Always Reforming

You're going back to Rome! Theological disagreements within the Reformed world, especially those of the last half century, often devolve into these sorts of accusations.  As controversialists like Doug Wilson and Peter Leithart began to break away from the larger conservative Presbyterian and Reformed denominations, it became clear that the rift was deeper than semantics and systematic minutiae.  Much like the Reformation four centuries before, the Table was a primary point of conflict.   What does it mean?  Who may partake?  What do we call it?    These questions, along with a few more, divided Reformed brethren as the physical elements of our religion reflected deeper conflicts.  Good men began to understand that the problem wasn't just in our logos, but in our pathos and ethos, as well. Paedocommunion (hereafter PC) has been one of the hottest points of contention.  PC has always been normal to me as I grew up with it.  I underst...

The fifth and final installment of this series will (I hope) encapsulate everything that I have said so far.  There is one final element of the Anglican spirit that I have struggled to put into words, but I think that it underlies almost everything that I like about Anglicanism.  This element is their comfort with mystery. I have done my best throughout this series to avoid insulting Presbyterianism (I apologize if I have failed), but I am trying to describe Anglicanism from my own perspective, so I have often contrasted Anglicanism and Reformed Presbyterianism.  Of the many things that I like about Anglicanism, this comfort with mystery is probably where they contrast most starkly with their Presbyterian brethren.  Presbyterianism, as is the case with many Reformed traditions, emphasizes the intellect.  Some would say that they are overly-intellectual.  To their credit, they have intentionally emphasized doctrine in a world, and a Church, that has abando...

For the last month or so our family has been visiting a small Anglican church near our house.  Having been raised Reformed Presbyterian, Anglicanism was not a tradition which with I was intimately familiar, nor was it a persuasion to which I was particularly attracted.  Due to circumstances mostly beyond my control, however, our family was inactively looking for a new church and found St. John's Anglican Church.  Anglicanism was not really my preference because I have traditionally been very low church, but, when I spotted the sign for St. John's, I was intrigued and began to investigate that specific church, the greater body of which they are a part, and Anglicanism as a whole.  I would like to share some of the reasons that I have been drawn to Anglicanism and how I ended up at St. John's. 1) I was sick of bickering.   Let me be clear about something.  This is not meant as a critique of Presbyterianism.  I am not trying to insult my Reformed Pre...

Though I do not confine my beliefs by the boundaries of man-made doctrinal systems, I do consider myself to be a conservative Reformed Presbyterian.  As such, I try to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of my particular corner of the theological world.  Our strengths?  We seek to appreciate all of God's Word.  We try to engage our minds, emotions (some of us, anyway), and bodies in our religion.  We seek to apply our theology to all of life.  Those, I believe, are good things and marks of faithful Reformed Presbyterianism.  We have our weaknesses though, too, and it doesn't help anyone to ignore them.  I'd like to take a few minutes to explore one of those weaknesses. Presbyterians love their systems.  To be a little bit more specific, we Presbyterians love our Systematic Theologies.  We love having an answer to every question and we really love being able to fit any issue into the bigger picture so that all of our puzzle pieces ...