The Craw

New Vistas

Now that my pastoral duties are increasing exponentially, I'm becoming more and more disinterested in what people are debating about. The heated battle seems so irrelevant here in the trenches where I meet non-Reformed brethren and non-believers most of the time. I will probably be spending more time over here on the Saint Andrew's blog in the future.

Kingdom Now

Churches on earth are outposts of that heavenly Jerusalem, anticipations of the final city, joined in a mysterious way, especially in liturgy, with the heavenly city. Every Lord's Day, we, like John, enter into heavenly places, even while we remain in the middle of the earthly assembly. Heaven is in our midst, and we are in the midst of heaven. (Against Christianity, Peter Leithart, p. 25)

May it be so even this Lord's Day. If we could lay hold of this concept it would transform how we view other churches, denominations, and traditions and how we are to relate...and conquer together.

Where the Deutsche are

I know this is a bit of a u-turn from theological discussions but I have always wondered what happened to the "Volga Deutsche" or ethnic Germans who immigrated to Russia during the reign of Catharine the Great several centuries ago. They clung to their distinct German ways and were respected for their ingenuity. In fact, many of them served as high ranking officers in the Czar's army against Germany in WWI. They disappear from history at the start of WWII but reappear en masse after German reunification when hundreds of thousands of them immigrated back to Germany from Central Asia where they had been banished under the Soviets. Read the remarkable story here.

Faux Stained Glass

As you may know, I have toyed with the idea of using LCD screens in our facility as a substitute for stained-glass windows. Our new facility will likely have little to no natural light because it is located in an industrial property. I have been looking at these as a possibility. If it can be customized then you simply either set a photograph of a stained glass window in the lighted frame or you mount an actual stained glass window pane into the ligted frame to give the illusion of a window facing out into a sunlit morning.

England, the Arts, and Methane

Peter Leithart explores competitive farting in 18th Century England. In a post from last year I looked at farting as entertainment in 13th century Britain. A strange pattern is filling in. Perhaps Alastair could give us some insight into this bewildering and yet exciting Caledonian tradition.

Bring It On

Doug Wilson has thrown down the gauntlet. Who will cometh forth to answereth the challenge?

Warriors come out to play!

What's the Center of the Church?

Let's move on to discuss something a little more interesting than the endless debates on timeless decrees. At St. Andrew's, we have been blessed from the get go with an opportunity to design our church facility. In connection with this, I have been reading Lutheran scholar, Luther Reed's, Worship: A Study of Corporate Devotion. Reed writes concerning the design of the church:

As a portrait painter begins with the head of his subject, the latter’s most expressive and dominant feature, so the architect in planning a church should begin with the chancel. This is more than a focal feature to which all lines lead. It is the place where the altar is located, where the clergy and the choir are generally found. It possesses all the features of liturgical and practical supremacy. (p. 21)

1. The Altar. This feature should dominate the interior. Here communion between God and men reaches its highest peaks in the out-pouring of divine gifts of grace and in the thanksgiving and renewed consecration of the believer. Here man’s communion with man reaches its most spiritual expression in the realization of the communion of saints. (p. 24)

So, the communion table (Reformed folk don’t like altars) is the center of the nave (sanctuary for the Reformed) and the church itself is built around it. This is an interesting contrast from the Puritan view which sees the pulpit as central.

Update

Well, as a man of principle, I have to admit that I was wrong in asserting that no one that I have read within the FV pale has "denied" the Covenant of Redemption (COR). I have now read one. This however must be qualified as it is not a denial of the substance but of the organization and expression. See James Jordan's comments here. However, sorry principle also causes me to be honest on this count as well, I still don't see how painting an entire "movement" with a broad brush is helpful either.

I admit this is hindsite to the previous post, but is the COR a litmus test item? See the comments on this strand to gain insight.

Just for the record, I affirm the Covenant of Redemption.

Frameisms

Here are some sobering thoughts from John Frame regarding the task of theology for Theologians from "The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God":

And the qualifications for the ministry of teaching (theology) in Scripture are predominantly moral qualifications (1 Tim. 3:1ff.; 1 Peters 5:1ff.). Thus the quality of theological work is dependent not only on propositional knowledge or on skills in logic , history, linguistics, and so forth (which, of course believers and unbelievers share to a large extent); it is also dependent on the theologians character. (pp.322-323)

And regarding theological argumentation:

(1) First, the practice of taking an opponent's view in the worst possible sense, without first seeking to find a way of interpreting him so that his view is more plausible or even correct. Generally, this practice arises out of sheer hostility, blinding the theologian to more loving (and at the same time, more intellectually cogent) possibilities. This often leads to a "straw man" argument (ie., an argument against a view that the opponent does not actually hold, which perhaps, no one actually holds). (p.324)

Wise words from Professor Frame.

What is Going On?

The recent issue of Tabletalk has an article in it called "The History of Covenant Theology" by Dr. R. Scott Clark out of Westminster Seminary, CA (not WTS). On page 11 of the article Clark writes:

"Other revisions or rejections of orthodox covenant theology include the so-called Federal Vision movement that not only rejects the covenant of redemption; it rejects the distiniction between law and gospel and the distinction between the covenants of works and grace..."

What? As someone who has read much FV material (and who has been labeled an FVer for doing so) I have to ask, "What? Who? Where?!?" I have not read anyone...anyone in FV circles who denies the covenant of redemption and I know many of these men personally. This is an outrageous claim. If Dr. Clark wants to say this is true, in his typical manner, by drawing out endless implications, I think that is extremely petty and uncharitable. He should know that with just a few degrees of separation, anyone's position can be portrayed as heterodox. For example, he seems to be enamored with pagan Hittite pact models. Does that mean Dr. Clark denies the Christian faith and believes in foreign gods? After all we know where this kind of stuff leads!

Has Reformedom gone mad? Is this how we are supposed to treat our Christian brethren? I thought we were supposed to be people of the the Truth who speak the truth even when it hurts us (and doesn't give us ammo for our theological spin). This is bad, bad stuff. See the Bonemans comments on the same here.