A Question of Foundations

I have often wondered if the debate going on between the confessionally reformed and the federal vision camps- I do make a distinction, though it is not meant as a slight, but rather one of denotation- is in fact a secondary or consequent- though valid and necessary- argument and that the real battle is over a theology containing a works/merit and faith/grace paradigm and one that rejects a works/merit paradigm wholly in favor of a single covenant model of faith/grace. Thus it often seems that the subliminal war over the epistemological foundations for the theological enterprise at large is largely between the camps of Kline and Shepherd. And that being so, though we are often told that the debate is about what the gospel is it seems rather that it is actually about what lense we acquire to read the text in order to actually define the gospel.
Any thoughts or insight is not only welcomed but sought, though perhaps no one will ever read this anyway.

Ruminations on conduct

What is it that causes those in theological debates, those who consider themselves educated, layman or not, to descend to pejorative, incendiary language in response to those with whom they disagree? I know that I myself have been guilty of this and I have noticed that it occurs in contexts where the discourse is one of thoughts and not voices, gestures devoid of the face that goes with them. In short, it seems to occur within the anonymous context of the internet; the great equalizer between the learned and the laymen and alas, it has also become the spark which has kindled flames of arrogance, condescension, and outright slander.
I, for one, feel ashamed at how, in the pursuit of truth we have forgotten that we dwell in the covenant community, yes that includes those outside our denominations and even our confessions, and instead functioned more adversarially than fraternally. Though I believe that conflict both does and must arise- due to the fact that confessional unity would require both more humility and exegetical depth than we shall ever be possessed of- it does not mean that we should deride, demean, and impugn our opponents. I have often read blog posts to which I wholehearted concurred substantively but was grieved by the manner in which it was conveyed.
Well, this being my first foray into the land of the blog, I felt that I had to get that out of the way.