Category: Books and Culture

“Are you children of Calvin? Then do the works of Calvin. Don’t read us the words of Calvin in a monotone; don’t read them off the marble monument you set up in the lobby of the Reformed museum. And if you try to read them in that monotone, and I object, don’t try to make it appear that I have problems with his words. Preach them to the world in the open air; preach them in such a way that people start accusing you of being a madman, or drunk, or evil, or something. Preach them in such a way that people set up anonymous websites to destroy your reputation. Don’t pin his words to a poster board like a row of dead but orthodox butterflies.”

The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 657

“The Westminster Confession of Faith does not need constant fixing; the hearts of Westminsterians do need constant fixing. The problem is not Moses’ seat, but rather the Pharisaical bums ensconced there. I have been regularly surprised at the defenders of the Confession who cannot answer simple questions about what is actually in it. Their loyalty to the confession is loyalty to the idea of having it, and not to what it actually says.”

The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, pp. 656-657

“Thousands of hours of study without meeting with the principals face-to-face is thousands of hours of yelling up the wrong rain spout. Establishing committees that are as stacked as a WWII bomber’s nose is not the way to inspire my confidence. No, I haven’t gotten over the sheer brazenness of that study committee.”

The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 653

“I agree that the fact that we baptize infants does not obligate us to allow them to vote in church elections, or drive the bus to the family retreat. But what we are talking about, with regard to the Table, is food. All children who come into our households should have the privilege of food.”

The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 647

“All pastors and elders should want to protect the Table from corrupt use, but we should do so a posteriori. The approach to church purity taken here is that of hiring big, beefy security guards at the door to check everyone’s IDs three times. The approach taken to church purity by what I take to be a more consistent covenantal approach is to hire big, beefy bouncers.”

The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 644

“Being prosecuted by sentimentalist pietists is like drowning in a cauldron of hot butterscotch”

The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 634