The schedule for discussions that the Theological Task Force for Peace, Unity and Purity has proposed calls for each of its next four meetings to focus on a basic theological topic and a basic theme of Presbyterian polity, governance and history, as follows:
CHICACO — Trying to find out what's in the hearts of people out in the church, the Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) held a series of focus groups at the General Assembly this summer — asking people to speak to speak out about the task force's work and their own concerns.
By Michael L. Lindvall.
Geneva. 2001. 135 pp. Pb. $11.95. 
ISBN 0-664-50142-7
— reviewed by Bill Klein, Lexington, Va.
Anyone familiar with Michael Lindvall’s book, The Good News from North Haven (reprint expected Summer 2002), will welcome his most recent effort. The Christian Life is another in the expected 12-volume Foundations of Christian Faith series being commissioned by the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and published by Geneva Press.
God has given the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) a moment of grace to dream new dreams, to see new visions, to lay aside the weapons of warfare, and to rethink mission and strategy on a truly grand scale.
At the end of a quarter century of nearly continuous contentiousness, it is as if a boil has been lanced, followed by an experience of relief, a weary contingent of God’s people wanting to move beyond the trenches that divided and to move forward into a future of obedience and service.
The United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), formed by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Presbyterian Church of North America in 1957, elected Edler Garnet Hawkins the first black moderator (1964) ever to so serve these denominations. Of course from the days of Samuel Cornish and Henry Highland Garnet to the organization of the Afro-American Presbyterian Council in Philadelphia (1894), through the years of "Jim Crow" institutionalized as "separate but equal" by the Supreme Court in 1897, Presbyterian blacks made their voices heard about Christian faith and life, breaking down some, not many, walls of segregation in the church.
CHICAGO — Sensing that it has a mountain of work before it and not an equivalent amount of time, the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has approved what it calls "a plan for moving ahead" — essentially, a blueprint for how it will order its work in the months to come.
According to the Apostle Paul we are commanded not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, but to think of ourselves with sober judgment (Romans 12:3). This is naturally easier said than done. My grown children still do not always think soberly -- a situation that occurs every time they disagree with me.
LOUISVILLE — Take one student with a heart for children at a Presbyterian seminary. Add one dose of inspiration, courtesy of the Children's Defense Fund.
Gently fold in kids, dozens of them, many from the inner city, with braids and big smiles and often an arms-length relationship with reading. Throw in some books from African-American authors and some college students looking to be role models.
Among the "accomplishments of the 214th General Assembly," the editor of The Outlook states that "the General Assembly affirmed the necessity of compliance with the standards" for ordination that have been the source of judicial decision and orders in the past two years. Actually all the Assembly did was to disapprove the overture from Shenango Presbytery and the amended minority report response to that overture.
Before commissioners had exchanged final hugs; before Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel had issued his last "holy"; and long before the TV screens went blank, the 214th General Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, had been labeled: "the Prozac Assembly" and "the do-no-harm Assembly" were two popular monikers.
A better description might be "the 70-30 Assembly."
In advance of the meeting of the 214th General Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, conventional wisdom held that there would be very little real work to be done since virtually all matters relating to human sexuality were off the table this time around.
As it turned out, though, commissioners not only did real and important work, they even dealt effectively with a few sexuality related issues.
The 214th General Assembly approved a capital funds drive for $40 million for new church development here at home and missionary support abroad. It is called "The New Initiative" and it is the first capital funds campaign for General Assembly agencies in the last 10 years.
AUSTIN, Texas — Theodore J. "Ted" Wardlaw, 49, pastor since 1991 of Central church, Atlanta, has been called to the presidency of Austin Seminary beginning in mid-November.
Wardlaw's nomination to become the seminary's ninth president was approved by seminary trustees on July 1. He will take office on the retirement of Robert M. Shelton, who has served the seminary for 31 years, as a professor of homiletics, academic dean and, for the last five years, as president.
Peter Marshall, born just 100 years ago in Coatbridge, Scotland, shot across our American sky, a ministerial star of the 1940s and 1950s. With a technical and mining school education, Marshall docked at Ellis Island in 1927, and worked as a day laborer in the East and South until experiencing a call to minister. He enrolled in Columbia Seminary in 1928, graduated magna cum laude and was ordained in 1931. He had already made a name for himself during the Depression with a sermon, 'Singing in the Rain,' which he preached all over Georgia.
For weeks The Presbyterian Outlook has expressed editorial hopes that the 214th General Assembly would be a Pentecost Assembly — one in..
There is reportedly a minister shortage throughout the country. As a seminary president, a week doesn't go by without an inquiry from a church to recommend the good pastor for their congregation. Who is that good pastor and how do we recognize that person when we are searching?
The results of a new survey of Presbyterian Outlook readers support the view that the deeper division in the church is primarily about whether the Bible is authoritative. Also, while most wish there were less conflict in the PC(USA), still more are willing to tolerate different viewpoints, even if it results in conflict.
One of the first casualties of war is the truth. Sadly, the theological divisions within our denomination have apparently developed into full-scale war because attempts at reporting the truth have declined. The Presbyterian Layman has chosen to ignore all journalistic standards and displayed complete disregard for the lives of the people whom they have chosen to attack.
By Philip Jenkins
Oxford. 2002. 270 pp. Pb. $28.00. ISBN 0-19-514616-6
— reviewed by Ben Lacy Rose, Richmond, Va.
The thesis of this book is that, contrary to much that is being written and heard today, Christianity is alive and well in the world, and will continue in good health into the foreseeable future. The "God is dead" movement is dead, but God is still very much alive.
If something new and wonderful is to happen at the 214th General Assembly it will certainly involve repentance — lots of it — a commodity that has been in very short supply for a very long time in our church.
Repentance involves sincere confession and a turning around — a turning from ourselves and our own interests to God and God’s interests.
In a recent editorial in this journal, Robert Bullock observed, "As a result of the overwhelming resources devoted to sexuality matters, it..
This space has been devoted in recent weeks to the shape of a new church which is arising in our midst as a consequence of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit is the active agent in everything that happens in the church — indeed, in the world.
Our eyes are accustomed to seeing things as they have always been — or, at least, have been within our span of memory — and it is so difficult to perceive and to understand new shapes and forms of divine activity that are right in front of our face.
Have you ever wondered what the Presbyterian Church believes about the future? It seems that so many people today have clear-cut views about the specifics of the future. One bumper sticker declares confidently, "In case of rapture, this car will be uninhabited." The approach of the millennium will be the occasion of increasing discussion about the future of the world. Do Presbyterians have anything to say?
I read books for many purposes. To amuse and to entertain me (I am an avid fan of the detective story). To inform me (I try to keep up with recent biblical scholarship) but, also, to enrich my spirit. As I seek a closer sense of God's intimate presence, I have been helped from several very different sources.
If we as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are to become what God wants us to be, then we will have to alter radically our way of thinking about ourselves as a denomination and the way we conduct our business.
First, we will focus on our own particular congregation, and pour tremendous energy into its mission and, even more important, the mission of each member in the world.
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