Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith

Back in the day, when the controversy was over subscription to the five doctrinal Fundamentals (divine inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, substitutionary atonement, the historical reality of Christ’s miracles, the virgin birth, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus), the Presbyterian Church duked it out at Princeton Seminary. The Fundamentalist/Modernist debate, represented by Harry Emerson Fosdick (the liberal) and Gresham Machen (the conservative), resulted in Princeton realigning its theological faculty toward the modernist view. Consequently, Machen’s group founded Westminster Seminary in 1929 to preserve the conservative view. In the 1930s, the divide particularly over the view of Scripture resulted in the

Finishing this three-part reflection on Joe Small’s “Open Letter,” the third topic of note requires an historical perspective. Joe writes, “I believe that the current differentiation and likely separation is a tragedy. Could it have been avoided? Maybe . . . but only if decades ago we had found more faithful ways of expressing and living out our differences in conviction.” As I have explored the arguments and counterarguments for change in the PCUSA (especially in ordination standards), a few historical references repeatedly come up. They link to each other like a daisy-chain, with implications that a radical change of

The question is whether a PCUSA-ordained person still has the same dance partner now as when he or she took those ordination vows. The longer one has been ordained, the more serious is the question. I have been dancing with the PCUSA for twenty-four years (and longer if you count the years as a church member). Sometimes I feel as if I am waltzing at a masked ball, with a partner of unknown identity. Could it turn out to be someone other than the one with whom I came to the party? To those who believe the incremental changes occurring

In yesterday’s post, I suggested that there is a mutuality in promise-keeping. Every church officer in the PCUSA answers questions for ordination committing oneself to trust Jesus Christ, abide by God’s Word, adopt the essential tenets of Reformed faith, further the purposes of the church, and faithfully serve the people therein. These are promises made to God, to the PCUSA church as a whole, and to the people in one’s worshipping community. The question is whether these “vows” (though technically the PCUSA does not call them such) are akin to a covenant which cannot be broken or an agreement that

After reflecting on “Convenient Confessionalism” in yesterday’s post, I got curious about the meaning of the word “standards” as used in the PCUSA constitution. Here are all the occurrences of the word in the Book of Order: F-1.0302d:  The Church strives to be faithful to the good news it has received and accountable to the standards of the confessions. F-2.02 The Confessions as Subordinate Standards These confessional statements are subordinate standards in the church, subject to the authority of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, as the Scriptures bear witness to him. While confessional standards are subordinate to the Scriptures,