I'm Not That Original....

In the section of his review of my book titled "Stellman's Originality," John Frame states that despite Dual Citizens being for the most part "a party line document" I do depart from the other Escondido theologians in a couple of areas.

The first, which Frame calls "a fairly remarkable discussion," centers around my view that the relationship between the cross and glory (which Luther sharply distinguished) is much closer and organically connected than many today in the Reformed world allow. Rather than dwell here upon this issue, let it suffice to say that I believe a robust doctrine of the Holy Spirit creates a bridge between earthly cross-bearing and heavenly glory that precludes their being set in strict antithesis (see Dual Citizens pp. 138-40).

What I found more interesting was Frame's second example of my supposed originality. He writes:

"The other difference between Stellman and some of the other Escondido theologians is that he takes issue with Kline's view of the Sabbath. Kline believed that Sabbath observance in the new covenant pertains to the Lord's Day worship service alone. He thought that the Sabbath pertained only to what is 'holy,' and in the new covenant holiness pertains only to worship, not to work. Therefore we should not rest weekly from the tasks we pursue on the other six days.

"Stellman, however, argues that since the Lord's Day is a day, and not just a few hours, we ought to withdraw from cultural tasks on that entire day (pp. 57-59)."

Frame goes on to say that despite the fact that I "tend to belittle private worship" like the rest of the Escondidoites, I still depart from them on this point.

Now I admit that my memory is not perfect and I would be happy to be proven wrong, but I don't remember a single professor during my three years at Westminster Seminary California ever agreeing with Kline's view of the Sabbath, either privately or in class. In fact, I would be shocked if Horton, Hart, Godfrey, Clark, or VanDrunen (the usual suspects) believed that the Lord's Day can be used however one wishes once the morning service is out of the way.

So it seems odd for Frame, a supposed expert on "the Escondido theology," to see anything remarkable in my differing from Kline on the Sabbath since all of the other Escondido theologians do the same.

Am I missing something here?