Welcoming Antichrist
S. M. Hutchens on Living Comfortably with the Sectarian Impulse
J. W. Nevin identifies the spirit of sect and schism as the spirit of Antichrist in his essay by that title. Here he lays out, in what I would make required reading for any curriculum in divinity, the marks of this spirit as found in the churches. He quite deliberately places his own ecclesiastical world of nineteenth-century denominational Protestantism (with Roman Catholicism being no help at all) in the guilty middle of this sectarian stream.
In his summary, titled “The Sect Plague and Its Remedy,” Nevin identifies the beginning of the cure as faith in the existence of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, just as one believes the other articles of the Creed—a faith that cannot co-exist with a mind that identifies its own sect as the Church.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
S. M. Hutchens is a Touchstone senior editor.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
8.4—Fall 1995
The Demise of Biblical Preaching
Distortions of the Gospel and its Recovery by Donald G. Bloesch
31.4—July/August 2018
Life & Love Are Real Despite Theatrical Illusions by Anthony Esolen
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
Support Touchstone
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
