The Old and the New
March 26, 2014
Dale Coulter has a fine piece on the Old and New Calvinism over at First Thoughts. By making the connection (which others have done) between current parties and the Old School/New School debates of the nineteenth century, he offers some useful and historically informed conceptual clarity to those new Calvinists who struggle with the fact that many of us are more ambivalent (ambivalent, not dismissive) towards the movement than they would like.
As he says, Old Schoolers do not have the numbers to make an impact. But that is part of the division too. We are not concerned about building mass movements; rather, we are concerned about impact at a local and then a denominational level. This is not because we care nothing for the body of Christ as a whole but because we are aware of the church's limited resources, and of the fact that most people in the churches where we worship have no deep interest in such movements. They are too busy being Christians in their daily lives.
They work hard for the local church; they witness to their neighbours; they support the denomination with their tithes; they pray for the denomination and her missionaries in particular and for the extension of the kingdom in general; and they trust others do the same for their respective churches. And that's about it. More than enough to keep us all busy, as they say.
As he says, Old Schoolers do not have the numbers to make an impact. But that is part of the division too. We are not concerned about building mass movements; rather, we are concerned about impact at a local and then a denominational level. This is not because we care nothing for the body of Christ as a whole but because we are aware of the church's limited resources, and of the fact that most people in the churches where we worship have no deep interest in such movements. They are too busy being Christians in their daily lives.
They work hard for the local church; they witness to their neighbours; they support the denomination with their tithes; they pray for the denomination and her missionaries in particular and for the extension of the kingdom in general; and they trust others do the same for their respective churches. And that's about it. More than enough to keep us all busy, as they say.
