A Scholarly Critique of R2K

Very thought-provoking article in the most recent Themelios Journal concerning the current discussion in Reformed circles concerning the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for the Civil Realm.

You can read it here.

 

 

The author’s intent is given as follows:

In what follows I compare and contrast two broad positions within Reformed theology:

1. The first, and at the risk of caricature, are those who both for theological and tactical reasons argue for the ‘insufficiency’ (or maybe less polemically ‘illegitimacy’) of the use of the Bible in the public realm but rather the ‘sufficiency’ (or probably better, ‘legitimacy’) of natural revelation embodied in a natural law.
2. The second argue for precisely the opposite.

This article is almost 10,000 words so get a large cup of coffee and find a comfy chair. He deals directly with the works of David Vandrunen, T. David Gordon, Michael Horton, D.G. Hart, and others.

The article in Themelios was written by:

Dan Strange
Dan Strange is Lecturer in Culture, Religion, and Public Theology at Oak Hill College, London.

The Problems With the Current Way We Educate Our Pastors

This is from an excellent little article from Colin Hansen at the Gospel Coalition asking a couple leading administrators and scholars about what would they change about seminary education.

Richard Pratt says,

“Can you imagine what kind of soldiers our nation would have if basic training amounted to reading books, listening to lectures, writing papers, and taking exams? We’d have dead soldiers. The first time a bullet wizzed past their heads on the battlefield, they’d panic. The first explosion they saw would send them running. So, what is basic training for the military? Recruits learn the information they need to know, but this is a relatively small part of their preparation. Most of basic training is devoted to supervised battle simulation. Recruits are put through harrowing emotional and physical stress. They crawl under live bullet fire. They practice hand to hand combat.

If I could wave a magic scepter and change seminary today, I’d turn it into a grueling physical and spiritual experience. I’d find ways to reach academic goals more quickly and effectively and then devote most of the curriculum to supervised battle simulation. I’d put students through endless hours of hands-on service to the sick and dying, physically dangerous evangelism, frequent preaching and teaching the Scriptures, and days on end of fasting and prayer. Seminary would either make them or break them.

Do you know what would happen? Very few young men would want to attend. Only those who had been called by God would subject themselves to this kind of seminary. Yet they would be recruits for kingdom service, not mere students. They would be ready for the battle of gospel ministry.”