Comments on: Three Ways of Relating to American Religion

By: Concerning Bastards and Moral Evaporation « Leviticus and Stuff

Concerning Bastards and Moral Evaporation « Leviticus and Stuff — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:21:38 +0000

[...] to Sola Scriptura would be just the first step. To prime the pump I would reccomend these links here and [...]

By: Re-Posting: Three Ways of Relating to American Religion « Heidelblog

Re-Posting: Three Ways of Relating to American Religion « Heidelblog — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:19:32 +0000

[...] March 26, 2008 in Uncategorized Becuase folks are just finding the HB I’m re-posting the link to an earlier meditation about how Reformed folk should think about their relations to the dominant form of Christianity in America, “Three Ways of Relating to American Religion.” [...]

By: Save Our Seminary: What’s Wrong with WTS Philly? « Green Baggins

Save Our Seminary: What’s Wrong with WTS Philly? « Green Baggins — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:46:14 +0000

[...] an informative recent analysis cf. Scott Clark’s post ‘Three Ways of Relating to American Religion.’ I have some personal perspectives on this. In addition to being a graduate of WTS, I am also an [...]

By: Scott Clark Fleshes Out Hart’s Point Some More « The Confessional Outhouse

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:01:50 +0000

[...] Scott Clark Fleshes Out Hart’s Point Some More RSC elaborates. [...]

By: Zrim

Zrim — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:00:08 +0000

“To choose the former is to make a place for oneself in the broad stream of American religion. To reject it is to sentence oneself to the margins.”

Some call the margins an Outhouse.

Good stuff, Scott.

By: Dave Sarafolean

Dave Sarafolean — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 01:04:29 +0000

Dr. Clark,

Lots to chew on here. I appreciate your comments as well as the comments of D. G. Hart.

While the average person in the pew might not see the significance of this discussion ministers in my denomination (PCA) and presbytery know it only too well. The main battleground is at the presbytery level when the topic of church-planting comes up. Most of the new works are not confessional in the least. While the church planters know their theology and can pass the presbytery exams they have pretty much made peace with the broader evangelical culture and its practices. Until recently anyone who raised an objection to this dichotomy was relegated to outer darkness.

Part of this problem is unique to the PCA: our Directory of Worship is largely advisory with only the chapters on the sacraments being binding. Hence there is no constitutional means of preventing “the populism and revivalism of American religion” from taking root. Certainly a presbytery can determine what sort of churches it will allow to be planted within its geographic bounds. But, as you know, our denomination is already so broad that confessional churches are often “left to the margins” and simply out-voted. Still, we trudge on.

Dave Sarafolean
Christ Covenant Church (PCA)
Midland, Michigan

By: Points To Ponder « HOUSE OF CARDS

Points To Ponder « HOUSE OF CARDS — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:31:47 +0000

[...] Read the whole article here… [...]