He did not become a self-appointed advocate of his teachers. Karl Barth’s deep influence on Shirley is evident, but he never became a “Barthian.” He simply devoted himself to understanding the essence of what the Christian Church has always believed. Then he sought to restate that essence in language appropriate to the present day, and to show its relevance to the ever-changing problems and questions of our time.
Many theologians publish many books. Shirley published very few. But one of them is a classic. “Christian Doctrine” has been in print, with one major revision, since 1969. Written as part of the Covenant Life Curriculum, it has been the primary introduction to Reformed theology for thousands of lay people, college students, and seminarians for 36 years, and promises to be so for many more to come.
My close friendship with Shirley began when I was appointed in 1969 to chair an Ad Interim Committee “to propose a Book of Confessions, containing a new confession of faith,” for the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (the old “Southern church). Shirley was appointed as one of its ten members. We worked together for seven years, until our report was adopted by a 6 to 1 vote in the 1976 General Assembly, only to be killed by an intense campaign against it in the presbyteries.
I watched this master theologian work modestly and generously with the lay people, the pastors, the Old Testament scholars, the Black theologian, the feminist, the college president, who made up that extraordinary committee. He worked to make sure that their worthwhile contributions were included, and never once said: “I’m the expert, listen to me.” Nevertheless, when the “new confession,” called “A Declaration of Faith,” was published, his stamp was on it everywhere.
I got an intriguing view of Shirley’s remarkable relationship with his students from David Morgan. Our committee needed a non-participant to take notes on our meetings, and Shirley proposed David. Later on, after the committee was dismissed, David was called to be my Associate Pastor at Second Church, Richmond. He told me many stories about Shirley, including the way his esteemed professor challenged his students to mountain-climbing hikes, and Shirley’s enthusiasm for a canoeing expedition along the Canada-Minnesota border. Small wonder that many of his students were bound to him with hoops of steel.
Shirley Guthrie was God’s gift to American Presbyterianism. We shall not see his like again.
ALBERT C. WINN is Professor of Theology emeritus, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
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