Blog #1 - John Armstrong

John Armstrong has a new blog. And not surprisingly he has already made some surprising comments. One of his first efforts is to proclaim ideology is bad. He warns both the left and the right that they are too stuck on their ideology, and Christianity needs to move in a new direction, one separate from ideology. Here he quotes a friend favorably:

The church in our time can only become truly prophetic when it awakens to the reality of the ideological temptation. Only when it successfully begins resisting the beguiling promise of ideological support will it be free to speak the Word of God with power and boldness.

Now, he does not define ideology, but why would anyone be opposed to a belief system based on deeply held ideas? I wish Rev. Armstrong would have defined what he means by ideology. Should we not have a Christian ideology? I have to admit that I am clueless on how this quote is commendable.

It seems to me that Armstrong has allied himself with the Philip Schaff school of history. Stay away from those who have ‘ideology’, and instead take the middle road. Make the synthesis. Romanism and Protestantism are both wrong, and only the synthesis, presumably Reformed Catholicism, should be followed. I hope that I am wrong, and this is not a commitment to a constantly developing ‘Christian ideology’. I would greatly appreciate anyone telling me what he means.