Yesterday, I came across an article by James Jordan called The Closing of the Calvinistic Mind. While written from a considerably different place within the world of Reformed Christianity than I occupy, it is simply sensational. The content and conclusions of this piece are spot on when I consider my own experience in the Reformed community this past year.

Jordan decries the death of a vigorous, deep, diverse, thoughtful, unafraid and bold reformed engagement with Biblical material, philosophy and cultural engagement. While none of us would agree with the total work of all the authors he lists- that would be absurd and impossible- he does make the devastating point that, if the publishing world is a measurement, we have moved from a healthy and confident kind of reformation thinking and writing to a narrower, more fearful, mostly devotional, and generally “fluffy” kind of Reformational thinking. While I am sure that Jordan has different issues and authors in mind in some cases, I believe that, as a Biblical scholar, he knows exactly what he’s talking about when he surveys the stifling of Biblical discussion within much of “official” Calvinism as popularly encountered.

Most notably, however, he points out the lesson to be learned from the reaction within the Reformed camp to N.T. Wright, the Federal Vision debate, the attempted defrocking of Mark Hornes, etc.

My burden here is to point out, to all the younger people reading this essay, that once upon a time it was not so. Once upon a time, a man being examined for presbytery could take issue with Calvin or the Westminster Standards, defend himself from the Bible and Reformed theology, and have a conversation. He could say that a flawed epistemology was found in some parts of these early works. He could say that pitting good works against grace was not true to the genius of the Reformed faith, or to the Bible. He could point out that there is no “merit theology” in the Bible. He could say that he preferred to speak of being united to the whole risen Christ rather than speak in the abstract about an imputed righteousness separated from that union. He could argue that the book of Romans is not after all a kind of proto-Berkhof systematic theology, but a book that is to a considerable extent about how Jew and Gentile, torn apart and dead to each other, were now reunited through resurrection in the kingdom of the Resurrected One.

In many places such conversations are no longer possible. Pastors have been cast out of or rejected by PCA presbyteries for believing what the Westminster Confession says about baptism. In others, the bullies who run the presbytery or classis have so cowed all the licentiates that they dare not raise any questions about anything. Here and there things are better, but from what I see, I’m not encouraged. The Calvinistic mind, if it has not closed already, appears to be closing fast.

Almost every word of this piece deserves to be written in large letters over the current reformed discussion. I hope all my readers- especially younger Reformational thinkers- will read and consider Jordan’s conclusions.

As I maintained in Crisis, Opportunity, and the Christian Future, the Protestant age is coming to an end. That means that the Reformed faith and Presbyterianism are also coming to an end. The paradigm is exhausted, and the world in which it was worked out no longer exists. We must take all the great gains of the Calvinistic heritage and apply them with an open Bible to the new world in which we are now living. We must be aware that there is far more in the Bible than the Reformation dealt with, and that many of our problems today are addressed by those hitherto unnoticed or undeveloped aspects of the Bible. Those who want to bang the drum for a 450-year old tradition are dooming themselves to irrelevance. Our only concern is to avoid being beat up by them as they thrash about in their death-throes.

HIghly recommended. While I doubt that I agree with Jordan on many things- since there is a theonomic edge to much of what he’s writing- his assessment of Reformed intellectual life and the resulting atmosphere of intimidation and intolerance is completely accurate, in my opinion, at least.

Jordan’s website is Biblical Horizons.