Mercersburg and the Federal Vision

Phillip Schaff had similar ideas, though his concerns were more in the direction of church history.  He took a Hegelian view of history, with progress being chief, and newer and better truth continually being discovered through the synthesis of thesis and antithesis.

This article by Matt Powell gives an excellent explanation of why the Federal Vision is wrong and why it really is nothing new.  The article appears on Powell's blog and was posted in the Aquila Report.

Phillip Schaff had similar ideas, though his concerns were more in the direction of church history.  He took a Hegelian view of history, with progress being chief, and newer and better truth continually being discovered through the synthesis of thesis and antithesis.  He gave the tradition of the church a much higher role than most Protestants were comfortable with (a discussion which probably needs a whole separate post).  He was less concerned with the complete revelation of absolute truth in the Scriptures and more interested in the development of interpretation of that truth through the traditions of the church.  Matt Powell.

Mercersburg and the Federal Vision

The real danger of Hegelian philosophy from a Clarkian Scripturalist perspective is its rejection of the law of contradiction.  How can one synthesize two contradictions into one new proposition?  The new proposition would itself be a contradiction since A and non-A cannot be synthesized.  Since the Bible is a logical and propositional revelation the Hegelian view of progress is anti-biblical and leads to irrationalism and skepticism.