An earlier version of this article was part of the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary Florence L. Warren Lectureship in 2024 and will be published along with accompanying presentations.
How ordination vows expose a knowledge gap for elders
The Book of Confessions is a gift and a burden to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). On the one hand, it is hard to imagine a deeper and broader theological treasure than the Book of Confessions for our denomination. Each document is instructive, even when misguided. And as the first part of the PC(USA)’s constitution, in the Book of Confessions: “the church declares to its members and to the world who and what it is, what it believes, and what it resolves to do.” [F.2.01]
That being said, in its current form, the Book of Confessions is too long and complex to function effectively within the PC(USA). Upon their ordinations, ruling elders and teaching elders all answer the question: “Do you sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to believe and do …?”
Related reading: “A turning point in the church’s search for a new confession” by Harriet Riley, Outlook Reporting
However, given the length and complexity of the Book of Confessions, most ruling elders are only introduced to an overview of the confessions. This is not because ruling elders do not have the capacity to engage the Book of Confessions. The issue is the nature of the book and the time it would take to know its contents well. The book is long, 318 pages, and covers confessions produced over 1800 years with different styles, authors and approaches. While some of the confessions are familiar, how many people in the PC(USA) have had any deep engagement with the Scots Confession or the Second Helvetic Confession outside of test preparation?
How many people in the PC(USA) have had any deep engagement with the Scots Confession or the Second Helvetic Confession outside of test preparation?
As a result, ruling and teaching elders are not equally prepared to answer this ordination question. Only teaching elders (because of ordination exams), and in some cases commissioned ruling elders (because of required training), have spent sufficient time with the confessions to answer this ordination question with integrity.
The challenge of teaching the confessions in today’s church
I am finishing up service as a bridge pastor. In this role, I’ve discovered that elders elected to the session did not engage the Book of Confessions in officer training, nor had they discussed what it means to “sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions.”
But given the ordinary pressure of time, I could not lead them in a weeks-long study of the confessions, and so I spent two weeks with them studying the Nicene Creed. I cannot imagine what long-term benefit it would have been to them to spend 10 minutes per confession as preparation to answer the ordination question with integrity.
Why the PC(USA) rejects lists of “essential tenets”
For the past 100 years, the Presbyterian Church has resisted the regular attempts to make a list of essential tenets. The five fundamentals (inerrancy of Scripture, virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection and the authenticity of miracles) were affirmed by PC(USA) General Assemblies in 1910, 1916 and 1923. But soon the General Assembly had adopted a different approach, leaning into the Adopting Act from 150 years earlier that stressed “freedom of conscience” and refused to substitute a summary of the confessions. This decision has saved the Presbyterian Church from the damage that theological litmus tests can do to a body.
Related reading: “Rethinking psychological evaluations in the PC(USA) ordination process” by Jane L. Holtzclaw
But the problem remains: many elders govern the church with little specific knowledge of the first part of our constitution, and we provide no shortcuts or summaries that would aid in their confessional formation.
A proposal to shorten the Book of Confessions for greater accessibility
I believe a significantly shorter Book of Confessions would allow members and officers a better chance of understanding and using Presbyterian confessions to form us as to who we are, what we believe, and what we intend to do. I propose moving some of our current confessions out of the Book of Confessions and placing them in a Book of Confessional Witness. This Book of Confessional Witness would serve as a supplement to the Book of Confessions without constitutional authority and would be included as an appendix to The Book of Confessions.
What confessions would be moved out of the Book of Confessions? The first two are easy enough to identify: The Scots Confession (18 pages) and The Second Helvetic Confession (69 pages). Scots was replaced as the authoritative confession in English-speaking Presbyterianism by Westminster almost 500 years ago. It has historical significance, but for good and bad reasons. The Second Helvetic has never played a central role in Presbyterian tradition, despite its many strengths. Both of these confessions have treasures in them; however, they play a minor role in the formation of faith and doctrine within the PC(USA). 87 pages down.
After these two, one might consider removing The Westminster Larger Catechism (56 pages). I am convinced that the treatment of the 10 Commandments in the Westminster Larger Catechism is an important and formational vision of Reformed social ethics — so much so that I suggest retaining that 11-page section. 132 pages down.
Let us do the difficult work of making the confessions more accessible.
If we were to transfer these three confessions (minus the 10 commandments in WLC), the book would be reduced from 318 pages to 186. With these changes, The Book of Confessions is still a long book, but it’s 42% shorter than our current version! This would be an interesting and helpful move toward accessibility and usability of the Book of Confessions.
Making the Book of Confessions more usable for the whole church
At some point soon, the PC(USA) will be considering adding a new confession to the Book of Confessions. Before adding to its length again, let us take a hard look at our current confessions and do the difficult work of making the confessions more accessible. This way, we can better embrace the wisdom they offer about who we are, what we believe, and what we intend to do.
