As I survey the contemporary church, one of my gravest concerns is
the power and prevalence of mysticism. It appears in pulpits, books, and
conversation. It is at the heart of Sarah Young’s bestselling Jesus Calling,
it is in all the much-loved books by John Eldredge, it fills the pages
of so many books on spiritual disciplines or spiritual formation, it is
almost everywhere you look. Language that was once considered the
distinguishing language of mysticism is now commonly used
by Evangelicals.
Mysticism was once regarded as an alternative to
Evangelical Christianity. You were Evangelical or you were a mystic, you
heeded the doctrine of the Reformation and understood it to faithfully
describe the doctrine laid out in Scripture or you heeded the doctrine
of mysticism. Today, though, mysticism has wormed its way inside
Evangelicalism so that the two have become integrated and almost
inseparable. In an age of syncretism we fail to spot the contradiction
and opposition.
Several years ago Donald Whitney attempted to define
the boundaries of Evangelical spirituality--the boundaries of how we
may rightly live out our Christian faith. His paper has been very
helpful to me as I’ve thought this through. Continue at Tim Challies
No comments:
Post a Comment