A few days ago, I mentioned Guy Waters’ book on the New Perspective on Paul, and did not heap scorn upon it. Rather, I commended it, all but the last eight pages, which really were unfortunate.
When I wrote that review, I did not know that Guy Waters was on the committee for Mississippi Valley Presbyery that recently (pre)released a committee report on all this Stuff. It seems funny to me to have a report like this circulating in public before the presbytery has a chance to approve it (or not). But I am a stranger to the ways of the Presbyterians’ MVP (heh heh), and so what do I know? Maybe it is like the movie industry where they release trailers before releasing the movie, in order to stir up interest. Anyhow, the trailers had something on Shepherd, something on the New Perspective, something on Auburn Ave, etc. A few days ago, I provided a color commentary on the section devoted to the Federal Vision, which made a dog’s breakfast out of what we are supposed to believe.
Nevertheless, I continue to appreciate Waters’ book (may its pages never yellow!), but the last eight pages showed that he does confound things that ought not to be confounded. And the MVP committee trailers show that some of those same things are being confounded by this trailer committee. The vast majority of Waters’ book shows that he is capable of critical analysis that is fair to those he is criticizing. So far, this does not appear to be true of the committee he is on.
My thanks to the reader who pointed out Waters’ membership on this committee.