EXCELLENT, scholarly and as far as I'm concerned on the money critique of Lutheran CORE
The Core of Lutheran CORE: American Civil Religion and White Male Backlash
All in all, the core of Lutheran CORE is rotten. One can get more than a whiff of Docetism, Donatism, and Pelagianism — heresies all — in the doctrinal formulations of the various groups represented in the coalition.
Finally someone is pointing out in a scholarly way what is theologically wrong with these people. I have some of my own thoughts about how they've picked up a lot of popular but unLutheran concepts as well, but just haven't had the time to think it out. I've been listening to some lectures on the history of Calvinism and wow I see a LOT of Calvinist thinking in that crowd. But this is a great article. Check it out.
Finally, somebody takes them to school. I especially appreciated his thoughts on Robert Benne.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a real fan of CORE. And the piece does make some salient points. Nevertheless I thought overall it was weak and as biased on one side as CORE is on the other. I suppose that is what happens in the midst of conflict where the rhetoric is strong and cooler heads have little chance of prevailing.
ReplyDeleteBeing biased just means you have an opinion. Nothing wrong with that. It's not a newspaper.
ReplyDeleteVery true! Yet that one strongly biased view is found on an ELCA web page does lend credence to the suggestion of an official endorsement of that view - and of an official condemnation of opposing views. What this tells me, at least, is that the polarization within the ELCA is moving further and faster than I previously thought.
ReplyDeleteJoelle, I don't have a horse in this race. But as an outsider looking in - a gawker, I guess - it is fascinating, in a kind of morbid way, to see what is happening within and to the ELCA. For those of you on the inside, of all camps, it must be quite a struggle. How will this all play out? Only God knows. But I pray for peace.
I have horse in the race - it's the ELCA. That's my church. I don't think it is apostate or heretical - which WORD ALone et all is consistently accusing them of. We tried to solve this peacefully by agreeing to disagree, but they don't want peace so I think it's time to point out the error of THEIR ways.
ReplyDeleteJoelle. Seeing Bob Benne's piece on the ELCA site responding to Jon Pahl's critique of CORE, I see now I was wrong to assume an official ELCA endorsement of Pahl's position. The Journal of Lutheran Ethics is far more of a forum than I initially thought. Apologies for my overstating the case.
ReplyDelete