Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Danger of Uneducated Ministers: (Rev.) Franklin Graham

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755883/vp/46475340#46475694

Laurence O'Donnell, a royalist and pedigreed liberal on MSNBC, one of MSNBC's sharper wits, engages the ham-fisted and hapless (Rev.) Franklin Graham.  O'Donnell's criticism can be rebutted handily enough, but Graham reveals the dangers of an uneducated, inarticulate, unformed, un-theological, non-confessional, and non-liturgical ministry.  O'Donnell pummels Graham as a "rich" and "famous" celebrity-seeker making an annual income of $750,000 and one who speaks on a level "lower than any under average Southern Baptist minister."  While O'Donnell trades on "a" stereotype of SBC backwoodsman clerics, there is "some" truth in the stereotype. Graham hardly speaks with caution, nuance or even a "fundamental respectability," that is, "substantial credibility" that all listeners must engage.  Ergo, O'Donnell rightly dismisses the son of Billy Graham as a serious interlocutor. 

2 comments:

Dave said...

These uneducated types create havoc in the church!

Reformation said...

Dave:

They do. Graham had nothing compelling to say and, due to incompetence, left the frontline wide open to attack. Embarrassing.