Prof. R. Scott Clark published Recovering the Reformed Confession a few years ago, it makes for an interesting read. John M. Frame posted a fascinating review also in which he concludes:
In my view, a certain amount of subjectivity cannot be avoided in the understanding of what it is to be Reformed, or in any other intellectual endeavor. For one thing, objective reality is always known by means of our subjective capacities: reason, sensation, feeling, intuition, etc., not to mention endowments given or withheld by the Holy Spirit. For another, confessional documents and theologies are not intended to be museum pieces. They are to be used in the ongoing life of the church, to evaluate our ideas and behavior, and their use varies from time to time and place to place. To judge whether an idea or practice is warranted by the confession requires insight, the ability to show agreement or disagreement between a past and a present reality. And, although Clark does not like to speak of application, the standards must be applied by human beings to present situations if those documents are to function as authorities. As to what judgments and applications are right, there is often disagreement.
Further, even apart from these problems, it is not obvious that Reformed should be defined by the confessions, a group of favored theologians, and informal traditions. Clarks procedure in defining the nature of Reformed thinking is not itself found in any of the confessions or favored theological writings. Nor is there any way, so far as I can see, to support it from Scripture. But Clark thinks we should never claim that anything is Reformed unless it can be supported from the confessions. Clarks methodology, therefore, is self-referentially incoherent. He is trying to establish the meaning of Reformed by what he regularly describes as a non-Reformed methodology.
What Clark really does in this book is to advocate a kind of Reformed theology and church life that appeals to him more than the more recent versions. But he has no authority, I think, and no good reason, to impose that vision on those of us who find it less attractive.
But what is the alternative? Is there any other way to describe the nature of the Reformed community? I think there is.
I would propose understanding the Reformed community as a historical community that began as Clark describes, but which no longer follows the original pattern in detail. Even the original community was not as uniform as Clarkpresents it, and of course greater diversity entered later. In this respect, the Reformed community is like other religious and nonreligious communities. It should be described in all the diversity it had originally and has developed over the years, far more diversity than Clarks approach admits. In my view, that diversity is not necessarily wrong. It is not necessarily, as Clark would propose, non-Reformed. In some ways the newer views and practices represent growing understanding and legitimate applications of biblical truth.
Imagine someone saying, if you want to know what American means, look at the founding documents of the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the writings of the founders like The Federalist Papers. There is a certain amount of truth in that. Certainly these documents tell us much of what makes the United States different from other nations. But these documents presuppose an already existing community of ideas. For example, although they mention religion rarely, they cannot be rightly understood apart from the history of New England Puritanism, Dutch Reformed Christianity in New York, Quakerism in Pennsylvania, Anglicanism in Virginia, and so on.
And the history of America subsequent to these documents is also important. Many claim that these documents are largely neglected and/or contradicted today. There is a large disconnect between what America was at its founding and what it is today. Defining America by the founding documents, and defining it as an empirical community, lead to two different and inconsistent conceptions. People who define America only by its founding documents are likely to say that subsequent developments are unamerican. But to say that is merely to express a preference. That preference may be a good one. But merely to express it is not likely to persuade anyone to share that preference. This case is similar to the attempt to define Reformed.
On the view I advocate, it is not possible to state in precise detail what constitutes Reformed theology and church life. But one can describe historical backgrounds and linkages, as I have done above in the example of the United States. And there are some general common characteristics, a kind of family resemblance, among the various bodies of the last five centuries that have called themselves Reformed. The idea that Reformed should be defined as achanging community is not congenial to Clarks view. But it seems to me to be more accurate and more helpful.
Clark is not entirely opposed to change in the confessional theology. He believes that new confessions are needed from time to time (182-191), and he advocates orderly changes in the confessions when the church comes to believe it has been wrong (343). But his view of confessional subscription is so strict (153-176) that it is impossible to imagine how anyone could accomplish changes in them, except in detail. On Clarks view, the confessions are treated for practical purposes as if they were as authoritative as Scripture; for anyone who differs with them cannot be accepted as Reformed. This is why many churches in the Reformed tradition have somewhat loosened their formulae of subscription. Clarks complaint that such loosening is not Reformed is not taken seriously in many circles, and, in my view, it should not be.
I think it better to regard anyone as Reformed who is a member in good standing of a Reformed church. I realize there is some ambiguity here, for we must then ask, what is a really Reformed church? Different people will give different answers. But, as I said above, I dont think that the definition has to be, or can be, absolutely precise. The concept, frankly, has fuzzy boundaries, as some linguists and philosophers say.
We should also accept as Reformed people those who hold to generally Reformed convictions, but are members of non-Reformed churches. Again, the phrase generally Reformed indicates that the concept is not precise.
Then, what is the Reformed faith? It is the consensus of Reformed believers.
