I really love your Substack and it’s one I’ll always make a point to read. So thank you!
I’m replying to this post because, like all your posts it’s thought provoking. And I ’m curious about two things 1) in your kind of empirical / historical observations in the way you characterise low church Protestantism as overwhelmingly Augustinian and Calvinist. I’m just genuinely curious about the absence here of more Wesleyan / Holiness and or Pentecostal strains of low church. How do you see them in relation to the configurations you’re describing ? I guess they still stress ‘getting saved’ but probably don’t discount human agency in quite the same way as the more Calvinist strains you describe.
But 2) more significantly, I wonder if you’ve allowed room for - in both a constructive and historical-theological sense - the vivifying work and role of the Holy Spirit in Reformed theologies. True, those traditions may at time ignore or insufficiently stress or rely on the work of the Spirit, but if one were to represent them in their best light as they related justification to sanctification, and nature to grace, maybe one ought to hear them on the person and work of the Spirit as both regenerator and sanctifier (as well as ‘Lord and giver of life’ ).
How do you pneumatology fitting in the dynamic you describe between soteriology and discipleship formation ?
The Apostle Paul urged the Philippians who seem like a pretty good bunch of believers in Christ Jesus:
"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."
I'm pretty good at the "fear and trembling" part, but I need help with the "work out" part. I'm hoping that this series of posts will not only educate but also motivate me.
For a good argument in favor of centering justification over “our part” in sanctification, you should read Simeon Zahl’s “The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience.”
Grateful for these reflections. It's fascinating to me how Calvin might be the bridge b/w Catholic and Protestant traditions in this. His opposition to monastic life and practice was that it made the Christian formation inheritance the possession of some spiritual elite (monks) and he sought to democratize it for the wider church (cf. Matthew Boulton's Life in God).
I really love your Substack and it’s one I’ll always make a point to read. So thank you!
I’m replying to this post because, like all your posts it’s thought provoking. And I ’m curious about two things 1) in your kind of empirical / historical observations in the way you characterise low church Protestantism as overwhelmingly Augustinian and Calvinist. I’m just genuinely curious about the absence here of more Wesleyan / Holiness and or Pentecostal strains of low church. How do you see them in relation to the configurations you’re describing ? I guess they still stress ‘getting saved’ but probably don’t discount human agency in quite the same way as the more Calvinist strains you describe.
But 2) more significantly, I wonder if you’ve allowed room for - in both a constructive and historical-theological sense - the vivifying work and role of the Holy Spirit in Reformed theologies. True, those traditions may at time ignore or insufficiently stress or rely on the work of the Spirit, but if one were to represent them in their best light as they related justification to sanctification, and nature to grace, maybe one ought to hear them on the person and work of the Spirit as both regenerator and sanctifier (as well as ‘Lord and giver of life’ ).
How do you pneumatology fitting in the dynamic you describe between soteriology and discipleship formation ?
GREAT questions.
Thank you kindly !
The Apostle Paul urged the Philippians who seem like a pretty good bunch of believers in Christ Jesus:
"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."
I'm pretty good at the "fear and trembling" part, but I need help with the "work out" part. I'm hoping that this series of posts will not only educate but also motivate me.
For a good argument in favor of centering justification over “our part” in sanctification, you should read Simeon Zahl’s “The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience.”
Grateful for these reflections. It's fascinating to me how Calvin might be the bridge b/w Catholic and Protestant traditions in this. His opposition to monastic life and practice was that it made the Christian formation inheritance the possession of some spiritual elite (monks) and he sought to democratize it for the wider church (cf. Matthew Boulton's Life in God).
Kyle Strobel is exploring this same angle - https://kylestrobel.substack.com/p/the-forgotten-doctrines-of-spiritual-be8