“Last night, Biola University hosted a conversation on “The Future of Protestantism.” A smashing success, the event was sponsored by the Davenant Trust, First Things, and the Torrey Honors Institute. Moderated by the Davenant Trust’s Peter Escalante, the conversation included Leithart, Sanders, and Westminster Theological Seminary’s Carl Trueman. If Leithart embodied what he calls the “Reformational Catholic” and Sanders represented the great movement of loosely affiliated evangelicals, Trueman spoke on behalf of the creedal and confessional conservatives of Protestantism.”

Last fall, Peter Leithart–a brilliant, eloquent, quirky mind–called for “the end of Protestantism.”

“The Reformation isn’t over,” Leithart began. “But Protestantism is, or should be.”

Fred Sanders quickly countered that rumors of Protestantism’s demise had been greatly exaggerated by Leithart.

Leithart responded with a “yes, but…“

And someone got the bright idea to open up the conversation.

Last night, Biola University hosted a conversation on “The Future of Protestantism.” (Watch it here.) A smashing success, the event was sponsored by the Davenant Trust, First Things, and the Torrey Honors Institute. Moderated by the Davenant Trust’s Peter Escalante, the conversation included Leithart, Sanders, and Westminster Theological Seminary’s Carl Trueman. If Leithart embodied what he calls the “Reformational Catholic” and Sanders represented the great movement of loosely affiliated evangelicals, Trueman spoke on behalf of the creedal and confessional conservatives of Protestantism.

The nearly two-hour conversation began with brief statements, not quite salvos, from each of the three discussants. Leithart offered a figural reading of Scripture and suggested that God is doing a new thing, making one new man out of two–as he did in restoring the unity of Judah and Israel. We are one church by virtue of our union with Christ by the Spirit, and so we should embrace the gifts of our, say, Roman Catholic brothers and sisters and see ourselves tied to them. One implication is that “their errors are ours.”

Read More