ABSTRACT
The term ‘Reformed theology’ is slippery indeed. Some know only too well what it means - it is encapsulated in the five points of Dort, for example - and they measure all claimants to the description ‘Reformed’ against their chosen doctrinal criterion. Others, many Lutherans among them, profess to find the Reformed family puzzling because, in contrast the unifying force of the Augsburg Confession, the Reformed have many confessions - indeed, in some quarters they are still writing them; and the way in which they are held varies from the most casual acknowledgement that, as it happens, these documents are part of the heritage, to sincere and lively attachment to the Helvetic, Belgic or Westminster Confessions, and to the Heidelberg or Westminster Catechisms. It further transpires that while some non-Reformed Christians - notably a percentage of Baptists and Anglicans - understand themselves as embracing Reformed theology, some theologians who are Reformed in terms of ecclesiastical allegiance may be far from the stricter sect of Calvin’s sons and daughters. There are nowadays Reformed scholars, whether biblical or philosophical or church historical, from whose works one would not - indeed, should not - be able to infer their confessional allegiance simply because that issue is not germane to the practice of their discipline; and there are also Reformed Christians who, having imbibed certain church growth principles, hide their confessional lights under such bushels as those proclaiming ‘Community Church’ in order not to dissuade the sensitive or leave the child care facilities and gymnasia, whether physical or emotional, empty.
