by
Deborah Milam Berkley, Ph.D.
In a recent Outlook editorial [1] , Laird Stuart, co-moderator of the
Covenant Network, writes about “dueling orthodoxies” in the PCUSA. His use
of “orthodoxy” in this editorial is not really incorrect, but he does mean
something different from the way we use “orthodox” in “Voices of Orthodox
Women.”
Mr. Stuart is basically talking about dueling ideologies, or sets of
beliefs. This is not far from one of the definitions of “orthodox” found in
the _Microsoft Encarta World English Dictionary_: “following the established
or traditional rules of social behavior, a philosophy, or a faith.”1 An
orthodoxy, as Mr. Stuart uses the word, is an established philosophy. So
with this meaning of the word, he can refer to the theology of progressives
as an orthodoxy, even when it has departed greatly from the previous twenty
centuries of Christian theology.
On the other hand, when VOW uses “orthodox,” we mean one of the definitions
found in _The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language_:
“adhering to the Christian faith as expressed in the early Christian
ecumenical creeds.”2 Voices of Orthodox Women adheres to the Christian faith
as expressed in the Bible (which gave birth to those creeds). With this
meaning of the word, there can be only one orthodoxy.
Historically, beliefs that contradict orthodox theology have been called
heterodoxy. Many of the views of progressives are at variance with
historically established Christian doctrine. Those views are therefore
heterodox, and not orthodox.
But because of the way Mr. Stuart has used the word “orthodoxy”, there is a
risk that people who read his editorial may think that the theology that VOW
advocates is just one of two or more equally valid viewpoints. However,
VOW’s theology is completely subject to the authority of the Bible. VOW thus
stands firmly with the theology that has been accepted by Christians for two
millennia. This is why we call ourselves orthodox women.
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1. _Encarta World English Dictionary_ & (P) 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All
rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
2. _The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language_ 1992, Houghton
Mifflin.
[1] http://www.pres-outlook.com/stuart10901.html