Discerning Trueman's Confusion

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/12/has-hitler-won-on-the-left

Carl Trueman of Grove City College laments the moral decline in society and the kind of confusion that would lead to people celebrating the 7 October Hamas attack on Southern Israel.

Rejecting the Aquinas Jubilee

https://theaquilareport.com/what-the-jubilee-of-aquinas-says-about-rome-and-roman-protestant-relations-in-some-quarters/

I appreciated some of the issues raised in this piece by Hervey. Thomas and Thomism have certainly been in the air as his memory and a set of larger questions concerning Roman Catholicism are being debated. In these unsettled times as Protestants and Evangelicals thirst for so-called Christian Civilisation, there's a desire to find some kind of historical and cultural continuity. Protestantism falls short in this regard, and as such many are looking farther back to a time that at least seems to be more cohesive. Whether it was something to celebrate or not is debatable. After all, error can (in theory) be coherent, and paganism can create cohesive societies.

The PBS Documentary on Billy Graham

I was at first a little surprised to see that PBS-American Experience had produced a documentary on Billy Graham. In other respects it wasn't all that surprising as he was a significant figure in twentieth century American life – certainly a household name to anyone over forty or so. I certainly grew up with Billy Graham and thus was eager to see it.

Metanarratives of Church History: Mercersburg, Confessionalism, and Landmarkism

Recovering the First Reformation - Toward a Proto-Protestant Narrative of Church History (III)

Nevin imposes a theological paradigm and metanarrative on his reading of Church History but ignores the fact that the New Testament repeatedly and forcefully warns of apostasy and appeals to the Old Testament as a pattern which is replete with examples of corruption, defection and compromise. In other words the Scriptures all but told us to expect this course in terms of the history of the Church and yet Nevin's progression paradigm has no room for it.

An Informal ECT Alliance and the Bolivian Coup

Fernando Camacho and Jeanine Añez both represent Right-wing Christian forces at work in Latin America. Both are Roman Catholic and yet in many ways embody the Evangelical style and appeal to its audience. With the flight of Morales in November 2019, both figures were connected to episodes in which Bibles were held up high accompanied by proclamations of the return of Christianity to Bolivia.

In North America Evangelicals and Roman Catholics began to work in concert back in the 1980's and 1990's and while the relationship in Latin America has proven rocky, there are hints that politics and culture war are bringing them together.

More Disease Ridden Cures: Attacking Lausanne on the Basis of Right-Wing Politics (Part 2)

It was appropriate that in the Old Testament order there was a certain earthly glory and indeed like Abraham we are 'wealthy' pilgrims. But wealth and riches have to be understood in spiritual terms which Proverbs (ironically) defines as spiritual wisdom, something the New Testament elaborates upon. Once again I say ironic because the proponents of Christo-capitalism heavily rely on Proverbs to make their fiscal case but never see the questions in light of the New Testament and actually ignore the foundational concepts regarding wealth that are laid out in the early chapters.

More Disease Ridden Cures: Attacking Lausanne on the Basis of Right-Wing Politics (Part 1)

I was eager to read ES Williams' Ecumenism: Another Gospel (Lausanne's Road to Rome) which was published in 2014. It was in certain respects a 'good read' and at times helpful, even insightful. But in the end I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone.

Alongside a rightly guided Biblical critique of the movement which has become the international platform of post-war Evangelicalism, there was an unfortunate Right-wing aspect or angle which seems to govern Williams' thought.

Lausanne's Unequivocal Dominionism: The Legacy of Billy Graham (Part 2)

http://evangelicalfocus.com/lifetech/4575/GWF_in_Manila_called_to_unleash_the_gospel_in_the_workplace

“I believe that one of the next great moves of God is going to be through the Believers in the workplace”.

The quote from Graham demonstrates what the movement was always about. Those that think he was just a simple-message Gospel preacher have never taken the time to understand what either he or the larger Evangelical movement was (and is) all about. You can't be an ecumenicist and come down hard and firm on anything. Graham's simplicity wasn't rooted in a bare-bones Fundamentalist-type commitment to Scripture. Not at all. His simple message was part of his larger ecumenical strategy. He wanted people 'in' and once 'in' they could be schooled in accordance with the Lausanne programme. And overwhelmingly Lausanne's programmes were and are about transforming culture. In the end Graham didn't care what theological background you hailed from. He just wanted you in the fold and part of the larger project. Whether you were baptised or not, spoke in tongues or not or prayed to Mary or not, didn't really matter.

The Lausanne Harvest (1974-2019)

http://evangelicalfocus.com/europe/4136/julia_doxat_purser_brussels_Christians_are_now_better_at_thinking_biblically_about_politics_than_25_years_ago

Ah yes, the Lausanne Movement. This is the face of Evangelicalism in Europe and it has its parallels in Latin America and elsewhere. Lausanne refers to the 1974 congress organised by John Stott and Billy Graham on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Four types of Christian, Four Gospels and the Adulteration of the Visible Church (Part 2)

The Socio-Cultural or Pronoun Error and Christian Antithesis  

Despite the stumbles and setbacks, Protestants continued in their attempts to create a new version of Christendom. In the centuries following the Reformation and Age of Reason, the nation state came to the fore and reached full flower during the Enlightenment. The concepts and categories of the period became deeply ingrained and citizen-nationalities were ultimately wed to the older concept of Christendom.

American Dominionism and Europe's Evangelicals (Part 2)

These social and cultural changes and this shift within European Evangelicalism began to take place just as the 'new' theology started to arrive and wield a greater influence. It has been aggressively promoted and heavily backed by American money. The effects have been nothing like what is happening in the United States and frankly seem 'minimal' by comparison.

Nevertheless the ideas are there and they are growing.

American Dominionism and Europe's Evangelicals (Part 1 of 2)

http://evangelicalfocus.com/europe/2188/Theological_schools_increasingly_seen_as_mobilization_centers_for_the_churches

The influence of Dominion theology continues to grow. It's nothing new in terms of the European Evangelical scene but it clearly continues to gain influence and now like its American cousin has become almost universal.

Revisiting Evangelicals and Catholics Together

Commentators are revisiting the issue of ECT or Evangelicals and Catholics Together. The original document was penned in 1994 and since it has been about twenty years, it's definitely a time for reflection.

Sadly I'm not terribly impressed with the analysis.

Dominionism in Dallas and the New Ecumenical Movement

Recently I've been listening to some podcasts put out by Dallas Theological Seminary which if you don't know it already is usually viewed as one of the primary vehicles of Dispensationalism in the United States.

Most of the big names in the Dispensational movement have at one time or another been associated with that school.