That new proposal is being made with the rationale that the current translation in the denomination’s Book of Confessions is flawed, and that a new translation could be more “theologically robust,” in the words of Neal Presa, a minister from New Jersey who is chair of a special committee that has been considering the matter.
In asking for a complete retranslation, the Special Committee on Correcting Translation Problems of the Heidelberg Catechism – a committee the General Assembly created in 2008 – also would be moving in the same direction as two other Reformed denominations: the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) and the Reformed Church in America (RCA). Those denominations have been working jointly on a new translation, which their governing bodies are expected to consider this summer.
The PC(USA) special committee has been in conversation with the Reformed group working on the translation, reviewing drafts and making some suggestions for revisions, Presa said. If the three denominations can agree on a new translation of Heidelberg, “it serves as a basis for us to bridge the gap if you will in the Reformed family,” Presa said in an interview.
Why so much attention now to a catechism that was written in the 16th century in Germany and which has been part of the PC(USA)’s Book of Confessions for years now?
It’s because, at the 2008 assembly, Newark Presbytery presented an overture asking for corrections of what it called “translation problems” in five of the catechism’s 129 questions. Two other overtures that year – from the presbyteries of Northern Kansas and of Boston – also asked for different translations to be used.
The catechism, which grew out of the conversation between Lutheran and Reformed Christians in the theological tumult following the Reformation, has often been used as a teaching tool of Reformed belief for congregations and seminaries. Originally written in German, it was then translated into Latin and has had many subsequent translations, which is part of the current dispute.
The Newark overture in 2008 addressed translation issues in five questions in the Heidelberg Catechism, which has been part of the Presbyterian Book of Confessions since 1967, with Question 87 receiving the most attention. That question, in the 1962 English translation that’s now included in the Book of Confessions, contains a reference to “homosexual perversion” that is not part of the original German text.
In the current version, that question and answer now reads:
Q 87: Can those who do not turn to God from their ungrateful, impenitent life be saved?
A: Certainly not! Scripture says, ‘Surely you know that the unjust will never come into possession of the kingdom of God. Make no mistake: no fornicator or idolater, none who are guilty either of adultery or of homosexual perversion, no thieves or grabbers or drunkards or slanderers or swindlers, will possess the kingdom of God.’
Before the 2008 assembly, 32 faculty members who teach history and theology at 10 Presbyterian seminaries signed a letter calling for a better translation of the Heidelberg Catechism. The professors raised concerns about the translation’s approach to a range of theological issues, including the idea of God’s covenant and how redemption is viewed.
And the term “homosexual perversion,” the letter states, “misleads the reader by suggesting this historic text took a clear stand on issues of sexual orientation and practice that are lively issues before us in the church today — when in fact these were not subjects of discussion in the sixteenth century church.”
In the committee discussion at the 2008 assembly, however, not everyone agreed with that view. Some contended that the Heidelberg translation now in the Book of Confessions does properly represent the church’s historic standards and that it is Biblically faithful, exchanging the original text in Question 87 with a quote from I Corinthians 6:9-10.
The special committee, in considering these questions, found concerns in the 1962 translation that went beyond the ones Newark Presbytery had raised, Presa said. A group of seven committee members who are proficient in German and Latin compared the current English translation to the original texts and found “a number of translation inaccuracies.”
The committee’s report to the assembly states that “there was a general consensus among the special committee that there are significant translation problems in the current English version of The Heidelberg Catechism in addition to those cited in the Newark overture.”
The committee concluded that “it would be irresponsible” to try to correct the five questions Newark had raised without addressing broader concerns involving the translation, Presa said. The group voted unanimously to ask the 2010 assembly to instruct the special committee to continue working and to recommend to the assembly in 2012 a new translation of the Heidelberg Catechism, done in cooperation with the CRC and the RCA.
