General Assembly Council member: discussion book could fire up more discontent
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, August 23, 2005
A member of the General Assembly Council has raised questions about why the council members were assigned a book that says Christ is only one way to God.
“The consideration of this material for an official gathering will appear, to many, as an endorsement of the positions taken in the book; positions which are unmistakably outside the positions taken by the General Assembly,” Mike KruseMichael W. Kruse of Kansas City said. “This event is going to simply throw one more log on to the fires of discontent burning in our denomination.””
The council is scheduled to discuss the book, The Wide, Wide Circle Of Divine Love: A Biblical Case For Religious Diversity by W. Eugene March during its meeting in Sacramento in September.
Kruse, an elder in Kansas City, said the book should not be on the council’s agenda because it conflicts with Christian beliefs, including numerous Presbyterian statements that Christ is the only Savior and Lord for the world.
Kruse posted his indictment of the book and the use of it by the council on his personal Web site, which he calls “Kruse Kronicle: Commentary and reflection on ministry in the twilight of Western Christendom.”
“Dr. March’s advocacy of pluralism is a substantial departure from our Reformed, not to mention Christian, heritage,” he says. “There are not many ways to God. There isn’t even one way to God. There is one way from God to us, through Jesus Christ. This is the central distinctive of the Christian message. No one, including the Christian, has ever been saved by religion. We are saved by Christ.”
March is a professor of Old Testament at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary. He has frequently taught that Christianity is but one of a number of valid religions. In 2000, he defended another Presbyterian, Dirk Ficca, who also promotes pluralism, after Ficca was criticized for asking during a Presbyterian Peacekeeping Conference, “What’s the big deal about Jesus?”
Ficca’s presentation set off a firestorm within the denomination and prompted later statements by the General Assembly Council and other groups that declared their loyalty to Christ as “our” Savior and Lord – but not as the one Savior and Lord for the world.
Eventually, the General Assembly, in an attempt to quell the controversy, adopted a theological statement written by the denomination’s Office of Theology and Worship that conformed to the essence of the PCUSA’s confessional history. That statement asserted, “Jesus Christ is the only Savior and Lord, and all people everywhere are called to place their faith, hope, and love in him.”
March’s response to Ficca’s comments was that Ficca was saying nothing new – and nothing that conflicted with March’s own belief in theological pluralism – or “unity in diversity,” as Presbyterian leaders often describe it.
Kruse quotes March as saying in The Wide Wide Circle that it is crucial to affirm that “other religions have an equally important place in God’s world. Sikhs and Taoists are part of God’s divine handiwork. Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists offer significant contributions to understanding the diversity of religious experience. These expressions of religion are precious to God and thus should be honored by all who call themselves religious.”
Kruse said he was “astounded” by March’s reasoning that because Judaism, Christianity and Islam are “‘meeting the needs and desires of those who participate,'” they are valid religions.”
“Meeting our needs and desires’ is not the determinate of valid religion!” Kruse says. “Our worship is about answering an invitation to die and come alive as new creatures in God through Christ. It is about extending that invitation to others and seeking God’s justice in the world. It is about having the mind of Christ.”
Reading books on pluralism is not what the General Assembly Council should be focusing on, Kruse said.
“It is my understanding that the discussion topics at the GAC meetings are intended to aid us as we think about priorities and decisions before us,” he said. “The General Assembly has spoken consistently and repeatedly over the past half century on the issue of Christ among other religions. So why are we not focusing on the policy that has been entrusted to us and instead having a conversation about how we might undermine that very policy?”
“I hope in the future our discussions and reflection can be focused on the mission placed before us. I am going to advocate toward that end. I also want to make it clear that I do not endorse the thesis of the book. I affirm with the denomination that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all, working out his purposes in ways that are known only to him. Our mission is to give witness of his grace and justice to the whole world, inviting them into relationship with Jesus.”