My friend Paul and I have an ongoing conversation happening regarding the irony of churches professing the reformed tradition, yet forgetting one of the reformers central mottos... Semper Reformada... Always reforming.
He sent me a quote that he read from N.T. Wright yesterday.
"All this, of course, demands as well that the church itself be continually called to account, since we in our turn easily get it wrong and become part of the problem instead of part of the solution. That is why the church must be semper reformanda as it reads the Bible, especially the Gospels. Fortunately, that's what the Gospels are there for, and that's what they are good at, despite generations of so-called critical methods which sometimes seem to have been designed to prevent the Gospels from being themselves. Part of the underlying aim of this essay is to encourage readings of the Bible which, by highlighting the publicness of God and the gospel, set forward those reforms which will enable the church to play its part in holding the powers to account and thus advancing God's restorative justice."
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Mini Putt
2 comments:
i hope you keep reforming because i don't get all that latin business.
Tis true. The reformed church does need to be semper reformanda. However, here's an observation from someone who has grown up in that church. Semper reformanda can mean three things for reformed folks: 1) Always be getting MORE Reformed - more and more traditional. 2) Always be changing and innovating. 3) Always be checking ourselves according to Scripture and re-forming that which is not biblical. It's the third option that is meant by the Reformers, but it's the first two options that often get practiced. Ad fontes! (To the sources!)
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