What is the Heresy of Modernity?
February 8th, 2011
A pervasive mindset so aptly described by J. I. Packer—namely, a belief that
the newer is the truer,
only what is recent is decent,
every shift of ground is a step forward,
and every latest word must be hailed as the last word on its subject.
—J. I. Packer, “Is Systematic Theology a Mirage? An Introductory Discussion,” in Doing Theology in Today’s World: Essays in Honor of Kenneth S. Kantzer, ed. John D. Woodbridge and Thomas Edward McComiskey (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1991), 21. HT: Justin Taylor.
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Categories: American Evangelicalism, American Protestantism
Those words were written twenty years ago, but things have not gotten any better. Dr. Packer and the congregation of which he is a member have seen it necessary to leave the Diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver (one of the most theologically liberal in the Anglican Church of Canada) and join the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America (a small Anglican Church covering a number of countries in South America).
Years ago I took a course on the Theology of the Holy Spirit from him and found the course to be excellent and Dr. Packer to be an amazing teacher and a kind, gentle human being of great integrity. I also had the privilege of getting to know Dr. Kantzer, who was the dean at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School at that time, who also showed himself to be a man of gentle spirit and high integrity. My time at TEDS also convinced me of how important it is to confess the theology of the Lutheran Church!
Hey another quote from a… Calvinist. That’s two in one month (:
I’m wildly ecumenical when it comes to whom I will quote.