How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation A Review -- By: Philip F. Congdon

Journal: Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Volume: JOTGES 13:2 (Autumn 2000)
Article: How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation A Review
Author: Philip F. Congdon


How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation
A Review

Philip F. Congdon

Elgin Bible Church
Elgin, IL

One of the evident characteristics of the late-twentieth century religious scene, which has only intensified in the new millennium, is the desire of disparate confessions to find common ground. While the spirit of ecumenism has often been little more than a euphemism for the dissolution of any distinctiveness in theological expression, it need not be so. Some, to be sure, are interested only in finding the lowest doctrinal common denominator, a “peace at any cost” approach. But others have used an exchange of theological perspectives to better define where each stands.

Confessional clarity strengthens all of us for the tasks which lie before us, and provides the way to further dialogue by exposing our real differences. A debate on the basis of Scripture, which ends in disagreement, but which produces distinct statements on both sides, is far more fruitful than a document which is open to arbitrary interpretation.1

For those who are particularly attuned to the issues surrounding the doctrine of salvation, there is an added interest. Since the most essential and practical expression of any theological position is in its articulation of the way of salvation, we are progressively discovering more clearly who is truly allied with whom, and where basic distinctions lie. For example, recent joint declarations between Lutherans and

Catholics, and Evangelical-Roman Catholic statements such as “The Gift of Salvation”2 have borne out the truth of Earl Radmacher’s warning over a decade ago that Reformed and Lordship Salvation teachings were “not paving the road back to Wittenberg but, rather, paving the road back to Rome.”3 It has become a source of discomfort among some in the Lordship Salvation camp to discover that their evangelistic summations are indistinguishable from that of moderate Roman Catholics.

They now have a new source of agreement to rue.

In their book How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation,4 Craig Blomberg, a professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, and Stephen Robinson, a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, have published a wide-ranging dialogue on the agreements and differences between Mormon and Evangelical doctrine.

At the outset, it should be noted ...

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