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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Professor Gier,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>In this post I will attempt to respond to
your first point.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Nick Gier<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Saturday, March 26, 2005
11:45 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> vision2020@moscow.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Vision2020] Is Doug
Wilson a Good Calvinist?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </x-tab>Mike Hall has
requested that I demonstrate the ways in which Doug Wilson differs from
Calvinist orthodoxy. I’ve written up the following response and
will share it with all those interested in the ongoing <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City> saga. It’s 838 words, so
you may want to print it out instead, or delete it entirely if you are not
interested.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>I will defer to
other conservative Presbyterians, especially the authors of <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Not Reformed at All</span></i>, by John W. Robbins
and Sean Gerety, published by the Trinity Foundation in 2004. This book
is a thoroughgoing critique of <st1:City w:st="on">Wilson</st1:City>’s
theology and it succeeds in proving that <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>’s
views are fundamentally at odds with the Westminster Confession, the primary
Calvinist statement of faith.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Robbins and
Gerety (hereafter R&G) generally characterize <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>’s writing as containing “a
facial glibness and an adolescent smart-aleckness” (17), and they
specifically charge him with rational incoherence, eclecticism (i.e., mixing
several theologies into one), misinterpreting scripture, neglecting to define
basic terms, and false accusation.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Mr. Hall wants
me to concentrate on fundamental doctrine, so let us focus on that. With
regard to the role of scripture and tradition, R&G argue (21-29) that <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City> undermines <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>sola scriptura</span></i>, the central doctrine of
the Protestant Reformation. I find it unusually tolerant and
theologically interesting of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>
to grant authority to previous church traditions, but Luther nor Calvin made a
clean break with them. Wilson and his followers are very liberal and
promiscuous in the way they pick and choose, but this does not make for a
systematic theology in general or a Reformed theology in particular. <br>
Mr. Hall is very proud that he and other members of Christ Church recite the
Apostle’s Creed, but R&G are scathing in their attack on the
deficiencies of this early Christian affirmation: (1) it was in no way
authorized by the Apostles; (2) it was used for political purposes; and (3) it “omits
the <i><span style='font-style:italic'>sine qua non</span></i> of [Reformed]
Christianity: justification by faith alone, not even mentioning the
substitutionary atonement of Christ” (78)<br>
<br>
<font color=navy><x-tab><span style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>The reason I posted those ancient
Christian creeds was to demonstrate that we agree with these fundamental
statements of faith from our Christian forebears. I could also post a
statement from the Westminster Shorter Catechism or a “modern statement”
which I assume was put together by the elders (see below). These are
further down on the website under “Our Confession”. They most
certainly deal with the issue of the substitutionary atonement (see bolded
sections).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>As we both know, and the reason why those
early creeds did not deal with this, is because the more developed theological
statement we now refer to as substitutionary atonement did not become
formulated as such until Anselm. Up to that time the expression of
atonement commonly referred to as <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Christus
Victor</span></i> was the predominant theological expression of the Atonement.
Both expressions are true and provide two “facets” of the diamond
of truth that is the atonement of Christ. And to go further, our faith is
not in theological expressions, but in Jesus Christ himself. Our theology
is an attempt to express the truth of the Bible but it is not the Bible
itself. The Westminster Confession is not the Bible either, and falls
under the authority of the Scriptures. The men who formulated it were not
inerrant. Inerrancy and infallibility can only be ascribed to the
Scriptures themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>As for granting authority to previous
traditions, and somehow undermining sola scriptura, or “Scripture Alone,”
I must admit that I do not see how agreeing with the clear statements of
biblical truth from Christians who came before us, undermines the Bible.
I’m wading in to water up to my neck, but isn’t “orthodox
Christian teaching”, historically speaking, set within the bounds of
these expressions of what the Bible teaches? They are in no way elevated
to the level of the Bible in terms of authority, but they do help “define”
orthodoxy. As I understand it, these statements often came about in
reaction to attacks from groups that were advancing unbiblical teaching.
The formulation of the Nicene Creed is probably the best example I can think of
to demonstrate this. When some tried to minimize Christ’s divinity
and teach that he was somehow less than God the Father, a theological battle
ensued and the Nicene Creed was the result. The entire western and
eastern Christian traditions, at least those who would be considered orthodox
Christian traditions, agree that the Nicene Creed is a faithful expression of
the teaching of Scripture. I would imagine that this is true of every Evangelical
Christian church on the Palouse as well. This does not undermine sola
scriptura, it rather expresses humility in that we realize that the Bible, and
how we understand it, was not dropped into our laps in the 21<sup>st</sup> century
for us to interpret “ex cathedra” apart from our historical
forebears. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Mike Hall<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><i><font
size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:#251504;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic'>A <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Westminster</st1:place></st1:City> Creed</span></font></i></b><font
size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:#251504'><br>
(A modern selection from the 17th century Shorter Catechism)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:#251504'>I believe man's chief end is to glorify God, and to
enjoy him forever;<br>
I believe God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being,
wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth; I believe there is but
one true and living God; that there are three persons in the Godhead: the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and that these three are one God, the same
in substance, equal in power and glory; I believe God has foreordained whatever
comes to pass; that God made all things of nothing, by the word of His power,
in the space of six days, and all very good; and that God preserves and governs
all His creatures and all their actions.<br>
I believe our first parents, though created in knowledge, righteousness, and
holiness, sinned against God, by eating the forbidden fruit; and that their
fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery; I believe God
determined, out of His mere good pleasure, to deliver His elect out of the
estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a
Redeemer; I believe the only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ,
who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continues to be,
God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever; I believe Christ,
as our Redeemer, executes the office of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king. </span></font><b><font
size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:#251504;font-weight:bold'>I believe Christ as our Redeemer
underwent the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, the cursed death of the
cross, and burial; He rose again from the dead on the third day, ascended up
into heaven, sits at the right hand of God, the Father, and is coming to judge
the world at the last day. I believe we are made partakers of the
redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his
Holy Spirit;</span></font></b><font size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#251504'> I believe God
requires of us faith in Jesus Christ, and repentance unto life to escape the
wrath and curse of God due to us for sin; I believe by His free grace we are
effectually called, justified, and sanctified, and gathered into the visible
church, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation; I believe
that we also are given in this life such accompanying benefits as assurance of
God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and
perseverance therein to the end; that at death, we are made perfect in
holiness, and immediately pass into glory; and our bodies, being still united
in Christ, rest in their graves, till the resurrection; and at the
resurrection, we shall be raised up in glory, we shall openly be acknowledged
and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying
of God to all eternity.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><i><font
size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:#251504;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic'>A Modern Statement<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><font
size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:#251504;font-style:italic'>We believe </span></font></i><font
size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:#251504'>the Bible to be the only inerrant Word of God. It is our
only ultimate and infallible authority for faith and practice. <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>We believe </span></i>that there is one God,
eternally existent in three Persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Lord God
is omnipotent; He is the Almighty. He is omnipresent, entirely present
throughout all creation while not limited by it. He is omniscient, with nothing
at all hidden from His sight, whether past, present, or future. In all things
He is limited by nothing other than His own nature and character. We believe
the God we serve is holy, righteous, good, severe, loving, and full of mercy.
He created the heavens and earth, and everything in them, in the space of six
ordinary days, and all very good. He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Governor of
everything that has been made. <br>
</span></font><b><i><font size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#251504;font-weight:bold;
font-style:italic'>We believe</span></font></i></b><b><font size=2
color="#251504" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:#251504;font-weight:bold'> in the true deity and full humanity of our
Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles,
in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily
resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His
personal return in power and glory. <br>
</span></font></b><i><font size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#251504;font-style:italic'>We
believe</span></font></i><font size=2 color="#251504" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#251504'> in the full deity
of the Holy Spirit, acknowledging Him together with the Father and the Son in
the works of creation and redemption.<br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>We believe</span></i> that because of Adam's
sin all mankind is in rebellion against God. For the salvation of such lost and
sinful men, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary. <br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>We believe</span></i> that salvation is by
grace through faith alone, and that faith without works is dead. <br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>We believe </span></i>in the present
ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to
live a godly life. <br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>We believe</span></i> in the resurrection of
both the saved and lost; those who are saved to the resurrection of life, and
those who are lost to the resurrection of damnation. We believe in the
spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on"></x-tab>Wilson</st1:City></st1:place> is even more liberal when he
defines what it is to be a Christian. Here are his very words: “A
Christian. . . is anyone who has been baptized in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit by an authorized representative of the Christian church”(<i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Reformed is Not Enough</span></i>, 19). R&G
take the three New Testament passages that <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City> uses to support this doctrine and demonstrate
conclusively that they do not support this incredibly broad definition that
does not even require continued belief in basic Christian doctrines. As
promiscuous as ever, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>
insists that “unbelieving Christians” are still “covenantal
Christians” (cited in R&G, 46). To put his opposition to Luther
and Calvin in the starkest opposition, Wilson states that “the Bible says
that baptism saves” and sides with Roman Catholic theologians in denying
that the Bible teaches justification by faith alone (R&G, 82)<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Another basic
doctrinal problem is Wilson’s talk about corporate souls and collective
salvation that is part of his “federal vision.” to Luther and
Calvin This is the sort of theology that would excite a Hindu Vedantist
but not an orthodox Christian. As we have heard so many times from <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>, democracy (one
person/one vote) and individualism are the great errors of modernism and the
Enlightenment. Theologically, this means that there are no grounds for an
individual coming to God by himself or herself to be born again. Using <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>’s own
metaphor, we are no longer individual eggs but all those who have been baptized
are an indistinguishable part of God’s Great Omelette. R&G (74)
note that <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>
completely ignores the organic analogy that pervades the New Testament in which
each individual body part maintains its identity in the Body of Christ.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>With regard to
the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper, Wilson sides with Roman Catholics once
again, but, incredibly enough, argues that “the Westminster Confession
teaches that there is a real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the
act of faithful eating as His Table” (<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Reformed
is Not Enough</span></i>, 111). The Westminster Confession actually
states that Christ is symbolically not “carnally and corporally
present” in the Eucharist. Any Presbyterian Sunday School student knows
that this was a major disagreement that both Luther and Calvin had with the
Roman Church. <br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Finally, in my
debate with Doug Jones on the Trinity, I have come to the conclusion that his
views (and I assume <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wilson</st1:place></st1:City>’s)
are not consistent with Calvin’s, who is very much part of the Western
tradition that has always preferred to err on the side of modalism so as to
preserve the unity of God. I’ve tried in vain to get Jones to
clarify his position, but it appears that he would rather support the Eastern
Orthodox view that emphasizes the three persons, but flirts with Tritheism in
its inability to defend divine unity. For more see <a
href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/trinity.htm" eudora=autourl>www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/trinity.htm</a>.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>I have gone on
long enough but here is more than sufficient evidence, Mr. Hall, for you to
conclude that your pastor’s theology is not consistent with traditional
Calvinism. Indeed, it looks as if it is very liberal and promiscuous with
regard to basic Christian doctrine. I suggest that you change your membership
to a local Presbyterian church where the pastors will have been trained at
accredited seminaries in the denomination.<br>
<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<x-sigsep>
<p style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'></x-sigsep><font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:7.5pt'>"Modern physics has taught us that the nature of
any system cannot be discovered by dividing it into its component parts and
studying each part by itself. . . .We must keep our attention fixed on the
whole and on the interconnection between the parts. The same is true of our
intellectual life. It is impossible to make a clear cut between science,
religion, and art. The whole is never equal simply to the sum of its various
parts." --Max Planck<br>
<br>
</span></font>Nicholas F. Gier<br>
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Idaho</st1:PlaceName></st1:place><br>
<st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on">1037 Colt Rd.</st1:Street>, <st1:City
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">ID</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode
w:st="on">83843</st1:PostalCode></st1:address><br>
<a href="http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm" eudora=autourl>http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/home.htm</a><br>
208-882-9212/FAX 885-8950<br>
President, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Idaho</st1:place></st1:State>
Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO<br>
<a href="http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm" eudora=autourl>http://users.adelphia.net/~nickgier/ift.htm</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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