Thoughts on thoughts: Dr. Carl Trueman, megaconferences, and the Reformed celerbity cult

http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2011/04/thoughts-on-marketing-and-conf.php

Dr. Carl Trueman, Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary, has posted some very interesting thoughts up at reformation21 about so-called “Reformed” megaconferences sponsored and promoted here in America. Before relating some of Dr. Trueman’s insights, it is worth noting that his remarks are not the sour grape rants of a petulant wannabe who could only wish to have the kind of slice of fame, even for just 5 minutes as it were, that many of these “reformed” starlits enjoy. Dr. Trueman is probably one of the most educated and seriously enlightened Reformed thinkers on the scene today who not only knows Reformed theology and church life, but knows and can more than capably interact with contemporary intellectual currents. Instead of taking the route which most Reformed “intellectuals” do today, which is to publish in Christian sub-culture magazines which they themselves edit, or turn in one manuscript after another rehashing some previously written about topic, to small fish Reformed publishers in order to keep a steady pay-check coming in from the book sales to their zealous disciples, he actually puts out thoughtful, respectable works which either address real academic issues or advance contemporary Reformed discussions in significant ways. All this I throw out there so that no one will be easily prone to characterize and then summarily dismiss Dr. Trueman's remarks as the bitter sniping of the poor kid left standing on the sideline after teams were chosen up at a pick-up basketball game down at the local park.

Now, to Dr.Trueman’s “deep thoughts.” First he points out the all too obvious problem in American evangelicalism more broadly, and now a huge problem among conservative Reformed types, which is the problem of the celebrity cult. It turns out, that Reformed people, who once thought they were immune to the Billy Sunday’s of evangelicalism, actually now have their own, its just that they don’t have quite the same star power in the eyes of outsiders. Never mind that though, because the sad, but humorous thing is, that we don’t care about that as much as we do that he is “our” Billy Sunday. See, if a man gets enough headlines, publishes enough popular books, speaks at enough conferences, and can throw in a few good jokes while he is at it, well, eventually he can attain a certain level of celebrity status among the Reformed, as long as he is willing to coattail the fame of other evangelical celebrities such as John Piper or John MacArthur by speaking with them at various conferences and backslapping them and refusing to condemn their gross sin of being Anabaptists.

I wish Trueman had said these things at least 10 years ago, because I fear that the time for giving a fair hearing to his message about the celebrity cult is long past. Reformed sub-culture has not only constructed its own superapostles, it has become a veritable superapostle making factory. Many in our Reformed world have taken the cues and studied the lessons well of how the evangelicals built a vast evangelical sub-culture that capitalized on the desire for star power and have now reproduced that with incredible efficiency within the Reformed world. At one time in the Reformed community, we stood shoulder to shoulder in criticism against the appalling atrocities committed in the evangelical empire, simultaneously sounding the criticism and sneering in contempt as we made light of their folly. Now however, we have our celebrity cruises with your favorite superapostles, we have “megaconconferences,” and even some of our leading lights actually know the evangelical superstars on a first name basis and have had the opportunity to shake their hand! Isn’t progress grand? What is next, can you say “Reformation theme park!”?

The second thing worth noting in Dr. Trueman's post is the prescription he offers. One, don’t advertize the names of the people speaking at the conference, instead, advertize the subject matter of the conference. The novel idea he proposes is that people will be attracted to the content not the speaker. Here, I think we should cut Dr. Trueman some slack, after all, he is a foreigner: silly Brit, don’t you know that conferences are the only time that most Reformed people will have a chance to know what it feels like to be at a church related activity that has a megachurch feel and atmosphere, and don’t you know that conferences are the only chance we have to get up close, within 15 feet or so, of bona fide celebrities (even if just a celebrity of our making)? Great idea Dr. Trueman, but it will never work. Two, he proposes that conference organizers should consider inviting small fish, from small ponds to speak at the big conferences. His reasoning is basically, that the small fish pastor has a lot more in common with the rest of the folks he is speaking to on account of the fact that most pastors who waste their time going to conferences serve churches of a 100 people or less (give or take). As much as I appreciate new ideas, and Dr. Trueman has some good ones, this is one I think I will pass on. First, if you invite the small fish pastors and people enjoy what they hear, knowing the Reformed sub-culture, they will do everything they can to feverishly commence the work of preparing this poor small fish to be absorbed into the big sea of the Reformed celebrity cult. Second, this would only reinforce the all too common tendency found among many Reformed pastors now which is to dream about one day making it to the “big leagues.” Look at how many small fish there are out there “publishing” their paltry wares with Timbuktu Publishing House in hopes that one day, just one day, they will finally hit that big break and get a chance to be a warm-up act on the Reformed celebrity circuit. Bad idea Dr. Trueman, although I will concede that your heart is in the right place in what you propose.


Well, let me conclude my thoughts on Dr. Trueman’s thoughts by saying, “seriously!”? Has it really come to the point that we need a xeno to politely tell us Reformed people that somehow in fighting against evangelicalism, we have become like our enemy? I wish it were not so, but all indications are that we really need to turn this ship around or it won’t be long before we start printing the names of our talk shows and radio programs on coffee mugs and t-shirts. Oops, we already do that!

Core Principles of Historic Calvinism

You have probably heard of a man named John Calvin who was a towering 16th century figure who had a hand shaping the cultural, political, economic, and ecclesiastical formation of modern western civilization. What you might not have heard much about is what ideas formed the central core of his theology. This semester, Sinners and Saints on campus presents an 11 part series explaining what Calvinism is all about. So if you have heard about this man Calvin---which formed a positive or negative impression in your thinking---but still wanted to know more about his ideas then we invite you to join with us.

Come back soon for further information and if you see us handing out information on campus, be sure to say hi!

Romans 1:1-7 outline

I. Paul’s Self-Introduction - v1
A. Servant of Jesus Christ
B. An apostle commissioned by Christ
1. Paul moves from his allegiance to Christ to his authority to speak on Christ’s behalf
2. Apostle - someone who is specially gifted to communicate revelation from God and to whom the churches were responsible (1 Cor 12:28; Eph 3:5); the apostolic gift was foundational to the development of the church (Eph 2:20; 4:11)
3. Called - Christ appeared to him and chose him for his special mission to the Gentiles – Acts 9:4-5,15-16;Rom 11:13; 1Ti 2:7; 2Ti 1:11
C. Separated for God’s gospel

II. Paul’s Gospel of Christ - vv2-4
A. Its Old Testament roots - v2
1. Promised by the prophets
2. Contained in Holy Scripture
B. Its about the Son of God
1. The first use of “Son”
2. The contrasting statements made about him
a. the contrasting statement identified
1) descended - v3 vs. declared - v4
2) of David - v3 vs. from the dead - v4
3) according to the flesh - v3 vs. according to the Spirit of holiness - v4
b. the contrasting statements interpreted
1) these do not contrast two co-existing states in the make-up of the savior, rather they point two successive stages in a historical process
2) these contrasts concern two successive modes of existence in Christ
3) these contrasting modes of existence have their peculiar origin
4) these contrasts mark out the significant transition in Christ’s life: from Messiah come to Messiah reigning in power and glory as Lord through the resurrection - Acts 13:33
3. The personal focus of Paul’s gospel: Jesus Christ our Lord - v4

III. Paul’s Purpose in Ministry - vv5-6
A. To call people to Christ from among the Gentile
1. “To the obedience that comes from faith”
2. “To call people from among the Gentiles”
B. To glorify the name of Christ - “for his name’s sake”

Introduction to Romans

Here is the outline of our fist lecture on Romans. We covered standard introductory issues and outlined the book. In preparing these lectures on Romans I made extensive use of Douglass Moo, John Murray, Charles Hodge, John Calvin, and Martin Luther.


Sinners and Saints on Campus
10/15/09

Introduction to Romans


I. Introductory Issues
A. Author
1. Paul is the undisputed author – 1:1 – Marcion, the Muratorian fragment, and a steady stream of patristic writers beginning with Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus all assume its Pauline authorship
2. The significance of Pauline authorship
a. the unmistakable emphasis in the book of Romans upon salvation by grace alone takes on new life when understood in light of Paul’s background
b. the systematic explanation of the gospel to the church at Rome, which represents the heart of the Gentile world, is fully consistent with the purpose of Paul’s ministry – Acts 26:17-18; 9:15; 22:21; Rom 11:13; 15:16; Gal 2:9; Eph 3:7; 1 Tim 2:7; 2 Tim 1:11
c. the extended treatment of Israel’s future
B. Date and provenance
1. Paul appears to have written this letter from Corinth – 16:1,23; Acts 20:2-6 (when correlated with the movements of Paul in Acts there are indications which establish the place and time of writing)
2. Location establishes approximate date of Spring 57 or 58 – Acts 20:2-6 (3rd missionary journey)
C. Audience: the church at Rome
1. Paul had never visited this church – 1:13
2. The Roman church was likely planted by diaspora Jews from Rome who were converted at Pentecost in Jerusalem
3. The persecution of the Roman church – Acts 18:2
a. Claudius, Emperor of Rome @ A.D. 41-54 ordered the Jews to leave Rome
b. Suetonius, an ancient Roman historian, explains that the Jews were kicked out of Rome, “because of their continual tumults instigated by Chrestus.” “Chrestus” is a common misspelling of “Christ.” Suestonius’ remark refers to violent debates within the Jewish community in Rome over the claims of Jesus to be Christ.
c. Jewish Christians were exiled until the reign of Nero
4. Composed of Jews and Gentiles
a. indications of a Jewish audience
1) Paul greets his “kinsmen” – 16:3,7,11
2) Paul addresses himself to Jews in 2:17
3) Associates his readers with Mosaic law: they are not “under the law (Rom 6:14-15), because they have “died to the law” (7:4), “I am speaking to those who know the law” (7:1)
4) Paul calls Abraham “our forefather” – 4:1
5) Much of the letter consists of things particularly interesting to Jewish Christians: sin of the Jews (2:1-3:8), inadequacy of Mosaic law (3:19-20,27-31; 4:12-15; 5:13-14,20; 6:14; 7:1-8:4; 9:30-10:8
b. Indications of Gentile audience
1) Paul includes his readers among the Gentiles to whom he has been called to minister – 1:5-6,13; 15:14-21
2) Paul directly addresses “you Gentiles” – 11:13-24
3) Paul’s plea for Jews and Gentiles to accept one another – 15:7
D. Purpose
1. Help for trip to Spain – 15:24
a. v24 – propempo – to help on the way with material support
b. a purpose was to introduce himself to the Roman Christians with a view to seeking their support for his mission to Spain
2. Present a systematic presentation of the gospel to the heart of the Gentile world
E. Outline
1. 1:1-17 – salutation
2. 1:18-3:20 – universal sway of sin and condemnation
3. 3:21-5:21 – the gospel as the righteousness of God by faith
4. 6:1-8:39 – justification leads to sanctification
5. 9:1-11:36 – Israel’s future
6. 12:1-15:13 – Christian living
7. 15:14-16:27 – conclusion
II. Theological and Practical Issues (why we should bother studying Romans)
A. Theological
1. The universal sway of sin and condemnation – 1-3
2. Justification by faith alone – 4-5
3. Sanctification – 6-8
4. The problem of Israel – 9-11
5. Sovereignty of God in election and reprobation – 9:10-13,16,18
B. Practical
1. Salvation calls to service – 12
2. How to live as a citizen of an evil empire – 13
3. Using personal liberty in a responsible way - 14

Romans Bible Study begins October 15, 2009 @ 11:30

I am happy to announce that we have finally pulled the pieces together in order to get this study off the ground. Sinners and Saints on Campus will be meeting on Thursday, October 15th, on the CSU Fullerton campus in SGSR 111 on the 1st floor in Pollack Library.

In our first study we will begin with an overview of the Book of Romans, addressing questions of authorship, audience, intent, and outline of the book.

If you ever just wanted to know what the Book of Romans was all about but never had anyone around who could walk you through it step by step, then you will definitely want to check out this study. We will take our time and walk through the book passage by passage, examining the content, theology, and application of each passage. Each weak I will provide outlines for those present, and then after the study I will post them up on the blogspot here in case you could not make it.

BTW look for Sinners and Saints on Campus as we are attempting to secure approval to solicit people to take part in our Bible study group on Titan Walk.

Thanks for stopping by Sinners and Saints on Campus, and I hope to see you next week!

Any questions ---drop me a line---I am dinosaur and don't text and don't facebook (sorry!).

Introduction to Sinners and Saints on Campus

Glad you have taken a minute to stop by our new blog spot! Sinners and Saints on Campus is a Bible study group meeting on campus at CSU Fullerton. This group is sponsored by All Saints Reformed Church in Brea, CA. Our goal for Sinners and Saints is to lead a serious, academically honest, Bible study on the Fullerton campus. So, if you have wondered what the Bible is about, and would like to learn how to read it in order to understand it according to the intention of its authors, then this study group is for you. This study will show you how to divide Biblical passages into the categories of law and gospel, so that you will clearly understand what it is you are to either repent of and seek forgiveness for through Christ, or what promise you are to seek and embrace by faith in Christ.

The Bible study leader is Pastor John Sawtelle, currently an MA student at CSUF majoring in Speech Communication. John has earned a Master's degree from Westminster Seminary, where he had the privilege to study under Meredith Kline, the greatest Old Testament scholar of the 20th century. Other scholars of note that Pastor John studied under are Dr. Michael Horton of the White Horse Inn broadcast, and Dr. Robert Godfrey, a well respected Reformation era historian.

If you would like to join this study, contact Pastor John at calvinontap@gmail.com.

We hope to see you soon.