A Second Look At Theological Arrogance

I grew up hearing exclusive language used to describe our denomination's theology and worldview. It was language that suggested superiority over other theological systems or churches. Things were stated in terms that suggested we were the only ones who believed these things and others foolishly didn't. Phrases like sola scriptura (by scriptures alone) were used to suggest that the CRC used only scriptures for deciding issues of faith and morality. They would say, well what makes us distinctly reformed is that we are sola scriptura. Which sounds a whole lot like, "We take scripture seriously and other churches do not." As a kid growing up, this was confusing for me since every Christian I met functioned under the assumption of sola scriptura. I noticed that others also took scriputer seriously and that we weren't the only ones. So the question became, why does the CRC say it is a distinctive when most other's hold that value too? Maybe it's not a distinctive of the reformed tradition, but a value that is important to us.

Neil Plantinga, has written about how to understand and embrace the reformed identity without sounding arrogant. Plantinga is the president of CTS and he wrote in the spring 2006 issue of the "Forum":

For years I joined many in speaking of things that are "distinctively Reformed." I like to think and speak in this way of certain doctrines (the sovereignty of God) and practics (following the Ten Commandments as a guide to the Christian life). "Distinctively Reformed," I would say. The phrase has a private club feel to it that you could enjoy with a little spasm of pride. "Members Only," the phrase seemed to say.

Well, I'm older now and see somethings I hadn't seen before. I no longer speak of doctines and practices as "distinctly Reformed" because the phrase is ambiguous. It could be taken to mean uniquely Reformed, as if we are the only kind of Christians who believed these doctrines or follow these practices. But we aren't. We have unique combination of doctrines and practices, but the individual items belong, in some form or another, to other editions of Christianity besides our own.

So I now speak in terms of doctrines and practices that are "characteristically Reformed." I mean to speak of things that show are "in character" as Reformed people.

I appreciate Plantinga's heart as he desires to communicate the theological system that we function under without re-inforcing dividing walls. He suggests using "characterisically Reformed" which is better than distinctively reformed.

Tags: calvin theological seminary, crc, neil plantinga