Amen! In my opinion, we mustn’t let a few bad apples (well, maybe more like an ever-growing heap) spoil such terms as evangelical. Thank the Lord for the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us with whom we can find camaraderie.
Thank you for this, Michael. I identify strongly with your sentiments. I have been through a very similar process of thought. Your book on Sutcliff was very significant for me when I first read it many years ago and I still return to it (and recommend it to others). It is one of the great evangelical biographies of the 20th century, if I may say so, painting a most attractive picture of late 18th century Baptist life in England: biblical, reformed, Baptist, associational, loving and utterly committed to the gospel of Christ. Thank you.
So it seems your Shields aversion is personality- rather than doctrine-based? It is common for people to be turned off by their views of a pastor as a man! Was there nothing to be salvaged from his ministry in spite of his combativeness?
In the states we had, and still may have the IFCA - a fundamentalist independent Baptist group... a key Gospel source before the rise of general Evangelicalism - nicknamed "I fight Christians anywhere!"
That's a big tension it seems - the closer to the man, the further from his teaching...
Thank you Michael. We face different struggles with identity and labels across the water, but thankful for sharing your own experiences that span decades (and knowledge that spans centuries). It's a blessing and a help.
My pleasure and I hope you know that the Church in Ireland is very much in the forefront of my mind and prayers and thoughts, even though I have not been able to get back home for a number of years now. Blessings, brother.
Professor Haykin, who would say was the most “Evangelical” among the Fathers? Augustine? Hiliary of Potiers? Chrysostom?
Probably Augustine; though Hilary might a close second.
Amen! In my opinion, we mustn’t let a few bad apples (well, maybe more like an ever-growing heap) spoil such terms as evangelical. Thank the Lord for the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us with whom we can find camaraderie.
Amen!
Well said. Ah another friend of Newton.
Yes indeed.
Thank you for this, Michael. I identify strongly with your sentiments. I have been through a very similar process of thought. Your book on Sutcliff was very significant for me when I first read it many years ago and I still return to it (and recommend it to others). It is one of the great evangelical biographies of the 20th century, if I may say so, painting a most attractive picture of late 18th century Baptist life in England: biblical, reformed, Baptist, associational, loving and utterly committed to the gospel of Christ. Thank you.
Good thoughts!
So it seems your Shields aversion is personality- rather than doctrine-based? It is common for people to be turned off by their views of a pastor as a man! Was there nothing to be salvaged from his ministry in spite of his combativeness?
In the states we had, and still may have the IFCA - a fundamentalist independent Baptist group... a key Gospel source before the rise of general Evangelicalism - nicknamed "I fight Christians anywhere!"
That's a big tension it seems - the closer to the man, the further from his teaching...
Thank you Michael. We face different struggles with identity and labels across the water, but thankful for sharing your own experiences that span decades (and knowledge that spans centuries). It's a blessing and a help.
My pleasure and I hope you know that the Church in Ireland is very much in the forefront of my mind and prayers and thoughts, even though I have not been able to get back home for a number of years now. Blessings, brother.