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[R. Scott Clark]

Originally posted by James McGrail
Any opinions or thoughts on Ian Paisley? How 'refomed' is he?

The politics of Northern Ireland are very complicated -- much more so than American papers report. In Belfast, "Protestant" is certainly more a political term than theological.

My impression is that confessional Presbyterianism is actually quite weak there. Much of it is deeply influenced by broad evangelicalism or fundamentalism. Paisley is symbolic of the latter.

I have no personal direct experience with him, but my perception of him changed when I lived in the UK. I had some long conversations with the brother of the leader of the Alliance Party (that includes both Protestants and Roman Catholics) that influenced me.

Paisley thinks of himself as Reformed, but I suspect he's more fundamentalist than Reformed. I read what I think was an even-handed biography, but even there he came out rather "fundy." His primary contacts in the States has been with folks such as Bob Jones Univ., not exactly known for their devotion to the Reformed confessions.

In short, I think he's more a fundamentalist, loyalist, "culture warrior" than Reformed minister or theologian.

rsc

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

See this thread.

 

[alwaysreforming]

He yells too much!

I downloaded a bunch of sermons from him at Sermonaudio and was listening to them, but after maybe 5 or 6 of them, the yelling begins to grow very tiresome. Its just a bad habit he's gotten into in my opinion because he ends up yelling things that are not even material points and need no such emphasis.

Am I thinking of the right guy? I'm 99% sure it was Ian Paisley.

 

[heartoflesh]

Originally posted by alwaysreforming
He yells too much!

I downloaded a bunch of sermons from him at Sermonaudio and was listening to them, but after maybe 5 or 6 of them, the yelling begins to grow very tiresome. Its just a bad habit he's gotten into in my opinion because he ends up yelling things that are not even material points and need no such emphasis.

Am I thinking of the right guy? I'm 99% sure it was Ian Paisley.

Yeah, Paisley does yell a lot. Albert Martin yells a lot too, but it's not overdone, and seems to be at more appropriate points in the message.

 

[py3ak]

Ian Paisley is very familiar with the Reformed confessions --he enjoys pointing out to his Baptist friends that the 1689 is stronger in calling the Pope the Antichrist than even the WCF.
Obviously, as Dr. Clark pointed out, his associations in the US are largely with fundamentalism, and he would not hesitate to describe himself as a fundamentalist. At the same time, he holds to TULIP and is covenantal in a non-paedo-baptistic way (I have no intention of starting that discussion again, so please take that comment at face value!), as well as holding to a Presbyterian form of church government.
He protested the Pope's speech in the European Parliament in 1988, and was kicked out of that meeting. In a debate that followed that very controversial move (he roared over and over again some words by I believe it was Tyndale that were very derogatory to the Pontiff and held up a sign saying The Pope is Antichrist --the people sitting around him kept snatching the posters our of his hands, but he was prepared and had tucked several up his sleeves!) he said: "I happen to be a Protestant by conviction, and I'm not going to sell my Protestant heritage." This was after pointing out that Westminster, Savoy and Wesley in his notes on the New Testament all called the Pope Antichrist. That protest and subsequent debate are available on Sermonaudio.com
In what I have heard of his preaching he tends to be more evangelistic than instructive --but then, I suppose that mostly what I have heard of his preaching has been in evangelistically oriented collections or on special occasions --guest preaching, and so forth. (Mind you, I don't think that there has to be an absolute distinction; but in practice many times there is.)