Dear Friends,
We live in what the Chinese would euphemistically call “interesting” times. The speed of cultural change is breathtaking and subject to increasing acceleration. Men and women have been uprooted from those things that gave them a sense of stable identity–place, family, faith–and are seeking to find succor in false gods, whether of consumerism, transhumanism, or radical politics. It would be easy to despair at such a moment, and yet there are also great opportunities emerging. Church attendance among young men is on the rise in America and Britain. For the first time since the late 1940s, intellectuals are giving serious consideration to the role (and even the truth) of Christianity. And secularism is in a tailspin.
Whether these things represent substantial cultural shifts or are momentary blips in the ongoing unraveling of Western societies remains to be seen. What is certain is that, as Christians, we need to respond to our time and take full advantage of the resources and opportunities we have to point our neighbors toward the truth of Christianity and its relevance to all of life. Catholics seem to be doing this very well through publications, conferences, and study centers. Among the young people I teach, interest in Catholicism is high: the Catholic Church offers a vision of beauty, a worship that is grounded in history, and an account of reality that is deeply theological. No wonder thoughtful students find it attractive. And yet here is the tragedy: historic Protestantism can offer all these things as well. Its great liturgies stand in continuity with the best of the Christian tradition. Its doctrine builds self-consciously on the Bible as expounded in the great tradition of teaching that goes back to the early church. And Protestantism has frequently engaged in deep reflection on what it means to be servants of the heavenly King while living in the earthly city.
That is where the Davenant Institute is so important. Committed to recovering the historic, catholic Christian faith embodied in the great confessions and the catechisms of the Reformation, it works to reissue works by the theologians who forged that tradition and offers seminars and conferences that set forth a vision for Protestantism that is biblically faithful, doxologically beautiful, and intellectually satisfying. We do not need to see our brightest and best swimming the Tiber. We can show them that Wittenberg and Geneva offer better ways to address the challenges–theological, intellectual, and existential–of our age of cultural freefall. But we can only do that with help. So please, as you consider your end-of-year giving, do consider making a gift to the Davenant Institute. It will be money well spent: an investment in the future of the intellectual and cultural health of the church and beyond.
Carl R. Trueman
Board Member