Posted on 04/14/2010 9:19:29 AM PDT by Judith Anne
With the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA scheduled to convene in June for the first time since the 2004 GA passed a notorious anti—Israel divestment resolution, supporters and detractors of divestment are discussing whether the Church's decision was anti—Semitic, or — somehow — anti—Israel without being anti—Semitic. Curiously, despite the storm caused by the divestment vote, most Presbyterians remain unaware of the extent to which the PCUSA leadership has involved itself in old—fashioned theological anti—Semitism.
The anti—Semitic alliances undertaken by the national church are particularly surprising in light of the well—known open—minded and unbiased attitudes of the overwhelming majority of Presbyterians.
One of the resolutions passed at the 2004 General Assembly included a list of recommended theological 'resources.' The most troubling 'resource' on the list is the Sabeel Center for Liberation Theology. Presbyterians are familiar with liberation theology, an approach that emerged after the Second Vatican Council, focusing on Jesus as liberator of the poor and oppressed.
As political theory, it is often characterized by opponents as 'might makes wrong,' positing, as it does, that the wealthy and the powerful are definitionally unjust, and that any claim made by the poor is necessarily just. Sabeel blends this theology with Replacement Theology, in which God rescinds His covenant with the children of Israel, replacing the Jews with Christians (rather than adding a New and more universal Covenant or Testament between God and the Church to the enduring Covenant between God and the Jewish people).
Replacement theology last resurfaced in the work of proto—Nazi theologians, notably Adolf von Harnack. It is also known as Supercessionism. Mainstream theologians perceive a worrying reappearance of supercessionism (Replacement Theology) in the work of the Sabeel Center.
In 1987 the PCUSA formally rejected Replacement Theology:
We believe and testify that this theory of supersessionism or replacement is harmful and in need of reconsideration....We affirm that both the church and the Jewish people are elected by God for witness to the world... We affirm the continuity of God's promise of land along with the obligations of that promise to the people Israel.
This official position has not stopped the leadership of the PCUSA from entering into a close relationship with the Sabeel Center and other proponents of supercessionism. The overtly anti—Semitic Sabeel Center is an official partner of the PCUSA, and receives PCUSA financial support.
I recognize that some Presbyterian has given you a theological wedgy at some time; hurt the religious pride, maybe dissed the Pope, and now you’re trying to extract your pound of flesh. I just figured you had some emotional energy you were bursting at the seams to expend on some saints and since you seem to prefer bitterness to blessing; fretting to forgiveness, I would give you something to ruminate on.
But for the record, my last name is so Catholic it would make your head swim. But, I have been saved entirely by grace through faith alone. I can approach the throne of grace with confidence based on the fully finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I go on bended knee, heart in my hands, head hung low before my Savior, but the path to that throne of glorious eternal joy doesn’t detour through Rome. I won’t be held captive, except by Christ.
You may want to meditate on those five “solas” a tad; they are so liberating!
AMEN! Beautifully stated.
"Wherefore, as works have respect to men, so conscience bears reference to God, a good conscience being nothing else than inward integrity of heart." -- John Calvin, On Christian Liberty
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