Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Dodo Bird theology

***QUOTE***

I believe that gaining a decent understanding the reformation of the eleventh century is essential for several reasons. At the very least, it has the potential of making our grasp of our own cherished reformation, four and a half centuries later, so much more comprehensible by helping us to understand more deeply the type of world that one set of reformers created for the next set to live in. It might cause a salutary re-thinking and re-formulating of apologetic categories that have for too long been allowed to stand as a kind of "Sacred Tradition" which, standing above everything like a set of Platonic Forms, is snobbishly dismissive of numerous relevant "worldly" things.

http://www.societaschristiana.com/

***END-QUOTE***

Tim Enloe has a problem. He has a product to peddle. Problem is: nobody cares.

Tim’s ignorance of exegetical theology is equaled only by his incompetence in the field of epistemology.

The only thing he apparently knows quite a bit about is Medieval conciliarism.

Of course, that’s about as useful as a skiboat in the Sahara.

So he’s stuck with this Edsel of Medieval conciliarism. He’s gotta make a living somehow. He’s gotta work up his sales pitch. He’s gotta convince us that we can’t rightly survive without an Edsel repairman. He’s gotta convince us that we need a crash course in Edsel mechanics, followed by a graduate course in Edsel mechanics, followed by a post-grad course in Edsel mechanics.

He’s got this Edsel to sell, and when that’s you’re product, salesmanship is everything.

Somehow we can’t be true-blue Calvinists, or even bona fide Protestants unless we’re deeply versed in the intricacies of Medieval conciliarism, just as we can’t find our way around New York City in 2005 unless we’ve memorized a 1950 roadmap of the Big Apple. Makes a whole lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Now, church history is a worthwhile subject of study, but to pretend that a knowledge of Medieval conciliarism is the magic key to unlock the forgotten treasures of Reformed theology is just a whole lot of hype from a guy who stumbled into Dodo Bird theology and chose to take up lifetime residence on a desert island.

Tim is welcome to become the world authority on the history of nothingless, but forgive us if we don’t join him in his self-imposed exile to the Land That Time Forgot.

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