Thursday, February 07, 2008

Chuckle-headed Calvinism

The Mrs and I greatly enjoyed Doug Wilson's visit to college last night in which he shared wisdom and stories from his 30-year pastorate. He talked winsomely of his becoming a postmillenialist, a calvinist and a paedobaptist (it did happen in that order), and of his church's involvement in making Christian schooling happen.

Of course, it is unfair to boil someone's words down to mere soundbite, but there were a few memorable nuggets on offer last night (the quotations are not exact, but hopefully capture the spirit and intention of the originals):

"Whoever came up with the phrase 'limited atonement' was no doubt a theological genius, but he was a PR chucklehead."

"Christians fighting over baptism is like fighting over the ring at a wedding."

"Of all the theological shifts I've made over the years, becoming a postmillenialist was the only one that was fun."

Wilson also spoke of the need for churches that disagree to have a strong-headed partnership in the gospel, of how pastoring involves patiently leading for change in people rather than expecting instant conforming to the ideal in our heads, and of how liturgy vs emphasis on the bible is a false dichotomy. Therefore, we were encouraged, by example, to be about reforming the church and the world, by God's grace and by God-given means.

[NB. David Field puts it all a lot better than I have HERE]

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