The Journal of Presbyterian History

Special Issue: "Is Christ Divided?" Presbyterians in Times of Controversy 

"Is Christ Divided?", the final report of the Task Force on Theological Pluralism, was approved by the 200th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 1988. The question in the title (taken from I Corinth. 1:13) was not rhetorical. The task force had been established in 1985 after repeated consultations with "special interest groups" within the denomination revealed deep divisions among organized factions which threatened the peace and unity of the church. The Assembly ordered three thousand copies of the report to be printed under separate cover, with translations to be made into Korean and Spanish. Copies were to be sent to every presbytery and synod executive and stated clerk, and to all PC(USA) seminary presidents, deans, faculty members, and student groups for study and response. It is the cover of this unique document which is featured on the cover of this, our special issue on "Presbyterians in Times of Controversy."

The report, written by the Reverend Joseph D. Small, chairman, was the result of a two-year process of study, debate, and reflection on the Bible, the Reformed tradition, cultural and theological pluralism, and their practical implications in the life of the church. Included in the study was the observation that the denomination's present-day controversies were rooted in past conflicts which had never been sufficiently acknowledged, addressed, or resolved. "What seems to characterize the Presbyterian Church today," they said, "is less its theological diversity than its avoidance of the challenge of that diversity." They concurred with the judgment of church historian Lefferts Loetscher, who wrote in The Broadening Church in 1957, that bitter memories and thick scars from the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy at the beginning of the twentieth century still inhibited frank and realistic discussions of theological questions in the church a half-century later. As the 1988 task force noted in its preface: "Issues related to theological diversity have been part of the church's life for some time. These issues come to the surface at certain times, but more often they are implicit in conflicts which center on other issues. The work of the task force is one important way in which the church can deal openly with this reality." This special issue, it is hoped, may be another.

The full text of the 1988 report, "Is Christ Divided?" is included in the publication, "Selected Theological Statements of the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assemblies, 1956-1998," available from the Office of Theology and Worship.

Note: The web version of this special issue of the Journal of Presbyterian History does not include pictures or graphics. The printable version has all the original artwork of the published version.