Rather than delineate areas of agreement, for brevity's sake Doran hones in on one disagreement: "I believe that this discussion is too complicated to make that assertion [i.e., that conservative evangelicals are not new evangelicals] at this point." Doran offers two reasons for his assessment:
- It is not very clear what constitutes conservative evangelicalism.
- It is not really clear how we are defining new evangelicalism.
Dr. Bauder is certainly correct in reminding us that these men are not our enemies. We may not agree with one another on important issues, but these disagreements are between brothers. Some disagreements, though, can adversely affect fellowship even among brothers.As with Bauder's article, Doran writes with gravitas, grace, and accuracy. I highly commend the whole thing to you (here).
2 comments:
When I read about this episode, it seems like in 1 Cor 5, Paul says to separate from professing Christians in unrepentant sin, and not even to eat with them. It doesn't seem to me that there's too much wiggle room between friend and enemy. It seems that Paul wanted the church to discern between friend and enemy of the gospel, and that the church should confront error with the goal of restoration. It seems like all professing Christians are our friends in some sense, but we may not partner with, or commend the teaching of everyone in the same way. Jesus has friends and enemies, and he tells us how to distinguish them.
I think Doran's most valuable contribution here is his imagery: I just can't stop thinking of Bauder doing a cannon ball!
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