the need to recover tradition – II

Francis Beckwith said, “Moreover, much of what I have taken for granted as a Protestant—e.g., the catholic creeds, the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, the Christian understanding of man, and the canon of Scripture—is the result of a Church that made judgments about these matters and on which non-Catholics, including Evangelicals, have declared and grounded their Christian orthodoxy in a world hostile to it. ”

The pre-reformation Church made judgments about these issues, the creeds, doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, etc. which both the Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, and Reformed Churches submit to, affirm, adhere to, and follow as an essential part of living out the life of Christ on earth. This is a historical fact about which I was sadly ignorant for all of my teenage and young adult years. Yet it is one of great importance. One’s understanding of the pre-reformation Churches will have deep impact on one’s understanding of the post-reformation Churches… I charge all of my fellow Evangelicals, of all denominations, to attend to this fact, to research it, and to develop a clearer understanding of our own identity in light of it.