Would that Timothy George’s voice would be heard loud and clear in these days. His recent piece in First Things titled “Evangelicals and Others” is a must read for any Southern Baptist in these troubled days. Can we hold tenaciously to our theological positions while maintaining a cooperative ecumenism? George suggests that we can learn how to do just this from our Southern Baptist forbears such as Carl F. H. Henry and W. A. Criswell. Warning us against those who follow the father of Landmarkism, J. R. Graves, George writes,
“But I suggest that ecumenism is a central portion—a core concern—of the evangelical faith and the evangelical church. Such a vision is rooted in the holy scriptures, in the great tradition, in the deepest insights of the Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century, in the renewal impulses of the Spirit-anointed awakenings, and, yes, even the sectarian roots of the movement shaped by the likes of Carl McIntyre, Carl F.H. Henry, and W.A. Criswell.”
The whole piece is worth reading. May the tribe of Timothy George increase, and may we pursue the unity for which Jesus prayed.