Theology, good theology is the best intended efforts to bring biblical truth to bear on the time and place when and where the theologian is working. So, a generation or two later, once the cultural mileau radically changes and the original context is basically gone, ideas that were very helpful and fresh in their day are the building blocks of a type of orthodoxy that leaves people with overwrought ideas--sometimes taken way too seriously and extremism begins to manifest by following generations in the name of orthodoxy. I set in sessions with Schaeffer and enjoyed much the discussion about the ways ideas of what is biblical get messed up in the transfer between the generations . We should read the old theologians, but we always need new men to write for their own time and place creating a practical bridge to the truth of scripture germane to the current context. When doing so, I think the greater room for error is to adapt biblical truth, bend it to fit current attitudes and beliefs. All efforts to do good theology require a consistent, well reasoned and compassionate critique of all that is contemporary from a biblically informed mind. Schaeffer did that rather well setting an example for us. I often think that Calvin, the man, would not recognize much that is called Calvinism and not support much that is mainstream Reformed theology today. Calvin is not the standard, to be sure, Christ alone should have the final word. But it should humble us to keep in mind that we are more influenced by our time and place in history than we realize.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 23:54:12 +0000
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