 One of my favourite novels is Robertson Davies' Fifth Business. It is the fictional autobiography of a Canadian man, from early life in small town Ontario, through his experiences in the Great War, and then teaching history in an exclusive Toronto private school. The character, Dunstan Ramsey, is incredibly literate and well-read. He is also noticeably quirky. A passion for him is the study of saints, known has hagiology. What makes this eccentric is his protestant roots. Protestants aren't supposed to go in for all this saints stuff. That's supposed to be the purview of Rome.
Roman Catholics and some Anglicans in the Western Church, and the Orthodox Church in the east canonize and venerate heroes of the faith. The Vatican even has a formula for sainthood. The idea is to gain strength and intercessory help from a Christian hall-of-famer, especially one who demonstrated exceptional prowess in a certain area. In my home town, a very Catholic community, it was common for someone who wanted to sell their house to bury a statue of St Joseph (I can't remember which one) in the front yard.
I've frequented protestant circles enough to know that we do have saints, but are not honest enough to admit it very often. In certain churches, the epistles of the Apostle Paul hold a 'first-among-equals' standing over the other books of the Bible. Paul is quoted more that Jesus in these churches. I call these churches "St. Paul" churches. In other churches, the Gospels are elevated, leading to little followings of Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In more seeker sensitive churches, the popular church growth guru of the day is raised almost to Sainthood. I saw this played out once in a board meeting at a church I was at. The board was discussing a new direction for a certain ministry. I was trying to bring into the discussion what I thought were relevant portions of Scripture. One board member cut me off, "That's all well and good Andre, but what would Bill Hybels do?" I should have marketed bracelets, WWBHD. I have met Wesleyan who care more what Wesley said than what the Bible says. I have seen reformed pastors who could quote Calvin with greater ease that they could quote the Bible. In the emerging church, we venerate (or vilify) Brian McLaren, Donald Miller, Rob Bell. Most of us have to admit that, in one form or another, we are closet hagiologists.
I'm not going to bash Roman Catholics, et al, for venerating saints. At least they are honest about it. I am suggesting however that the rest of us acknowledge what "saints" we elevate, so that we can evaluate their influence on us, especially our understanding of the Bible. A real danger is to land on a certain commentator's approach to the Scripture without ever wrestling with Holy Writ for ourselves. It sounds cliche, but lets aspire to be disciples of God in our own right, not disciples by proxy through McLaren, Hybels, Driscoll (especially Driscoll! :) ), Bell, Wesley, Calvin, Luther, Augustine, Irenaeus or even Paul, John or Ringo.
Castigat ridendo mores.
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