James K.A. Smith Gets It Wrong

In his useful work on postmodern thought, Who's Afraid of..., Smith reveals in several ways his thought that Protestant churches which fall into a "Primitivism" category reject creeds and catholic (little c) statements (129). There is simply a leap back to the 1st century practices and the work of the apostles, even the revelation of Christ, but no "traditions of men" are used. This seems a bit biased. After all, if Smith is acquainted with many new church starts in the Protestant vein he would know better. While he might be right about some seeker starts, he can't be right with all of them. Many of those simply do not care for creeds. But they aren't anti-creedal as he says. The half seeker or non-seeker starts, which mark the motion of the future of Christianity in the US, don't fall into that category. Many are highly creedal. I am thinking of several starts now that simply don't fit his mold.

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