Slippery slopes January 1, 1998 Many of the topics and events covered in this issue of The Layman are built on a common foundation – the denial that God’s self-revelation in Scripture, and supremely in Jesus Christ, is authoritative for Christian faith and life. When God’s revelation is repeatedly denied, what results are rapid skids…
After our likeness January 1, 1998 What is the mission of the Church? How should the Church be organized? Indeed, what is the Church? And who gets to answer such questions? Presbyterians who went to Minnesota in mid-April and those who gathered in Colorado two weeks later (see stories, p. 1) responded very differently to…
Rebuilding community January 1, 1998 While a handful of agitated activists was exacerbating denominational divisions by insisting that the PCUSA conform itself to the moral standards of modern culture, commissioners to the Charlotte Assembly were quietly pursuing another agenda: rebuilding Presbyterian community around historic Christian faith and practice. One step commissioners took toward rebuilding community…
In Memoriam, Lesslie Newbigin January 1, 1998 “My life without her would have been a poor thing.” Lesslie Newbigin’s tribute to Helen, his wife of 61 years, expresses precisely our sentiments on hearing of his passing from this life to the next. This profoundly Christian missionary, an ecumenist in the only sense that befits the…
Unmentionables January 1, 1998 It used to be that sex, politics, and religion were generally excluded from polite conversation. Once sex and politics became the only things that Presbyterians seemed to talk about (any stray mentions of religion being subsumed within the first two topics), we needed a new unmentionable. So the possibility of a…
The radical center January 1, 1998 Kudos to the more than 80 Presbyterian leaders who gathered under the banner of the Presbyterian Coalition, April 30-May 2 in Colorado Springs to forge a vision for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Through incalculable hours and a multitude of words, participants struggled to chart a course beyond that cacophony…
Trusting the whole people of God January 1, 1998 Presbyterian polity insists on parity between clergy and lay leaders. Our Reformed forbears understood that no human being and no institution is free of hubris. Thus they distributed the power to rule among interlocking governing bodies, preventing any individual, or any group of individuals, from exercising…
For the record December 1, 1997 As a service to the Presbyterian Church (USA), The Presbyterian Layman is pleased to publish in each issue an unedited guest column by the moderator of the General Assembly, the stated clerk of the General Assembly, and the chairman of the General Assembly Council. The moderator has taken that…
An unconstitutional Constitution? December 1, 1997 A growing movement among local church sessions to redirect their per capita contributions has understandably increased anxiety levels in the office of the stated clerk. But a response from lower-level officials – and the stated clerk’s refusal to correct or modify his subordinates’ opinions – is a cause for…
Integrity (re)defined December 1, 1997 Amendment A wordsmiths have undertaken an ambitious enterprise. Redefining “integrity” away from any meaningful connection with its roots, they offer Presbyterians sound without substance. As one Syracuse commissioner put it when asked what “fidelity and integrity in all relationships of life” could possibly mean, “I don’t know. I just like…