Tuesday, February 13, 2007

minimums and maximums

From D.G. Hart, Deconstructing Evangelicalism, posted on Against Heresies,

Of course, the aim of evangelicalism was to find a lowest common denominator faith that would take members from diverse denominations and independent congregations and stitch them together in a recognizable quilt.

...for mere Christianity to survive, wise and constant diligence needs to be directed to as complete a reflection on biblical truth as possible. In other words, to preserve the minimum, you need to defend the maximum. This is logic that those who call themselves evangelical have instinctively avoided.
I agree thoroughly with the statement, "to preserve the minimum, you need to defend the maximum" but I'm not quite sure what is meant by this being a logic avoided by evangelicals.

My perception is the evangelicals strain to argue every jot and tittle. And, as noted in a previous post, the seem anxious to take corners and come out fighting (even against each other) as if they alone hold claim to all aspects of truth. While I'm sure some Emergents may not hold Scripture highly enough, my sense is that they are simply trying to swing the pendulum back. The Word is truth. Our ability to comprehensively understand and communicate that truth is limited. But in defense of Evangelicals, I will say that in the Emergent effort to swing the pendulum back, it's hard to differentiate between those with the proper view of Scripture and those that are simply challenging some of our paradigms.

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