3 comments

1. Priceless! After writing “Calvin’s Kline” for Ordained Servant 10 years ago during the OPC Presbytery of the NW’s dust up over republication I received a letter expressing the absence of such teaching in Reformation history. I am reminded of Calvin’s comment “they should be given drugs rather than argued with”. Nonetheless, I indulged the fellow with quotes from Buchanan. My meager acquaintance with the history clearly convinced me that the accusation that we twisted the 16th thru 18th centuries anachronistically was contrary to fact. Thank God for Calvin, Boston, Colquhoun, Buchanan, Hodge and a host of others who succeeded Kline. Not only was the doctrine itself a fixed law-gospel teaching but the critical exegesis of Lev.18:5 and Romans 2:13 were consistently handled by this godly stream. Thanks again for drawing our attention to this precious truth.

   • David,

     Indeed, Buchanan anticipated what many think of as a distinctly Klinean version of republication. Buchanan wasn’t a particularly revolutionary or radical theologian, and yet people use the R word to characterize Kline’s appropriation of Buchanan’s view. It’s very strange. It makes one think that the rhetoric is more (church) politics than genuine engagement with the history of the Reformed tradition.

2. Any speculation on the point of such politics?

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