Subversive Christian Unity

We're just monkeys, only more so Full of folly, dust to dust When our folly brings us sore woe We'll just say it's because we must Evolution, evolution! Thank Thee for the gift of lust! When we hear the antique preaching Saying what we ought not do That sets bands of monkeys screeching Altogether we fling our poo Evolution, evolution! We are we because we must! There's no difference, saint or sinner All alike shall find their grave All that matters: what's for dinner There is no one you need to save Evolution, evolution! Evermore our hope and trust!

It is now evident that Christians unhappy with Christian progressivism will "walk apart," as one catchphrase puts it, separating themselves in worship and in polity from what they see as heresy. The heresy they see is an antinomian view of gay marriage and abortion, along with other symptoms of an ugly syncretism of culture and church that imports the culture's unbiblical ethics into the church. These conservative Christians see in their opponents a rejection of scripture's authority and the lessons of tradition. They will walk apart for the foreseeable future, hoping for changed hearts in those on the other side of the controversy, and awaiting the judgment of history. It seems like a solution that will do for the time being, though no one is really happy with it. But the devil is the subtlest creature we meet with. There is a trap. Among those Christians rushing away from antinomianism are some who embrace, instead, a mechanistic and legalistic understanding of w

There are two ways Christians talk to each other about the Christian faith. One way is "What Christianity means to me." Archbishop John Sentamu excels at this mode of explanation. Pope Francis's heartfelt if misunderstood forays into new thinking are of the same sort. Indeed, laymen are told and encouraged to "give their testimony," so it is a widely used mode of Christian expression, perhaps the widest. The other is to ask what Christianity timelessly is and requires. C.S. Lewis, Augustine, J.I. Packer and writers of that slant seek to separate the "me" out of it. Such people make everyone uncomfortable by implying that what it means to me might not be right, or at least, that my understanding might not be the central part of the story. One way looks inward. One way looks upward. Before arguing with someone, you should be very sure you know which kind of statement you are arguing with. It is seldom fruitful to inform someone that his interpreta