A few days ago I posted Protestant Ressourcement: Pillar 1 here. The first pillar of the work of The Davenant Trust is reason. The second pillar, described in this interview with Davenant president Brad Littlejohn, is tradition. Tradition in the world of Protestant American Evangelicalism has had something of a mixed reception. On the one hand, many Evangelicals boast of a "me and the Bible" approach to theology but on the other, most of what they find in the Bible is what they've heard as a matter of tradition in their churches, Sunday School classes, or via cable TV.
Brad does an excellent job of framing tradition in the Protestant tradition. Just as virtually no one would try to chart a course across rugged terrain without a map, so too the accumulated 2000 years of reflections by intelligent and deeply committed Christians provide us current day Christians with the lay of the land, which can greatly shorten the time it would otherwise take to get to our destination.
In other words, theology is best done as a group activity and honoring one's theological forbears means making them part of our group.
In any event, don't believe me. Listen to Brad.
Brad does an excellent job of framing tradition in the Protestant tradition. Just as virtually no one would try to chart a course across rugged terrain without a map, so too the accumulated 2000 years of reflections by intelligent and deeply committed Christians provide us current day Christians with the lay of the land, which can greatly shorten the time it would otherwise take to get to our destination.
In other words, theology is best done as a group activity and honoring one's theological forbears means making them part of our group.
In any event, don't believe me. Listen to Brad.
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