wfn.org | [PCUSAnews] Douglass and Hudnut-Beumler challenge Witherspoon Society

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Note #6580 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Douglass and Hudnut-Beumler challenge Witherspoon Society
June 10, 2001
GA01024

Douglass and Hudnut-Beumler challenge Witherspoon Society

Annual awards presented

by Nancy Rodman

LOUISVILLE, June 10 - Jane Dempsey Douglass challenged members and guests of
the Witherspoon Society on Sunday to go against the grain of culture by
engaging seriously in questions of economic and environmental justice with
our brothers and sisters around the world. James Hudnut-Beumler called on
them to do what they can to make this a more loving church this week and in
the coming year.
	Douglas, Professor Emerita at Princeton Theological Seminary and former
President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and Hudnut-Beumler,
Dean of the Vanderbilt Divinity School, addressed the Witherspoon Society
luncheon held annually during the meeting of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
	Citing Paul's letter to the Galatians, "For freedom Christ has set us free.
 Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery … For
the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your
neighbor as yourself,'" Douglass told the gathering that they must remember
the biblical stories and Jesus' teachings, be drawn into the future as the
model of a new creation, and live against the grain of culture in overcoming
barriers of injustice.
	She urged a higher place on the church's agenda for economic justice and
stewardship of the environment saying that these are not just social issues,
but are matters of faith.
	Douglass was a 1999 recipient of the Women of Faith Award.
	In an address interrupted several times by applause, Hudnut-Beumler said
that polity will not create a just church.  "Our denominational processes,"
he said, "have  become exercises to control when we doubt our ability to
convince."
	"We've proliferated unjust laws that stand for a kind of legality that
Jesus sought to overturn again and again," he said.  "It is more important
that a principle live than that it be written."
	Hudnut-Beumler named two issues that will define the future of the church: 
the fellowship of all people in the church, and how Christians relate to
people of other faiths.   He spoke of his young son's open and unbiased
acceptance of others and said, "We must enter the realm of God that says you
must become like a child."
	The annual awards of the Witherspoon Society were presented at the
luncheon.  The Whole Gospel Congregation Award for congregational advocacy
of justice issues was presented to Central Presbyterian Church, Louisville. 
George and Jean Edwards received the Andrew Murray Award for their
successful efforts to secure the release from unjust imprisonment of William
Thomas Gregory.

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