Let me say right up front that this post may appear snarky to some of you, maybe many of you. Maybe it really is snarky. But as I processed through what I am going to talk about I came to the conclusion that this is not just a knee-jerk cynical reaction but there is something really revealing about this. I am hoping I get all the snark out – you may think otherwise.
To begin with, a really interesting and useful piece was announced today on Twitter from the Presbytery of Chicago and the tweets attributed it to their Stated Clerk Barbara Bundick. It is a Road Map To The Form Of Government — a one-page, two-sided color leaflet that guides a person through the Form of Government section of the PC(USA) Book of Order.
It is a very good resource – get it, use it. I will include it myself in future ruling elder training.
But what got my attention was the stylized map that went with it to explain the relationships.
Let me first give it credit for good cartography – things are clearly labeled and there is a north arrow and a scale. If I had to guess I would say they used the Netherlands as a starting point for the base map. That would make the Book of Confessions and the Rules of Discipline Belgium, or part of it, and Germany is The Secular World.
But the graphic bothers me on one secondary and symbolic point. I have no problem with the vast majority of it – Scripture as an ocean, the emphasis on the Form of Government (that’s what the pamphlet is about after all), the Rules of Discipline as a bordering area (and is the red symbolic? “Danger, Will Robinson!”), and the Directory for Worship and Foundations of Presbyterian Polity as being more of Scripture than government and the Foundations tying it all together.
But yes, it is the treatment of the Book of Confessions that I find revealing. On a practical level when viewing this it looks like just another section, like the neighboring Rules of Discipline. It is not given the heft of a part of our Constitution that has its own volume — and being volume 1 no less. Should it not be treated as different in nature from the sections of the Book of Order? Would it not have been useful to somehow distinguish it as different since our ordination vows say we are instructed and guided by the confessions, something that is not said of the Book of Order?
Or, am I getting worked up over nothing?
Let’s break down the possibilities…
One is that I am completely off my rocker, over interpreting a stylistic figure and finding importance in minor details that are not really part of what the document is ultimatly about. This could certainly be the case.
Another possibility is that this diagram was carefully laid out so that the Book of Confessions was fully intended to have no greater or lesser importance in the PC(USA) polity world than the Rules of Discipline. This could also be the case but considering the emphasis Presbyterians generally place on our confessional standards I don’t think it was quite this intentional.
It is my conclusion that the answer probably lies in between these two. The guide sheet is about the Form of Government so that section is rightly given predominance in the diagram. The figure is carefully constructed and full of symbolism but it appears that the other pieces are placed at particular points around the focus of the picture. On the map location is the quantity that carries the significance.
I am inclined to think that the sizing of the region representing the Book of Confessions is inadvertent but telling. It reflects what seems to be the commonly held perception of the PC(USA) Constitution that it is out there and useful at particular points in our life together, but the confessions are just one piece of it like all the others. In particular, our day-to-day business is guided by the Form of Government so that is what we need to know.
In short, I think this mapping of the parts of our constitution is unintentionally all too honest about how we frequently regard the parts of our constitution. It reflects how much attention we pay to the different parts of the constitution — lots of times our books fall open to the Form of Government because that is where we spend the most time while the other sections are less frequently referred to.
Let me affirm that this really is a good diagram overall and those that put it together had a particular point that is neatly brought out by it. The point I am bringing up is that the secondary details may be a Rorschach test for me and I am seeing what I want to in it, or it may be a sort of graphic Freudian slip for the creators who are inadvertently saying something about the day-to-day place of the confessions in the PC(USA).
Wow! Agree 200% GAJ! Herein lies the problem with metaphors, and right brain clerks trying to ‘splain to left brain generation, and yes, the reality of where we find ourselves. The Catholics (down to the southeast) must be laughing too hard.
It may be practically where we are (synod of Dort?) but we really need to become seafaring people again; I fear we have become too agrarian. After all, it is a blue planet and part of God’s great creation if we read the Psalms.
If I were to present this diagram to congregation or even session, I would have wholesale rebellion. They would throw the BS card and walk down the street to another church (any other church) “even though we really like it here and you as a pastor.” I mean, how out of touch and complicated can we make ourselves?
This is the reality, I get it. But it is not the theology or polity we have claimed since Calvin. Or did we bury him somewhere the mouth of the Foundation River? Ok, so I’ve gone from laughing to crying. You are more generous than I. (and by simply publishing this map, are we giving it cred/authority? would rather debate and vote)
“Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.”
Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Steve, I think you’re dead on. The map inadvertently depicts the reality of the PC(USA): the Confessions are one “bay” opening onto the ocean of Scripture, but they’re the back bay, so to speak. All of the important traffic comes through the other “bay,” here marked (appropriately) as the “interpretation and amendment” of the Book of Order and “Ecumenicity.” Sad, but accurate.
P.S.: I originally wrote this comment in pirate talk, and then thought better of it.
Steve, that positioning of the BOC may not be inadvertent, what do you make of our Moderator’s video/treatise on the Nature of Confessions in the Reformed Tradition??
http://www.pcusa.org/resource/nature-confessions-reformed-tradition-pcusa/
Then what do you make of some of the comments ??
I have seen some second hand info on that but will chase it down.
I have been working on an overall confessions post for over six months now and there is too much PC(USA) stuff to process. (The gift that keeps on giving?) I will draw a line and try to get my thoughts posted soon.
No, you are not getting worked up over nothing. You are absolutely on the money. I had hoped the emergence of ECO would teach us to pay more attention to our confessional heritage, but I haven’t seen any seismic shifts in that direction. I wonder how many commissioners to presybtery meetings will actually read the new Heidelberg translation before voting on it, for instance.
I was told by someone who works in Louisville that while there are plans afoot to produce an ebook version of the Book of Order, no such plans are in place for the Book of Confessions. Now, to be fair, maybe they’re waiting to make sure the new Heidelberg translation gets approved by the presbyteries; but if not, as this person said, “it’s theologically backward” to focus on the BoO so much.
Thanks for a great post.
Thank you for your kind comments. You’re right that the point is to help people find their way around the Form of Government, which is why the rest of the Constitution got short shrift. You’re also right that most PCUSA members are woefully unaware of the wealth, grace, and theological depth of the Book of Confessions. We’ve been trying to use the vote on Heidelberg as a teaching moment. I’d like to think at least some members are more appreciative.
Finally, yes, the map’s based on the Netherlands. Good catch.
Ms. Bundick,
Thank you very much for the clarifications and for putting this resource together.
In thinking about this more I have to wonder how the confessions would fit into your diagram. Since some of the Foundations derive from the confessions and the confessions are our expositions of scripture it would seem that they should be more fluid than solid.
Anyway, I’m overthinking it again. As you say, that is not the focus but it simply shows how the other parts relate to the FOG
Thanks again
There is a resource to make the Confessions of our church more accessible: The Presbyterian Heritage Daily Devotional, Selections from the Confessions for Each Day of the Year. It can be purchased on Amazon or through most book retailers.
Thanks for bringing the resource to our attention
(Disclaimer – It appears you are the author of that book.)