John Calvin
It seems everytime I turn around and read an article on Christianity somewhere, N.T. Wright, the famed Anglican bishop and theologian, is popping up.
“Did you read what N.T. Wright said about that?”
“Oh, but have you read Wright’s newest book about Paul? He really explains what it’s all about there.”
Serendipitously, just as I began to write this post, I saw a new article on the Internet Monk’s site come up in my reader: “N.T. Wright on the Hunger for Worship”.
So why am I talking about Wright when this post’s title is asking what it must have been like for Calvin or Luther? Because in the fame and respect given to Wright, we see a glimmer of the fame and deference that were given to Luther and Calvin.
In the 16th century, I can imagine all the newly-minted Protestants in Geneva and Europe saying “but what does Jean Cauvin [John Calvin] think about that doctrine?” Regarding Luther, I remember watching A Man for All Seasons when St. Thomas More’s future son-in-law, Will Roper, let’s More know what “Dr. Luther” thinks about the Catholic Church.
Fortunately for us, we live in more Enlightened times and, for example, going against N.T. Wright’s opinion about such-and-such teaching while living in Durham, England, won’t get you beaten down like going against Calvin in Geneva would have. Still, Wright’s influence is incredible. He represents in some ways everything for the thinking Protestant: he’s an Anglican bishop so he’s “high church” in a sense, yet he is “Evangelical” in his approach to the Christian faith.
As my friend (and Wright-o-phile) Phil says: “He’s a one man magisterium!”
Or an “army of one,” as another friend, and recent convert to the Catholic Faith, Tom Brown wrote about a while back.
But the question is: why should we listen to Wright? What authority does he have, and what of this “new perspective on Paul” that he has come up with? What makes it more than just a mere opinion of one man (albeit an intelligent one)?
Do we have a living authority in Christ’s Church that we can follow and know that God is guiding, or do we have only an Academic Magisterium of scholars and theologians (like Luther, Calvin, and Wright)?
Part of me is mildly pleased that Wright is morphing into an Evangelical Pope. Out of all the heroes in the Evangelical Church, I think he presents one of the best bridges to Catholicism for people, ala C.S. Lewis.
Even while they (Wright and Lewis) hold anti-Catholic prejudices, their “fresh” doctrines are closer to Catholic teaching than those of almost every other American Protestant leader. Many people came to Catholicism through Lewis, and I imagine a good number will come to the Church through Wright.
Brandon, you make a good point about Wright: at least he is a one-man magisterium whose teachings lean toward the Catholic side of Protestantism!
I seem to recall this was true for Dr. Taylor Marshall