administration of the supper to "children", adherence to paedocommunion as practice (or definition of the term) varies among FV theologians.

2) The exact emphasis of the biblical term "justification".  Some within in the movement see the predominant biblical use as eschatological (vis a vis the "final declaration" of N.T. Wright), others as partially synonymous with sanctification-in-process (which would be their typical reading of dikaioo in James 2), yet others emphasize very strongly the element of justification which is in the union of both Jews and Gentiles in Christ (another theme shared with N.T. Wright and "New Perspectivism").  On top of all of these, there remains individual salvific justification by faith, and the emphases and terminology used will differ widely among which FV writer you are reading on the subject.

3) The degree to which FV men can be said to affirm "baptismal regeneration", and in which sense.

4) Some FV men will say they adhere to the entirety of the Westminster Standards, but read them differently in places than the TR community.  Others will openly deny portions of the confession and suggest alternate doctrinal language at these places.

5) Some FV men have a strong monocovenantal bent (particularly those who deny the traditional formulation of the CoW) while others affirm a two-covenant scheme but deny that Adam could have earned anything, or was expected to.  Still others affirm most of the confessional position on the CoW, but don't focus on it as their main emphasis.

6) The imputation of the active obedience of Christ is, as will be seen, affirmed by Douglas Wilson (known by many to be "FV light"), while it is mitigated or outright denied by others.  The "joint statement" repudiates the necessity of use of the language formula "imputation of active obedience", but not precisely belief in it.

   In highlighting the above lists, fault lines between traditional/confessional Reformed thinkers and the FV movement become more clear, and to complete this post, I will list what I believe to be the four most important.  In the weeks and months to come, an ongoing project will be to expand this post as a series, with reviews of at least two books.  In doing so, I will leave the descriptive/expositional material here to enter the fray myself, and in doing so, I trust will expose myself as in neither TR nor FV camp, agreeing and disagreeing at times with both.  The four items below, which I encourage the reader to mull over, should demonstrate, at least partially, why I believe these are important issues.

1) Is the language of the WCF on the Covenants deficient?  Why and how?  How should it be "fixed"?
2) Can the sacraments be said to regenerate us, and in what sense?  Does Baptism make someone a member of the New Covenant by itself?  Are all Baptized persons, in some sense, "Christians" and what does that mean?

3) Does Justification accomplish active obedience and sanctification for the believer, or merely encourage it?  Is there overlap between justification and sanctification, and if so, how much?  What, if anything, did Christ merit for the believer by law-keeping?

4) Justification by faith: is Justification by Faith unto eternal life the Gospel?  Is it the primary emphasis of the New Testament?  Is it the primary biblical definition of "justification"?

~JS



1.  All quotes and material from the "joint statement" were taken from this copy of the original located here

 

Internet round-up: Napoleon and nukes.

A brief edition today, as work has interfered with a lot of time to dig up interesting links.  Some things to look into from this week, though.

1) A debate on the greatness (or not) of Napoleon I (a historical pet issue of mine) is here.

2) The Gospel Coalition published a piece on fear of dirty bombs in the age of ISIS here.  Gives some science on nuclear weapons that is historically interesting, and also shows the hysteria in some circles over nuclear power to be somewhat overblown.

3) The Heidelblog has embarked on a series of posts about Dispensationalism (after wrapping up a series of citations on the Covenant of Works).  The first is here, and begins three short pieces on dispensational fallacies, punctuated with other posts on the same topic.  The series has been notable for bringing in sources on both sides of the debate for easy reference.

4) American Vision did some pieces recently on the history of "Christian Socialism".  This one is particularly notable for it's discussion of the theological and ideological backgrounds of the men involved in the John Brown incident.

That's all for the this week, will hopefully have a richer trove next Saturday.  Working on several longer pieces here as well.

~JS

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Internet round-up: Psalmody, the Qur'an and more!

   It's time for another edition of Internet Round-up, the column with fun stuff on the internet in the realm of theology!  Without further fuss:

1) A blogger posted a brief interview/Q and A with Doug Wilson recently, which I think gives some insight into where his head and heart are at, ministry-wise. 

2) Daily Dose of Greek is a good place to start if you are looking to get into the biblical source languages but aren't officially enrolled anywhere.  Hopefully posting this link here will motivate me to actually sit down and invest time in this arena.

3) Calvin's complete commentaries are available in English online.  If you want to get deeply into Calvin's thoughts on just about any passage of Scripture, (no Revelation, sorry) look no further.

4) Phil Johnson has a series of articles (they've been standing for some time) on the potential sinfulness of gambling.  Good stuff to bear in mind with the popularity of going to casino as a birthday celebration etc.

5) Peter Leithart caused quite a stir lately with articles on "why Protestants can't write".  The rejoinder by TCI, with links to the originals, can be found here.

6) If you can surmount the thick Scottish accent, a presentation on the importance of Klinean Republication relevant to the historical theology of the Westminster Standards is available here.

7) For those who missed the recent Facebook link, the Arabic corpus of the Qur'an, with grammar and morphology, is free online here.

8) In a landmark moment of the Obama presidency (more's the pity) Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has passed away today.  The Gospel Coalition has published an article with nine basics about the late justice.

9) Adam 4d is a web comic about the travails and experiences of Christians in the world.  It demonstrates an element of "kidding on the square" that we can all appreciate.

10) A group known as "My Soul Among Lions" has released a Kickstarter-funded album of "contemporary psalmody".  While this album encompasses Psalms 1-10, they are hoping to eventually get to the entire Psalter.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and there's at least one thing of interest here for everybody.  Have a restful and Christ-centered Sabbath.

~JS

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Feature columns, and the first weekly "Internet roundup"

   In an effort to spur greater volume here, I will be attempting to generate larger amounts of shorter pieces (as spellbound as I'm sure you all are by multi-page book reviews and feature-length analysis of debates on the Mosaic law).  To that end, I introduce Saturday's installment, "internet roundup", which will be a brief breakdown of amusing, alarming, awesome (and alliterative) miscellany I found interesting on the 'web.  Not all of this (or even most of it, depending) is guaranteed to be relevant to theology.  Some of it may just be nonsense.  Amount of stuff will vary based on how boring (or busy) the week goes.  Without further ado, Notes from the Shore brings you it's first ever "Internet Roundup", which will focus on sites (many of which I have already linked to here) from which I draw material and read every day.

1) Sermon audio is a vast database of sermon material from just about every English-speaking location and theological perspective under the sun.  It has the added benefit of hosting many of the world's best theology podcasts.  The website is no frills, and the content is free.  Lets you never go a day without hearing the word of God preached, should you so choose.

2) Amazon has blessed the world with the free Kindle app, which turns any laptop or smartphone into a Kindle for reading e-books for free (although on phones, the multi-MB book files will eat up a lot of storage).  With one-click purchasing at shipping-free, vastly reduced prices, anyone looking for a specific title, or general category of reading material should look at Amazon before trying to order a paper copy (with all apologies to "traditional readers".)

3) Doug Wilson's blog, aka Blog and Mablog, features not only great puns like the one it's title, but due to the controversy associated with the author (if you google his name, you will get bonus hate blogs galore), will fulfill your duty to annoy a liberal every day you read it.  He is, as they say, my spirit animal.

4) The Heidelblog, by R. Scott Clark, and it's accompanying podcast, will give you the daily dose of historical theology from the "TR" perspective.  Despite my disagreements with Dr. Clark, don't neglect this blog, especially if you're a postie, as it will give a fair and balanced Amil slant on the Reformed universe.

5) Pulpit and Pen, a ministry of Montana pastor JD Hall and his friends, is a "watchblog" predominantly concerned with issues relevant to the SBC.  That being said, my grave concerns about the upstream waters feeding the 'casts eschatological pool (to say nothing of my...lack of affinity for the Baptist tradition) have cut me out of the loop of the Pulpit and Pen Program for a while now.  Still relevant for those who have an ear to the ground on the goings on in American Baptist life.  Also a great source of JD Hall audio sermons, which are typically stellar, and often more balanced than his podcast material.  Trigger warning attached for continuationists.

6) Christ the Center is a podcast (one among several) of Reformed Forum, and my pick for general Reformed podcast to listen to on a weekly basis.  It covers a wide variety of topics, and doesn't come from an apologetic bent (for that, see item 7), but rather deals with theology generally.  For personal edification in the way of Reformed theological education across a broad spectrum, this can't be beat.

7) Alpha and Omega Ministries, aka Dr. James White and his friend Rich Pierce, were instrumental to my journey back over the Tiber.  This is to my mind, the number one Reformed apologetics ministry and podcast on the web.  If you are in the trenches defending the faith in your home and work life, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

8) Bible Gateway is my go-to for online Bibles.  It has almost every relevant English Translation, and foreign language translations, and lets you view them in parallel commentary.

9) The American Vision is the blog of Joel McDurmon and company, and therefore the heir in the blogosphere to the work of Rushdoony and North, with occasional contributions from Gary DeMar.  Essential to an understanding of the goings-on in contemporary Theonomic/Dominionist thought.

10) White Horse Inn is the podcast of Michael Horton, and I would describe as the "Westminster West" podcast.  Makes a good companion to the Heidelblog, particularly regarding theology of the two Kingdoms, and eschatology.

11) Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is a webcomic I often link to on Facebook.  Depending on your workplace, it may not be professionally appropriate.  On top of tickling my funny bone, I link it here because it occasionally stumbles onto deep insight (from the Theistic perspective) into the mind of the anti-theist Westerner.

12) The Calvinist International is a website purporting to promote "Reformed catholicity", and is from a far more philosophical bent than some of the other links in this list.  Also worthy of checking out is Wedgewords, by a contributor to this site, has some secular history articles and updates infrequently, but is worth a look through.

That's all for now, check in next Saturday for more good stuff from the 'net.

In Christ,

~JS

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Brief thoughts and bold predictions on Iowa.



1) Nothing is over regarding the top five across both parties, and really I didn't expect anything to be.  Proportional representation in Iowa means that in real delegate numbers, no one really got out to a meaningful "lead".  In terms of "momentum", that may have more to do with self-fulfilling media prophecy than something intrinsic to the raw numbers.

2) Steven Wedgeworth from Wedgewords issued the bold prediction yesterday that these results make Marco Rubio "the next President".  I hardly think things are as clear-cut as all that, but given a top-three showing in New Hampshire, Rubio, barring any gaffes in the short-term, has positioned himself for a deep run, especially when primaries and caucuses shift to the South.

3) My personal bold prediction: Bernie Sanders will be the Democratic nominee.  His numbers among young people mean more than the media is letting on, and in addition to possible...legal obstructions to the Hillary campaign, the CNN theory concretizing today that Sanders is only leading in New Hampshire because of it's proximity to Vermont ignore Bernie's appeal to a real and ideologically committed faction of the American left in blue states.

4) Trump is far from finished, but not coming in first in Iowa is a big deal.    The particular importance for me is that the poll numbers before real voting have been demonstrated to be "not real", which I predicted, which makes the 19 point leads in New Hampshire and South Carolina that Trump is showing far more superfluous than the networks would presently like.

5) Iowa is not racially or ideologically diverse enough to give us the surprises I think are yet to come.  And this is also bad for Trump.  While there will be adequate numbers of what Wilson winningly called "the Trumpenproletariat" for Trump to put in showings for the forseeable future, states with larger numbers of Black, Hispanic and upper-class GOP voters will be telling.

~JS

Notes from the Shore's ten books of 2015.

   Ten of the literary treasures from the world of theology (and one not) I consumed in 2015 and recommend to you.

1) The Theology of the Westminster Standards, JV Fesko.

   While not one hundred percent comprehensive, gives great background to contemporary issues in American Presbyterian and Reformed theology, and will be an approachable primer to the historical and political world of the Standards.  My book of the year.

2) The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism, Ed. Gregg Strawbridge.

   Reviewed here earlier in the year.  If you read one paedobaptism polemics book in your life (hah), read this one.

3) The Federal Vision and Covenant Theology, Guy Prentiss Waters.

   I wouldn't read this by itself if you're doing in-depth study on FV, as it is unabashedly proposing that FV "as a movement" is un-confessional, and it would behoove those interested to read the men in question in a full, contextual way.  To that end...

4) The Federal Vision, Ed. Steve Wilkins and Duane Garner.

   As was mentioned to me recently, there is no "FV handbook", but this is as close as we're going to get right now.  If you want to understand where the "movement", if movement it can be called (more on that later) is coming from, you should read this.  Stands out for having one of the more...interesting articles on the theology of Genesis I've ever read.

5) The Lord's Service, Jeffery J. Meyers.

   Otherwise known as "that Federal Vision Worship Book."  Puts forward the thesis that the structure of Protestant/Reformed liturgy can be governed by a "New Covenant rendition" of the tripartite sacrificial structure of Leviticus, with the Supper constituting the thanks offering.  While not converted in totality to it's claims, anyone who is interested in "how should we then worship" should read this book, particularly if you don't share the TR camps fixation of exclusive Psalmody, non-instrumental worship, low-church decor, and other aspects of that particular conservative interpretation of the RPW.  Particularly valuable for an essay on that principle, arguing that it should be understood more like the Normative Principle typically has been, and for a lengthy exegetical piece in favor of paedocommunion.

6) NCT: time for a more accurate way, Gary D. Long.
 
   Also reviewed here.  Similar to the FV book (although not a collection of essays), important for understanding contemporary issues in American Covenant theology.  This may be of greater interest to Reformed Baptists than all the FV stuff on this list, because closer to home.  As mentioned in my review, has the benefit of being willing to consider a pre-fall covenant with Adam, in some sense.

7) The Great Boer War, Byron Falwell

   A conflict that most Americans don't know and don't care about, but largely responsible for the modern and postmodern history of South Africa, and formative to the nature and allegiances of World War I and the unfolding of British Imperialism during and after Victoria.  Aptly walks the line between engaging and scholarly.  Perhaps a little overeager to exonerate British miscues and ethical lapses.

8) Five views on Law and Gospel, Ed. Stanley N. Gundry.

   Out of several books in this series that I read this year, this one was the most valuable for it's interplay between Douglas Moo, William VanGemeren and Dr. Bahnsen on the three most common "Reformed" views of the law.  Succint, approachable, and actually lets you look at the nuts and bolts of the views "cross-examining" each other.

9) Covenant Theology, Michael Horton.

   Not making the list because I think it's the best short-book length introduction to Covenant Theology I've read.  In fact, in that regard I found it disappointing.  Rather, important for understanding the distinctives of the position most common at WTS West, namely form-critical analysis of Covenant history of the OT, and a form of Klinean Republication.  And on that note...

10) Merit and Moses, Elam, Van Kooten and Bergquist.

Demonstrates concerns about the doctrinal ramifications, and confessional relevance of the Klinean Republication view.  Brief, but covers all (or most) of the bases.  Hopefully "The Law is Not of Faith" will make the list next year.

~JS