Editorial
Allied Soldiers
Reformations & Touchstone Diplomacy by S. M. Hutchens
Some years ago I was in Geneva on Reformation Sunday and took the opportunity to attend services at the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, the adopted home church of John Calvin, and one of the focal points of the Reformation. The sermon was neatly crafted and celebrated what the occasion called for, not by criticizing anything distinctly Roman, but by making the Reformation a major event in the ongoing work of overthrowing regressive ideas and attitudes that is ever at the true heart of Christianity.
It was my impression that the Genevois, having at present greater spiritual affinity with their native son Rousseau than with the cross-grained reformer from Noyon, have made the best of the Reformation by yoking them together in the struggle for liberation from the forces of reaction and repression. I left that imposing sanctuary—after a performance of some doubtlessly regressive medieval polyphony by an excellent ensemble from the local Salvation Army—thinking of the finger-wagging admonition I had received back in Chicago by an official of the United Presbyterian Church USA. He had told me without blushing that Presbyterians who still held to the Westminster Confession were untrue to their tradition because Ecclesia Reformata semper reformanda, which in this context has a number of interesting possible translations, such as, "The Reformed Church has no form," or perhaps, "You can't step into the same Reformed Church twice." My buddies among the confessional Presbyterians, though, say that it ain't so.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on mere christianity from the online archives
more from the online archives
18.10—December 2005
on an Apostle’s Encounter with the Son’s Children by Anthony Esolen
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
