wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Revised paper affirms traditional marriage

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Revised paper affirms traditional marriage
03413
September 29, 2003

Revised paper affirms traditional marriage

Male-female covenant is basic to theology of  family, authors say

by Bill Lancaster

MONTREAT, NC - A new version of a controversial document on the family
affirms marriage between a male and a female as "the basic form of
relationship" through which men and women relate to one another and to God.

The paper, "Living Faithfully with Families in Transition," is being revised
by the Office of Theology, Worship and Discipleship (OTW) at the request of
this year's 215th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). An
outline of a revised theological section was presented to the Congregational
Ministries Division Committee during last week's meeting of the General
Assembly Council (GAC).

The new section explores other Biblical models of "human flourishing," but
calls traditional marriage the fundamental structure on which the human
family is built.

The new language was prepared by Joseph D. Small, associate director of the
OTW; Charles Wiley, associate for theology; and two members of the Princeton
Seminary faculty - theologian Ellen Charry and Bible scholar Chip
Dobbs-Allsopp.

According to Small, the authors are exploring "what it means to be human
together before God," a challenge that he said "is not unique to families."

"It is part of being human," Small said. "We tried to develop Biblical and
confessional materials in which family life could be understood."

The document was authored over several years by the denomination's Advisory
Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP). At the Assembly in Denver, the
paper was rejected by the committee that considered it, and a much briefer
substitute was put before the commissioners, who referred both versions back
to ACSWP to re-work in consultation with OTW. A revised paper is to be
brought to next year's Assembly in Richmond, VA.

Critics of the original paper contended that it diminished the importance of
the traditional two-parent family and elevated non-traditonal families -
including those involving unmarried and same-sex relationships - to moral
equivalence, in violation of scripture and of Christian morality. The
two-page substitute offered by some committee members defined marriage much
more narrowly, calling it "a covenant through which a man and a woman are
called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship."

Small said he and the others involved in writing the new language are trying
to be "simply descriptive" of what the Christian tradition holds about
families.

"This theological framework will become the basis on which the rest of the
ACSWP paper will be revised," Small said, noting that ACSWP itself developed
the theology on which its original draft was based. "This time, the theology
will be the foundation."

The Confession of 1967, part of the PC(USA) constitution, says the marriage
relationship between a man and a woman exemplifies in a basic way the
ordering of Christians' interpersonal life. In support of this, Small cited
Genesis 2, which says God created woman because it is not good for a man to
be alone.

That doesn't exhaust what the Bible says about family, Small noted: "Family
is not limited by marriage. It is simply the basic form of relationship from
which other forms begin to emerge. It is only that: basic. It is neither
exhaustive nor exclusive."

Small added that marriage "does not ensure good family life," pointing out
examples in the Bible and in our own experience of abusive and broken
families, including the fractured relationship between Adam and Eve in
Genesis 3, and the violent division between the brothers Cain and Abel. "This
is not the model of family life," he said.

He said he also would not want to suggest that family forms apart from the
marital and biological are necessarily defective or broken or sinful.

"There are numerous other forms of human flourishing," he said, noting that
in the Old Testament, the household is "inclusive of family, (but) goes
beyond family. It includes servants and slaves. These households operate with
the same kind of kinship ties that the Bible expects of families in the
narrow sense."

The Old Testament emphasizes family lines (the "begats") and structures that
go beyond immediate families to take in whole clans, Small noted.

"The scriptures are clear that included in that family structure are those
who have never married at all," he said. "What we have is a relationship
between one man one woman, then a series of interlocking circles that bear
the marks of genuine basic relationships."

In the New Testament, Small noted, "Adoption is a powerful expression of our
relationship with God." In adoption, he said, "A person who was not related
is now adopted. Adoption becomes a controlling metaphor for the communion
between God and us, and the communion among us as adopted brothers and
sisters." In addition, he said, family includes widows and orphans. "These
were people cut off from family ties who become fully part of family again,"
he said.

One striking characteristic of the Bible, Small said, is its "absolute,
startling frankness about family struggles."

"In scripture there is not held up for us a pristine ideal of families, but
what we ourselves experience. ... David and Bathsheba are not lifted up as
models for families," he said, but the narratives show God working through
all these "mixed-up forms" to accomplish His purposes.

Small warned that what was presented to the CMDC last week is just an
outline: "The language that I used to communicate this basic outline will not
necessarily be the language in which we finally write this theological
section."

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