Is Calvinism a Heresy?

 

Catholic Christianity vs. Calvinism

A few weeks ago we discussed the nature of heresy and used Calvinism as an illustration (see Through the Bible, Week 7, Applied to Heresy).  Orthodox and Catholics believe Calvinism is heretical and most Protestants (and Anglicans) do not.  Some of you have asked me to help you understand the Catholic position and why they would view Calvinism as heretical.  A good entree into the thinking of Catholics on this subject is the following quote by Peter Kreeft, a Catholic Philosopher who teaches at Boston College.
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Peter Kreeft has distinguished the historic Church's soteriology (doctrine of salvation) with that of Calvinism by saying, "it is the Godfather, not God the Father, that makes you an offer you can't refuse." This memorable observation gets at why the Church has historically viewed Calvinism as a heresy: it's doctrine of God is deviant.  The idea that Kreeft is highlighting is that God is not a sovereign who acts like a Father, but rather the eternal Father who acts sovereignly.  His reign is characterized by his nature, which is revealed most fully to us in the life of his Son (who we know only did what he saw his Father doing).

Though I am sympathetic with this viewpoint, I still think it is too un-nuanced.  Many heirs of Calvin view God primarily as Father and only secondarily as sovereign. This can even be argued for Calvin himself (who is less "Calvinist" than many of his heirs).   Not all Calvinist confuse role with person.   For them, the person of Jesus remains a clear window into the divine nature.  We will discuss this further in future posts when I discuss some of my favorite Calvinist theologians. 

Going Deeper, Reaching Further

In a recent talk I outlined the missionary focus of Truro for this year (and years to come), which I summarized as "Going Deeper, Reaching Further."

 Reaching Farther by Going Deeper:

To reach further we must go deeper.  And going deeper will be spurred on by reaching further.  The further we reach out in mission the more we will need the deepest resources of the faith and the profoundest communion with Christ.  This mirrors the rhythm of our worship: one of gathering to meet Christ in the Word and Eucharist and then dispersing to join Christ in his mission in the world. 

We will reach further by

1. Building a culture of friendship.  Friendship is characterized by affection and respect. This is how Jesus referred to his disciples toward the end of his life.  This is the kind of life he commended to them (John 15:13-15). 

2. Praying for and inviting our neighbors to Alpha, the Marriage and Parenting courses, all of which are characterized by friendship.

3. Being a peacemaking church.  Peacemaking is both an imperative of the Gospel (Heb. 12:14) and indeed, the fruit of the Gospel: "and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the Cross" (Col. 1:20). Peace is both gift and task. 

4. Helping all kinds of churches reach their local communities with the Gospel by learning to do evangelism this way too.  We currently help Baptist, Coptic, Pentecostal and other churches do evangelism this way and thereby fortifying the unity for which Jesus prays for his church.

We will go deeper by 

1. Beginning our theology with "original design" (Genesis 1-2) rather than "original sin" (Genesis 3).  By following the biblical order we become a more biblical people. 

2. Living in the narrative of the Bible in a worshiping community with fellow Christians rather than proof texts that divide the narrative from the community.  Narrative gives us a context for living; proof text gives the illusion of thinking and an "incarnational deficit." Such a deficit can be sustained in a virtual community but not in an actual community.  Our current mission must be seen as an embodied continuation of the biblical story – from creation to new creation.   

3. An incarnational faith will affect our thinking about community, buildings, and all things material. It will teach us to have a fuller understanding of salvation as "creation - healed" rather mere forgiveness alone. 

Through the Bible, Week 12, part 2

   Prophets: Part Two








 

C.     Prophetic Experience

The prophet's primary experience is one of pathos - a combination of compassion for the human condition and empathy for the divine predicament.  As we mentioned earlier in our study, God is in a predicament.  The LORD God has all power but what he really wants cannot be forced.  He wants our love, freely given.  But our hearts are turned away from him.  How does God help us to return to Him?  Jeremiah captures the anguish in God's heart when compares "faithless" Israel (Northern Kingdom) favorably to "treacherous" Judah (Southern Kingdom).  And the Lord said to me, "Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.  God, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,  Return faithless Israel, declares the LORD>  I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD.  Only acknowledge the your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. Jeremiah 3:11-15.  The LORD seeks to woo her back, which both honors her freedom and yet elevates her dignity as someone worthy to be wooed. 

The prophet is someone who hears the word of the LORD and then embodies that word in his own experience.  This is seen most poignantly in the prophet Hosea, whom the LORD orders to marry the prostitute Gomer.  His own marriage becomes an object lesson of God's love for his people Israel. 

       

                      D.   Prophetic Office in Israel  

The primary role of the prophet is reestablish the force of the covenant in the life of Israel, and especially her leaders.  We see graphic examples of that when Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18) and is then given a fresh encounter with Mosaic revelation (1 Kings 19).  Nathan also defends the covenant when he rebukes David for his infidelity with Bathsheba (1 Samuel 12).

The prophet also functions as a social reformer, an ancillary role to that of covenant enforcer. Amos words were immortalized in our time by Dr Martin Luther King, Jr:

Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (8:23-24).
 
Finally the prophet is a public poet who is authorized to re-image the social possibilities for God's people.  Some behavior is no longer practiced because it is not imaginable.  The prophet creates a space where the unimaginable becomes imaginable again.  Two of the most powerful and perennial images is that God will make himself a new people and give them a new heart.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel both develop this image:

Behold the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenantt that they broke, thoug I was their husband, declares the LORD.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LROD: I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts.  And I will be their God and they shall be my people (Jeremiah 31:31-33).

The prophets sought to bring about social transformation through a word-wrought change of heart in God's people. 

Nicky Gumbel and Christopher West ...

An important emerging friendship and alliance for our collective mission to the West

It is good to see the deepening collaboration between Nicky Gumbel and Christopher West.  One of the most potent pastoral alliances anywhere in Christendom is the emerging cooperation between HTB's Marriage Course and JPII Theology of the Body.  To be on the ground floor of this strategic missionary alliance, please attend our "Parish Built on Love" mission January 24-27, 2013.  Or if you can't come, read Christopher's newest book, Fill These Hearts: God, Sex and the Universal Longing,  which Nicky is endorsing and which Christopher will speak about at Truro. For more information about Christopher's newest book and tour see www.fillthesehearts.org  and  http://www.amazon.com/Fill-These-Hearts-Universal-Longing/dp/0307987132/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354046593&sr=1-1&keywords=Fill+These+Hearts,

Through the Bible, Week 12

The Prophets: Announcing the Judgment of God


The Prophets, along with priests, sages and scribes, were another order of ministry in ancient Israel.  Like the other orders, their ministries revolved around the covenant - its exposition, maintenance and execution.  The 10 Commandments was the core of the covenant and was exemplified in the rest of the Hebrew scriptures.  Unlike the other orders however, the prophets alone functioned as a "check" on royal power and prerogative.  Unlike the nations around them, Israel's king did not have absolute power.  His word was not law.  He was not "son of God" - at least in the sense of the Pharaohs.  Instead, in Israel, the LORD God continued to govern Israel through the covenant.  Even the king was subservient to the covenant and it was the job of the prophet to remind him of this fact.  This is precisely what Nathan was doing when he rebuked David for having committed adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12).  During the divided Kingdom and exile, the Prophets loom large on Israel's spiritual and social horizon.  To digest this "largeness", it is important to make some distinctions about the various prophetic functions, specifically we will distinguish between:  the prophetic corpus, tradition, experience and the prophetic office.

A.    Prophetic Corpus

The "Early Prophets" refer to the biblical story contained in Joshua  through 2 Kings. Christians refer to this part of the scriptures as the "historical books," which is something of a misnomer.  This is canonical - or prophetic - history and reflects the interests and concerns of the prophets.  This is prophetic writing in the form of historical narrative.  Because these books comprise a narrative unit, there is growing scholarly opinion that it took its final editorial form during the exile, possibly under the knowing eye of Jeremiah, or Baruch, his scribe. The book of Jeremiah and 2 Kings ends with the same historical account of the fall of Jerusalem (compare Jeremiah 52 and 2 Kings 24:18-25:30).
The "Latter Prophets" refer to the biblical messages within the books from Isaiah to Malachi.  Again this is something of a misnomer, because some of these "later prophets" prophesied before the "history" was written or even before it occurred.  These later prophets are distinguished not so much by chronology as much as by their preaching, which has been preserved in this corpus of books.  It is probably best to think of them as anthologies of their "greatest hits."  Sermons that made them (in)famous and got them either imprisoned or exiled.

B.     Prophetic Tradition

 There are two parts of the prophetic tradition roughly corresponding to the prophetic corpus.  There is the "written prophets" which consists of the public ministry of Elijah and Elisha, who ministered during the divided Kingdom.  Their stories are found in 1 and 2 Kings.  There are also the "writing prophets" which comprise Isaiah through Malachi.  The writing (or their speeches) show deliberate signs of borrowing and reflection on the written traditions.  They are expositions of the prophetic history, helping Israel to understand how defection from the covenant had severe social and theological repercussions.  Their message in a nutshell: "we don't break the covenant as much as we break ourselves against the covenant."

The prophetic experience and office will be explored in part two of this post.

Lincoln on Thanksgiving

Lincoln's National Day of Thanksgiving Proclamation

It has seemed to me 
fit and proper that
God should be solemnly,
reverently and gratefully 
acknowledged,
as with one heart
and one voice,
by the whole 
American people.

If you have not seen the new movie of Lincoln, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Fields, then I urge to do so this holiday weekend.  He truly was our "Redeemer President," bearing within himself our divided union to the end of his life.  By his life and death we were given a new birth of freedom.  Will we ever see his likes again in the Presidency?

Through the Bible, Week 11, part 2

 Psalm 137

The Psalter opens with two psalms that set the horizon for all the other psalms that follow.  Those horizons are torah meditation (psalm one) and messianic expectation (psalm two).  The rest of the praying in the Psalter oscillates between these two horizons, like the Sun that rises in the East and sets in the West.  Torah meditation is what makes us blessed (ashrey), people whose hearts are inclined to love and follow God.  Torah gives us our orientation in this world.  But this world is fallen and every orientation eventually gets shunted into disorientation.  Life is full of disappointment and hardship.  Messianic expectation is the necessary corrective because the Torah tends to be misread, misquoted, misunderstood and disobeyed, so that only God's true hearer of the Word can teach us how to (re-)appropriate it.  This horizon helps re-orient us in our times of disorientation and the disappointment that life entails.  The drama of all praying occurs between these two poles - as we are shaped into adequate conversation partners for the LORD God.

Psalm 137 is a three stanza prayer-poem of disorientation - indeed, radical disorientation.  It is poem that oscillates between two cities: Babylon and Jerusalem.  Jerusalem is the city of Israel's orientation, her "true north."  Babylon is the city of disorientation, a place of exile.   Stanza one specifies the setting as "by the rivers of Babylon."  Babylon was rich in rivers and canals.  The Greeks called it "Mesopotamia" meaning "in the midst of rivers."  The Babylonian exile and the accompanying dislocation and humiliation which comes from being torn from one's home and house of worship is the background of this psalm.  We are told this humiliation is exaggerated by her captors: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion" they taunt.

Stanza two examines the interior experience of exile, from the rivers of Babylon to the rivers of grief Israel feels:

"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!"
Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I don't remember you."

So far so good.  But the really hard part occurs in the third and final stanza,  where the focus is on the LORD and prayer is made to him.  It is a prayer of retribution, especially the last and most shocking verse:

"Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!"

This is pure vengeance and undiluted hatred, a wish for retribution in kind: "May you get what you gave." 

But it is also pure prayer - giving all of it up to God, the good, the bad and the ugly.  The Psalter excells at giving us permision to say what is in us. Even more, it gives voice to what is in us.  Maybe the Israelite exiles should be able to forgive those who raped their women, impaled their sons and bashed their babies against rocks.  But they would never be able to if they did not have a place to send their rage and their hatred.  God is the rock upon which Israel is invited to rage.  God is the harbor against the storms of the soul.

True prayer never occurs if the worshipper is false before God.  Praying our anger is the first step in giving it up to God in forgiveness.

Psalm 137 may not be a "model" prayer.  But is certainly an honest prayer and an accurate portrayal of the human heart in the grip of great grief and pain  And in that sense it is good example of how to pray.  It is a hopeful prayer because it invites even our darkness into the conversation with Him who is light and in whom no darkness dwells.  He is strong enough to absorb and heal all our darkness.  This is what Psalm 137 invites us to do.