More from Comment

The Work Research Foundation continues to publish thoughtful Comment articles on a weekly basis. Three recent ones are especially noteworthy. First, Ray Pennings writes on What is to be done… in the public square? For many years I have known Pennings to be an activist, both in his several political campaigns and in his work for the CLAC. Thus he is well situated to be writing on this topic. Pennings argues that "the battle for public square influence is not dependent on any one policy initiative, election, or campaign. Results will only be measured over decades, and we need to develop the persistence and perseverance to keep at it." This suggests that a future Comment article might appropriately deal with the virtue of patience.

Then we return to the longrunning debate on agrarianism, which sees Richard Greydanus replying to Wilma Van der Leek's take on Wendell Berry's thought. While admitting the historical priority of the agrarian way of life, Greydanus believes that God's cultural mandate requires "the care and cultivation of both localizing and globalizing potentialities."

Finally, my revered friend and colleague, Dr. Al Wolters, has written a thoughtful — and I'm tempted to say moving — analysis of the neocalvinist/reformational movement, identifying its promise and dangers alike: What is to be done... toward a neocalvinist agenda? Wolters frankly discusses the cleavages within the movement, as some adherents have embraced one emphasis at the expense of others, thus making for an imbalanced appropriation of the true fulness of the life in Christ. Among other things, Wolters asserts that neocalvinists need (1) to recover a "robust and straightforward notion of Scriptural authority," which can hardly be argued with; (2) to immerse themselves in a genuine piety conversant with the spiritual disciplines of other christian traditions, such as Ignatian spirituality and the pentecostal/charismatic movements, as well as with Reformed Christianity; (3) to cultivate an ecumenicity rooted, not in a lowest common denominator, but in the particularities of the calvinist tradition; and (4) to recognize that the only way to the restored creation is by way of the cross of Jesus Christ. There is much more to grapple with here. I hope Wolters' brief, but rich, article provokes a larger conversation about the issues he raises.