Dear Editor,
Eric Barger’s article ‘Churches in Jeopardy’ in December’s en and letters in the subsequent issue raise the subject of contemplative spirituality, but do not make clear why ideas native to the borderlands of Roman Catholicism and Buddhism are so inappropriate for Evangelicals. May I draw the attention of your readers to a comprehensive treatment of the subject by Donald S. Whitney which may be found at www.biblicalspirituality.org/ wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Doctrine-and-Devotion.pdf
In the following quotation, Whitney states the obvious that is so easily missed:
‘Think what we imply when we admit that those we hail as great masters of spirituality have serious error in their theology. It’s as though we’re saying: ‘If you want to know Jesus, come to us, for we evangelicals have the true gospel. Then, to know Him intimately, let us direct you to people we know do not proclaim the true gospel.’ In other words, our ministry becomes ‘Come hear us proclaim the message of justification; then go read them for the message of sanctification. Hear our message to know Christ; then read theirs to be like Christ.’
‘Do you see how inconsistent this is? Many of the mystics invoked by evangelicals today are post-Reformation Catholics, including Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis de Sales, Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, Therese of Lisieux, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, etc. Why do we want to send our hungriest disciples to those who do not preach justification by faith alone, who pray to Mary and the saints, and who believe that the Bible is not the only source of God’s infallible truth? I am not saying that there is nothing we can learn from these writers. I am wondering why, if our time for reading is so limited, should we go to the mystics first?’
Yours in Christ,
