Consummation Anyway: A Reformed Proposal

The central claim of a Consummation Anyway (CA) model is that God could bring about eschatological consummation sans the fall—the intended telos of created humanity—apart from the incarnation of Christ. As such, the CA model is an alternative to an Incarnation Anyway (IA) model, according to which Christ’s incarnation is a necessary means by which a state of eschatological glory would be achieved sans the fall. This essay seeks to propose an argument for the CA model by drawing from the covenant theology of the Reformed tradition, and it moves in four steps. Firstly, I shall summarize Marc Cortez’s recent arguments for IA, homing in on the major moves that are most relevant for sketching a CA model. Secondly, I will highlight the challenges Cortez has offered against those interested in defending a CA model. Thirdly, I shall sketch a Reformed account of the CA model that seeks to address Cortez’s objections. Fourthly, then, I’ll consider two potential objections against the sketch I have offered for CA, inspired by a recent argument offered by James T. Turner (2019). Finally, I close with a brief conclusion that summarizes some salient features of the proposed thesis. This paper thus proposes at least one way in which the CA thesis could remain a real and live option within this debate.

Reading the Church of England’s Response to the Covid-19 Crisis: The Diverging Views of Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical Clergy

Within the one Church, the Church of England holds together in tension two distinctive streams, one rooted in the Catholic tradition (shaping Anglo-Catholic clergy) and one rooted in the Reformed tradition (shaping Evangelical clergy). Comparing the responses of 263 Anglo-Catholic clergy with the responses of 140 Evangelical clergy (all engaged in full-time stipendiary parish ministry) to the Coronavirus, Church & You Survey, the present analyses tested the thesis that these two groups would read the Church of England’s response to the Covid-19 crisis differently. The data demonstrated that, although Anglo-Catholic clergy were as willing as Evangelical clergy to embrace the digital age to assist with pastoral care, they were significantly less enthusiastic about the provision of online worship, about the closure of churches, and about the notion of virtual rather than geographical communities. The centrality of sacred space (parish church) and local place (parish system) remain more important in the Catholic tradition than in the Reformed tradition. As a consequence, Anglo-Catholic clergy have felt more disadvantaged and marginalized by the Church of England’s response to the Covid-19 crisis.

A Righteous Consensus, Whig Style

Various Protestant denominations founded hundreds of colleges during the first half of the nineteenth century. Even two-thirds of presidents of state universities were clergymen. Though those in the Reformed tradition tended to be the leading educators, denominational diversity and necessities of attracting varieties of students weakened doctrinal distinctives. The prevailing “Whig” ideal emphasized combining building a modern civilization with Christian morality. Educators, such as Francis Wayland or Mark Hopkins, confidently assumed that the best of objective common sense and modern science would support traditional Christianity. Colleges still promoted the evangelical tradition, as in campus revivals. They taught the classics as a way of developing moral faculties, as the Yale Report of 1828 advocated. Specifically Christian perspectives were found in capstone moral philosophy courses.

Religious Identity Exploration in the Life Stories of Strictly Reformed-Raised Emerging Adults in the Netherlands

This article presents the findings from a qualitative study on the religious identity exploration processes and experiences of emerging adults who grew up in strictly Reformed contexts in the Netherlands. We discuss three forms of exploration that appeared in our data: asking questions, exploring alternatives and rebelling against things that are disallowed or undesirable in the strictly Reformed tradition. We also discuss patterns that emerged from our analysis of exploration related to participants’ current religious identity commitments and a strictly Reformed upbringing. Finally, we discuss our findings and propose directions for further research and implications for those who guide youth in religious identity development.

Friedrich Schleiermacher and the Reformed Tradition in the Modern Era

Friedrich Schleiermacher reformulated the doctrines he inherited from the Reformed and Lutheran dogmatic traditions, in order to demonstrate that the certainty of faith in God, as well as faith in the redeeming power of Christ, could be maintained in an age of scientific and historical criticism of the Christian faith. He located faith in God in the immediate consciousness of being absolutely dependent, which he claimed emerged in the development of every human consciousness. And he located faith in Christ in the way the influence of the sinless perfection of Christ, mediated through the testimony of the Christian community and supported by the picture of Christ, strengthened the consciousness of God so that the inhibition of the God-consciousness by sin could be overcome. His hope was that such a reformulation of doctrine would not only clarify the meaning of faith in the modern world, but would also reunify the Christian traditions that had been divided since the Reformation.

Calvin and the Covenant

Today, covenant theology is often equated with Calvinism. The study of Calvin’s own use of the biblical covenant motive, however, has generated a controversial interpretation of the Reformed tradition. While some scholars have recently denied Calvin a genuine theology of the covenant, so as to oppose him to Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575) and the covenant theology developed in Zurich, this chapter emphasizes Calvin’s positive reception and integration of Zurich’s theology in his Institutes. Even if Calvin did not himself significantly contribute to the development of covenant theology, he ensured Bullinger’s theology gained an enduring place within Calvinism.