"Will Gospel Centrality Go The Way of Fundamentalism?"
Interesting, indeed. I found it encouraging to see that some of the “gospel-centrality” folks are alert to the problem of lapsing into slogans and buzzwords.
But I think all “movements” have a sort of gravity toward sloganism built in. It’s just human nature for even thoughtful people to start using shorthand (much of it necessitated by trying to communicate efficiently), and there is always an element of “not thoughtful” folks who immediately latch onto the buzzword/phrase of the day and start parroting it (remember “hope and change”?)
Maybe I’m cynical, but it seems to me that the latter group tend to be majority just about everywhere. It’s easy to find it in both fundamentalism and evangelicalism as well as lots of other isms.
But I think all “movements” have a sort of gravity toward sloganism built in. It’s just human nature for even thoughtful people to start using shorthand (much of it necessitated by trying to communicate efficiently), and there is always an element of “not thoughtful” folks who immediately latch onto the buzzword/phrase of the day and start parroting it (remember “hope and change”?)
Maybe I’m cynical, but it seems to me that the latter group tend to be majority just about everywhere. It’s easy to find it in both fundamentalism and evangelicalism as well as lots of other isms.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
“Gospel centrality must not be reduced to a slogan or way of defining yourself that does not really describe how you view the world. Gospel-centrality says that all of life and the Scriptures must be interpreted through the person and work of Jesus Christ. If gospel-centrality becomes just a way of speaking about ministry with certain buzzwords and catch phrases then it will have lost all meaning.”
I was trained in gospel-centered theology by Dr. Myron J. Houghton. The concept is something like that mentioned in the first two lines above, but not exactly.
I have heard some “YF’s” using the phrase “gospel-centered” recently, and I am not sure if they really understand it, or if it is just a “slogan.”
I had not previously thought of the connection with T4G, etc. Perhaps that is where all this is coming from…
I was trained in gospel-centered theology by Dr. Myron J. Houghton. The concept is something like that mentioned in the first two lines above, but not exactly.
I have heard some “YF’s” using the phrase “gospel-centered” recently, and I am not sure if they really understand it, or if it is just a “slogan.”
I had not previously thought of the connection with T4G, etc. Perhaps that is where all this is coming from…
Church Ministries Representative, serving in the Midwest, for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry
[Aaron Blumer] I found it encouraging to see that some of the “gospel-centrality” folks are alert to the problem of lapsing into slogans and buzzwords.Actually, I think it’s more of ‘buzz-hyphens’ than ‘buzzwords’ in the *-centered movement… I thought about writing a post one time, “a pox on hyphenated words”.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
After having heard “gospel-centered” about 50 times a day for the last few years, I think it’s slang for Calvinist soteriology, Christ-centered preaching, faith-based sanctification, and not-Fundy-strict standards of living (extra-hyphens just-for-fun). It may also be applied to anything that comes out of the mouths of Tim Keller, D.A.Carson, anyone else at the [URL=http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/ Gospel Coalition[/URL] and its sister [URL=http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/ Together for the Gospel[/URL] , or anyone who reads Mark Driscoll.
I very much appreciate Horton’s warning. It does seem almost as if a certain segment, of which I am smack dab in the middle, uses the phrase as a substitute for “kosher”. On the other hand, I am strongly in agreement with the original intention behind the label and hope that it will prove increasingly true throughout the Christian Church.
I very much appreciate Horton’s warning. It does seem almost as if a certain segment, of which I am smack dab in the middle, uses the phrase as a substitute for “kosher”. On the other hand, I am strongly in agreement with the original intention behind the label and hope that it will prove increasingly true throughout the Christian Church.
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Cor meum tibi offero Domine prompte et sincere. ~ John Calvin
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