Evangelicals contest ‘no-boundary’ theology
Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, May 4, 1999
ATLANTA – In the church’s celebration of diversity, is there any room for boundaries? Other than homosexual behavior, this question generated the most vigorous discussion among conference participants during the “unity in diversity” conference in Atlanta April 29 – May 1.
The issue was introduced by Rev. Jorge Lara-Braud, vice president of the Hispanic-American Council. Lara-Braud, a native of Mexico, told the audience that he had experienced ethnic discrimination from Texas whites when he was 17 years old and that the traumatic effect was formative in his thinking about theology and the church.
He said that he believes the church tries to draw boundaries “when it feels insecure.” He lamented historic boundaries that were drawn between Roman Catholics and Protestants. He took issue with the Presbyterian Church’s restrictive attitudes toward the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, both of which he said were inadequate because they focused more on a crucified Christ than on his living ministry. He complained about the dominance of whites in the denomination at a time when the culture is rapidly becoming multicultural. And he lamented the boundaries that have been drawn around persons who practice homosexual behavior.
Lara-Braud said that Jesus was the kind of person who crossed over boundaries, and that his followers should do so as well.
Cynthia Campbell,
president of McCormick SeminaryDefining or pushing the boundaries
Cynthia Campbell, president of McCormick Seminary, agreed with Lara-Braud. She called for a dialectic between what she described as two strains in the Biblical/Reformed tradition. One strain, she said, is the defining boundary, and the other strain is the spirit that pushes against boundaries. While Campbell affirmed that both strains were legitimate in the life of the church, she put her emphasis on movements that “cross the line.” Jesus consistently crossed boundary lines, she said, “who to eat with, talk to, touch and be touched by.”
So how do you know what to do and when? asked Campbell. “How do you know which instinct to pursue and theological path to follow? This is a matter of discerning the spirit and therefore we will see it differently.”
Campbell defended her choice to break the boundaries by pointing to the damage caused by the human tendency to draw boundaries. Although admitting that other factors play a part, she blamed the war in the Balkans and battles in Northern Ireland on the existence of boundaries.
“In what sort of church do I wish to worship and serve?” she asked. “I want a church that concerns itself not by drawing lines but opening doors.”
Catherine Purves,
pastor of Hoboken Presbyterian Church in Blawnox, Pa.Affirming the boundaries
The no-boundary theme articulated by Lara-Braud and Campbell was contested by Presbyterian ministers Catherine Purves and James Logan.
Purves argued that scriptural boundaries are not – as Lara-Braud and Campbell suggested – of human origin, but that they are the gracious gift of God for the good of his people. She pointed out that God established boundaries in the very act of creation – separating the land from the sea and creating order in the midst of chaos. God acted again in the life of Israel, said Purves, when he gave Israel the law. It was this law that provided Israel with its identity.
“It was always when Israel’s sense of the boundaries became fuzzy and imprecise that they got themselves into trouble,” said Purves. “Like healthy adolescents, they turned stretching the boundaries into an art form. Adapting and accommodating the faith to foreign cultures was considered a justifiable survival tactic. All of this resulted in uncertain boundaries and the inevitable incorporation of idolatry and immoral behavior into the life of the faith community.”
Crossing the line
Purves observed that the modern church is making the same mistakes, failing to honor God-given boundaries. “What constitutes crossing the line?” she asked. “Crossing the line is when we allow God to be re-invented or re-imagined in ways to suit our social, psychological or emotional needs … when we allow grace to be re-invented so that it is simply a non-judgmental inclusivity … when we allow worship to be re-invented so that it becomes a promotional tool used to entice and entertain, rather than a glorifying of God centered in the sacraments given by Jesus and his powerful word proclaimed.”
Crossing the line, Purves continued, “is when we allow our moral standards to be re-invented in response to the influence of current cultural norms … when we allow our denominational journals to question the bodily resurrection of Jesus at Easter … when we allow Jesus to be re-invented through a reticence to proclaim his singular, saving lordship due to a sudden modern diffidence in the face of world religions … when we allow the Trinity to be re-invented and expressed in functional terms, rather than honoring the persons of the Trinity whom Jesus named: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Purves reminded her audience that Jesus was anything but fuzzy when Thomas asked him how he could know the way: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This is the ultimate boundary line, said Purves, and “if we cross that line, the church ceases to be the church.”
Center and circumference
“I still use language that has fallen on hard times these days,” said James Logan, pastor of South Tryon Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC. “I believe that you must be born again.” Logan pointed out that being born again means that a dividing line has been established in one’s life.
“We are saved from identification with and attachment to the standards of the world systems and to a living relationship with Jesus Christ. God does not want divided commitments any more than God wants forced love. Commitment to this faith involves leaving behind any claims this world has on my life and thinking.”
Logan declared that when Jesus Christ becomes the center of a person’s life a circumference is drawn around that center. The circumference honors the center point, and it becomes a boundary line for the believer’s life. Along this line, he said, one discovers the church’s doctrines, like the authority of Scripture, the Trinity, the virgin birth, the divinity of Christ, the resurrection, justification by grace through faith alone, and election. “When we deny or deviate from any of these we have clearly crossed the line.”
“It is difficult to understand how professors or church leaders who do not believe in the authenticity of the Christ of the Gospels can feel comfortable making their living from the contributions of church people who do. It is even more difficult to understand why church people, in particular church institutions and church bureaucrats, wish to sponsor with believers’ money those who are seeking to undermine the church’s faith.”
– John Leith, Crisis in the ChurchThe Bible as the word of God
“Many of the things that comprise this circumference are in dispute in our church,” said Logan. He cited the authority of Scripture, for example. “For me the bottom line is whether we accept the Bible as the word of God for our time and whether we bow to its authority. Perhaps if we truly accepted the Bible as authoritative we would not be dealing with many of the issues that we are forced to deal with.”
“Another piece of my boundary,” declared Logan, “is the authenticity of Jesus.” Looking into the room that included Presbyterian seminary leaders, he said, “Some would say that we don’t really believe Jesus could do what the Bible said he did.” Then Logan quoted from Professor John Leith’s Crisis in the Church: “It is difficult to understand how professors or church leaders who do not believe in the authenticity of the Christ of the Gospels can feel comfortable making their living from the contributions of church people who do. It is even more difficult to understand why church people, in particular church institutions and church bureaucrats, wish to sponsor with believers’ money those who are seeking to undermine the church’s faith.”
Jim Logan,
pastor of South Tryon Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NCBeing born again
Logan lauded attempts by church leaders to find a way to live together with our diverse cultures, ethnicities, races, styles of worship, and methods of community ministry “as long as we remain within the circumference.” To those who in the name of diversity would “lower the bar to make room for standards of living and practice that do not accord with our understanding of Scripture,” Logan repeated Christ’s call that those who would claim his name must “be born again.” We cannot obey his call on our own power, he said, but by the grace of God we are given the power to obey. “It is only the power of the Holy Spirit that keeps me within the boundaries.”
Looking not only at his own life but at the experience of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Logan said, “I have discovered that it is dangerous to cross the boundaries. Perhaps that is a commentary on our church. I believe that our thirty-year decline (from 4.5 million in our predecessor denominations to 2.6 million today) is but the fruit of having ventured outside of the line.”