Witherspoon luncheon hears Doug
Ottati's call for theological reflection -- and starting points for the
task
by Doug King
[6-16-02]
A bright, clear Sunday in Columbus brought a brilliant sermon by former
Moderator Jack Rogers during the Assembly's opening Service of Worship.
(You'll find a good account of that
service in the Presbyterian News Service
report.)
Following that time of worship, over 260 people
gathered for the annual Witherspoon Society Luncheon to hear a
stimulating and provocative keynote address from Dr. Douglas F. Ottati,
professor at Union Theological Seminary/PSCE in Richmond.
Witherspoon President Jane Hanna welcomed the guests,
and incoming President Kent Winters-Hazelton provided some of the
announcements without which no GA occasion would be complete.
Whole Gospel Congregations honored
Gene
TeSelle, Witherspoon's Issues Analyst, introduced two Columbus
congregations who are joint recipients of this year's Whole Gospel
Congregation Award.
Bethany Presbyterian Church, a historically African
American congregation, has supplied a number of national leaders to the
Presbyterian Church, including Mary Jane Patterson, former director of
the Washington Office, and Robina Winbush, Director of Ecumenical and
Agency Relationships.
Broad Street Presbyterian Church has been associated
through the years with ministers like Ganse Little, Ray Kearns, and John
Buchanan. Broad Street's community programs are prominently displayed in
the illustrated volume, Presbyterians: a Spiritual Journey.
The two congregations have displayed leadership
through the decades in civil rights, community organizing, and community
service. Currently they are cooperating in several service and advocacy
programs.
Ottati speaks on "progressive Presbyterian theologies"
The keynote speaker was then introduced by none other than one of his
students at Union Seminary. Kate van Brocklin (who is also serving this
week as Witherspoon's Wareham Intern) acknowledged the risks involved in
letting a student introduce her professor, but she spoke glowingly of
his role in her own life as a mentor and a theological inspiration.
Ottati
titled his address "Some Characteristics of Progressive
Presbyterian Theologies," and proceeded to deliver what he
promised.
[We have now posted the full text of this address
in Witherspoon's Network News.]
He began by noting the significance of the Confession
of 1967 for many people in the late '60s, as it provided a
"theological vision" for people trying to deal with the
assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the war in Vietnam, and the
many others tensions of that time. C-67 "tried to say how
and why certain actions and stances constitute a faithful and
present witness to the living God."
We find our church again in a time of
"turmoil," he said - both within itself as the right seems to
be gaining power, and in the wider society. In this situation, what
should we do? He suggested that "surely, we should continue to
press for a more inclusive church. We should also raise and discuss
questions about a host of other matters, such as global interdependence,
justice, poverty, economic development, terrorism, security, civil
liberties, human rights, the appropriate use of military power, urban
policy, capital punishment, global warming, public transportation, and
stewardship of the environment." [Your WebWeaver wonders: That's a
great agenda for Witherspoon, or even for the church. But what'll we do next
year?]
But more than that, "we need to reflect
theologically. ... We need to generate theological visions that promise
to indicate both how and why certain actions and
stances may constitute a present and faithful witness to the living
God."
To provide such visions we need to recognize that
theology in the progressive wing of the church is inherently
pluralistic, so Ottati set forth not the basis for a theology,
but "a few characteristics that different progressive and
Presbyterian theologies might share."
First, "progressive Presbyterian
theologies will be Reformed and ecumenical." They will
draw upon the Reformed tradition, "that insists on the priority of
God's Word, even as it remains open to wisdom and insight wherever they
are found." This includes the critical reading of Scripture, and a
recognition that all "creeds and confessions ... are fallible and
that none are to be taken as rules of faith and practice."
Such theologies will also be ecumenical - learning
from other branches of the Reformed family, and from many other
"ways of being Christian." They will also respect and learn
from the sciences and the natural human "moral sense."
"The reason, as Calvin maintained, and as we also should insist, is
the 'all truth is of God.'"
Second, "progressive Presbyterian
theologies will be theocentric and worldly." That is,
"they will point to God and God's reign and they will encourage us
to be faithfully responsive to God and God's reign. They will affirm
that ... we belong to God, that the earth is the Lord's, and that we are
not our own."
"They will affirm that no reality, person,
community, or situation - no part of life or corner of creation - lies
beyond the ever-present governance of the Creator-Redeemer disclosed in
Jesus Christ. This is why they will reject easy divisions between sacred
and profane. ... Such a worldly Christianity, while it appreciates the
deeply personal character of genuine faith, inevitably will reject
merely privatized or interior spiritualities in favor of a robustly
public presence and witness." It will rather see ordinary daily
life as "the locus of faithfulness to God and to others."
Third, "progressive Presbyterian
theologies will be Christ-shaped and capacious."
"Jesus Christ is good news for sinners, for the poor, the outcast,
and the oppressed. Jesus Christ crosses barriers and boundaries in order
to bring renewed and abundant life." This leads to "a summary
statement: in Jesus Christ the all-governing maker of heaven and earth
comes to us as Redeemer. Jesus Christ means that the great God of glory
who creates all things is the good God of grace who redeems. Jesus
Christ means that God is faithful."
This leads Ottati to affirm that "the core
christology is that Jesus Christ, the life-giving word, demonstrates and
discloses that god is faithful and that we are recipients of
beneficiaries of the divine goodness. Thus ... we believe that we are
saved neither by our actions nor our beliefs, but by the grace of God
alone."
We believe this because "the event of Jesus
Christ shapes our picture of God. This is the big deal about
Jesus, but it is not an exclusive deal and, in fact, it drives us toward
increasingly inclusive and capacious reflections. ... This is why we are
slow to limit the scope of salvation. This is why we do not say that
only the morally conscientious, or only the profligate, or only the
wealthy, or only the poor can be saved. ... This is why we do not say
that only the male, or only the female, or only the gay, or only the
straight, or only the celibate, or only the prolific can be saved. ...
Instead, we only insist on this: that the Lord of the universe, the
Real, the faithful and dependable God who comes to us in Jesus Christ,
redeems by grace alone."
Fourth, "progressive Presbyterian
theologies will be realistic and hopeful." These
theologies will recognize the reality of sin as "a radical,
multifaceted, and universal corruption of what we are equipped and
sustained to be." Seeing this sin in "the persistently
destructive tendencies of persons, communities, and institutions,"
we will see the need for "checks, balances, restraints, and the
limitation of all powers," along with "a prophetic insistence
on social and political criticism."
But even in the face of such realities, "grace
abounds," which means "the transformation of life and its
deliverance from diminution to abundance and renewed
possibilities." These possibilities will include social
arrangements that allow for greater sharing of power, interdependence,
and continuing hope in the midst of all the horrors of our world.
Ottati added his own response to recent events - a
belief that one of our tasks today is that of "developing genuinely
realistic and hopeful understandings of civil government, the
nation-state, and international politics," including a critical and
realistic view of the role of the military in today's world.
Fifth, "progressive Presbyterian
theologies will be ecologically inclined and humane." This
view "will envision God's creation as a single, vast, and dynamic
ecology of which we humans are a part ... [picturing] humans as
creatures enmeshed in the same web of relations and interdependencies
that includes other creatures. ... They will reject the anthropocentric
assumptions that we humans are sharply unlike all other creatures and
that Earth is simply created for our benefit. ... Instead, they will
note that the vast cosmic ecology is not centered on the isolated
well-being of any single creature or species, and that there is both
value and integrity to its dynamic interrelations."
Seeing human existence in a wider cosmic ecology will
give us a new basis "to understand the embodied character of human
life, as well as the relationship between our distinctive human
capacities and our distinctive responsibilities to care for the
earth." We will recognize that our own well-being as human
creatures is bound up with the well-being of the wider ecosystem of
which we are a part.
Finally, Ottati offered "another call for
theological reflection." Today, he said, "I am
calling for us to engage in the discipline of sustained theological
reflection and discussion in sermons, adult classes, session meetings,
Presbytery meetings, informal study groups, conferences, seminary
classrooms, continuing educations events, and more. ... This past year,
the Witherspoon Society has sponsored conferences on C-67 and the Book
of Confessions. Good. We should continue to study and discuss the
confessions. But while we're at it, why not a study group dedicated to
exploring Reformed theology, or the relationship between God and world?
Why not a conference on Christian views of other religions, or on
theological foundations for a realistic and hopeful understanding of
civil government? Why not a class on creation in the light of new
knowledge about the intricate interdependencies of our planetary
ecology. ... Why not commit ourselves to reading at least two good,
quality books on theology and theological ethics per year?"
He closed by expressing "the modest hope that 34
years from now someone will stand before a gathering something like this
one and say that, in 2002, during a time of challenge and uncertainty,
the progressive wing of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) didn't wallow
in its disappointments. It didn't give up and it didn't retreat.
Instead, it stood fast. It re-committed itself to making a faithful
witness in season and out. And as a part of this re-commitment, it took
up with renewed seriousness and zeal the time-honored and timely
discipline of theological discussion and reflection. ... It tried to say
how and why certain attitudes, actions, and stances
constitute a faithful and present witness to the living God."
You may want to read the Presbyterian
News Service report of this event, too.
The Presbyterian
Layman also offers an interesting version of this event, in which
the Witherspoon Society is referred to as "one of the leading
voices against the 'fidelity/chastity' ordination
standard." Thanks for the recognition!
