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Recovering the Reformed Confession

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What is a confessional Reformed/Presbyterian church? What is Reformed theology? Piety? Practice? In a clear, concise, and cogent manner, Scott Clark answers these questions in Recovering the Reformed Confession. The book is valuable because in it, Clark demonstrates the qualities of a good historian and a good theologian: he calls a thing what it is. He has done his homework in patristics, medieval theology, reformation theology, post-reformation orthodoxy, the rise of pietism, and the present day Christian church landscape in the U.S. Using these insights, Clark explains some of the main points of what it means - and what it does not mean - to be confessional today.

The book is sort of like a fog-horn. It is the loud noise that cuts through the fog that has settled on many Reformed/Presbyterian churches in the last 50-100 years. Because it does cut, some may not like this book as Clark evaluates the contemporary church situation using a historical/theological Reformed lens. One may also compare this book to a doctor's office: Clark sets today's Reformed/Presbyterian church on the table, tests it, prods it, pokes it, and makes a diagnosis. Not only does he give a diagnosis (the first half of the book), he also gives a prescription (in the second half of the book). Or, in his own terms, the book is structured in a law/gospel fashion - itself a clue that Clark is working with classic Reformed distinctions.

More specifically, the first half of the book is called "The Crisis." In it (pages 39-116), Clark diagnosis the two main problems in today's Reformed/Presbyterian churches: the Quest for Illegitimate Religious Certainty (the quest to know God in ways he has not revealed and to achieve epistemic and moral certainty on questions where this certainty is neither possible nor desirable - p. 39) and the Quest for Illegitimate Religious Experience (modern day pietism mixed with mysticism, religious experience, introspection, subjectivism, and the longing to experience God on higher levels than ever before - p 73-5).

The second half of the book is called "The Recovery" (pages 119-342). In this section, he sets out the traditional Reformed theological distinctions of analogical/ectypal knowledge of God, the finite cannot comprehend/contain the infinite, the distinction between Creator/creature, the covenants (redemption, works, and grace), confessional subscription, and so forth. Clark also writes about the joy of being confessional, how it is biblical, catholic (universal), vital, evangelical (in the Reformation sense of the term), and churchly.

The last few chapters are those which may cause some readers to pause because he dives into the topic that always brings out the boxing gloves: worship. Here Clark talks about the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW) - its history, confessional status, and modern day revisions of it. He talks about singing inspired songs and psalms; he discusses liturgy, the second service on the Lord's Day, and of course the means of grace.

I'm almost certain that some will react very negatively to this book because of Clark's appraisal (the prodding/poking language above) and prescription for Reformed/Presbyterian churches, specifically in the area of worship. Yet I encourage the reader not to miss the forest for the trees: Clark is an accurate historian and theologian, and his discussions of church history and theology cannot be dismissed without dismissing what our Reformed/Presbyterian forefathers taught and preached. He basically and in a systematic fashion says: this is what the historic Reformed church taught as they exegeted Scripture and here's how it applies today. If you want to dig deeply into confessional reformation orthodoxy and worship, you'll want this book on your shelves, even if it prods you and pokes you as you read it!

For those of us evangelical-exiles who may have come to the Reformation with nothing but the shirt on our backs and a few bucks to spare, it is hard to know where to begin when considering R. Scott Clark's most recent publication, Recovering the Reformed Confession: Our Theology, Piety, and Practice.

It might help to start at the beginning of Part 1. I can recall years ago getting an odd sense in my newfound Reformed environs that something was not quite right. I was intuiting that as I had come in the front door that plenty were smuggling their way out the back, down the street to the Evangelical fiesta I just come from and returning with their plunder (some never even returning) only to present it as Reformed. But I had seen that plunder before and it was precisely what I didn't want, no matter how re-packaged in the term "Reformed" it came. So ever since I heard Clark characterize Reformed narcissism ("I am Reformed; I think/say/do x; therefore x is Reformed") I knew he was on to something.

It turned out that Reformed narcissism is really a subset of a larger diagnosis, what Clark describes as the QIRC (quest for illegitimate certainty) and the QIRE (quest for illegitimate experience). On these two laws hang all the law and prophets of modernity. Everything that ails the contemporary scene flows out from there. And lest we Reformed think we are magically hedged in from the laws of modernity and fall prey to the siren song of Reformed narcissism, Clarks book serves as a sober reminder that, like sin itself, these things are equal opportunity afflictions and absolutely nobody is immune.

While plenty can be and is said about it, the three most visible manifestations of QIRC are 6/24 creation as a boundary marker, theonomy/reconstructionism and covenant moralism (AKA the Federal Vision). To the extent that these characterize much of the wrangling in Reformed and Presbyterian enclaves it points up not only how much of the narcissism abides but, just as much, how the touchstone of the Reformed confessions.

Clark may not gain many friends with his critique of the greatest theologian American ever produced. But the fact that he has the grit to raise his hand in Jonathon Edwards' classroom and ask what some have been thinking about the First Great Awakening, but have been too timid to pipe up, it may go further to influence people and for the better. This is perhaps the bravest and riskiest part of the book, and I think it pays off. There may be some odd comfort in knowing that Reformed theology, piety and practice didn't just recently fall on hard times but began being assaulted ever since Whitefield landed and Edwards "...gave himself the nearly impossible task of trying to delineate proper religious experience from improper religious experience." Whatever might lost by suggesting at least some of the beginnings of the QIRE with Edwards is made up for by then delineating just what a truer Reformed devotion is; despite the oxymoronic charges of "dead orthodoxy" (how can truth die?), there is indeed a piety resident within confessional orthodoxy. Like the gospel itself, though, it just doesn't look the way we'd expect.

If diagnosing the problem comes easy then prescriptions for recovery can show us what we're really made of. And, as Clark shows, this has a lot to do with worship. Worship, after all, is both the expression and perpetuation of a theology. Its genius is in its inclusively: learned and unlearned can, may and should participate. Calvin himself placed the reformation of worship ahead of certain doctrinal formulation. As a good Reformed confessionalist, Clark gets that. Most may take exception, for example, to his exclusive psalmody, but his arguments leave little room for hedging. And the case for the second service won't fare much better and is sure to cause some grumblings. But something tells me that is part of the point. Nevertheless, as compelling as they are, it would be a mistake to get too distracted with these arguments since the greater balance of Part 2 (the Recovery) takes up more broadly what it should look like amongst those convinced of the preceding case.

If it is cliché to suggest that any particular book is "one of the most important books to read" for any who would that the Reformed tradition be recovered in our time then I have never been so satisfied to be this pat. It remains to be seen what impact voices like Clark's will have on the broader Reformed community. But whether you are a Reformed pastor, elder or interested layman, buy this book and eat it.

The "New Calvinists" need to read this book. I was recently reading a reaction to Time magazine's discussion of the "New Calvinism" by one of its darlings, Mark Driscoll, whom so many of the Reformed stars seem to have embraced so warmly and wholeheartedly (one wonders if he were an inerrantist Arminian who held to male headship if he would be given such a pass. He argues, among other things, that "New Calvinism" = Charismatic Calvinism. The New Calvinists need to read this book. It will challenge them to think in holistic terms of faith and practice. The emerging church embraces postmodern faith and practice, the New Calvinists embrace Reformed faith but postmodern practice. This book boldly calls us to be full-bodied in our Reformed identity. It calls people away from a divided field of knowledge in which one can have our correct, Reformed systematic theology straight but ignore Reformed practice that is a natural outgrowth of Reformed faith. May there be more young Calvinists who will embrace the Clark's truly post-modern approach, which provides an alternative to the modernity-saturated practice of the New Calvinists.

'Because revelation is God-given, theology does not begin with us, nor is it fundamentally the expression of our religious experience.' p 142

The Confessions of the church have always given added direction and continuity to her well-being. Clark recognizes and specifies the historical trajectory, but admits to the existence of doubt which has brought the Reformed church to a point where it questions its own legitimacy.

'What makes us Reformed is how we understand Scripture, and this understanding is summarized in our confession.' p 10

Singularizing a confession of the Reformed faith, Clark offers criticisms of divergences in the Reformed tradition as seen by the proliferation of denominations across North America. This concerns Clark and pertains to beliefs held and practiced and admitted as Reformed, when in fact, they are not. Two subdivisions envelope these accepted beliefs:

1. The Quest For Illegitimate Religious Certainty, aka QiRC, engages with influences from creation science, 7th Day Adventists, and the fundamentalist hermeneutic which have infiltrated Reformed thought and practice. These misconceptions seem overwhelmingly innocent to the uninformed, but are, in fact, harmful to the Reformed epistemology, especially when they become apparent in the academy. 'As Richard Muller notes, the net effect of Frame's exaggeration of the sufficiency of Scripture is not to elevate the authority of Scripture itself but to elevate Frame's application of it.' p 24 Epitomizing the invasive theologies is a desire to elevate one's own interpretation of Scripture to legitimize the wrong application thereof, which has Clark expressing a morbid fear that we may yet become the spiritual heirs of the insufferable Charles Briggs. Clark amplifies the seriousness of 'speaking where the Bible is silent' when he shows it to be wholly out of sync with the views of noteworthy Reformed persona.

2. The Quest For Illegitimate Religious Experience, aka QiRE, retains the balance between a fervent apologetic and a well-placed admonition. Historically, the subjectivism that accompanied these movements had disaster written all over them. Clark intensifies the anti-confessional and anti-foundational posturing by use of a common example: 'Perhaps the most pervasive is the apparently benign sort of mysticism which many Reformed people now practice in ascertaining of the providence of God a priori. We tolerate or even encourage the practice of listening for the 'still small voice' (1 Kings 19:12 KJV) of God in order to discern the moral will of God.' p 72 The due use of ordinary means has been all but displaced by a desire for God's immediate presence. His critique against the Revival & Revivalism theory of Iain H Murray is robust. 'Judged by confessional Reformed piety, religious subjectivism (e.g. revivalism or pietism) is illegitimate because it seeks what is by definition an extraordinary providence of God, which is not promised in Scripture.' p 107 BB Warfield asserted that 'There is no specific promise that He will keep us otherwise than by His providence and grace.' Counterfeit Miracles p 180. Where the Bible is over-applied in the QiRC paradigm, it is prevalently undervalued in the QiRE scheme.

But preserved for us in the Reformed confession Clark finds a more consistent approach which warns against these alien ideas. The emerging principle is an approach that permits history and general revelation to be heard, and that breakaway traditions could in turn learn from the Reformed a respect for their historic Confessions as all 'would be impressed with the care with which they (classic Reformed theologians) handled Scripture and the wisdom and maturity of their judgments.' p 207 It is not in the Confessions alone that we take heart, but in all their endeavors in setting forth the truth of Scripture.

Clark buttresses many features of the Reformed faith, e.g., archetypal and ectypal knowledge, derived from the Creator/creature categorical distinction, p 143. For Clark, this is a distinction again best demonstrated by the classical theologians, which they based on the secret things of God/ the revealed things of God (Deut 29:29).

'Notice that the idea of majesty and exaltation above the creature is not abandoned; it is only deepened and purified, and remains a standing safeguard against every vulgar familiarity with God, such as would undermine the very basis of religion.' Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology p 246

Reformed worship is legitimate and sanctioned by Scripture and there is sufficient evidence to believe that we can retrieve the piety and practice of our proud heritage. 'Having rediscovered the Reformed principle of worship, there is no reason why we cannot recover the Reformed practice of worship.' p 230 Clark brings a fresh reverence of our past to mind and states very clearly what could become a major concern if we allow our Reformed confession to become de-prioritized, and that it can only happen if we don't have a spiritual will.

Recovering the Reformed Confession:Our Theology, Piety, and Practice (R. Scott Clark) is a spirited plea to recover a Reformed confession. Confession includes the historic Reformed confessions of the sixteenth and seventeenth century (e.g., the Westminster Standards, Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, Heidelberg Catechism, etc.), and the theology, piety, and practice that both inform and flow from them.

Clark identifies two threats to a Reformed identity.

First, what he calls the Quest for Illegitimate Religious Certainty (QIRC) is the attempt to "establish an illegitimate form of certainty in doctrines and practices that are not confessed by the Reformed churches and that even contradict the Reformed confession." (69) In some cases, issues that belong to the realm of Christian liberty are transformed into marks or tests of Reformed orthodoxy, and in other cases, issues upon which the Reformed church has had consensus are abandoned.

Clark evaluates three controversies that fall under the category of QIRC: the solar day interpretation of Genesis 1, theonomy and covenant moralism, which requires substantial alteration to the historic Reformed confessions' understanding of justification.

A second threat is the Quest for Illegitimate Religious Experience that seeks the immediate experience of God apart from the means of grace (i.e., the preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments) and by ways he has not ordained. Evidence of a shift away from the means of grace is observed when "Christian piety is reckoned chiefly in terms of the private and the subjective. If someone asks, `What is God teaching you these days?' one has the sense that the expected answer is not to be a summary of this week's sermon or reflection on the significance of baptism or the Lord's Supper, but an insight derived from a special experience or private revelation." (73)

The author contends that "reformation and revival are distinct and largely incompatible models of theology, piety, and practice. The Reformation, which gives us the first- and second-generation Reformed confessions, consistently points the sinner first to the objective divine promises and only secondarily to one's awareness of the Spirit's presence within. Revivalism, however, tends to turn first of all to the subjective." (74) Ministerial integrity is a case in point. For revivalists, that integrity is determined by the perceived quality of the minister's religious experience and the experience that his ministry excites in others, rather than by his adherence to the doctrinal standards of his church, and by his faithfulness in preaching God's law and gospel, and administering the sacraments. Revivalism pursues unmediated experiences of God, whereas Reformed piety centers upon the diligent use of ordinary means - namely, attending upon the proclamation of the word and administration of the sacraments. Reformed readers are likely to concur with the author's severe critique of pietism and revivalism (at least of the C.G. Finney type). Much more provocative is his analysis of the revival theologies of Reformed stalwarts Jonathan Edwards and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. With regard to the subject of religious experience, he points to a broad continuity between the First and Second Great Awakenings that threatens the primary role God assigns to the ministry of the word and sacraments in his church. Contrary to both Calvinist and non-Calvinist revivalists, he maintains: "The Reformed understanding of things is that we do not have immediate access to God's being. We have mediate access through God the Son incarnate and through the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments." (151)

How can a Reformed identity be recovered and cultivated? Of course the church must embrace its historic confessional statements. For members of the Presbyterian Church in America these are the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechism. We should confess our faith; the scriptures themselves contain confessional formulas (Deuteronomy 6:4, 1 Kings 8:31-35). Although the Spirit of God does not inspire our confessional standards, they should be subscribed to because they are biblical. Readers interested in the history of confessional subscription will appreciate Clark's survey. Contemporary Reformed churches need to recommit themselves to writing confessions, and restating afresh its beliefs and practices. Failure to do so is not due to lack of ability but will. (186) Adhering to a high view of scripture is not enough. The church needs "a theology, piety, and practice which are actually biblical" (198), and carefully written confessional statements foster these indispensable elements of Reformed church life.

In a chapter entitled "The Joy of Being Confessional," Clark identifies five virtues of confessional Reformed theology, piety, and practice: it is biblical, catholic (not Roman Catholic, but catholic in the sense of the church universal), vital, evangelical, and churchly. Evangelical is defined as "the biblical message that Christ died for sinners and that sinners are justified by sovereign grace alone (sola gratia) through faith alone (sola fide), that Christ is the proper object of saving faith (solo Christo), and that the unique and chief rule for faith and life is Scripture alone (sola scriptura). To say that confessional Reformed theology is evangelical is to say that it is vitally concerned about the evangel or the good news that God the Son has come, taken on humanity in history, bringing with him God's kingdom, grace, salvation and righteousness." (218)

Recovering a Reformed confession also means recovering Reformed worship, which demands a reaffirmation of the historic understanding regulative principle of worship, that "[n]o one can require of God's people that they do anything in worship that does not have express or implied positive warrant from God's word." The regulative principle "liberates believers from the tyranny of subjectivism in public worship." (261-262)

Clark makes a case for singing exclusively inspired texts a capella as well as retention of the second (evening) service, which he defends as a blessing with roots in scripture and Reformed history. About the second service, he calls the church to demonstrate courage: "In our setting, as in times past, the second service is a countercultural act of defiance against the antinomian spirit of the age. It is also a statement about the centrality of Word and sacrament to the Christian life. It is a testimony that Christ's people have been redeemed in a community. It is a confession of faith that God the Spirit uses divinely ordained means to save and sanctify (WCF 14). As history and experience show us, it is not easy, and it is not popular, but it is Reformed, it is worth the effort, and it is the way of the Christian life." (340)

Recovering the Reformed Confession is not an introduction to Reformed theology. It presupposes a readership that has at least a general knowledge of the Reformed history and confessional standards. I believe church officers will find this book particularly useful in answering the question, "What does it mean to be a Reformed Church?"

Dr. Clark's logic throughout the book was easy to grasp. I even found myself thinking a step ahead in discussion without reading what was next, and there it was on the page.

I found the section dealing with the much-neglected RPW helpful in bringing to light the fact the RPW is underlying the Reformed confessions. It must be believed and dealt with. Not ignored. Not re-defined. Not just laughed off.

I hope this becomes mandatory reading for those who are elders, aspiring to that position, etc. It is also for those who don't understand what confessions are about. It is odd for me, a student, to be assigning books to teachers, however some things are just plainly self-evident (ask the observant and matter-of-fact child from the story "The Emperor's New Clothes". He'd tell you the same).

Well, keep up the good work, Dr. Clark. You're an asset to the Church and may your book bring forth much fruit (and keep the books coming).