PCUSA task force member declares his ‘departure from Biblical tradition’
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, February 7, 2005
The Rev. Dr. Mark Achtemeier, associate professor of systematic theology at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary and a member of the General Assembly Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity (PUP), told a seminary class on Jan. 27 that his position on homosexuality represents a “departure from the Biblical tradition.”
Achtemeier’s statement created quite a buzz during the break that followed. When the class was reconvened, Achtemeier urged the students not to repeat his comments outside the classroom. He told them that they were bound by “a covenant” not to repeat comments made in class.
Faculty members and students at the seminary tell The Layman Online that there was no evidence that a covenant of confidentiality exists. The Layman Online made numerous attempts last week to contact Achtemeier for clarification of his comments, but he did not return telephone calls.
According to students who were in the classroom, Achtemeier stated that on the issue of homosexual behavior he was more concerned “about the empirical evidence” than about Biblical tradition. He said that he was unwilling to say that homosexual behavior is either a sin or not a sin.
The policy of the Presbyterian Church (USA), which was affirmed by the 1978 General Assembly as an “authoritative interpretation” and has never been overturned by any subsequent General Assembly, declares that homosexual behavior is contrary to the teachings of Scripture and is sinful. Furthermore, the PCUSA has held three national referendums on the issue of whether to ordain practicing homosexuals. By increasing margins, including more than 73 percent in 2001, Presbyterians have affirmed the constitutional standard that men and women who are in homosexual or adulterous relationships are not qualified for ordination as ministers, elders or deacons.
Achtemeier reportedly told students in his class that he believes passages in Romans and other books of the Bible that condemn same-sex behavior refer only to promiscuous behavior, not sexual activity that occurs within monogamous relationships. He said he has come to the conclusion that the church needs to support homosexuals who commit themselves to monogamous relationships.
As a member of the task force, Achtemeier has contended that anyone who leaves the Presbyterian Church (USA), a corporation, is guilty of leaving the Church. Although he has publicly recognized the seriousness of sexuality debates that have deeply divided his fellow Presbyterians, Achtemeier has repeatedly declared that he does not believe differences on issues of sexual ethics justify schism.
Although Achtemeier says he is ambivalent on whether homosexual behavior is sinful, he is adamant in labeling denominational schism a sin.
He has been one of the chief architects of the task force’s Christological statement, which was gleaned principally from selected verses in the first three chapters of the letter to the Ephesians. In a report to the 216th General Assembly, the task force concluded that Jesus is the church’s peace, unity and purity and that church members have no right to separate from the denomination because of differences over those issues.
“Christians cannot even entertain the notion of severing their ties with sisters and brothers in Christ without also placing themselves in severe jeopardy of being severed from Christ himself,” the task force report says. The report adds, “[P]urity must not become a pretext for division. Those who break the body of Christ on the grounds that some members do not meet a particular conception of righteousness risk putting fallible human judgment in place of Christ.”
The task force report repeats a truncated version of a statement in the third chapter of the Book of Order – “God alone is Lord of the conscience.” But the full statement, G-1.0201, adds a qualifier: “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to his Word, or beside it, in matters of faith or worship.” Thus, the Presbyterian Church (USA) does not recognize freedom of conscience to beliefs or practices that are contrary to Scripture.
Dr. Robert A.J. Gagnon, a member of the faculty of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and the author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice – which is considered the most definitive scholarly work on the issue – strongly disagrees with the task force’s Christological statement. Gagnon says the task force truncates and distorts the whole message of Ephesians.
Quoting extensively from the fourth and fifth chapters of Ephesians, Gagnon said the task force ignored references to passages urging Christians to refrain from sexually impure acts, including same-gender sexual behavior. “There is no such thing as a unity based on toleration, and even approval, of sexual behavior that Jesus and the united witness of the authors of Scripture would have been appalled by. The report insists that, as regards purity, unity, and peace, ‘no one [can be] elevated above the other two.’ And yet, ultimately, the purity of the community does have priority over unity, certainly as regards core values in sexual ethics. More precisely, it defines true unity as a value contingent on adherence to apostolic teaching.”
Achtemeier, whom some regarded to be an evangelical voice on the task force, was appointed to the group to succeed his mother, retired Union Theological Seminary (Richmond) professor Elizabeth Achtemeier, who died after a long illness.
The next meeting of the task force will be in Dallas March 2-4. The 213th General Assembly voted in 2001 to form the task force to “lead the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in spiritual discernment of our Christian identity in and for the 21st century … seeking the peace, purity and unity of the church.” The General Assembly gave the panel four issues to address: Christology, Biblical authority and interpretation, ordination standards, and power.
The task force, which has prepared only its statement on Christology, is supposed to have a draft report on its recommendations by this summer for distribution to presbyteries and synods and a final report for presentation to the 218th General Assembly for its meeting in Birmingham in 2006.