Blame It On the Reformation (Part 2)

Published on by D. G. Hart

In The Unintended Reformation, Brad Gregory objects to the sort of doctrinal and (ultimately) intellectual pluralism that Protestants, with their doctrine of sola scriptura and their belief in the illumination of the Spirity, unleashed upon the West. The common refrain that the diversity of religious claims point to faith’s “arbitrary, subjective character” is the result of the Reformation’s challenge to Rome’s own claim to be the arbiter of truth claims. Gregory illustrates this way:

Try this thought experiment: Put in the same room Remi Brague, Daniel Dennett, Juergen Habermas, Vittorio Hoesle, Saul Kripke, Julia Kristevea, Jean-Luc Marion, Martha Sussbaum, Alvin Plantinga, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, and Peter Singer. Tell them they will be fed and housed but that they cannot leave until they have reached an agreement about answers to the Life Questions on the basis of reason. How long will they take? I wouldn’t hold my breath. (125)

Gregory goes on to concede that he is not opposed to reason per se “without which any rational endeavor would be impossible.” But this thought experiment does “strongly suggest that reason is as unlikely a candidate for answering the Life Questions as is Scripture alone.” (126)

So what is the solution? Gregory doesn’t state it directly but it has to be the papacy, or more generally, one authority who will eventually determine which of reason’s answers is THE answer to life’s questions.

But that invites another thought experiment. Put Aquinas, Scotus, Augustine, Benedict (the original), Gregory VII, and Thomas More in the same room and ask them to come up with answers to Life Questions. Would they agree? I’m not holding my breath. But put the pope (which one) in the room and all of a sudden you don’t get agreement necessarily but you have an umpire whose judgment will bind everyone in the room. What happens if the pope is not the smartest guy in the room? Apparently, it doesn’t matter. At least we have an authority to determine the answer. It doesn’t really matter if the answer is correct since what we need, apparently, is agreement on answers.

I don’t think Gregory means to imply such an authoritarian account of Roman Catholicism. And I do believe he is several steps from the quest for certainty that prevails among some of the hotter sort of papalists over at Called to Communion. But the resemblances are striking. Rome’s advantage appears to be its unity on paper and the comforting thought that its head will nurture unity and stamp out diversity. That’s an odd construction of Rome’s unified authority structure given the intellectual diversity of places like the University of Notre Dame today not to mention the way that various popes fell asleep at the switch when fellows like Duns Scotus and William of Occam were using their reason and writing.

9 thoughts on “Blame It On the Reformation (Part 2)”

  1. It sure looks like Gregory has gone off the rails of scripture on this one. I much prefer the Holy Spirit to the pope, or any man, except the God-Man.

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  2. “The potent prince and the abject slave, the wise philosopher and the ignorant rustic, the virtuous lady and the infamous prostitute, stand on the same level in God’s sight. The self-sufficient of every rank are beheld by the gospel with contempt. The hungry it filleth with good things, but the rich it sendeth empty away.

    “This was the difference between Paul and his opponents. The situation of things was much the same between Protestants and Papists, Nor will the apostolic doctrine ever fail to be attended with strenuous opposition and foul reproaches, while ignorance of the gospel, and legal pride, prevail in the hearts of men. Many, indeed, are the methods that have been devised to obviate the offence of the cross” (Abraham Booth, The Reign Of Grace).

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  3. “Gregory doesn’t state it directly but it has to be the papacy, or more generally, one authority who will eventually determine which of reason’s answers is THE answer to life’s questions.”

    QIRC.

    Rome needs to make Rodney King a saint.

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  4. I have another thought experiment. Start with the original group and a pair of dice. Have them resolve each life issue in turn by each of them coming up with a policy consistent in some vague sense with most of the previous ones and then shooting craps. Explain how this is different than the pope solution in any meaningful way.

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  5. Brother Erik, You needn’t :”take Old Bob on” about having a 48 year old daughter, youngest “kid”, with 9 kids or about anything else! (@ Honor or Venerate posting) I had to choose between 3 recent OLT postings I think: (1) The 8/28 one, above, 38 comments. (2) 11/30, Blame it on the Reformatiom Two, 4 comments, or (3) 11/27 Blame it on the Reformation One, 247 comments. Wow!I picked (2). Mor likely to be read. Also I have more I wanted to say. I call it “The Wall of Misconception” between Sola Scriptura and Spirit’s Illumination. I want to add that I overwhelmingly hold to Honor of Mary, Not an iota of Veneration. I also want to say more about the recent mention of Alvin Plantinga. I still can’t believe that a Dutch Christian Reformed veteran of the Calvin College faculty (19 years) would be asked to head the Philosophy Dept. @ Notre Dame!!! Our grandson, mike morris, 35 and wife Dolores earned their PhDs under Plantinga. Mike taught at a U. in Jena, Germany for 3 recent years using the German language. I am not bragging— just Ping TL! About ones talking about himself too much. I believe that happens at times but I also like the fact that self disclosure breeds self disclosure and that often leads to solid friendships. I do it here at Alexian Village Works! Gotta go! Love, OB

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  6. Bob Morris: . I also want to say more about the recent mention of Alvin Plantinga. I still can’t believe that a Dutch Christian Reformed veteran of the Calvin College faculty (19 years) would be asked to head the Philosophy Dept. @ Notre Dame!!!

    RS: We can only hope that some of the Notre Dame guys learned something about Reformed thinking from Plantinga. The least we could say, I think, is that at least it would be a warranted belief to think so.

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  7. Old Bob – I’ll stop taking you on when you stop taking my friend Darryl on. Now venerate Darryl by saying 25 “Hail Darryl’s” and all will be well. Throw in 5 “Hail Van Drunen’s” for good measure.

    Greet the Village People for me.

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  8. OLT has started Old Bob thinking about a lot of things. Uppermost at the moment are 2 questions: (1) Can self disclosure be a good thing? (2) Does “The Wall of Misconception” by WTS Prez Pete Lillback have many helpful applications for “Those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life”? So many faulty words for TRUE Christians! I may be quite brief, as Friend Darryl is MOST of the time. (His Comments but NOT in frequent postings) 🙂 I fear that I might be more lengthy than my infrequent (not lately) comments. Here we go: (1) Self disclosure– Darryl and others, even my wife of 60 years, strongly hint that I talk about myself too much. Maybe so. My defense is an old saying: “Self disclosure often leads to self disclosure by others. And SD often leads to closer friendships, a good thing, Biblically. Most recent evidence for this is Elaine’s and my first month, here at our new home at Alexian Village. So far we have met many savvy Presbyterians and NO RCs. We will be nice to the first ones we might meet. Lord’s day yesterday, we attended our third Presbyterian church. All PCA, and all very Reformed. Free bus service is provided by Alexian! (1) An EPC, (Yes, yes, we know about the women thing!) a mile away up here in the Mountains. Click on “Signal Mountain Presbyterian” if you have time. (2) Wayside PC, about the size of our OPC in ATL, is about 4 miles away, also on our Mountain. (3) last night we attended a much bigger, First PC of Chattanooga. Christmas concert. Real pros! Best Elaine and I have ever witnessed in our many years. We were deeply moved in spirit! We find over and over again that as we talk about ourselves, or faith, family, past, —-others seem to tell us about THEMselves. Has already made us some new, but quite close friends, single (death of mates) and couples. Now for Walls of Misconception. Lillback’s book (He sent us a free copy) is pushing back against the ugly ACLU (and many fellow Christians!) that Church and State were MEANT to be separated by moon-high, hostile walls. As a History buff, in spite of 31 years teaching Math, I feel very sure that our mostly wise Founding Fathers had no such vision. I think (help me out) that there are other harmful Walls of Misconception. How about those down through the ages who separated Jesus’ Devine (see His Crdation work, John 1:3,10 and Colossians 1:16, etc. and His 100% humanity? How about the Soverignty of God “vs.” Man’s Will? Don’t we all believe that REASON is a gift of God with real limits? Scripture is our ultimate authority, isn’t it? How about Sola Scriptura vs. Illumination of The Holy Spirit? How about 2Kers v. Neo-Calvinists (or whatever?) Any comments? Finally, kind Richard— You too were amazed about CRC veteran Calvin Prof Alvin Plantinga being asked to head the PHILOSOPHY Dept, of all things, at Notre Dame! You added that you hoped that AP would have a good influence on many ND grad students. He alread HAS! I know of 2 and I doubt if they are unique. In my self disclosures @ OLT I may have mentioned that our grand son, Mike and wife Dolores have PhDs in Philos from ND and both teach at U of So. Florida. Mike taught 3 years @ a German U. in Jena (Hegel’s home town). He used the German language exclusinely. They have 2 kids, boy 4 and girl 1. Alternate teaching time. Must go! OB P.S. Just a few more words— More self disclosure: In th light of past experiences where I feel I had no influence with OLT comments, I think I should spend most of my time with new friends here. One old fellow tells me he is an atheist, His wife is a retired anthropologist. Claims to be agnostic! I feel I MAY be able to help folks like them, but not likely with you folks who SEEM to have your minds fully made up on everything!

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  9. Bob Morris: One old fellow tells me he is an atheist, His wife is a retired anthropologist. Claims to be agnostic! I feel I MAY be able to help folks like them, but not likely with you folks who SEEM to have your minds fully made up on everything!

    RS: Bob, just tell people the wonders and glory of God in all things but especially the Gospel. The sovereign God has you there for a purpose. When I run across a professing atheist I tell them I don’t believe in atheists. The Word of God tells me that all men know, but that they just try to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. An atheist is just one trying real hard to suppress the truth and keep himself convinced. A theist believes there is a God, but an a-theist claims not to believe in God and that is set forth by the negating prefix of a. So just put another a in there (a-a-theist) and you can assert yourself as one that does not believe in atheists.

    There are different ways of talking about self, not to mention motivations. King David spoke much of himself and his inner life in the Psalms, and to that we can be thankful. Person A can talk a lot about self with the idea of pointing to the faithfulness and glory of God. Person B can talk a lot about self with the idea of pointing the glory and honor of self. Just be a Person A type when you talk about yourself and keep pointing to the present and eternal glory of God in Christ who dwells in His people.

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