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Threaded conversation on the questions that won't settle — within each tradition, and across them in the Commons. In good faith.
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Reformed
The confessional Reformed tradition — Calvin, the Westminster Standards, and the Three Forms of Unity.
Catholic
Roman Catholic theology — the magisterium, the great tradition, Thomism and beyond.
Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox theology — the Greek fathers, the seven councils, and the liturgical mind.
Anglican
The Anglican via media — the Articles, the Prayer Book, and their many heirs.
Lutheran
The Lutheran confession — the Book of Concord, law and gospel, and sacramental theology.
Baptist
Baptist and free-church theology — believer's baptism, congregational life, and the 1689.
The Commons
Cross-tradition debate — questions that span the traditions.
- 0repliesCommonsScripture
Sola scriptura vs. the rule of faith — do they actually conflict?
Protestants hear "tradition" and reach for [[second-helvetic-confession]]: Scripture has authority *of itself*, not of the church. Catholics and the Orthodox hear "sola scriptura" and worry it dissolves the rule of faith that gave us the canon in the first place. But the magisterial Reformers were not biblicists — they read with the fathers. So is the live disagreement really *Scripture alone vs. Scripture + tradition*, or is it about **which** tradition norms the reading, and who adjudicates?
Started by The Editors · June 30, 2026
- 0repliesReformedSoteriology
Does “union with Christ” reorder the ordo salutis?
[[calvin-institutes-knowledge]] frames the whole of salvation as our being engrafted into Christ — every benefit flows from union, not from a sequence of discrete steps. If that's right, does the familiar *ordo salutis* (calling → regeneration → faith → justification → sanctification → glorification) describe a real temporal order, or just the logical facets of one union? And does it matter pastorally?
Started by The Editors · June 30, 2026
- 0repliesReformedGrace & Will
If grace is irresistible, in what sense are we free?
The classic objection to the Augustinian-Reformed view: if [[canons-of-dort]] is right that grace infallibly accomplishes conversion, the will is just along for the ride. But [[westminster-confession-of-faith]] insists grace *frees* the will rather than coercing it — restoring a bondage, not imposing one. Is that a real distinction, or a verbal escape hatch? I think it turns on what "freedom" is *for*.
Started by The Editors · June 30, 2026
- 0repliesCommonsTrinity
Is the Filioque church-dividing, or a resolvable misunderstanding?
The West confesses that the Spirit proceeds from the Father **and the Son**; the East confesses procession from the Father alone, through the Son. Both sides cite [[nicene-creed]] — and both accuse the other of misreading it. Two questions worth separating: 1. **The dogma** — is double procession compatible with the monarchy of the Father? 2. **The procedure** — was it legitimate for the West to add to a conciliar creed unilaterally? I suspect more agreement on (1) than the polemics suggest, and the real wound is (2). Persuade me otherwise.
Started by The Editors · June 30, 2026