Can't Stop the Scaerismania!

I know that I am not alone in appreciating the work of and thus loving David P. Scaer, and so I thought I'd post something of his on the same theme that's been running through the posts here at Theomony--Lutheran v. Reformed thought. Fittingly he titles this "Baptism As Church Foundation."

Below is a snipet of the article which can be read in its entirety here:

http://www.ctsfw.edu/events/symposia/papers/sym2003scaerd.pdf

A chance remark by Walter Kaiser, then at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and now
at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, located the fundamental difference between Reformed and
Lutheran theologies not in how we understood Christ (extra Calvinistium) and the Sacraments
(finitum non capax infiniti), but in where each begins theology. The Reformed begin with God
and Lutherans with Christ. Roots, trunk, branches and not just the shapes of the leaves are
different. Calvin defined God’s existence philosophically and then proceeded to the locus on
Scriptures and the Reformed confessions followed suit. Their concern is God’s rule, which is
reflected in their doctrines of divine sovereignty, providence and election. Lutherans begin with
Christ (or at least they should) and then proceed to the Scriptures. This approach predetermined
for Luther a christological interpretation of the Bible and so Lutheran and Reformed Weltanschauungen are worlds apart. Parallel doctrines may be identically worded, but the
similarity is superficial. For example Calvin defines faith as obedience and so even our doctrines
of justification are different.