Vision Requirements
Painting a CRC Future: Part 3
Brief editor’s note: I was made aware of an online pdf scan of “How the Saints Persevere”. If you’re interested in checking the book out for yourself, you can find that here.
Last week, we looked at one possible description for a “CRC Vision”. In his book, “How the Saints Persevere”, Gary Bouma, Australian sociologist and Grand Rapids native detailed the key motivator that enabled the CRCNA in the ‘80s to persevere in the midst of a growingly hostile North American culture. While cultural and geographical factors played small parts, the key point of unity for the CRCNA was the “all-pervasive dream” of the CRC.
“The vision of the CRC is to be the central organizing principle in all of a person’s or group’s activities.” (p.50) “One is to be a retailer, a scholar, a printer, a plumber, a housewife, a artisan to the greater glory of God.”
The vision is for a comprehensive Calvinism, an all-of-life meaning system, a world-and-life-view.
The 4 key adjectives that Bouma highlighted were these:
“The central organizing vision of the CRC is the Puritan ideal of a life — both personal and social — which is lived deliberately, intentionally and carefully to the greater glory of God. […] The vision of the CRC is rooted in Dutch Puritanism and can be described as ascetic, this-worldly, all pervasive and sectarian.” (p.48)
Ascetic
“It requires an active mastery over ones’ self, emotions, intellect, ambitions, over one’s relationships, and one’s environment.” (p.49)
This Worldly
“That asceticism is directed toward the ordering of this life in such a way that it more closely conforms with God’s will as revealed in the scriptures and interpreted by the three creedal standards of the CRC — The Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort.” (p.50)
All-Pervasive
“The vision of the CRC is to be the central organizing principle in all of a person’s or group’s activities. […] The vision of the CRC demands the total integration of life around Christian principles.” (p.50)
Sectarian
“It is sectarian in that it sets itself off against the world, and demands that “worldiness” be subdued, and that the world be transformed. But while being sectarian it is not isolationist.” (p.51)
In my mind, this is a high bar. Whether it’s too high is perhaps part of our ongoing discussions. I feel that there is here a lot of truth in describing what the denomination was at certain points in the past. But is this — should this be — the reality of the CRCNA going forward?
To me, there’s a lot to like in these descriptors. And yet these terms need the added nuance of the paragraphs which describe them if they are to be understood correctly.
Ascetic, this-worldly, and sectarian each are easy to distort or misunderstand. And putting them together gives the impression that the CRC was full of pious monks shutting themselves off from the world.
But such monkery (a real word, look it up!) does not match the CRC, neither back then nor now. Bouma himself lauds the CRC’s capacity to be within the community and among the people. Therefore these three terms must be properly nuanced and defined (you can reread these definitions in the previous article).
On the flip side, “this-worldly” can also, in our modern context, trigger thoughts of a progressive “social gospel”, the ideology which undermines the need for supernatural salvation and limits the Christian’s focus to the physical needs of others here on earth, rather than the spiritual needs of the souls of the lost.
So we should embrace much of substance that these terms intend, but new vocabulary might be more helpful.
CRC Pastor Aaron Vriesman concurs, saying this, “I don't really disagree with this vision except that the language sounds more Anglo-Presbyterian and less continental Reformed.”
Indeed. I too don’t disagree with a term like “Puritan”, especially when it’s modified to “Dutch Puritan”, as Bouma does. (The Puritans were awesome, and the negative connotations that modern Americans think about them with is disappointing and misguided!) But a modern vision for our current denomination should be one that we can embrace, can be proud of, and can shout from the rooftops in excitement.
As possible alternatives, Vriesman suggests,
“personal, confessional and light-bearing:
Personal - faith is something taken to heart, transforming inner desires as well as outward functions. This involves personal devotions and prayer and worship.
Confessional - CRC faith is not drawn up from scratch by an individual, but is within the historical Christian faith going all the way back to the apostles and outlined in the creeds and confessions. This is a faith that is personal but also a shared faith.
Light-bearing - the CRC stands as a light in a dark world of what it means to have true love, humility and kindness that comes not from simply wanting to make the world a better place but from a love for Jesus Christ.
Positive terms. Rich with multiple connotations. Perhaps “personal” could be suggestive to some of a bit of evangelicalism’s individuality-focus. But as you can see, in the complete picture this is not the intention. We want to also be sacrificial and other-focused in our lives and deeds. But still, we do want to embrace the need for inner transformations for individuals!
I’m still giving it some thought myself, but I kind of like:
Comprehensive — Confessional — Calvinism
Now, one might think that the “Calvinism” part might be unnecessary or redundant. But as CRC Voices has shown lately, this is certainly not the case, as there are supposedly a decent number of CRC officebearers who deny all or part of TULIP from the Canons of Dort.
This connects quite acutely to Bouma’s definition from before of “conservative Calvinism”, in which his primary distinctive was ongoing commitment to the Canons of Dort.
And so I too hold commitment to the Canons of Dort (one of our 3 confessional documents, for Pete’s sake) as a vital test for faithful Calvinism. Indeed, while Calvinism is vastly more complex and rich than a simple equation with TULIP. Yet there is no definition of Calvinism or “Reformed” which does not include the teachings of TULIP.
And thus, Confessional Calvinism is essential to who we are as a denomination. Rather than hide from this fact, we should be embracing it, because it is the teaching of God’s Word! The only reason why we would hold to such controversial and unlikable (when poorly taught) doctrines is only because we believe that they are Biblical.
Here is the pdf again from last week detailing TULIP in the Bible.
It is precisely here at TULIP that Reformed Theology finds it’s highest point of distinction. The monergism of the Canons of Dort is not only unique within Christianity, it is unique in world religion.
From the first to the last, from beginning to end, God saves His people.
The great Sovereignty of God — not only in salvation, but in all things — is the power of Reformed Theology. And the Truth of the Bible.
And Abraham Kuyper was convincing that this Calvinism was not merely a set of doctrines to know, but a world-and-life-view. The Christian faith is not something that we relegate to just our mind and not our actions, nor to one day of the week.
Christianity is comprehensive. It demands all from us. All of ourselves.
This is the driving vision of the CRC. It was from the beginning in the Afscheiding in the Netherlands, and we carry that torch to this day.
As orthodoxy drives orthopraxy, “the CRC vision requires much more than mere assent to an ancient set of creeds or continued commitment to an organizational structure.” (p.51) “It requires an active apprehension of the content of this version of the Christian faith and a serious attempt to use that faith to guide and direct both personal and public affairs.”
According to Bouma, this requires:
“That members have a very high level of Biblical and theological literacy in order to work out for themselves what these Christian principles are and how to apply them to life.”
“That members receive guidance and training in applying the CRC world view to their everyday lives. The connection between beliefs and behaviors is not automatic, obvious or a matter of simple logical reasoning. People must be trained to make such connections and to know what the connections are.”
“That members be provided social support for maintaining and applying their world view since it differs appreciably both in content and in the degree to which it is considered important for everyday life from the more common meaning systems of North America.”
“That members have access to organizations through which they can work to secure the larger corporate and social aims of the CRC vision. “
“That members and agencies be monitored in order to ensure that practice continues to be in conformity with Christian principles and that doctrinal purity remains.” “Behaviors which are difficult, which are not monitored and sanctioned tend to fall into disuse.”
Bouma says, “if the CRC vision is to be kept alive these five requirements must be met.”
I find this to be a fascinating list. As we continue, we’ll look at how the CRC has traditionally sought to meet these requirements.