Tom,

Thanks for helping me to be more precise in my assertions. You are correct in your claim that Calvin's Institutes contains plenty of references to the church fathers. I'm not sure that the positive comments outweigh the negative ones. Be that as it may, my point was not to suggest that the Reformers advanced the position that the church should start from ground zero in her doctrinal formulations. On the contrary, I believe they advocated building on those facets of ecclesiastical dogma and tradition that were judged to be scriptural. Accordingly, my point was to underscore their burden to establish and maintain the primacy of Scripture over human tradition. As I said, "The Reformers were primarily concerned to take the church back not to Augustine, not to Athanasius, not to Irenaeus, but all the way back to Jesus, and to Paul, and to John, and to the other biblical writers [emphasis added]."

I am not so sure that my view of tradition greatly differs from that of Reformed/Presbyterians simply because I'm a Baptist. Whether you agree or not, I see myself "in the main of theological tradition going back to the apostles." The fact that you sprinkle babies like the Roman and Orthodox communions does not necessarily mean you stand in their theological tradition since they, historically, have conceived of the nature of baptism somewhat differently (i.e., sacramentalism) and have, accordingly, advanced different arguments for its necessity. With all due respect, the question of baptism is one area where Luther and Calvin fell short in their attempt to give Scripture primacy over ecclesiastical tradition.

__________________
Bob Gonzales Jr., Dean
Reformed Baptist Seminary
Easley, South Carolina

"Persons need not and ought not to set any bounds to their spiritual and gracious appetites." Jonathan Edwards