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Evangelicals who spend their time opposing the 'false teachings' that are infiltrating the church so often miss the real task, namely, creatively rearticulating the faith so that the needs those 'false teachings' are responding to fall to the ground.
Discerning how the faith we have received addresses the needs of the hour can only be done by carefully hearing our critics, rather than reactionarily dismissing them.
This applies widely, I think, but seems especially pertinent to matters of ethics these days--namely, race and sex.
I have sought to be a 'creative traditionalist,' namely someone who adheres resolutely and unflinchingly to the faith as it has been passed down, but which also sees the ways the accretions of our own time have obscured that faith--even among those who claim to believe it.
'Rearticulating the faith' is, of course, narrowly focused on evangelicalism's discourse. For those 'false teachings' to really fall to the ground, that faith must be embodied in its fullness in our communities.
This, I think, is part of the genius of Chesterton and Lewis: the creatively recapitulated and renewed the traditions they had received in light of contemporary challenges, rather than stopping at the (more boring, easy) work of criticizing false ideas.
