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I removed the following sentence: Some evangelical opponents[who?] argue that the Federal Vision view that the persons of the trinity at a certain point in cosmic history formed a covenant among themselves raises the question of what the intra-trinitarian relationship would have previously been and whether the supposed shift in relationship undermines God's eternal and unchanging nature.[citation needed]
The tags asking "who?" and "citation needed" have been there for over two years. Furthermore, the accusation present in this sentence is baseless and, from a Christian perspective, doesn't even make sense. In Christian theology, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist eternally in a never beginning and never ending relationship so close that each lives from and knows the others from within themselves, not from without the way human's experience and know one another. Because of the limitations of human language theology uses words that when used in an ordinary context implies the movement of time. For example, Christian Theology says that the Son of God is eternally begotten of the Father and that the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father. In ordinary speech, we expect that there was a time before someone or something is begotten, or a time before something begins proceeding. However, this language indicates an eternal relationship, a way of being together, a kind of initiation and response or give and take, which has no beginning. As C.S. Lewis explains it, the Son is dependent on the Father in an analogous way that in a stack of two books, the top book depends on the bottom book. But unlike the books where in a sequence of temporal moments, the bottom book must have been set down first and the top book set down second, the relationship does not exist in a sequence of temporal moments. Thus there was never a moment in time or before the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit loved one another in this covenant like relationship. That means that all of creation, time, space, and life are the over flow of this eternal love, the most fundamental reality. The thought of a time before this relationship was established is by the very definition of Christian faith an absurdity.
--Ryan Close (talk) 16:09, 28 October 2011 (UTC)
The majority of this article is clearly written by someone heavily in favor of Federal Vision, and appears to be essentially an apologetic for it. This should be corrected.
--
I am the son of a 30+ year PCA pastor, my family has been missionaries with the PCA's missionary organization, Mission to the World (MTW) for many years, which means I have visited many PCA churches across the country. All that to say, I know PCA and their theology very well. I am now in Moscow, ID, and in the Church of Doug Wilson, have heard him preach for 2.5 years, as well as Peter Leithart when I get the chance (and have studied under him at New Saint Andrews for a year), and I have very closely followed PCA's interaction with Federal Vision. That said, I would like to say that I think the article defines FV well. Thanks to all who have contributed! Foucachon 20:02, 18 February 2008 (UTC) --
As the author of the majority of this page, I would be interested in what areas are thought to be an "apologetic" for it. That was not my intention. I recognize that as someone who has studied quite a lot of FV material, what I write may sound like it is "heavily in favor" of the movement.
However, I think we should draw a distinction between being in favor of the movement, and presenting their claims and intentions. In this sense, presentation does not imply support. Thus, we can say that they do indeed see themselves as the heirs of the Reformation without this implying that this is, in fact, true. Nevertheless, I recognize that there may be areas where my sentences might be phrased or structured better.
ChosenOne66 05:34, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
The article needs a stronger opening in keeping with Wikipedia style. Here is my suggested revision:
The Federal Vision is a Reformed Evangelical theological position that focuses on covenant theology, trinitarian thinking, the sacraments of Baptism and Communion, biblical theology and typology, justification, and postmillennialism.
The teaching of a group of Federal Vision proponents sparked a controversy in Calvinist, Reformed, and Presbyterian circles in 2002. The ongoing controversy involves several Reformed denominations including the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), and the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States (RPCUS).
I would appreciate feedback from the author (and any others) on whether I have left the content sufficiently intact, as my intent is to beautify the form, not battle with the substance. Kyriosity 05:27, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
I'm going to go ahead and make this change, as no one seems to have an opinion to the contrary. Bleh...I think I messed up some references when making other tweaks. Kyriosity 15:52, 8 January 2007 (UTC) I'm not a theologian, but I am PCA and found out there is a fight in the PCA. Got curious about what, and found out it's "Federal Vision." Never heard of it, so looked that up on wiki in hope of a nice quick, easy-to-understand definition. This opening didn't define it at all. It looks like someone was trying to walk over a pit of hot coals with feathered soles and didn't want to get singed. Feel free to offend, if offend is required, but define what it means in the lead section. The feathers didn't get singed because they never got put into action.
What is the Federal Vision? Part one in an article on Federal Vision. Stop worrying about who believes what and just define the term first. The rest can be dealt with later. As it stands, I'm going elsewhere to find out what it is. (And then maybe get upset with it. lol) 72.94.178.112 (talk) 20:22, 23 April 2020 (UTC)
The list of denominations leaves out the Reformed Church in the United States, which is mentioned, with errors, later on.
Question. Is it accurate to describe the position as reformed and Evangelical. This boils down to whether ro not you define something as reformed/evangelical on the basis that some people who claim to be reformed and evangelical hold the view or whether you think that the reformed/evangelical position is a specific doctrinal position and whethr or not FV is reformed/evangelical depends on whether or not it complies to it. Be Dave (talk) 10:31, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
The Wikipedia article on Federal Vision shows a strong flavor of bias, because it does not clearly describe Federal Vision's distinctive, and often contested, meanings for various Christian theological words and phrases of long standing; and because it omits an adequately clear summary of the most common criticisms of FV.
The neutrality of the article can be strengthened in at least two ways. One way is clarify the new definitions that certain Federal Visionists have created for certain established theological terms and phrases. For example, the Federal Vision's view of "covenant objectivity" results in a category of person some have called the "unbelieving Christian" or "unsaved Christian", which most evangelicals regard as an oxymoronic statement.
Federal Visionists assert a belief in election, but subdivide the elect between elect who are granted an additional grace of perseverance and thus persevere in their faith unto eternal life, as opposed to a different category of the elect who are not granted a special grace of perseverance by God, and as a result apostasize from the Christian faith and are eternally condemned to hell.
The phrase "obedient faith" has been adopted from controversial CRC pastor Rev. Norman Shepherd, and is used to signify that one is justified not by faith alone (that is, faith in Jesus Christ and the Gospel, considered apart from its subjective ethical influences), but by the consequent actions of ethical obedience to God's will which result from faith.
This brings us to a second way to make the Wikipedia article neutral, which is to add a clear section on basic criticisms of Federal Vision.
The link section addresses some of these, but there ought to be material in the body of the article itself that enumerates and clearly describes the most common criticisms of Federal Vision. E.g., Federal Vision has been criticized as not being properly described as "evangelical" (since "evangelical" denotes a Protestant insistence on the necessity of individual conversion), in light of its teaching of presumptive baptismal regeneration, and continual criticism (and sometimes mockery) of American evangelicalism's emphasis on the encessity of conversion. In this sense, it appears to be more akin to high Anglicanism, which is non-evangelical. The claim that it more faithfully represents the thought of John Calvin is disputed by many familiar with Calvin's theology.
(REVJAB 01:03, 7 February 2007 (UTC))
in both pro and con documents I see the topic of definitions come up. I quibbled with the terminology of the so-called “covenant of works”[2] A first pass at this would probably be to categorize some of these terms and give citations for definitions. 「ѕʀʟ·✎」 00:17, 13 February 2007 (UTC) I moved Andrew Sandlin's name in the History in Controversy section to be along side of Frame. Sandlin is a strong critic of several main Federal Vision ideas, and has publicly protested several times against being identified with the movement. He says: "I am not FV and never have been. I don't think these men are heretics, but often their ecclesiology seems virtually Anglo-Catholic. Mine most certainly is not. Actually, their ecclesiology is closer to Westminster West's than to mine. I deplore formalism, sacerdotalism, ritualism, baptismal regeneration, etc. These men from the FV and WW would all consider me a deplorably low-churchman." "I am not an advocate of the NPP and never have been, but I am open to any argument based in a careful historical reading of the text. The NPP has not convinced me. "
I would suggest merging Auburn Avenue Theology with this article, as they are both terms for the same thing. I would keep the term Federal Vision because it is more technical (refers to the substance of the theology) whereas Auburn Avenue is more of a nickname. I tried to put the suggested merge thingummy on the top of the page, but I couldn't figure it out. Kyriosity 01:13, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
danke Kyriosity 00:20, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
A useful distinction could be made between Auburn Avenue Theology and Federal Vision inasmuch as some Auburn Avenue conference speakers were not Federal Vision, and yet their writings were highly controverted.
Are all of the resources listed really resources on FV, or are some of them on FV-related or FV-tangential topics by FV authors? ISTM that the resource list would be better suited for its purpose if it were trimmed to include only items that deal with the FV directly and primarily. I don't know enough to make those edits myself, but I toss it out for consideration. Kyriosity 16:41, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
I changed numerous examples of positive assertions about FV teachers (e.g., "Federal Vision recaptures the richness of the original Reformed faith") to "claims to", or words to that effect, as per my earlier complaint about NPOV.
This reflects the article's continuing lack of a NPOV. I continue to hold the opinion that the primary writer of this page is using it as a platform for promoting Federal Vision. There continues to be no "criticisms of Federal Vision" section at all, though I can acknowledge that a thorough article for that will need its own separate page.
In any event, the main article still omits coverage of the now-established theological criticism of FV, nor the recent study-committee judgments against it by the PCA and OPC, nor the repudiation of it by Westminster Theological Seminary West (R. Scott Clark in particular), and R.C. Sproul Sr. at the 2007 PCA General Assembly.
The writer's use of the Louis Berkhof citation is improper. Berkhof was a classical, traditional covenant theologian whose ideas contradict the core points of Federal Vision. The author should remove the citation.
The independent citation from John Calvin similarly uses Calvin to promote Federal Vision. An legitimate use of Calvin for a NPOV encyclopedia should be a citation from a pro-FV writer where Calvin was cited. Then the reader could decide whether or not the pro-FV writer cited Calvin correctly. The quotation was also non sequitur, in that it did not support the primary claim made for it.
The article is also too long, with an excessive number of literary citations, all taken from pro-FV sources.
Even though the article is heavily footnoted, it is still, over-all, an advocacy piece, not an encyclopedia entry, and as advocacy literature does not adhere to Wikipedia's NPOV policy.
Jack Brooks 16:03, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
If you are not the primary writer, Valerie, then I do apologize; I was under a misapprehension. I do believe the article shows a strong bias, and is not adhering to a NPOV. 64.183.164.137 13:24, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
I want to point out that your citation is something that I removed, a short time after I originally wrote it, prior to our current exchange. Jack Brooks 13:33, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
Thank you for your graciousness. I ought to have gone back to the top and read it all again. I let too much time pass (since February). Your name lodged in my mind because you were the first respondant back to ChosenOne's defending him/herself against the first NPOV related criticism. I gather, now having checked again, that ChosenOne was the primary author. This was my own foolish error. Jack Brooks 14:13, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
I'm finally actually going to tackle the substantive parts of this article. My plan is threefold:
I think that will help address some criticisms of the article and will give a tidier framework for everybody having his say. I'm finding the Joint FV Statement a helpful one-stop-shopping primary document expressing the pro-FV side. Any suggestions for a similarly succinct critical document? I don't have the time or the intellectual fortitude to read really long stuff from either side. Of course I will try to reincorporate the main points from both sides that are already in the article.
I welcome comments on this approach, and of course if anybody else wants to jump in and help, please edit boldly, but believe and rejoice more boldly still! Or...um...something like that. ;-) Kyriosity (talk) 14:21, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
Thanks, Flex, for the affirmation and the resource! Kyriosity (talk) 17:00, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
This article could also benefit by not only saying what these people support, but what they believe is currently wrong. This article is hard to understand for this reason. For example, it mentions their support for children taking communion, but never mentions churches not doing it or why they aren't do it.98.23.173.135 (talk) 14:47, 7 October 2010 (UTC)
Trenchhall doesn't have a user page, so I'll put my comments here.
I undid (rather, am attempting to undo...the "Save Page" button is being uncooperative in another window) your revision because it was largely redundant with the "Ecclesiastical reports" section. I would suggest incorporating this info there, perhaps adding some details to explain the various rejections. If need be, the section could be renamed "Ecclesiastical responses."
In short, useful info, but in the wrong place, so please give it another shot. Kyriosity (talk) 01:23, 10 April 2009 (UTC)
The article has been substantially changed since 2007, I've removed the NPOV template, please use ((POV-section)) or better yet ((POV-statement)) for sentences, then detail issues here. This will help address them in a timely manner. - RoyBoy 18:28, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
The section entitled "General Beliefs" seems to try to generalize about federal vision proponents, by saying most believe this or that. That is stereotyping.
An encyclopaedic article should list the beliefs that are concretely part of the Federal Vision doctrine from the "Join Federal Vision Profession" rather than engaging in general anecdotal speculation about the general beliefs of followers of FV doctrine. Cadwallader (talk) 05:53, 17 August 2013 (UTC)
The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Federal Vision/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.
Number of quotations needs work. Blarneytherinosaur gabby? 05:50, 12 July 2007 (UTC) |
Last edited at 05:50, 12 July 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 15:01, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
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