Preliminary Thoughts on Zwingli


I've spent the last few days reading a book on Huldrych Zwingli, one of the primary movers and shakers in the Protestant Reformation.  I'm doing research on major movements and events that have shaped modern Evangelical worship.  For my focus, it starts at the Reformation.  The more I read, the more I come to the conviction that, while necessary, the Reformation was also reactionary - an event/movement that happened in a particular time in history with particular cultural and intellectual currents swirling about.  That's always true for any historical happening.  Nothing occurs in a vacuum. We are less than ten years away from the 500th anniversary of the Reformation - if you count Luther's nailing of the ninety-five theses on the Wittenburg church door (1517) as the beginning.  Much was gained in the Reformation, but much was lost in over-reaction.  We should have the courage to take a critical look back as we approach this important milestone.

One of my resolutions for 2011 is to begin research and writing again.  Even though I am no longer in an academic setting, I love discovery and reflection.  I prejudged Zwingli before I began reading.  My opinions haven't really changed; they're just more informed, and in a sense, more firmly held than before. 

In a nutshell, I believe one of the great losses of the Reformation for many Evangelical Protestants (especially "low church" Protestants - that is, non-liturgical) is a sacramental understanding of the Lord's Table.  My research into Zwingli is important because he is the Reformer most responsible for a "memorialist" conception of the rite.  This blog is not the place to develop my assertion.  But it is good to be challenged to read and reflect again.  

As my reading progresses, I may post thoughts along the way in this blog.

Happy New Year, all!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Don't Find Jokes About Worship Music Very Funny

Image
This post is a second attempt on this topic.  The first was pushback on the cartoon above that a friend had posted on Facebook. It was lacking in grace.  I regret that but remain committed to my point.  I have a good sense of humor.  I enjoy the satirical website, Lark News , and even my own copy of A Field Guide toEvangelicals and Their Habitat.  I can laugh at myself and my evangelical tradition.  But I don’t find jokes about worship music very funny. Most of the time, it is contemporary praise and worship songs that are the target of the jokes and cartoons I’ve seen and heard.  There was a variation of Cows in theCorn several years ago that poked fun at hymns.  Nevertheless, the repetition found in praise and worship is the usual target.  It is my experience that people who don’t like the genre think the jokes are really funny.  I don’t.  I never have.  Here’s why: Praise and worship songs are different than hymns. That seems obvious, but the difference lies
Read more

Should the Church Accommodate Its Worship to the Culture?

Image
Yes… and no. Early this morning, I finished reading John D. Witvliet’s essay, Theological Models for the Relationship between Liturgy and Culture in his excellent collection, Worship Seeking Understanding   (Baker, 2003).   Heady and academic stuff, as the title demonstrates.   But the concepts that he unpacks are important for every pastor and worship leader to encounter and grasp. There are some groups who resist the surrounding culture at all costs.   The Orthodox Church, along with certain Anabaptist sects (such as the Amish) are probably the most radical in this regard.   But there are other traditional groups who avoid cultural infiltration like it was the plague.   On the other side of the spectrum are evangelicals who will do most anything and everything in order to satisfy the god of relevance.   Neither pole on the spectrum is to be desired. Cultural influence, or inculturation, in corporate worship is unavoidable and should be, in some measure, embraced and celebrate
Read more

Embracing Conflict in the Church

Image
Our church family is having a bit of a kerfuffle. Since this is a public forum, I won’t share the details. But it’s painful. It’s personal and it’s dangerous. No one likes it. This is not the first time I’ve been in a church family that was having conflict. Come to think of it, I can’t recall a church that I’ve ever been a part of that didn’t have inner conflict. Conflict is part of the landscape of human relationships. And the church, while it is infused with Divine life, is still human. On this side of eternity, we remain broken – in need of God’s grace and work in our collective life together. It’s the same for any family. There are many responses available to us when we enter into conflict. The first and, I must admit, easiest for me to immerse myself in is anger. It is an honest response, especially when one believes that injustice has been done or that the other party is somehow unrighteous. That has usually been my assessment of “the other side” when I’ve been deep in it. I
Read more