Schmemann’s Vision of a Sacramental World and the Reformed Tradition – Mere Orthodoxy

Alexander Schmemann is a window into a theological world much different than typically encountered in American evangelical circles. With a faith firmly grounded in the Russian Orthodox theological tradition and speaking determinedly into late-modern Western life, Schmemann has intrigued many readers with his paeans to the sacramentality of creation and emphasis on liturgy. In this essay, I engage with Schmemann from the Reformed theological tradition. Such a project could take many forms, so it is helpful to be clear about the goal of such a study. I come to Schmemann as a Reformed theologian specializing in my tradition’s historical and dogmatic theology, and I am temperamentally less inclined towards his more intuitive and associative theological style. However, I encounter Schmemann neither as a fanboy nor a critic per se; I hope rather to offer a good faith account of what I find in Schmemann’s work that resonates particularly with the Reformed tradition and seems conducive…