Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at its 217th Annual General Conference received the denomination's report, 'The Trinity: God's Love Overflowing'. Among the recommendations in the report is that the Trinity may be referred to as Rainbow, Ark and Dove. - Reuters
What is your image of a triune God? Have you ever thought of the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost as Compassionate Mother, Beloved Child
and Life-Giving Womb? How about Rainbow, Ark and Dove?
Well the mainline denomination, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), last Monday at its 217th
general assembly held in Birmingham Alabama, agreed to 'receive' a report which facilitates member congregations to employ new triads of language to speak of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The other suggested triads include: Speaker, Word and Breath; Overflowing Font, Living Water and Flowing River; Sun, Light and Burning Ray; Giver, Gift and Giving; Lover, Beloved and Love; Rock, Cornerstone and Temple; Fire that Consumers, Sword that Divides and Strom that Melts Mountains; and The One Who Was, The One Who Is and The One Who Is To Come.
The report - The Trinity: God's Love Overflowing is the product of more than five years of study, consultation and discussion and by a group of pastors, elders and theologians of the denomination. The report, according to its introduction, is an attempt "to expand rather than limit the Church's vocabulary of praise and wonder. No one name, no single metaphor, no set of words or phrases however thoughtful, poetic or profound can say everything that could be said about the mystery of God's love made known to us in Jesus Christ and sealed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
TRACEABLE HERITAGE
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has approximately 2.4 million members, 11,100 congregations and 14,000 ordained and active ministers. Presbyterians trace their history to the 16th century and the Protestant Reformation. Their heritage, and much of what they embrace is traceable to Reformation theologian, John Calvin who lived between the years 1509-1564.
The 34-page report is not without its critics. When the vote was put to the delegates to 'receive' the report, there were 282 polling in favour, 212 against and seven abstentions.
A release from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) said that while the
delegates were uncertain about endorsing it, they were ready to commend it to their respective congregations for further study. The report was 'received' and 'approved'. If it had been approved, it would have had the weight of the confessions and statements of faith found in the denominations constitution. Notwithstanding, "the result is practically the same," said the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Rev. Dr. R. Albert Mohler, in a stinging critique of the Presbyterian Church published in his Wednesday column on www.crosswalk.com .
BROADEN VOCABULARY
According to the report, "Faithfulness to the gospel frees us to honour and continue to use this faithful way of speaking of the triune God even as it frees us to adopt other faithful images. Rather than simply repeating the word 'God' in prayer and liturgy, we are free to broaden our vocabulary for speaking of the triune God, emboldened by the rich reservoir of biblical and traditional terms, images, and metaphors." (page 7).
The report suggests that appropriate weight ought to be given to the Bible and tradition when it states "We must always be guided by the words of scripture and creed that speak of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (page 7)
But it also maintains that "We should not insist on the exclusive use of the traditional Trinitarian names, lest we quench the Spirit and even foster idolatry. Such a view would insufficiently acknowledge the divine mystery, would neglect the freedom of God's children to glorify God imaginatively with all our hearts and minds, and would diminish the joy of knowing God ever more fully.
"We are liberated to interpret, amplify, and expand upon the ways of speaking of the triune God familiar to most church members. We are freed to speak faithfully and amply of the mystery of the Trinity. We may cultivate a responsible Trinitarian imagination and vocabulary that bears witness in different ways to the one triune God known to us from scripture and creed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," the report stated. (page 7)
In what is arguably an attempt to liberate women from 'oppressive' expressions of Trinitarian language, the report said such vocabulary has been used to support the idea that God is male and that men are superior to women. Citing the Westminster Confession, the report stressed that: God is not male; Only creatures who have bodies can be male or female; God is Spirit and has no body;Trinitarian understanding of God makes it clear that the Creator of gender is not subject to it.
FEMALE IMAGERIES UNDER-EXPLORED
Female imageries for the Trinity are under-explored, and with that being the case, this needs to be addressed, the document said. The report suggested that "The overflowing love of God finds expression in the biblical depiction of God as Compassionate Mother (Isa 49:15; 66:13), Beloved Child (Mt 3:17), and Life-giving Womb (Isa 46:3). The Divine Wisdom (hochmah in Hebrew, sophia in Greek) is portrayed in the Bible as a woman who preaches in the streets, gives instruction, advocates justice, builds houses, and acts as a gracious hostess (Prov 1,8,9).
Press releases from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) noted comments of some of those who spoke for and against the report.
Sylvia Thorson-Smith, an elder and retired professor of religious studies from Tucson, Arizona, spoke in favour of the paper.
"For three decades, Presbyterians have repeatedly affirmed their commitment to inclusive language," she said. "The Scriptures are rich with descriptions of the ways God creates, redeems and is in relationship with us limited creatures.
"Christian tradition has relied almost exclusively on male images of God, to the point where women and men have asked the church to recover more expansive images which both honour our tradition and more fully reflect the God of Genesis, whose own image is both male and female".
"This paper on the Trinity is a gift to the Presbyterian Church. It may not go as far as some of us would like, but it denounces oppressive paradigms that may be upheld by the idea of a God that is exclusively male. The Trinity paper stands solidly in Christian tradition when it authorises the use of overlooked female images and promotes egalitarian human relationships. Its recommendations should be adopted," she said.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST
Susan Cyre, pastor of Dublin Presbyterian Church in Presbytery of the Peaks and editor of the magazine Theology Matters, spoke against the paper. She cited two professors at Pittsburgh Presbytery who have called the paper "fatally flawed".
"It fails to clearly, consistently and accurately make a distinction between the names of God and the attributes and works of God described in metaphors and similes," she said. "Names and metaphors and similes are not the same. God is like a mother hen, but God is not a mother hen and mother hen is not a name of God."
Referring to the Trinitarian language of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, she said these "are not metaphors, but the names for God."
She concluded by saying, "The paper is fatally flawed, and no small amount of amendments can correct it."
Pam Byers, an elder at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco and executive director of the Covenant Network, spoke in favour of the Trinity paper.
"I'm excited about this resource for congregational worship," she told a committee of the conference. "The whole structure of the report follows the movement of Reformed worship ... I'm sorry that some people are troubled by the image of God as the rainbow of promise. I found it very helpful to reflect that God rescues God's people throughout history and in our personal lives, and is known to us as a rainbow of promise, as an ark of salvation, as a dove of peace in our lives.
FRESH WAYS TO UNDERSTAND GOD
"Speaker, Word and Breath, Giver, Gift and Giving. These and so many other Biblical images give us fresh ways to try to understand the God who told our ancestors in faith that his name was only I Am.
For Mohler The Trinity: God's Love Overflowing, falls "far short of theological orthodoxy", and is "weirdly eccentric".
He asks: "Who would ever naturally assume that "Rainbow, Ark and Dove" or "Rock, Cornerstone and Temple" refer to the three persons of the Trinity? In what sense does the triad "Fire that Consumes, Sword that Divides and Storm that Melts Mountains" clarify the identity and glory of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
The Christian faith is based exclusively in the understanding that God alone has the right to name Himself ... The doctrine of the Trinity is itself a truth revealed by God about Himself as an act of His own self-giving grace and mercy to His human creatures. He does not invite His creatures to experiment in worship by naming Him according to their own desires.
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