Who is the Neo-Reformed Zealot?

Reading the NYT’s recent article on Mark Driscoll and Scot McKnight’s blurb on NT Wright’s new book I thought I’d compile two lists of where I think the ‘neo-reformed’ are at and why in many ways we present something of a weird paradox to the rest of the Christian landscape as they try to figure us out:

Neo-Reformed (Things people don’t like):

1. We believe in the supremacy of God and his glory in all things.

2. We believe in the 5 solas.

3. We still believe in the inerrancy, authority and sufficiency of Scripture.

4. We are Calvinists – duh!

5. We still believe that people who die without Christ go to eternal conscious punishment.

6. We believe that the gospel is a word – i.e. you can’t ‘preach’ the gospel with actions – you can only proclaim it and live consistently with it.

7. We’re still complementarians.

8. We think that it is possible to develop a truthful systematic theology.

9. We will not budge on the importance of penal substitutionary atonement.

10. Yes, we think it is still possible to be a heretic and yes, there are quite a few those around in the church today.

Neo-Reformed (Things people like):

1. We have a largely open-handed approach to culture.

2. We’re always keen to re-think current practices.

3. Mission is a top priority for us.

4. In light of #3, we have a passion for church planting.

5. We’re more accepting of outsiders than previous conservative groups.

6. We’re into social justice and mercy ministry in a big way.

7. We’re greener than previous conservative groups.

8. #1, #6 and #7 are based on the fact that alongside our doctrine of Total Depravity and the brokenness of our world we’ve attempted to recapture the beauty of humanity and the creation through our understanding of the Image of God and Common Grace respectively.

9. Our Gospel includes the restoration of all things (See Tim Keller’s ‘The Gospel in All its Forms‘)

10. And horror of horrors – a lot of us still think NT Wright is a pretty good author and theologian even if we don’t always see eye to eye.

Scot McKnight is Clearly Concerned about Us

How else can you explain his rather uncharitable comments about us ‘neo-reformed’ in his blurb on NT Wright’s new book? I must confess I’m a little ticked off.

DeVine on McKnight on McLaren

Mark DeVine returns to bloggingwith a fantastic piece on Scot McKnight’s recent CT article on the Emerging Church (well Brian McLaren in particular)…go read it.

My Top 10 Christian Blogs for 2007

As the year begins to draw to a close and the first year of ‘…daylight’ comes to a close I want to run through a number of my own ‘Top 10′ lists for 2007. The first list is in the category of Top 10 Christian Blogs for 2007. Basically the criteria I used to choose these top 10 is simply how much I enjoyed reading them over the last year. So without further delay here they are:

#1 Between Two Worlds – Justin Taylor

I just find that as a reformed evangelical Justin keeps me up to date by posting numerous times each day with all the goings on around the reformed world in an easy and accessible way. I also find Justin to very fair and thoughtful when he does post critiques of those outside of the movement for various reasons.

#2 Drew Goodmanson

He doesn’t post as often as I’d like but in terms of a blog dealing with the concept ‘missional’ there are few better thinkers than Drew. His insights into missional living and church planting are top notch.

#3 The Blogging Parson – Michael Jensen

Michael comes from a branch of the Anglican tradition that has much in common with my own and so I often find him writing articles about Anglicanism or related subjects that have a lot of relevance for my context here in the Church of England in South Africa. He writes very eloquently and with a broad base of knowledge from which to draw. He also interacts with a very wide base of theologians and thinkers in his writing.

#4 Jesus Creed – Scot McKnight

Whilst I wouldn’t be in the same theological camp as Scot on one or two issues I do find his blog extremely stimulating and fresh. Scot is the absolute model of a gracious and humble blogger – he can write a post that takes your particular theological view to task and yet for some reason your not angry with him for writing it.

#5 Reformissionary – Steve McCoy

Steve’s blog is one cool blog. His blog is a great blend of conservative reformed evangelical meets emerging church pastor.

#6 The Internet Monk – Michael Spencer

Michael is the king of post-evangelical ranting. That means on any given day you can love what he writes are be highly irritated by it. He keeps blogging evangelicals on their toes. His podcast is also worth a listen.

#7 Tim Chester

Few people have influenced me as much as Tim through the books that he’s authored or co-authored. My first real introduction to missional living came through his little booklet ‘The Gospel-Centered Church’. I just sometimes find his posts a little long.

#8 The Bluefish Project – Dave Bish

Dave writes really edifying posts that remind me of the deeply devotional aspects of the Reformed tradition. He also provides a lot of links to bible study material which is really helpful.

#9 Sets ‘n Service – Tony Stiff

I resonate a lot with many of Tony’s posts since he seems to come from a similar angle to the one I’m exploring: the reformed missional angle.

#10 TallSkinnyKiwi - Andrew Jones

Andrew is by far the best and most balanced emerging voice out there. I don’t agree with him on a number of things but his tone, humour and insight keep me coming back and enjoying his posts. As a fan of missiology I also enjoy his insight.

It’s a Changing World…

Its funny, you go away for a couple weeks and everything seems to have changed. Looking into the blogosphere today is like driving through a new city; everything is different. Such is the nature of our world, ever changing which I suppose is why Brian McLaren has written a new book on why “Everything must Change”. Stephen posted something on this a while ago, he linked a review over at Tim Challies blog. But here is something from Scot McKnight, a friend of the Emergent. Should be interesting to see how he tackles this book. I have not read the book myself, but from first glance it seems interesting, especially since McLaren’s 4 systems seem to propose a certain metanarrative.

McKnight on McLaren

It seems that Scot McKnight will shortly begin reviewing Brian McLaren’s new book, ‘Everything Must Change‘. It will be interesting to have a look at his review alongside that of Tim Challies.

McKnight Says “No” to the DonBlog

Scot McKnight, a former faculty college of Don Carson, doesn’t think ‘The Secret Diary of D. A. Carson’ is a good idea. He has the following to say about anonymous satire:

“A steady diet of satire is soul-destroying, especially when one remains anonymous and especially when it goes on indefinitely about the same person. Satire turns the human gaze against others, even if at first in fun, and learns to hold Eikons up for ridicule and insult.”

The administration of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School have already requested that the blog be shut down and so the authors of the blog have requested that its readers chip in with their opinion as to whether or not to shut it down.

Now I must admit that I’ve found the blog side-splittingly funny – and this even as a self-confessed Don Carson fan (I probably have more Carson books than any other author on my shelf). However after reading McKnight and giving it a bit more thought I think I have to go along with him and say “no” to the DonBlog. There are other ways to have good laugh.