I Hope Karl Keating Doesnt Get Mad At Me

[Quietfire]

I hope Karl Keating doesnt get mad at me for posting this here, but I found it interesting and wanted to share it. I put it in debate cause I figured someone would have something to say about.
I subscribe to his eletter and really enjoy them. I should post the one about Judy Garland, the GIRM, and "Somewhere over the rainbow" (yeah, all in the same topic)
but this should do for now.

PLEASE DON'T GO DOWN THAT PASSAGEWAY

Paul F. M. Zahl is the dean of the (Episcopal) Cathedral Church of the
Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Writing for "Modern Reformation," a
magazine dedicated to the Calvinist proposition, he warned readers about
falling for the "ecclesiological option."

"It has been true for several decades now," he begins, "that American
evangelicals are attracted to high-church versions of Christianity. It
is the darnedest thing: liturgy and 'smells and bells' and vestments
have become a tractor-beam for people in reaction to supposed biblicism,
individualism, and colorlessness in worship."

He's been there, done that. As a minister in the Episcopal Church, Zahl
has seen what happens when churches bring in "liturgies of bell, book,
and candle without the great catholic doctrines that once anchored
them." The result is mere theater. Just look at what has happened to the
Episcopal Church, which went from liturgical finery to gay bishops.

Zahl says he wishes to "show my free-church evangelical brothers and
sisters, like the Ghost of Christmas Future, what lies ahead for them if
they fall for high ecclesiologies." What lies ahead is "church at the
expense of gospel, 'seeming' at the expense of 'being,' form at the
expense of substance. ... Unless, that is, you wish to follow things
through to their honest finish. Then you will become Roman."

Here's another cat out of the bag.

If a spare, clean-lined Evangelical church service just doesn't cut it
for you ...

If, like Thomas Howard (who wrote "Evangelical Is Not Enough"--an
appreciation of the Evangelical's need for liturgy--and who then converted
to the Catholic faith), you come to see that even the early Church had a
real liturgy--and for a very good reason ...

If you sense that something important is missing from the way
Evangelicals worship ...

If all that, then you need to do something. You might transform your
church's worship, adding the smells and bells, but that's dangerous, says
Zahl.

It isn't dangerous so much in that vestments and incense lead
inexorably to the ordination of practicing homosexuals and to the dissolution of
moral norms. (There is no necessary connection, of course. If there
were, all priests in the Orthodox churches would be homosexuals, since
those churches excel in liturgical externals.)

No, the real problem for the Evangelical is the one Zahl brings up only
in his last sentence. There is a logic to the realization that
Evangelical worship is insufficient. Once you admit that it is, you start a
search. You know there must be more and that Christians once must have had
more. You sense it in your bones.

If you investigate the early Church, as Thomas Howard did, and if you
make that investigation open-mindedly, you find not just a "high church"
way of worshiping but a "high church" way of believing.

If you just add the smells and bells to your present Evangelicalism,
you end up with Evangelicalism-plus-accoutrements, and still something
will be missing. The missing part will be "high church" beliefs, but you
can't have those while remaining an Evangelical. You will have to
"become Roman."

Thomas Howard and Paul F. M. Zahl both know this is true. Howard
acknowledges it and submits to it. Zahl acknowledges it and fights it. In the
long run, those are the only options for the Evangelical.


Peace :peace:

Edited July 14, 2004 by Quietfire

[Spiritual_Arsonist]

MMMMM...

Kudos.

Sounds like he is right.

[Guest JeffCR07]

good article

[Mickey's_Girl]

Why would KK get mad? Is it his? Do you need to post a link?

(Awesome post, by the way!)

MG

[Lil Red]

great article!!!

[Dave]

Oh yeah, I got that article too! Right on the money!