This morning I caught a interesting exchange on X between a chap named “Luke Stamps” and the Natural Law 2K fanboy Stephen Wolfe.
Stamps wrote,
Theological retrieval should recognize a hierarchy of doctrine. We should read everything we can get our hands on, but I’m way more interested in the tradition’s views on Trinity and Christology than its opinions on politics and science.
Stephen Wolfe responded,
“You’re a theologian, and you care more about theology. I support this. Leave politics to others.”
Bret responds,
This is the essence of presuppositionalists disagreement w/ Natural law fanboy Dr. Stephen Wolfe.
The presuppositionalist observes that politics (& economics, education, mathematics, arts, etc.) are all just the out-working of theology in other fields. These disciplines are not theology independent but each and all reflect a particular theology driving their respective emphasis. Show a man’s politics and I will tell you, his theology.
The NL chaps see the various academic fields as completely isolated from theology. Wolfe, and all Natural Law fanboys, actually believe that when they are doing “politics” they are not doing theology at the same time. Wolfe, like the R2K simps that he so much disagrees with, believes that his politics is a “theology free zone.” However, politics must work off of various theological axioms in order to move forward. Politics must consider, for example, ontology, epistemology, anthropology, axiology, teleology, etc. and all these are what they are because of they are informed by theology. All of this is why the Medievalists were correct in asserting that “Theology is the Queen of the sciences.” The Medievalists understood that theology was the fountainhead of all other disciplines.
The Natural Law chaps like the R2K fanboys (Van Drunen, Darryl Gnostic Hart, J. V. Fesko, etc.) and the 2K fanboys (Wolfe, Baird, Justice, etc.) though have their own theological biases that are informing their 2K declaration of Independence. All of them presuppose that man, starting from himself, without presupposing the God of the Bible and His Word can, while relying on right reason and natural law, arrive at proper conclusions regarding truth in fields like politics, education, philosophy, etc. This is called “humanism.” It was this subjectivist humanist theology that has brought us, via incremental epileptic fits, to the destruction of the West. The appeal to that which was the genesis of our downfall is hardly a remedy for restoration. This is why the presuppositionalist is forever crying out,
Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
And,
Psalm 36:20 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light
The presuppositionalist, contrary to the humanist Natural Law fanboy understands that any light that is seen in politics is because of the light provided by theology that makes politics genuinely politics.
The danger of the Natural Law position, of course, is the inability to realize that neutrality is a myth. No man comes to politics (or any other discipline) without carrying his theological baggage into his conclusions. There exists no theological nowhere man living in a theological nowhere land.
The thread on X wherein I began with found the exchange above found a Dr. Daniel Strand piping in. His comment was interesting because Strand apparently teaches “ethics.” Strand says of Wolfe’s anti-theology in politics stance;
“A very sensible position. I read theology but am not a theologian. I tend to defer on matters of theology proper. I wish theologians took a similar attitude to ethics and politics, which they often are ill equipped to address.”
This is astounding if only because it is hard to imagine of any discipline that is more theology dependent than ethics. Strand says here that theologians are ill equipped to address the issue of ethics. Such a statement tis to boggle the mind. Ethics are the immediate consequence of theology. What a man thinks and believes about the character of God necessarily forms and shapes his ethics. Scripture teaches that we become what we worship. If we worship a vile God our ethics will be vile.
The inability of people to connect theology with all of life leaves me bumfuzzled. I can’t understand the inability to understand the centrality of theology.
At one time I had hopes that Wolfe and company might overthrow R2K but increasingly I doubt that the Wolfe project, even if successful, will leave us in any better of a situation than we would be if R2K continued to dominate the “conservative,” “Reformed,” “churches.”
