becoming

Evangelical faith inevitably leads to faithful interpretation of the Bible in the light of conversion, including the Spirit’s regeneration of people. That inevitably gives rise to doctrines. But doctrines are not the center; they are intended to be ministerial (serving as servants) rather than magisterial (serving as masters). In other words, doctrines serve people rather than vice versa. Doctrines express a Christian community’s consensus about right interpretation of the Bible in the light of experience; they go wrong when they are enshrines as unquestionable authorities that enslave people’s minds and forbid all doubt or questioning.

Religionless evangelicalism will have doctrines, but it will approach them differently — with a different attitude that holds them lightly and keeps them open to reconsideration and revision. Secularity would enter this picture if some culture like “modernity” or “postmodernity” were allowed to become a major source or norm of Christian doctrine, but as long as Word of God is what gives rise to doctrine and norms, there is no hint of secularism.

Roger Olson, How to be Evangelical without being Conservative, p.113.

很有意思的一段話。Olson在書中不斷重申的，正是福音派這樣的本質：拒絕基要主義中的保守派（Religious Right）那樣一成不變：教義成為不能疑問的權威（背後的假設是自己的詮釋與聖經的內容等同）；另一方面，亦拒絕走自由派的路線，選擇擁抱世界而不再回到聖經（也不是單回到「我以為」的聖經詮釋）確立規範：聖經既沒有了指導性的權威，甚至在相當的程況下，連參考的價值也沒有了。

這是「非宗教性」的福音派，當走的「中庸之道」。