With the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seeking a way forward in these times of theological and political conflict, some have suggested a "third way," and now The Presbyterian Outlook has urged a "third force." Presbyterians for Renewal believes what is really needed is a recommitment to the Third Person of the Trinity.
Formerly a United Methodist minister, I am now Presbyterian. Methodists don't use the line, "He descended into Hell" as part of the Apostles' Creed. It was always hidden in the footnotes, a part of the traditional creed, something no longer used. In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), people affirm their faith as a community, in response to hearing the Word of God.
Over the last 10 years, we have seen an increasing incidence of candidates for the ministry and ministers transferring from one presbytery to another using functional language such as "Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer" to refer to the Trinity. This avoids using the personal language of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
Everything That Rises Must Converge is the name of a book of collected stories by distinguished 20th-century Southern writer Flannery O’Connor. Her vision of the kingdom of God is embedded in her stories. One in particular, "Revelation," ends with a vision of humanity in all of its magnificent diversity marching upwards into the heavens to greet the loving God who awaits with open arms.
As the writer of all but two words of the "Affirmation of the Lordship of Christ" that was adopted by the 213th General Assembly (2001), I want to thank the Office of Theology and Worship for their statement, "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ." The statement is longer and more fully developed than the short affirmation by the Assembly, but the two declarations are in complete harmony.
All Christians are called upon to confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As Presbyterians we make this confession guided by what our church has stood for through the ages. For Presbyterian Church leaders in particular, this guidance is embodied in the literature collected in our Book of Confessions. As ordained leaders we vow to
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.
All of us who are or have been pastors know what it is like to be in the middle of a marital or family counseling session and realize that what the parties are arguing about isn’t really the issue. They may be talking (or yelling) about a child’s grades, but the problem for the family lies elsewhere. The grades are merely what they’ve decided to argue about.
This month representatives of more than 1,000 of the more than 11,000 congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are gathering in Atlanta to bear witness to their faith in Jesus Christ, the authority of Scripture and God’s call to holy living.
Like the Task Force for the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church authorized by the 213th General Assembly, this group seeks to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in response to the events unfolding in the life of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." Some Presbyterians argue that we must take these words to mean that since Jesus is the only way to salvation, Christianity is the only true religion. Therefore any genuinely two-way conversation between Christians and followers of other religious traditions inevitably compromise true Christian faith and leads to religious and ethical relativism.
In his recent article, George Hunsinger offers thoughtful reflections on the present impasse in the Presbyterian Church. His proposed "third way" is..
Professor Migliore’s proposed interpretation of G-6.0106b, while not impossible, is by no means necessary. If we stick to the direct wording of the text, and do not read things into it which are not there, then a different interpretation is more to the point. G-6.0106b simply states what is true by definition. There are either those who are married (one man and one woman), of whom fidelity is required, or else those who are unmarried (single), of whom chastity is required, as it is of all Christians.
Into the midst of a denomination which finds itself hopelessly locked in a cyclical conflict that seemingly admits of no solution except for the destruction of one side or the other by its mirror opposite comes a Theological Task Force for the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church, authorized by the 213th General Assembly (2001).
If we are to move beyond the theological impasse tearing at our church today, it may be wise to revisit the lessons American Presbyterians have learned over the decades concerning the confessional nature of the church.
That there is a dispute about Presbyterian confessional identity today is nothing new. Such disagreement goes all the way back to the colonial experience. From the early 1700s there were two ways of thinking of Presbyterian confessional identity.
Since a majority of subscribers to The Presbyterian Outlook are not graduates of Davidson College, I am providing the proposals that will come before its Board of Trustees meeting that began Feb 3rd. These proposals were presented for a ‘first reading’ at an October board meeting and have been in the hands of college alumni/ae since early December.
Now is the time for a third force to emerge in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The phrase "third force" rather than "third way" is offered, because the third way, if it exists at all, is not yet in sight. A genuine third way through the political thicket in which we are caught will be biblically and confessionally rooted, and will represent the consensus of the faithful that God’s will for our time has been discerned and must be affirmed.
The 35th anniversary of the Confession of 1967 falls this year. A few members remain, both of the committee that drafted the document, and of the committee that received and modified it somewhat in 1965, prior to its circulation in the presbyteries during 1966 and the first half of 1967.
The church has always had factions — even as the American republic has always had factions. At the time of the founding of the New Nation, our forebears sought to create a political system which would ensure some kind of balance of power among various interests in society. Thus was erected a federal system with division of power between the federal government and the state governments, and a separation of powers in the federal government through the creation of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. And the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments — erected a wall, since steadily strengthened, to safeguard individual liberties.
Writing recently in The Outlook, Editor Robert Bullock recognized that annual meetings of the PC(USA) General Assembly seem to be hurting the church and bringing unnecessary division. He wrote: "Annual meetings allow divisive issues to be brought up every year with the potential for win-lose votes at the meeting and in the presbyteries . . . . Dealing with divisive issues year after year through an annual meeting of the General Assembly has not been a plus for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).If an institution’s national gathering does more harm than good to the institution, shouldn’t the institution consider seriously having the meeting less often?"
Those of us who take the teachings of John Calvin as our theological base have always practiced -- or are supposed to practice -- a faith-based initiative toward the society in which we live. Calvin constantly emphasized the primacy of the community over the individual, teaching that we are bound together and must take responsibility for each other, not just in the church, but in the community at large.
It has come, its supporters say, from the grassroots – and it has grown fast enough that people wonder out loud whether the confessing church movement now is a force that must be reckoned with in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
In fewer than nine months, the sessions of more than 1,100 congregations – about 10 percent of all the PC(USA) churches – have signed confessional statements, most of them describing belief in the Lordship of Jesus, the authority of the Bible and the sanctity of marriage.
With the end of Christmas, the celebration of Epiphany – the gift of the gospel to all peoples and all nations – and the dawn of the second year of a new century and millennium, the issue of breaking the cycle of violence presents itself to us on many fronts.
I was overjoyed when I read that one of the proposed amendments coming out of this year's General Assembly was aimed at simplifying and shortening Ch. 14 of the Form of Government. It has seemed for years that every edition of the Book of Order was bulkier than the last. Much of that bulk came from items better handled in a manual of operations. My delight turned to horror, however, when I found hidden in the midst of the revision of Chapter 14 a provision that would allow the interim pastor of a congregation to become its next installed pastor by a two-thirds vote of the presbytery.
We Presbyterian evangelicals like to appeal to the past in our ongoing debates with those who claim to have received "more light" on certain important subjects than was available to the biblical writers and the 16th-century Reformers. And rightly so. A defense of both biblical authority and the normative status of our confessional heritage has never been more urgent.
On this subject more than usual a reader might wonder what possible insight I could possess. Until now, I have been quite content to recognize the mystery of feminine wilds without devoting any imaginative energy to reflection on what it must be to have them. Most likely this restriction comes from being told as a little boy that if you kissed your own elbow you would turn into a girl.
Criss-crossing the country by car the way I do, I've been fortunate to have had few breakdowns. Other than hitting a cement abutment along the Ohio Turnpike and locking my keys in my car while stopping along a deserted stretch on the Pacific Coast Highway, nothing notable has happened.
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