A well-written article whose subject lies close to my heart as one who finds himself “on the border between Anglicanism and Presbyterianism.”

The author writes from a Reformed perspective that is more conservative than my own. Hart is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America, while I serve the more moderate-to-liberal Presbyterian Church (USA). Hart and I would certainly diverge on several major doctrinal points, but we are in agreement on the subjects he addresses in this article (especially sacraments and ordination).

By D.G. Hart

Reblogged from Touchstonemag.com

Many Christians might be surprised by the high-church tendencies within the Reformed tradition, Presbyterians perhaps being the most amazed. So accustomed are Protestants in North America to remembering the anti-papist sentiments of the Reformation that they forget how many of the practices and beliefs of Christendom were perpetuated in Calvinistic and Lutheran churches, chief among them a respect for ritual, formality, and holy office. The Protestant Reformation, after all, was just that, a reformation of forms and structures, not a repudiation of ritual or legitimate ecclesiastical authority (a debatable statement, of course, to Roman Catholics).

Read more: http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=13-10-020-f#ixzz3tgHESTux