What does “Deep in History” Really Mean?
Cardinal John Henry Newman famously said “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.”[1] Newman seemed to refer to the institutional church and the rites and sacraments that came to prevail. Many apologists for high sacramentalism have offered similar arguments. What we see in history is not what “free churches” manifest. We see priests, bishops, archbishops, and the church occupying a central role in the Christian life. Along with this, the church…