Thread by @mattleeanderson

Evangelicals routinely oscillate between reifying doubt as a mode of Christian living and rejecting it as "sinful."

The former is a reaction against unhealthy communal practices that the latter simply reinforces.

An anxious faith will invariably a brittle one.

At some point, we have to consider the possibility that people shaped by evangelical contexts routinely capitalize on "deconstructing" what they have received is an indicator that not all is well.

I say "routinely" advisedly. Folks might say they're "deconstructing" now, but it's the same process that people have been exploiting for the past twenty years or so (at least).

As faith matures, it should become more confident, not less.

But confidence can only be won, truly and finally, through an inquiry that honors what has been received by testing and probing it.

The deeper and more sound a theological framework is, the more it will sustain *and generate* that sort of questioning.

Evangelicalism needs catholicity to survive: like Calvin at the outset of the Institutes, we can only hear the word of God anew in our time if we rediscover the riches of the inheritance that the church has bequeathed us over time.

Sniping about op-eds ain't gonna cut it, friends, even if you're right and they're heterodox.

Also: I'm not all the way there yet, but I'm inclined to think evangelicals should just retire "sinful" as a word, and describe their moral and theological objections to various practices with other words.

I understand why people use the word. But it often obscures the phenomena it seeks to describe, precisely by creating a nebulous middle psychological realm between the *agent* and the *act* (which can include mental acts).

Anyway, I think 'confidence' is an excellent aim, and that evangelical communities should think about the practices of inquiry that they can implement to help Christian believers attain it. (Hint: standard "apologetics" definitely ain't gonna get you there, either.)

[My use of "ain't" in this thread is a personal best (twice!), which I will try to improve upon in future efforts.]