When Heresy is Hip

Tony Jones, one of the kids playing about in the theological sand box called "the emergent church" has come to embrace yet one more heresy. He has now embraced the most roundly condemned heretic in the history of the church - Pelagius.

Kevin DeYoung comments:

Over at the Beliefnet blog, Tony Jones has been posting some thoughts about Pelagius. The series is not quite finished, but you can find the latest in the series and the other links here). The gist is pretty simple. Jones puts his thesis in bold letters in his Intro: "I have come to reject the notion of Original Sin. I consider it neither biblically, philosophically, nor scientifically tenable." For good measure, Jones excerpts from a blogger named Brian (not McLaren) and his piece "Thank You, Saint Pelagius.

"There are so many things wrong with these posts, from the erroneous historical reconstruction, to the strawmen arguments (e.g., if you believe in original sin you can't believe in human responsibility), to conversation stoppers from Jones like "Watch out, Brian, the NeoReformed stormtroopers went after Scot McKnight last week, and they'll probably come after you here!"

In July, Ted Kluck and I have a new book coming out, Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion. In the epilogue, I make the argument that the missing element in the contemporary church is a robust doctrine of original sin. It saddens me to get further confirmation that this assessment is correct...

More recently, however, prominent “evangelicals” have questioned the validity of the doctrine of original sin. Brian McLaren mocks it, making original sin the subject of Mary’s Magnificat until it sounds ridiculous. Steve Chalke denies it, claiming that “Jesus believed in original goodness.” David Tomlinson rejects it, finding total depravity “biblically questionable, extreme, and profoundly unhelpful.” And Doug Pagitt is completely fed up with it, basing his rejection of original sin on the belief that “Augustine’s doctrine of depravity was based on a particular linguistic and cultural reading of certain passages of the Bible."

Note to Tony, Brian, Doug, etc.: Leave the theology to the grown ups.

Read DeYoung's entire post HERE.

The continuing influence of Charles Finney

In his most recent article for Modern Reformation Michael Horton asks the question, “Does Justification Still Matter?” He observes and laments the fact that the contemporary church, even many of those with roots in the Protestant Reformation, have either neglected or denied the central doctrine of the church: justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. In one particularly important passage Dr. Horton explains one historic trend that continues to shape American evangelicalism’s disinterest in sound doctrine.

“In the American colonies, the Great Awakening, under the leadership of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield, heralded the good news of God’s justifying grace in Christ. However, by the Second Great Awakening an antithetical theology became the working theology of many Protestant bodies in the new republic. The church is a society of moral reformers, said its leading evangelist Charles Finney…

“Finney’s critics charged him with Pelagianism – the ancient heresy that essentially taught that we are not born inherently sinful and that we are saved by following Christ’s moral example. Going well beyond Rome’s errors, Finney’s “Systematic Theology” explicitly denied original sin and insisted that the power of regeneration lies in the sinner’s own hands, rejects any notion of a substitutionary atonement in favor of the moral influence and moral government theories, and regarded the doctrine of justification by an imputed righteousness as ‘impossible and absurd.’

“Concerning the complex doctrines that he associated with Calvinism (including original sin, vicarious atonement, justification, and the supernatural character of the new birth), Finney concluded, ‘No doctrine is more dangerous than this to the prosperity of the church, and nothing more absurd.’ ‘A revival is not a miracle,’ he declared. In fact, ‘There is nothing in religion beyond the ordinary powers of nature.’ Find the most useful methods, (“excitements,” he called them) and there will be conversion. ‘A revival will decline and cease,’ he warned, ‘unless Christians are frequently re-converted.’ Toward the end of his ministry, as he considered the condition of many who had experienced his revivals, Finney wondered if this endless craving for ever-greater experiences might lead to spiritual exhaustion. In fact, his worries were justified. The area where Finney’s revivals were especially dominant is now referred to by historians as the ‘burned-over district,’ a seedbed of both disillusionment and the proliferation of various cults. Ever since, Evangelicalism has been characterized by a succession of enthusiastic movements hailed as ‘revivals’ that have burned out as quickly as they spread…

“It does not seem wide of the mark to regard Finney’s theological assumptions as Pelagian and his influence remains with us today, in both mainline and evangelical Protestantism. Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw this clearly in his visit to the United States, describing American religion as ‘Protestantism without Reformation.’ In spite of the influence of a genuinely evangelical witness, the rapid spread of Arminian revivalism, especially in the developing West, proved more effective in producing ‘results.’ Doctrine in general, and Calvinism in particular, just got in the way of building a Christian America. ‘Deeds, not creeds!’ has a long pedigree in the movment’s history.”

American Evangelicalism has taken on a “do-it-yourself” approach to doctrine and spirituality. We have become pragmatists. If it works then it must be good. If it gets people “down the aisle” and gets them to “pray the prayer” then it is good. This is Finney’s legacy to us and we are still buying in.

You can read Dr. Horton’s entire article (and many other outstanding articles) at www.modernreformation.org.