How Reformed People See Evangelicals

(aka How Catholic Integralists See Protestants)

Contemplating the passing of Billy Graham and of the model of evangelicalism he built, Jake Meador is right that the future of evangelicalism lies in a center-set approach; I guess that’s basically another way of saying this.

Of course, practical realities will often require the drawing of some kind of boundary lines (e.g. on sexuality and ethnic reconciliation) and that in turn will usually involve orienting ourselves with reference to the collapsing Left and Right that Meador thinks no longer offer stable reference points. But he’s basically right.

He thinks Reformed Christianity could provide a fruitful starting point for building a center upon which to center the set. Naturally, as a Reformed guy myself, I’m not militantly opposed to such a claim.

I think he’s mistaken, however, in thinking that the primary reason other evangelicals will not look to us Reformed folks as a credible center is because we have a lot of internal arguments. The main reason other evangelicals will not look to us as a credible center is not in our internal relations but in our external relations.

Serving in such a role would require us to demonstrate a level of humility that has not been in evidence for a long time. People will not follow you as a leader if you fundamentally think of yourself as The Rightful Leader, and that is how we Reformed folks think of ourselves, and have for centuries, and it has long been a stench in everyone else’s nostrils.

Take for example the widespread hand-wringing we are seeing about whether we should stop calling ourselves “evangelicals” because of Trump. Some of these people are good friends of mine, and even if they weren’t, I would want to treat their concerns with great respect. But I must point out that this hand-wringing takes place largely among people who never felt comfortable calling themselves “evangelicals” in the first place. And for a long time this has come across to all the other evangelicals, not without some justification, as condescending. The reality is that we are evangelicals whether we want to be or not, because that is the social position in which God has providentially placed us, and our reluctance to accept the identity is only one of many pieces of evidence that we think ourselves too good for our station.

Calvin never felt too good for his sation! Alas, we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven.

It’s time stop shaking our canes at evangelicals and yelling at them to get off our lawn.

“Come, my friends, ‘tis not too late to seek a newer world.”