Kingdom Triangle Discussion

Friday, November 9, 2007

Boyd Luter on Kingdom Triangle

Boyd Luter, on his Agree to Disagree Agreeably blog, has devoted four major posts to Kingdom Triangle.

Consider his seasoned and timely interaction of Kingdom Triangle on October 24th, October 29th, October 31st (note JP's comment on the blog), and lastly, November 5th.

In Boyd's final post, he not only offers wise advice about how to maximize the impact of Kingdom Triangle, but concludes the following about JP and his timely book:

... after carefully reading Kingdom Triangle, I cannot help but think in terms of comparison and contrast to the latter ministry efforts of the late Francis Schaeffer. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems to me that Kingdom Triangle is parallel in certain ways to Schaeffer’s A Christian Manifesto, notably in the probing cultural critique it provides roughly a generation after Schaeffer’s piercing and passionate appeal.

However, there is also a huge difference between the two authors and their two timely volumes. Schaeffer’s appeal was for evangelicals to proceed to reclaim the culture from the standpoint of having the proper view of truth and the gospel. Moreland rightly says the church not only possesses the truth and the gospel, but also the power of the Spirit.

As I close, it is worth asking: Was Francis Schaeffer’s challenge in A Christian Manifesto largely greeted by yawns because the evangelical church had become so worldly and comfortable, or because it had become so fleshly (i.e., out of touch with the Holy Spirit)? My answer is “Yes”–it was worldly and comfortable, without a doubt; but it was, and has largely remained, under the control of the flesh, not the Spirit.

Like Francis Schaeffer before him, J.P. Moreland has laid out why our culture is philosophically bankrupt and religiously confused. But, unlike Schaeffer, he has offered not just a clarion call to get off our collective spiritual rear ends, but also a power source that can sustain any individual and corporate transformation that must take place.

I salute this Spirit-led calculated risk of one of evangelicalism’s great minds and hearts (thank you, J.P.!). He has spoken the truth in love, knowing full well that, since those who short-sightedly cling to the fleshly status quo cannot adequately answer his powerful message, they will (and already do) savagely attack the messenger. Why has he done so, then? Because he is trusting the Lord to use his Spirit-led message to awaken many others who will choose to walk in faith, in the power of the Spirit, seeking to be spiritual transformation agents in the spheres of influence where the Lord has placed them. May the Lord multiply their–our–tribe!

2 comments:

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

Schaeffer did emphasize the power of the spirit in his "True Spirituality." He never divorced truth from spirituality.

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

Schaeffer did emphasize the power of the Spirit, especially in True Spirituality. He did not divorce truth from spirituality.