So what is that meaning? Well, actually there are three meanings wrapped up in that title, and all within the word 'reformed'. Those three meanings pretty much capture most everything you need to know about me to know where I'm coming from and where you can expect this blog to be headed. I thought it was pretty clever.
Meaning #1: Adherents of the Reformed religion; Protestants. (OED)
I am a Christian: more specifically, a Reformed Christian. Reformed Christians are those which follow historically from the efforts, writings, and interpretation of Scripture by the Protestant reformers of the 16th century, most notably John Calvin and Martin Luther. Reformed Christians distinguish themselves from the Catholic, Orthodox, Fundamentalist, and Episcopalian (and its sundry descendants) relatives. Some might also distinguish themselves from Lutheran Christianity, in an attempt to align more closely with John Calvin than with Martin Luther. For the most part, the differences between the two are nominal. Thus, in the most strict sense Reformed Christians are Presbyterians, Puritans, and - as you would expect - most denominations with 'Reformed' in their name (such as Reformed Baptists, etc.).
Essentially, however, Reformed Christianity is Calvinistic Christianity. It is a form of Christianity whose core distinctives are found in the Five Solas. I won't expound on it all right now, since I plan on having multiple articles about Reformed theology in the future. Suffice it to say that Reformed theology includes such doctrines as predestination, inerrancy of Scripture, and, ultimately, the supreme sovereignty of God.
Meaning #2: Altered in form or content; esp. put into a better form, corrected, amended. (OED)
Being a Christian, I believe I have been saved by faith. As part of that salvation, I have been made 'a new creation'. That is, it is not only my soul which has been saved from sin, but all that I am, including my mind. My mind has been saved from the complete corruption of sin, just as much as my soul has been (though it may still be affected by sin, as may every other aspect of myself).
The tangible effect of this is that my Christian religion has an immense effect on my worldview. Everything on which I muse is seen through the lens of Christianity. A favorite description of this comes from Abraham Kuyper, influential theologian and Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1901 - 1905:
No single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'The two-fold doctrine in this quote (I'll definitely be discussing this quote in-depth in another post) governing the Christian worldview has become a recent favorite subject of mine. Most Christians have tried to separate their spiritual life from their secular view of the world. Kuyper, and those who have followed him, have argued that this lifestyle is ultimately futile, essentially creating a 'house divided against itself'. I hope to use my reformed mind in to graft a Christian worldview onto all pieces of the 'mental world': to explain how I see my Christianity in relation to a non-Christian world.
Meaning #3: Altered in form or content; esp. put into a better form, corrected, amended. (OED)
Yes, that's the same definition. I mean to apply the definition in a different manner however: read it alternatively as 'Thinking with a Mind of Reform'. It's a bit of a stretch grammatically, but I think it works... It requires reading the participle as subjective, rather than objective, something which can sometimes be done in English with past participles.
Here I am referring to mostly my view of politics. I have recently realized that I have very few definitive views of policy-making in politics. That is, I don't have strong opinions on taxation, foreign policy, energy, or most of the other major chasms in modern political debate. So, the fact that I'm a Republican doesn't really say a whole lot about the issues that I actually have a passion for. Neither does libertarian or just about any other political label.
Rather, my politics are centered around a reformation of government back to the principles of the Constitution. The Federal Government has overstepped its boundaries so far and so frequently that it's obscene. Furthermore, the balance of power in Washington has become disgusting. My belief is that if we were to keep the Federal Government in check, allowing no authority more than the Constitution allows, much of the political divide (that whole Red v. Blue thing) would virtually disappear. In short, I'm an old school, conservative type of guy. (If you didn't pick that up already, you might want to stop reading this blog. Chances are it'll be waaaay over your head.) I'll leave it at that for now. Much more will be said in future posts.
Conclusion
So those are the three meanings which come out of this blog's title: the three meanings of reform that my mind revolves around. Most of the posts in this blog will deal with at least one of those topics: Reformed Christianity, the worldview of a mind reformed by the salvation of God, and/or the reform of politics and government in the United States.
As I've said before, I have many diverse interests, so every once in a while I'll post something about those. I guess through those you'll get to know me a bit better. Or something like that.
Next topic: as of yet, undecided. Stay tuned.
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