Intellectual Defenestration

On American Presbyterianism

John Frame has a long, but rewarding piece entitled Machen's Warrior Children listing and discussing the different intramural wars of the Reformed/Presbyterian camp since J. Gresham Machen (a Baltimore native, incidentally) led the split from the PCUSA. His conclusion:

Overall, the quality of thought displayed in these polemics has not been a credit to the Reformed tradition. Writers have gone to great lengths to read their opponents' words and motivations in the worst possible sense (often worse than possible) and to present their own ideas as virtually perfect, rightly motivated and leaving no room for doubt. Such presentations are scarcely credible to anybody who looks at the debates with minimal objectivity. [emphasis his]

The various anniversary celebrations and official histories in the different Reformed denominational bodies have been largely self-congratulatory. In Reformed circles; we often say that there is no perfect church, that churches as well as individuals are guilty of sin and liable to error. But Reformed writers and teachers seem to find it almost impossible to specify particular sins, even weaknesses, in their own traditions or denominations, particularly in their own partisan groups. A spirit of genuine self-criticism (prelude to a spirit of repentance) is an urgent need.

If you come from a Reformed/Presbyterian background, the whole article is worth reading.