nuance

The “post”
One of the initial questions to tackle is what “post” means in “post-Reformed.” We all know that it’s trendy for Christians to be post-anything: postconservative, postmodern, postfoundationalist, postcolonial, etc. But cool factor aside, there is something really useful about this prefix, a meaning that is very specific to a way of thinking about the topic in question.

The simple way of defining it is to say that to be post-Reformed is not to be anti-Reformed; instead, it is to move past the incessant arguments between Reformed and non-Reformed theologies and embrace the good on both sides. That is, to be post-Reformed is to abandon exclusive and narrow commitment to the particulars of the Reformed theological system in favor of a middle way.

It is not movement against, but movement beyond.

Why movement beyond is possible
The reason that I feel confident to move away from unflinching commitment to Reformed theology is because the Bible is not a systematic theology. The biblical story gives us the raw material that theologians have worked with to craft their systems, but it is not a system in itself. That means systems can disagree, but people from different systematic backgrounds can find agreement by going back to the Bible, back to the basics, back to the essentials, back to Jesus.

It has also become my belief that the main controversy in Reformed theology - the view of God’s sovereignty in salvation, sometimes called Calvinism - is easily one of the most ill-debated issues in the history of the Christian church. On both sides, popular pastors, writers, and speakers have demonized the opposition and become theological fear-mongers, inciting fundamentalist panic in your everyday Baptist and high-minded disdain in your everyday Presbyterian. Both sides have chosen to overemphasize something that should be secondary; and they have missed the fact that in many ways, the differences between the systems are often quite semantic.

I am going to spend the next bit of writing on this issue (Calvinism) in particular and how we might pursue the middle way.

Three letters
As mentioned, most of the controversy surrounding Reformed theology does not concern the bulk of its content - covenant perspectives, justification by faith, robust already/not yet eschatologies, culture engagement, etc. - but rather the single issue of God’s sovereignty in salvation or what is popularly called Calvinism. Let it be known that “Calvinism” is not even a good word for it because, as a theologian, Calvin was concerned with much more than the order of salvation and the later-devised and much-dreaded TULIP. Further, we should note that all evangelicals, whether Calvinist or not, owe their particular faith heritage to the Protestant Reformation and have more to agree upon in Reformed theology than they realize.

Since this series is intended for folks who might be struggling through this kind of issue, I hope to bring a simplification to the debate, and then a way forward.

The simplification is this: The entire controversy over the Reformed faith, as some call it, literally comes down to three letters. Or better, it comes down to two sets of three letters with one variant letter between them. And here they are:

RPF

vs.

RFF

I know what you’re thinking: What about Predestination? What about Divine Election? What about Free Will?

But all evangelicals should agree, in large part, that predestination, election, and free will or choice (of some kind) all exist because they are all taught in Scripture. The issue simply comes down to those letters.

RPF = Regeneration precedes faith. RFF = Regeneration follows faith.

Regeneration is being born again (Jn. 3). It is the change of heart that the Holy Spirit works in you when you become a Christian. In the Reformed or Calvinistic view, the Holy Spirit must come in and change your heart BEFORE you can believe and trust in Jesus. In the Arminian view, the Holy Spirit changes your heart AFTER you believe and trust in Jesus.

That’s it. That’s the debate. That’s the controversy. One letter - kind of a little thing to go crazy about.