Thoughts from Mark Noll

Here's Mark Noll from a recent interview with Mark Dever.

ON BEST HISTORIANS MONITERING THE CURRENT SITUATION OF CHRISTIANITY" The best of those in my view is Andrew Walls whose work is simply supurb. Very good also is Lamin Sanneh, Dana Robert, Philip Jenkins has done a nice kind of popular journalistic approach.

"Like politics, all Christianity is local. There isn't any hope for Christianity around the world that does not begin with Christian congregations. Christian communes. Christian cell groups. Christian voluntary associations. Christian [unintelligible] . Local bodies of Christians praying together, hearing the scriptures together, working together."

In America there has [sic] been more mistakes from over-involvement in politics by ministers in politics than from under-involvement. (24:13)

DEVER: So the American revolution was sin.

NOLL: Idolatry is always sin. The question of whether the American revolution was sin is a trickier one because I think you do have to go back to some kind of Christian just war theory. And after a long time thinking this over - much longer than any person in the 1770 would have had to decide - I have concluded that it was an unjust war. But, I'm full of sympathy for people who took up arms against the British because I'm sure I would have too if I'd been anything but an Anglican minister in Virginia, or something.

(to pastors) Be faithful. I don't think the Lord ever promised anyone success. The Lord promised to be with His people who were faithful. I think ministers have to remember that they're ministers of the written word of God and must engage the scriptures. When people think that they've got to be as cute as Sesame Street, or as dynamic as Bruce Willis, or as sexy as some bombshell, it's over.

High church always takes a positive with pietistic slant. The day of high church protestant quasi-establishment reformed faith is over. Kuyperianism is stronger when Kuyper's own piety is in play. The German reformed tradition is stronger when the piety of the Hiedelburg Catechism is actively in play.

I'm a great Calvinistic fan of the Wesleys, which you can be when you're a historian, but not so easily when you're a minister.