9 Marks on Race

I just received my bi-monthly eJournal from 9 Marks Ministries. If you are not familiar with 9 Marks I encourage you to visit their web site and slowly absorb the many facets of their ministry. They have their finger on the pulse of church life in the U. S. and beyond. Visit their web site to subscribe to the eJournal.

Which brings me to this little foray into their present eJournal. It deals with the topic of race. I believe that this has the potential to be one of the most significant contributions by 9 Marks to date. I realize that this is a rather significant statement given the many contributions they have made, most notably in the area of church discipline. However, pastoring a church in the Deep South U. S. brings with it a number of divergent responses to race in the church, i. e., the body of Christ. I do not believe the outward, blatant racism of years past still prevails, though there are areas where even this still exists. No, a more incipient racism has crept in, a sort of silent racism that quietly lays under the surface in a "don't ask, don't tell" veneer. Even in those churches that are committed to multi-racial congregations (as ours is) there might still be those who claim multi-racial principles at church but who hesitate to allow those principles to permeate their worldview outside the church, at work, at school, at recreation, in realtionships, etc.

I suggest that this issue of 9 Marks eJournal might rock some people's world. Read it - honestly. John Piper's article is especially forthright and challenging to my work as a pastor and my life as a father. Others will grip you as well, including the book reviews. Use this as a good opportunity to introduce yourself to 9 Marks.

More updates on The Alabama Baptist

Tom Ascol is continuing his series of helpful response to the August 2 articles on Southern Baptists and Calvinism by James Leo Garrett, Jr. I encourage you to follow along as Tom points out the stereotypes of Calvinism by many in SBC life (i.e., equating Calvinism with hyper-Calvinism). He also offers links to others who have commented on these articles.

Update on Alabama Baptist articles

In my previous post I mentioned that I was unable to link to Dr. Garrett's series of articels on Calvinism in The Alabama Baptist. Links have since been provided:

A question facing Baptist churches
Calvinism: What does it mean?
Does Dortian Calvinism have weight of Scripture in its favor?
Have Baptists always been Dortian Calvinists in their confessions of faith?
How prominent Baptists stack up
What are the alternatives to Dortian Calvinism?

Tom Ascol has also provided comments on this series in two blogs:

The Alabama Baptist on Calvinism
The Alabama Baptist stories on Calvinism

Tom has also provided an update and a link to the upcoming "Building Bridges: Southern Baptists and Calvinism" conference Nov. 26-28, 2007 at Ridgecrest, NC.

Tom's update
Conference web site and registration

The Alabama Baptist on Calvinism

This week's edition of The Alabama Baptist contains a series of articles by James Leo Garrett, Jr. on Calvinism. In his opening comments, editor Bob Terry shares the goal and intent of this series of articles:

This week, The Alabama Baptist attempts what many believe impossible. We offer our readers an in-depth look into the theological understandings often called Calvinism. This effort is not an attempt to persuade readers whether this viewpoint is right or wrong. Instead we present a series of articles designed to inform readers about Calvinism... Our goal is to inform readers so they will understand the basic teachings of this viewpoint and be able to reach their own conclusions about the teachings of this theological understanding.

The series of articles by Dr. Garrett is to be commended for its structure and commitment to Terry's aforementioned goal. Garrett's articles might be described as follows:

1) Definitional/historical
2) Confessional/historical
3) Biographical/historical
4) Scriptural/interpretational
5) Practical
6) Optional

I would commend that all read the articles with the editor's intent in mind. The articles offer an informational introduction to Calvinism in some degree. However, I would like to point out a couple of weaknesses.

1) While the articles serve as a decent introduction to Calvinism, it does not serve as a true examination of Calvinism as the series title suggests: An Informational Examination of Calvinism. The reason for this lies in the brevity of the articles. Garrett simply touches on many things but does not properly expand on those topics. Of course, this brevity is necessary to fulfill the requirements of the paper and no slight on Dr. Garrett. However, the reader must remember that do to this brevity, historical and Scriptural thoughts are often understated and therefore can be misleading. Again, this is not to say that is Garrett's intent. He is bound to the length of a journal article. I would encourage the readers to do a deeper study historically and especially Scripturally. My greatest disagreement with Dr. Garrett would be with the article on Scripture and Calvinism.

2) It seems to me that if one were attempting to give an "in-depth" yet unbiased opinion, then the editor should have chosen more than one person to write the series of articles. It does not matter whether Dr. Garrett is a self-proclaimed Dortian Calvinist, a practicing Calminian (to borrow his term), or a flaming Arminian. While I do believe Dr. Garrett tries to be as unbiased as possible in the spirit of the stated goal, it is difficult if not impossible for one's historical and biblical interpretations not to bleed through on occasion. A better approach might have been to have taken the same approach and invited scholars on both sides to present their views over an extended number of papers. This would have guarded against the biases of an individual and left a greater breadth of information for one to make an informed decision.

Again, I encourage the reader to get his/her hands on a copy of the Aug. 2, 2007 edition of The Alabama Baptist and read for yourself. Unfortunately, while Terry's comment on the series is available online, I was not able to find a link to the articles themselves as of the time of this writing.