Transformationalism (not to be confused with legitimate Spirit-led transformation) is about making the world work according to our human expectations. However, since God is infinitely wise, it is only natural for Dr. Trueman to oppose such an inadequate view of God’s plan. I believe what many have perceived as pessimism is really the mere recognition that His ways are not our ways and we’d all be better off if we stopped trying to be God.

Here I was preparing to defend myself against Dr Evans’ criticism that I’d glossed Dr. Trueman’s text when Trueman himself steps in and clarifies that his view is in fact exactly what I suggested it was. He writes,

“…people like myself can certainly acknowledge with gratitude the good Christians have done in the public sphere over the centuries while still rejecting the idea that the church as an institution is called to militate for such changes from her pulpits week by week and to see social transformation as part of her institutional mission.”

My own assessment of Dr. Trueman’s position was phrased thus:

“…while it is absolutely right and good for individual Christians to pursue their secular vocation with holy boldness, it is not right to overlay onto the institutional Church the rhetoric of culture transformation when there is no clear Biblical call for the Church as institution to transform culture.”

One couldn’t imagine a better confluence of phrases and I’m grateful not to have misrepresented Dr. Trueman. I admit that Dr. Evans’ criticism of my piece – that the ideas I presented as Trueman’s were not to be found explicitly set forth in the text – was not entirely unfounded. However, here enters one of the most important hermeneutical points in theological discussion: always read between the lines.

Allow me to explain. While theology should be the clearest of disciplines, its presentation is often tied up in context. This is a response to that. So-and-so said this, therefore. Etc., etc. This is especially true in the blogosphere where writing must be (relatively) short and one may be forgiven for dispensing with many of the academic niceties such as footnotes. In such an environment, the discerning reader must always be prepared 1) to be charitable and 2) to read between the lines in an educated manner.

Why did I assume that Dr. Trueman was pro-individual Christian and anti-Institutional when it came to the transformation of culture? Very simply, I believed him to be so because it would be out of character, given the rest of his theological opinions, to hold another view. Put another way, Dr. Trueman’s systematic understanding of Christianity required such a perspective.

I also asked myself the question, “To what is Dr. Trueman responding with such pessimism?” For him to view the obvious working of the Holy Spirit through individuals in history as utterly meaningless and ineffectual would be absurd given his high view of God’s providence. Therefore I had no choice but to assume that he was reacting against a view that downgraded God’s omnipotent providential rule of the universe into a tool for social action. Transformationalism (not to be confused with legitimate Spirit-led transformation) is about making the world work according to our human expectations. However, since God is infinitely wise, it is only natural for Dr. Trueman to oppose such an inadequate view of God’s plan. I believe what many have perceived as pessimism is really the mere recognition that His ways are not our ways and we’d all be better off if we stopped trying to be God.

In any event, I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in a small way in such a significant discussion about the role of the Church and the individual believer. I am pleased that Dr. Evans thought enough of my piece even to bother with a response. Above all, I hope that the discussion, carried out in a forum more immediate than any our forebears could have imagined, proves beneficial as members of Christ’s church.- lay and ordained alike – read, mark, and inwardly digest a great deal of useful thought from men not unlike themselves. And I trust they will do so with a bit of reading between the lines of their own.

Evan McWilliams is a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Lakeland, Fla., is an architectural historian, and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of York in the UK. This article appeared in his blog and is used with permission.