wfn.org | Conference to re-examine Confession of 1967

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Note #7028 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

24-January-2002
02038

Conference to re-examine Confession of 1967 

Idea is to elicit "comprehensive theological thinking" on current state of the church

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - What the Confession of 1967 has to say to a church facing theological and social crises will be the focus of a conference next month marking the 35th anniversary of the its adoption by the Presbyterian Church (USA).

During the Feb. 3-4 conference at the Stony Point Conference Center near New York City, 12 theologians will take stock of the church in light of the upheavals it faced when the confession was written - poverty, racism, technological changes, feminism, multi-faith encounters and reconciliation.

"Lifting up the Confession of 1967 requires comprehensive theological thinking, not the narrowly focused theological discussion that we've been having the last few years ... just on sex or absolutist (principles)," said conference organizer, the Rev. Christian Iosso, pastor of the Scarborough Presbyterian Church in the Presbytery of Hudson River, which is funding the event with assistance from seven congregations. 

"The agenda that was outlined for the church in 1967 is still unfinished," Iosso said. "In fact, in some cases it is in danger of being forgotten."

Among the featured speakers and their topics:
 
*  Annie Rawlings, director of the Bertram Beck Institute on Religion and Poverty at Fordham University in New York City: "Indifferent to Poverty ... Evades Responsibility in Economic Affairs?"
  
*  The Rev. Donald Shriver, president emeritus and professor of ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City: "Reconciliation, Forgiveness and Peace: 'Even at Risk to National Security?'"

*  The Rev. Curtis Jones, pastor of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in Baltimore: "Empowerment, Self-Determination, Cultural Identity versus Racism"

*  George Hunsinger, professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary: "Toward a Reconciliation Ecclesiology"

*  Paul Capetz, professor of church history, United Theological Seminary in Minneapolis-St. Paul: "On Grace, Conscience and the Struggle Over Gay Ordination"

*  Richard Hong, president, Hawk Scientific Systems, Kinnelon, NJ: "A Response in Light of Business and Technological Changes."

The confession is built around 2 Corinthians 5:19: 
"In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself ..." The first section espouses Trinitarian theology; the second addresses the role of the church in reconciliation; and the third affirms the church's hope in God's ultimate triumph.

Written in the turbulent 1960s and adopted by the former United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, the Confession of 1967 was the first new Presbyterian confession of faith in 300 years.

The project began in 1956 as a revision of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which dates to the mid-1600s. The 1958 General Assembly proposed instead that the church draw up "a brief contemporary statement of faith."

The chair of the drafting committee, the Rev. Edward Dowey Jr. of Princeton, NJ (now retired), said trying to update the language of the Shorter Catechism was like trying to update one of Hamlet's soliloquies.  

One problem, Dowey said, is that the word "reconciliation" gets thrown around too loosely. 
"In the first instance," he said, referring to the first part of the confession, "this is not about reconciliation by human beings, but the reconciliation of the world to God ... Jesus's sacrifice as reconciliation. But the ministry of reconciliation - that is our work.

"The trouble is, it is awfully hard for those who are not oriented to this tradition to see God's work of reconciliation as all that important. We use the words all the time ... but we (talk about) being reconciled to one another."

Jones said the document's statement on racism isn't nearly strong enough, although it may have been the strongest statement politically possible at the time.

"We're still paying lip service to race," said Jones, who believes that the denomination's much touted commitment to racial-ethnic church growth isn't at all evident in many presbyteries.

"The kind of death and resurrection that one needs to go through to have a substantive breakthrough in the difficult and tense areas of our relationship is one that our church is not willing to make at this time," he said.

Iosso, describing the Confession of 1967 as a "coming-of-age" document for pastors in their 40s and 50s, said the conference isn't just for activists. "We're trying to be thoughtful Presbyterians," he said.

To register, call the Stony Point Conference Center: (914)-941-1142.
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