Off to Omaha

The whole troupe is now off to Omaha.  Celebrating Alethea's 1st birthday back at the ranch.  No posts for another week.... 

Christianity and Liberalism

Recently, the Resurgence blog finished up their series of posts on J. Gresham Machen and his book Christianity and Liberalism.  I was happy to see them do something on Machen and this book, because Machen's book reads like it could have been written yesterday.  Christian liberalism is still with us today in different forms and in many different communions, and thus Machen's critiques are still very relevant and valid.  I still remember reading this book about 9 years ago and the huge impact it had on my trajectory as a Christian.  I was in Acts 29 at the time and found the critiques in the book very valid for that communion then.

I do just have to offer one point of criticism with the whole series of posts.  And I do not wish to offer my criticism to the detriment of my sincere thanks and appreciation for the Resurgence bringing this wonderful figure of church history to the surface for young evangelicals.

So, in that spirit I offer this critique.  That is, they do not do enough justice to Machen's doctrine of the church.  In the final post, they try and show how Machen pointed out a false unity that existed in the mainline church.  Such is the case and is very true.  Machen's fathers and brothers in the PCUSA were preaching a different gospel as-it-were (as Paul says, there is only one gospel), and Machen was writing against that.  Yet what the post fails to mention was that Machen then formed a new church, along with others, that sought to faithfully embody the gospel in every area of her calling.  That church is called the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.  It is still with us today and I happen to be a member.  Machen also founded a seminary that sought to faithfully instruct students for pastoral ministry.  That Seminary is called Westminster Theological Seminary, and it is still with us today.  I happen to be a graduate of her "sister" school in California.

My point is, Machen was part of an ecclesiastical communion, and he and others broke away from that communion.  They did not go on to then form an independent communion as a result, they formed what they believed to be the "continuing" church from the old mainline.  They also didn't form a church that was broadly Calvinistic in its soteriology and baptistic and independent in its polity.  They formed a Presbyterian church that held to a robust Calvinism and covenant theology even as it relates to the sacraments (thus, for instance, believers and their children are to be baptized).  He was also all about an educated ministry, and thus formed an institution that was dedicated to educating men in head and heart to be pastors in the new Presbyterian church.  I think some realization of these aspects of Machen's ministry help flesh out how we understand the last chapter in his book Christianity and Liberalism. 

If you want to hear a lecture that fleshes this out even more, check out Machen scholar DG Hart talk about it in his always provocative way.

In short, its important to realize that Machen wasn't coming out of evangelicalism.  He was coming out of a confessional denomination that had lost the plot, and thus found it necessary to recover the gospel in the context of a Reformed communion.

In closing, read Machen.  He is a great writer.  His points are clear and well-argued, and I believe his writing would be edifying for Christians to read.

Fun in Oregon

We had some fun times in Oregon.  Explored the beautiful coast, explored the sea lion caves, did some fishing (Isaiah caught two salamanders with his own two hands), did some go-carting, and it was all topped off with a crazy dune buggy ride all over the sand dunes of Florence, OR.

Gone To the Oregon Coast

No posts for the week, spending some time with family on the beautiful Oregon coast.

Till next time.....

Storms

STORMS // EVERY STORM IN THE SKY STARTED OUT LIGHT. STARTED OUT LIGHT. AND THE COLD AND I, WE’RE BOTH OUTSIDE. WE’RE BOTH OUTSIDE. OH LADY, I, I HAVE MET YOU, SO ALONE, OH, I KNOW. OH LADY, I SOFTLY ALOUD SANG THE WORDS OF SOME DROWNED SONG. AND SO, HOW LONG MUST I AWAIT YOU AND THE SUN THAT WON’T COME OUT? OH LADY I, I’LL FORGET YOU, I ALONE KNOW COLD NIGHTS. OH LADY I, I’LL REGRET YOU. IN TIME. OH, IN TIME..........  Wow, in case its not obvious, I like this band.  Honest music is so refreshing in the era of junk-food pop.

The Night and Scenes from the Brittons Place

Audio/Visual style.....

Wow.

Wow, I just became aware of a band called Exitmusic.  I think their music is amazing.  Haunting, chilling, honest, beautiful, tenderly confrontational, etc.  Not enough words to describe right now.  I bought their recent album Passages and pretty well think its the best record of the year so far.  They do the big, epic, M83 sound but they have lyrical depth and they are fragile around the edges.  Pastors need to hear this music to know what the culture around them is thinking, feeling.  Amazing stuff by Exitmusic.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

THE MEDIEVAL PAPACY: The Zenith of Papal Power

 

[NB:  The t-shirt above has a typo, it should read Unam Sanctam]

“Furthermore we declare, state, define and pronounce that it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff”-Pope Boniface VIII

Its no secret or real point of contention, that the state of the papacy reached its pinnacle in the Middle Ages.  At the very same time as the Middle Ages wore on, the papacy declined greatly.  Events such as the Avignon papacy (1309-1377), the Great Schism (1378-1415), and the Council of Constance (1414-1418) all led to a great weakening of the office.

Pope Boniface VIII took office right before these events (he was pope from 1294-1303) and represents the height of papal power (at least in writing) in the Middle Ages.  By most all accounts, Boniface was a proud, ambitious, and fierce man.  Boniface was the first pope to declare the first Jubilee or Holy Year in 1300.  Thousands upon thousands took a pilgrimage to Rome in order to receive a “full and copious pardon” of sins for doing so. 

In addition to this act, Boniface embodied many of the dangerous traits of those with unchecked power.  As Eamon Duffy explains, “[Boniface] enriched his relatives at the expense of the Church, and waged a relentless war against his family’s traditional rivals, the Colonna family.  Boniface even offered the spiritual privileges of the Crusade to anyone who joined in this vendetta against the Colonna.”[1]

All this to say that his infamous papal bull Unam Sanctam (latin meaning “one, holy”), had more to do with politics than theology.  Boniface was a career cleric, and he was very ambitious.  Much that he did was to increase papal power in every way, shape, and form.  This papal bull then had more to do with an increasing propaganda war with France than anything else.[2]

So what were my impressions?  First, the bull was thankfully short.  I expected something longer, so I was presently surprised.

Secondly, it really cemented for me the ideas present in the Middle Ages surrounding papal supremacy.  Although Boniface largely quotes from earlier sources, the content crystallizes the idea of papal supremacy in one document.

Thirdly, it is sad to read.  The Bible nowhere teaches what Boniface claims about the pope, and many church fathers would take issue with his this papal bull as well.

Here are some church father quotes:

taken from Laurent A. Cleenewerck's "His Broken Body:  Understanding and Healing the Schism between The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches"

All in all Unam Sanctam is an important document to read as a backdrop to what the Reformation was up to.

Up next, the status of women at the time…..

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[1] Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners:  A History of the Popes (3^rd Edition, New Haven, CT:  Yale University Press, 2006), 160.

[2] Duffy, Saints and Sinners, 162.