Re: [asa] Confessional Statements and TE Views

David O. asks about how theistic evolution views (particularly of Adam and
original sin) mesh in confessional traditions, where elements of some
confessions might seem to contradict such views.
 
I am an Elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The PCUSA is the big
"mainline" Presbyterian denomination, with churches (and members) spanning a wide
theological range from from conservative Evangelical to liberalism that flirts
with unbelief. If one put the denomination on a 1-dimensional scale (with
obvious loss of information) where 0 was its most "liberal" end and 100 its
most "conservative" end, my particular church would probably be around 85-90 (I
personally would probably be about 75). Just to give you an idea of where
I'm coming from.
 
The PCUSA has a Book of Confessions which is an important governing
document, containing 11 different confessions that Christians have made. This ranges
from the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, through some Reformation confessions
like Westminster and Helvetic, to more recent statements such as the Barmen
Declaration.
 
There are at least 3 points relevant to David's question:
 
1) The Confessions are part of a defined hierarchy of authority, and they
are not at the top. The top of the hierarchy is stated to be the triune God
revealed in Jesus Christ. Then #2 is Scripture, as it testifies to #1. Then
#3 is the Confessions, as "authentic and reliable expositions of what
Scripture leads us to believe and do". (Below that comes decisions of church
bodies, and individual opinions). It is recognized that, once you get past #2,
things are no longer infallible.
 
2) The Confessions are recognized as having been written in particular
situations to address particular issues of concern. This particularlity and
connection to a particular place and time mean that no Confession is taken as the
be-all and end-all, as setting doctrine in stone in all details for all time.
 Each generation must, in conversation with previous generations, make its
basic confession ("Jesus is Lord") in a way that is true to Scripture and
clear and relevant for its time and place.
 
3) The Confessions contradict each other in details here and there. This is
another indication that they play a guiding role, not a 100% normative role
(like Scripture does). When I was ordained, I promised to be "instructed and
led" and "continually guided" by the Book of Confessions. To quote a church
document, these words "provide freedom from a demand for unqualified assent
to everything the confessions ask us to think, say, and do and freedom from a
legalistic interpretation of the confessions." That is not total license,
as the confessions are still recognized as "authentic and reliable expositions
of what Scripture leads us to believe and do".
 
So, getting back to David's question, in my denomination there would be no
necessary problem with a view of original sin that did not line up 100% with
some confession of 400 years ago, as long as the case could be made that the
view was consistent with the overall teaching of Scripture. This would
especially be the case if the issue was not something that was of concern in the
particular historical situation that led to that confession -- so one would
take the Reformation confessions more authoritatively in talking about
Pelagianism, for example, than with regard to something that wasn't on their radar
screen (like relating Adam to modren anthropology). So, a recent General
Assembly of the PCUSA (that would be #4 in the hierarchy of authority) adopted a
statement affirming evolution as a means of God's creation, and saying that
Christian efforts to oppose evolution (in case Gregory is reading, this refers
to the science of biological evolution, not other things that sometimes get
added under that word) are misguided. This may or may not have been partly
motivated by the fact that, last I knew, Phil Johnson was a member of a PCUSA
church.
 
The more conservative Presbyterian denominations may give less freedom with
regard to the details of their confessions; typically these use only the
Westminster Confession rather than a diversity of confessions. For example, I
have gotten the impression (there are some here who could correct me) that in
the PCA the Westminster Confession is treated only slightly below Scripture as
an authority. And Terry Gray could tell us about his heresy trial in the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church, which I believe was based on Terry's view about
the physical origin of Adam's body that was claimed to be in opposition to a
passage in the Westminster Confession.
 
Allan (ASA Member)
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Dr. Allan H. Harvey, Boulder, Colorado | SteamDoc@aol.com
"Any opinions expressed here are mine, and should not be
attributed to my employer, my wife, or my cat"

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Received on Sat Jan 19 15:54:10 2008