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"Toward A New Theology" Part 2 (more explaining) To follow up with the last post, it would seem that any fellow-feeling between Protestants of different stripes would at best be based on those early creedal statements to which all serious Christians adhere, knowingly or not. But--and this is the key--large segments of Protestants do not even commune together! If there is any more uniting us than anti-Catholicism, you would expect this, no? Granted, in many churches, one can take communion "as a member of an evangelical church in good standing." What does 'evangelical' mean? Does anyone even know? Does it imply "not Catholic"? It sure sounds like it does. But do we believe that the Protestant dispute (which led to our separation) was a tragedy ? If we did, we would do everything in our power to avoid it, as we say the great Reformers did. But did they? Do we today? I love and appreciate the Reformed contribution to the theological soup after th...

"Toward A New Theology" I have to write this post; I may not want to, in a certain way, but it must be done. I borrow my title from a series by my good friend and colleague, Timothy R. Butler. In any case, a brief explanation is in order. In recent weeks and months, I have become increasingly concerned about what I sense is a certain theological relativism inherent in Protestant Christianity. To state it cleverly, the great strength of Protestantism is generally a lack of hierarchical authority; its great weakness is a lack of hierarchical authority. As a result, members of different Protestant communions talk of a "unity" in "the essentials" which strikes one as vague at best, and presumptuous at worst. Commendably, however, these essentials deal quite directly with the person and work of Christ, best expressed in creedal form by the Apostles,' Nicene, Athanasian, and Chalcedonian, in no particular order of importance. (I have yet to find a non-...

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