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Contents

The Catholic Presbyterian (1879-1883) The Quarterly Register(1886-1936) The Presbyterian Register (1937-1948) ThePresbyterian World (1949-1955) The Reformed and Presbyterian

World (1956-1970) Reformed World (1971- )

Volume 55, No 4December 2005ISSN 0034-3056

EditorOdair Pedroso Mateus

Reformed World is published quarterly by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches

150, route de Ferney, PO Box 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland www.warc.ch

© Copyright by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Geneva. Except where otherwise stated,the writers of articles are alone responsible for the opinions expressed.No article may be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

President Rev. Dr Clifton Kirkpatrick

Vice-Presidents Mr. Helis H. Barraza Díaz, Rev. Dr Henriette Hutabarat-Lebang,

Rev. Dr Gottfried W. Locher, Mrs. Marcelle Orange-Mafi,Rev. Dr Ofelia Ortega, Rev. Prof. Lilia Rafalimanana

Geneva Secretariat Rev. Patricia Sheerattan-Bisnauth - Church Renewal, Justice and PartnershipMs. Jet den Hollander - WARC Mission Project Mrs. Maureen O’Brien - FinancesMr. John Asling - CommunicationsRev. Dr Seong-Won Park - Covenanting for Justice Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus - Theology and Ecumenical Engagement

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Editorial ............................................................................................................................Calvin, Calvinism and Ecumenism, Jane Dempsey Douglass .............................................

The true worship of God: social and economic themes in contemporary

Reformed confessions, Margit Ernst-Habib ......................................................................

Theology of grace and theology of prosperity, Arturo Piedra ..........................................

Reformed faith, justice and the struggle against apartheid, Dirk J. Smit ...........................

Communion and catholicity: Reformed perspectives on ecclesiology, Karel Blei ...............

Berith, covenant and covenanting, Lukas Vischer ...........................................................


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Editorial

Calvin John Calvin’s contribution to Christian witness in the economic and

social spheres was the theme of an international consultation held in Geneva,

November 2004. That consultation, which marked the publication in English of André

Biéler’s Calvin’s Economic and Social Thought , called upon the Reformed family to

take the opportunity of the 2009 jubilee “to rediscover Calvin beyond the tenacious

stereotypes of Calvin”.

Reformed World published the statement adopted at that consultation in its

March 2005 issue. It now publishes four articles prepared for that occasion. Jane Douglass

shows the continuity between the ecumenical impulses in Calvin’s life and thought and the ecumenical work accomplished by WARC. Margit Ernst looks at how

contemporary Reformed confessions relate Christian faith and issues of social and

economic relevance. Dirk Smit helps us discern the universal significance and value of

the Reformed resistance to apartheid in South Africa. Lukas Vischer reflects on

covenant and covenanting in the Scriptures and in current church usage.

Communion The WARC Executive Committee has recently restated the WARC

vision in the following terms: “We are the World Alliance of Reformed Churchesconsisting of Reformed, Congregational, Presbyterian, Waldensian, United and Uniting

churches. We are called to be a communion of churches joined together in Christ, to

promote the renewal and the unity of the church, and to participate in God’s

transformation of the world.” The Dutch Reformed theologian Karel Blei provides a

brief overview of the Reformed understanding of “communion”, the central element in

the new WARC vision statement.


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The World Alliance of Reformed Churches andthe family of the late Georges Lombard,with the support of theLombard Odier Darier Hentsch Bank, Geneva

. . . . . . . . . . announce

The Lombard Prize 2006US$ 1,000

for the best essay on

“Water, source of life:socio-economic, theological

and interreligious perspectives”open to

• young students preparing for the Christian ministry inWARC related theological schools or• young pastors under 35 serving in one of the WARCmember churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For the conditions of submission please seewww.warc.ch

Prosperity This issue of Reformed World will reach its readers in all continents

by the time the World Council of Churches will be celebrating its ninth assembly in

Porto Alegre, Brazil, under the prayer theme “God, in your grace, transform the world”.

One of the merits of Arturo Piedra’s article is to reflect on grace out of a changing religious situation in which evangelical popular religiosity is increasingly marked by

what is generally known as “prosperity theology”.

Odair Pedroso Mateus


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VOLUME 55(4), DECEMBER, 2005

Calvin, Calvinism and Ecumenism

Jane Dempsey Douglass

Jane Douglass walks the reader through some of the main ecumenical impulsesin Calvin’s work and life. She then goes on to demonstrate how the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, in its self-understanding, programmes, and public standsseeks to honour the ecumenical dimension of the Calvinian legacy. An emerita professor of historical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary (USA), she wasthe President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (1990-1997). She is the author of Women, Freedom and Calvin (Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1985),

among other books and essays on Calvinism and ecumenism.

Placing Calvin and Calvinism in

ecumenical perspective in the context of

the International Consultation on the

Impact of Calvin’s Economic and Social Thought on Reformed Witness presents a

challenge, but a welcome challenge.

On the one hand, we can say that it is

not common for ecumenical discussions of

Calvin to focus on Calvin’s economic and

social thought. Far more common are

discussions of Calvin’s christology, his

teaching on the Lord’s Supper or hisdoctrine of the church. Yet each of these

topics in Calvin’s writings has a social

dimension which has not been widely

explored in ecumenical conversation and

which deserves attention.

On the other hand, it should not be

strange to look for an ecumenical perspective

in this consultation if we remember that

the ecumenical movement grew not only

out of the Faith and Order movement, but

also out of the missionary movement and

the Life and Work movement. Today we are

deeply conscious of the fact that the churchhas been and still is divided not only by

classical theological disagreements or

questions of governance, but also by different

visions of how the gospel relates to the social

order and how the church relates to the

state, by differences of culture, by racial

segregation, by different attitudes towards

women’s roles, and by economic and classdifferences.

John Calv in himself is probably not

thought of as an ecumenical figure by

modern people in the pews. His popular

reputation as a cold and divisive figure has

been shaped by his association with

Servetus’ death in Geneva, by his adamant

opposition to many aspects of Catholic

teaching, and his often severe criticism of


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the so-called “spiritualists” and of those who

rejected infant baptism.

Calvin’s role must be seen in the

sixteenth-century context where statetoleration of religious dissent was

exceptional and where the various lively

streams of reforming activity within the

church were often in conflict . Calvin

participated in that conflict , setting

boundaries in consultation with other church

leaders to what he considered the proper

understanding of the Christian faith. Thedoctrine of the Trinity and the baptism of

infants – with all that meant for the

Christian society – fell within those

boundaries.

Yet Calvin also resisted boundaries.

William Bouwsma in his portrait of John

Calvin as a sixteenth-century person has

helpfully analysed Calvin’s particular form

of sixteenth-century anxiety. He says that

Calvin experienced two diametrically

opposite sorts of anxiety: “the anxiety of the

void [the abyss] and the anxiety of

constriction [the labyrinth], of nothing at all

and too much, of freedom and oppression.”1

And so he constructed boundary systems to

recover his sense of direction and, on the

other hand, also tried to relieve the

pressures with which such human

constructions constrained him.

So Calvin pressed against boundaries in

many ways. Historians and theologians know

that Calvin had a broad and catholic

understanding of the one church of JesusChrist. Many heirs to his thought have been

active leaders and participants in the

modern ecumenical movement, believing

that Calvin’s theology supported their work.

This lecture will identify elements of

Calvin’s own thought and work which laid afoundation for Calvinist engagement in

ecumenical work. Then it will suggest a few

of the ways in which Calvin’s influence may

be still visible in the modern ecumenical

movement and in the worldwide church

today.

First, however, a working definition of

“ecumenism” as it will be used here is inorder. In a general sense, ecumenism has

been understood as a movement, inspired

by the Holy Spirit, in search of renewal and

visible Christian unity. Evidence of such

movements can be found in many periods

of church history, including the sixteenth

century.

Calvin believed that he was engaged

in such a movement. He had been caught

up as a young man in reforming circles

within the Catho lic Church in France

where Renaissance scholarship was

encouraging the reading of the Bible in

the original languages, where Paul’s

teaching about salvation by faith was very

popular, where a strong sense of moral

responsibility was leading to calls for

reform of the church and of society. It is

not easy to see precisely when Calvin

moved theological ly from Catholic

reformer to Protestant reformer. But

Calvin’s attacks on the Catholic Church

must be placed in this context . Heunderstood the Holy Spirit to be at work

making the Church new, healing it of its


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infirmities, and he saw it as his task to

participate in that reforming work.

Modern ecumenism, with its roots in the

late nineteenth and early twentiethcenturies, has grown out of the experience

of Christians of many ecclesiastical

traditions and many nations working

together as individuals and as churches to

witness to Christian unity in various ways:

in the global mission of the church; in the

attempt to reconcile different traditions’

views of doctrine, ministry and sacramentsin order to bring about full communion or

visible church unity; and also in the effort to

witness together to God’s justice in the world

through daily work with a sense of Christian

vocation, and through the transformation

of social institutions to protect the dignity

of humanity and the health of the creation

so that Christ’s reign of peace and justice

can be made more visible in the world. This,

then, is the lens through which we will

attempt to see Calvin and Calvinism in

ecumenical context.

Foundations of ecumenism inCalvin’s thought and work

Six elements of Calvin’s life and thought,all shaped by his way of reading the Bible,

seem particularly relevant to this task. l)

Calvin’s catholic view of the church, together

with his belief that the true church can be

found under many forms of church order. 2)

His struggle against the “idols.” 3) His

reaching out to and engagement with some

churches of other traditions. 4) The

multinational and multicultural community

which Geneva became during Calvin’s years

as pastor. 5) Calvin’s ministry to the diaspora

of Calvinist churches all over Europe and to

religious refugees. 6) Calvin’s emphasis onthe Christian life as stewardship, service to

the neighbour, mutual responsibility, marked

by obedience to God’s command for justice.

None of these elements is unique to Calvin

in the sixteenth-century Reformation, except

perhaps his sense of the scope of his ministry

to the diaspora and to the religious refugees.

Yet the way in which the elements cometogether has given a special character to

Calvin’s ministry and has had a profound

influence on the subsequent Reformed

tradition, encouraging its engagement in the

ecumenical movement. Let us take up these

elements one by one for consideration.

Calvin’s catholic view of the church

Calvin was insistent that there is only one

church of Jesus Christ spread throughout

the whole earth. The church is catholic or

universal because all Christians are united

in the one body of Christ, which cannot be

sundered. Calvin followed Luther in noting

as the marks of the true church only two:

the Word of God purely preached and heard

and the sacraments administered according

to Christ’s institution. Where these can be

seen, there is surely a church of God. This

formulation is, of course, a protest against

the theology of the Roman Catholic Church

which would identi fy the true church

differently. It functions, however, to permit

a Christian to find the church of Jesus Christ under many forms or structures.

There is Christian freedom to exercise


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human governance in the realm of decorum

and order in the church’s life. In this realm

the church can accommodate itself to many

cultures and can change as circumstancesand the needs of the church require. For

example, though Calvin finds his presbyterial

order for the Genevan church consonant

with Scripture, he does not in principle

exclude the use of the episcopal office. The

office of bishop should, however, be

understood to be a pragmatic human

creation to meet the needs of the timesand must be rightly used, as he thought it

sometimes was in the early church. Calvin

repeatedly points out that concepts of

hierarchy and lordship of bishops over

presbyters are inappropriate in the

governance of the church and contrary to

the Holy Spirit’s teaching (Institutes IV.4.1-

4).

On the other hand, where one finds a

church bearing these two marks, the Word

of God purely preached and heard and the

sacraments administered according to

Christ’s institution, one should not forsake

it or refuse to share in its worship, even if it

has some flaws. Calvin understood the depth

of human sin, and he knew the church was

always sinful as well as holy.

Calvin understood the reforming

movement in which he was engaged to be

evidence of the Holy Spirit’s renewing work

in his day, calling the church away from

superstition and oppressive human laws to

a new faithfulness to the Scriptures as God’s word to the church, to a proper way of

understanding the church’s tradition, to new

and more just structures for church and

society. He did not understand that he had

left the church or created a new church but

rather that he was helping to restore theone true church of Jesus Christ of all times

and places.

Calvin emphasized the powerful bonds

of love created by membership in the body

of Christ. Especially in the context of the

Lord’s Supper, he taught that one cannot

injure or offend any member of Christ’s body

without injur ing and offend ing Christ himself. He understood that Christian unity

requires mutual accountability and mutual

admonition – discipline.

Calvin frequently described the church

as the church of the whole world, often using

imagery from the Hebrew Bible of the reign

of God where people of all nations will come

to worship on the holy mountain or of the

New Testament Pentecost experience. It

seems that this was more a biblical and

eschatological vision than one rooted in any

practical strategy for world mission. Calvin

ended his sermons with a call to prayer

drawn out of the particular concerns of the

sermon. But then quite regularly the

sermon text also refers to a set concluding

prayer, too familiar to warrant repetition in

full: “May he grant this grace not only to us,

but also to all peoples and nations of the

earth, etc.”2

Calvin’s struggle against the “idols” In

contrast to this reaching out in unity,

Calvin’s struggle against the “idols” set himagainst some other Christians. His struggle

is grounded in his reading of the first two


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commandments of the Decalogue. The first

is the command to have no other gods. Calvin

believed that sinful humanity is constantly

creating other gods than the God of Abraham and of Jesus Christ and giving them

the worship due to God alone. The

commandment not to make any graven

images or worship them had for centuries

in the West been subsumed under the first

commandment, and Luther followed this

practice. Calvin argued that some in the

early church separated the prohibition of graven images as the second

commandment, and he much preferred to

do so. This, of course, gave it greater

prominence.

Some early Reformers before Calvin’s day

had used the justification of “idol-smashing”

to destroy church art. Considerable

“cleansing” of churches in Geneva preceded

Calvin’s arrival. Nonetheless Calvin’s

emphasis on the spiritual nature of worship

led him to encourage the simplicity of

worship spaces without visual distraction,

advice which many Calvinist churches,

though by no means all,3 reflected till recent

years. Lutherans and many Anglicans could

not accept this teaching.

What is more important for our purposes

is Calvin’s emphasis on undefiled loyalty to

the one God, turning away from the

superstitions which sinful minds create and

from clinging to lesser goods than God.

Worshipping God alone may require

disobeying rulers who command what Godforbids. Note that the Institutes begin with

a preface to King Francis I of France,

reassuring him that Calvin’s people are not

revolutionaries, and that Book IV is full of

respect for government. Yet the final

climactic chapter of the Institutes proclaimsthat obedience to God may require

disobedience to rulers. This steely

monotheism in the tradition of Calvin has

led to many confrontations between church

and state.

Engagement with churches of other

traditions Calvin reached out to leaders

of quite different Protestant groups,searching for common ground. Perhaps he

had been influenced during his years in

Strasbourg by the enthusiasm of Martin

Bucer for greater Christian unity. For

example, Calvin corresponded with Heinrich

Bullinger, leader of the church in Zurich,

and even went to Zurich with his former

colleague, William Farel, then pastor in

Neuchâtel, to negotiate the Consensus of

Zurich of 1549 on the Lord’s Supper. This

agreement, close to Calvin’s writing on the

Lord’s Supper, brought together the church

of Geneva with the churches of French- and

German-speaking Switzerland in an

understanding of the Lord’s Supper, whereas

they had previously been separated. It was

important to Calvin that there be

intercommunion among the Reformation

churches, that differences in opinion should

not break the fellowship.

Unfortunately this agreement probably

worsened relationships with the Lutherans.

There had been earlier disappointments.Calvin had written Luther warmly in 1545,

sending two treatises for his comment, along


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with a letter to Philip Melanchthon, with

whom he was acquainted. But Melanchthon

intercepted the letter for Luther as

inopportune.During Calvin’s sojourn in Strasbourg, he

had been sent in 1541 among the city’s

officially Lutheran representatives to the

colloquy at Regensburg with representatives

of the Roman Catholic Church. Whereas his

more senior colleagues, Bucer and

Melanchthon, drafted formulas in hopes of

agreement with the Catholics, Calvin wasmore critical of their ambiguity. He also

criticized papal substitution of this colloquy

for the free and universal council that had

been so long anticipated.

Calvin’s wide correspondence included

the Anglicans, such as Archbishop Thomas

Cranmer and Archbishop Matthew Parker,

and William Cecil, Queen Elizabeth’s chief

secretary of state. To Cranmer, who had

proposed a gathering of Protestant church

leaders to express their common Christian

teaching, Calvin replied in 1552 that he

would cross even ten seas to further the

unity of the church. He thought such a

general meeting “to confess their common

mind on the doctrine of holiness” would be

the most suitable remedy for the “disordered

condition of the church.” He suggested that

“a serious and properly adjusted agreement

between men of learning upon the rule of

Scripture” would help churches otherwise

divided to unite. “I think it right for me at

whatever cost of toil and trouble, to seek toobtain this object. But I hope my own

insignificance will cause me to be passed

by.”4 To Parker in 1561 he suggested

renewing Cranmer’s earlier proposal for a

general meeting. There was interest but no

consequent action. Ties also developed between Geneva and

two reforming movements which had

predated the Lutheran reformation.

Relationships between the Reformed

movement and the Waldensians had been

initiated by emissaries to Farel in 1530,

before Calvin came to Geneva. The

Waldensian movement began as a twelfth-century reforming movement with some

parallels to the early Franciscans, but the

Waldensians were declared heretics. Many

fled to the mountains of Northern Italy to

survive the persecution. Calvin supported

the increasingly close relations with the

Waldensians, sent pastors to them, and saw

them increasingly identify themselves with

Reformed faith and church order. He worked

to muster political support for them when

there was a massacre of Waldensians by

Francis I in 1545. During his Strasbourg

years, Calvin became acquainted wi th

leaders of the Czech Brethren, followers of

Jan Hus.

Geneva during Calvin’s years:

multinational and multicultural With

the Reformation, Geneva became a

remarkably international city. Refugees

poured in, mostly from France, but also from

many other countries in western, central,

and northern Europe and from Italy. This

audience knows well the story of the city’sremarkably creative efforts to provide for the

refugees with limited resources, and also


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the significance of the foundation of the

Academy of Geneva, precursor of the

University. It was established by Calvin in

1559 to supplement the instruction at thecollège with an advanced programme of

study in theology (taught by Beza and Calvin),

Greek, Hebrew and philosophy. The

Academy was intended to draw students

from all over Christendom, and indeed nearly

all the students in Calvin’s day came from

other countries. The Academy illustrates the

strong international focus of Calvin’sreforming programme, not just for Geneva

but for the church at large.

Heiko Oberman emphasizes that for

Calvin, a refugee himself, and undoubtedly

for others, the refugee experience had a

theological impact. Calvin identified with the

stories in the Hebrew Scriptures of the exile

of the Jews and their persecution. He

understood in the light of widespread

Christian experience of exile and

persecution that traditional claims that the

suffering of the Jews through the ages was

evidence of their guilt and punishment could

no longer be accepted. This insight led

Calvin and Calvinists to important new ways

of thinking about Jewish-Christ ian

relationships.

Calvin’s ministry to the Protestant

diaspora and refugees Calvin ministered

from Geneva through his writings and

correspondence to Reformed churches

across Europe. Some new churches

stemmed from refugee experience inGeneva. For example, John Knox had served

an English-speaking refugee congregation

in Geneva. When he returned to Scotland

in 1559, he organized a Presbyterian church

much influenced by Geneva’s experience.

What did these Reformed churches takefrom Geneva? Calvin’s theology, the Genevan

liturgy in some cases, often the Genevan

Psalter – frequently translated into other

languages while retaining the special

Genevan Psalm tunes. Reformed churches

usually adopted Geneva’s pattern of

corporate ministry by pastors, elders,

deacons, and doctors or teachers, thoughoften the doctoral office was omitted.

There was also the sense that the

churches shared a theological tradition,

despite different forms of expression. It was

customary for each of the national Reformed

churches to have its own confession of faith,

a Reformed statement of a common

Christian faith, but set in the particular

context of that church’s life. As evidence of

the conviction that they shared a common

faith, Theodore Beza helped organize a

project to create a Harmony of the

Confessions of Faith, published in Geneva

in 1581, well after Calvin’s death.

In a preface to the catechism that Calvin

prepared for the church in Geneva in 1545,

Calvin wrote to the pastors in East Friesland,

expressing the wish that there could be a

common catechism for all churches. He

accepted that such a common catechism

was not likely. Nonetheless he urged that

catechists take extreme care in their

teaching that even with variety, people willall be directed to the one Christ whose truth

will allow us to grow together into one body.


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To teach rashly and encourage dissension

would be to profane baptism, which ought

to direct us to a common faith. Calvin said

he had written in Latin, still used then as auniversal language, so that in a time of

confusion and division of Christendom,

there could be public testimonies of faith

enabling churches to recognize one another

and find mutual confirmation and holy

fellowship. He believed catechisms are one

of the best means of sharing common faith,

so he published the catechism of Genevafor others also to use. We see here both

Calvin’s profound concern about common

teaching of one faith and also his awareness

that it will necessarily be expressed in

different ways in different churches.

As part of Geneva’s international mission

to reform the church and renew the

preaching of the gospel, the Company of

Pastors regularly responded to requests to

send pastors to serve other Reformed

churches, especially in France. One small

mission was even sent to Brazil, but it was

short lived and unsuccessful.

Calvin’s emphasis on service and justice

Though Calvin was as committed as Luther

to the doctrine of justification by the grace

of Jesus Christ alone, nonetheless he

emphasized the importance of a disciplined

Christian life. One who has been saved by

grace will, Calvin thought, out of gratitude,

desire to live in accordance with the will of

God. How can one know that will? By turning

to the law, no longer out of fear but as a freeperson, out of gratitude.

This is the so-called “third use of the

law” which is critical to Calvinist ethics, but

which has been a cause of considerable

discomfort for Lutherans and some other

ecumenical partners over the centuries. Thelaw teaches not only to worship God alone

but also to respect and serve the neighbour.

Calvin understood that every Christian is

called to a vocation in the world where that

person could serve the neighbour. Worldly

possessions are a gift of God to be used in

stewardship for the needs of one’s own

family but also of others in need. One canin Christian freedom enjoy the beauty of

creation and the taste of good food and wine

as gifts of God, but one must live in such a

way that all God’s people can also enjoy the

goodness of creation. This requires a simple

lifestyle and sharing with the neighbour. The

only limit to our obligation to share is the

limit of our resources.

Calvin loved the Hebrew prophets, and

he thundered down upon the congregation

about those who exploit the poor, fail to pay

a living wage, or perform shoddy work. Calvin

lived with a biblical vision of the reign of

God as a reign of love, peace, and justice.

The church’s task is to make that reign of

God increasingly more visible to the world.

And so Christians must reform not only

church institutions but also society so that

justice will reign. The themes of Calvin’s

ethical teaching regarding social and

economic issues are meticulously laid out

in Pastor André Biéler’s book, La Pensée

économique et sociale de Calvin, whose long-awaited translation into English we are here

to celebrate.5


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As much as Calvin stressed the solidarity

of Christians within the body of Christ and

their need to serve one another, he also

stressed the solidarity of all humanity madein the image of God. Therefore any human

being in need, however sinful or apparently

unworthy of help, lays an ethical claim upon

Christians to use whatever resources they

have to meet that need, because they share

the image of God and a common humanity.

Having explored these six elements of

Calvin’s thought which help to create afoundation for Calvin’s engagement in

ecumenism, we turn now to explore how

those elements can be seen playing a role

in the later ecumenical history of the church.

The Reformed Alliance and themodern ecumenical movement6

The ecumenical thrust in the foundationand history of the Presbyterian Alliance

First we should reflect on the coming

together of the Reformed family in the

nineteenth century. Despite all that has

been said about the interconnection of the

Reformed churches in the sixteenth century,

by the mid-nineteenth century those

churches had drifted apart, spread toEuropean colonies in the New World and in

the countries of the South, and they did not

know one another well.

Still, some Scottish, Irish, and American

church leaders realized that this separation

was not normal for the Reformed family.

Part of the motivation for change was that some of the churches were discovering each

other on the mission field on the other side

of the world. So a process of outreach began,

resulting in the formation in 1875 of the

Alliance of the Reformed Churches

throughout the World holding thePresbyterian System, the first of the world

Protestant bodies. By the first meeting of

the General Council in 1877 in Edinburgh,

there were 49 member churches from

Europe, USA, South Africa, Australia, New

Zealand, Ceylon, and the New Hebrides.

Contrary to many historians’ assumptions,

the Alliance was not narrowly confessionalin its orientation. Christian unity was a

primary concern7. They discussed whether

there should be a new confession presenting

a consensus of the Reformed confessions,

but it was not produced. The new journal of

the Alliance was called The Catholic

Presbyterian.

The Alliance in its ear ly years was

concerned about the relation between

mission and unity. It urged that the new

churches being planted, for example in Asia

and Africa in areas where there had been

no prior Christian community, should not

perpetuate the divisions of Europe’s

churches, that new churches should be

rooted in the indigenous cultures of the

nations where they will live, and that they

should be independent as quickly as possible

and join the Alliance in their own right.

These exhortations seem to reflect morethe Reformed heritage we have beenobserving than the accepted missionary

strategy of the day.

Work for just ice, human rights, and

religious freedom was also one of the themes


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of the early years of the Alliance and has

continued to be. America was denounced

for its treatment of its indigenous people,

slavery was condemned, and the rights of workers in the newly industrialized countries

were supported. Pastoral visits were made

to small “evangelical” groups in the Middle

East and Russia which were experiencing

religious persecution.

Early in the twentieth century, a powerful

theology came to dominate the Protestant

world, that of Karl Barth, a Swiss Reformedtheologian. Barth was very conscious of his

roots in the Reformation and his debt to

Calvin and also to Luther. In this context it

is appropriate to call attention to his role in

the German Confessing Church movement,

resisting the pressures of the government

to transform the church and its doctrine in

accommodation to Nazi teaching.

Participants came from Reformed, Lutheran,

and United churches.

The themes of the Theological

Declaration of Barmen8 issuing from this

movement are Reformation themes: that

the Christ revealed in Scripture is the one

Word of God to be trusted and obeyed; the

insistence that Christ is lord of every area of

life, and there can be no other lords; that

Christ acts as Lord in the church, which

belongs only to Christ, so the gospel cannot

be accommodated to politics and ideology;

that church offices are for service in the

community, not for domination; that the

state cannot become the “single andtotalitarian order of human life,” nor can

the church become an organ of the state.

We hear in this message the themes of

Calvin’s struggle against the “idols.” Yet there

is also an unmistakable reappropriation of

the sixteenth-century Reformed traditionthat the common faith must be expressed

anew in the particular context in which the

church is living. Barth and his colleagues

knew this was a crisis which called for

declaring the faith. It is interesting that this

Declaration of Barmen, coming out of an

ecumenical confessing church movement

and not claiming to be a “confession,” hasbeen received as an official confession in

some Reformed churches.

Reformed people, including the

leadership of the Alliance, were deeply

involved in the movements leading up to

the formation of the World Council of

Churches (WCC) just after World War II. The

Princeton General Council of the Alliance

in 1954 declared: “We believe that the deep

stirring among the churches and Christian

groups to surmount the barriers and to

express the unity of the community of

believers in accordance with the mind and

will of Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church...

is of God, not men, a sign of the Holy Spirit.”9

Among the dis tinguished Reformed

leaders in the young WCC were the first

general secretary, Dr. Willem Visser ’t Hooft;

Prof. Hendrik Kraemer, first director of the

Ecumenical Institute at the Château de

Bossey; and Madeleine Barot, secretary

general and long-term leader of the French

CIMADE and first head of the WCCDepartment of Cooperation between Men

and Women in Church and Society.


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Kraemer and Barot were laypeople.

The Alliance decided to continue its role

in gathering the Reformed family and

work ing for its greater uni ty wi th theunderstanding that it would fulfil as many

functions as possible through the WCC, such

as emergency relief services and interfaith

studies, and that it would bring to the WCC

a Reformed theological witness in the further

search for wider Christian unity.

In 1970 in Nairobi the Alliance merged

with the Internat ional Congregat ionalCouncil (founded in 1891) to become the

World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Today

it has over 200 Presbyterian, Reformed,

Congregational, and united member

churches in more than 100 countries on

every inhabited continent. About three-

fourths of these churches are located in the

countries of the South: Asia, Africa and

Latin America. Among them are churches

of the Czech Brethren and the Waldensians,

reforming churches before Luther which

have become part of the Reformed family.

About thirty WARC member churches are

united churches coming from many

continents, and their membership is

explicitly welcomed. The Asian united

churches, such as the Church of South India

and the United Church of Christ in the

Philippines, seem to be to some extent the

fruit of the Reformed concern not to

perpetuate the old divisions of Europe in

new churches. Bringing together people

from several Protestant traditions, theycontinue to honour their Reformed roots

through membership in the Alliance. The

Church of South India unites formerly

Reformed congregations with others in a

structure which possesses the historic

episcopate through its Anglican heritage. Another type of un ited church is the

Evangelical Church of the River Plate in

Argent ina, now a member both of the

Alliance and of the Lutheran World

Federation. United churches in Germany

and the Netherlands also come from

Lutheran and Reformed roots. All these

united churches provide an ecumenical wi tness in the mids t of the Reformed

fellowship. Most member churches, except

those too small to qualify, are also members

of the WCC and other ecumenical bodies.

Division and reconciliation in the

Reformed family Given this tradition of

concern for Christian unity, it remains

puzzling that movements to unite different

Reformed denominations within the same

country are so uncommon. In recent years

the Mission in Unity project of the John Knox

International Reformed Center and WARC

has attempted to nurture greater unity

among churches of the Reformed family

within a country.

It must be said that some heirs of Calvin’s

tradition have placed more emphasis on

rigorously pure doctrine and have often split

off to form new churches, holding back from

ecumenical engagement. They interpret

Calvin’s marks of the church more narrowly.

There are cases where a young Reformed

church has been splintered by successive waves of ever more conservative Reformed

missionaries from abroad. A recent


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handbook of Reformed churches worldwide

resulting from an exhaustive search

organized by the John Knox International

Reformed Center identifies many moreReformed churches than are members of

the Alliance, often quite isolated.

One situation where church division was

proper, I believe, was the struggle over

apartheid in South Africa. It was tragic that

descendants of Calvin played a large role in

creating the apartheid system that the state

then enforced. The wider Reformed familytook the position that theological

justification of apartheid by two churches

so deformed the gospel that their teaching

was heresy , and church fellowship was

impossible. It has taken the global Reformed

family and a host of ecumenical partners

supporting the courageous resistance from

within the Dutch Reformed family in South

Africa to bring about repudiation of the

heresy and restored fellowship.

We should take note of the Belhar

Confession of the Dutch Reformed Mission

Church in South Africa, adopted a few

months after the WARC 1982 declaration of

status confessionis. Here one finds powerful

restatement in that painful situation of

Calvin’s teaching on the unity of the church,

on the lordship of Christ as the only head of

the church, on the solidarity of all humanity

in one human nature, on the reconciliation,

love, and mutual responsibility which mark

the true church’s life, on the freedom for

varieties of gifts and languages and culturesto enrich the one visible people of God, and

the call for justice to roll down like waters.

The confession is on the one hand a

biblical and gracious statement of the heart

of Christian and Reformed theology, and on

the other hand a devastating indictment and repudiation of the situation in South

Africa’s racially segregated churches,

including Reformed churches. “…the Church

as the possession of God must stand where

He stands, namely against injustice and with

the wronged; that in following Christ the

Church must witness against all the powerful

and privileged who selfishly seek their owninterests and thus control and harm others…

We believe that, in obedience to Jesus Christ,

its only Head, the Church is called to

confess and to do all these things, even

though the authorities and human laws

might forbid them and punishment and

suffering be the consequence. Jesus is

Lord.”10 As in the Declaration of Barmen,

which it echoes, we see the struggle

against the “idols.” We also see a passion

for social justice as part of Christian

obedience and witness. Once again the

common faith has been reconfessed at a

moment of crisis in the very particular

situation in which that church was living.

Today the Dutch Reformed Mission

Church has merged with the former black

Dutch Reformed Church of Africa to form

an interracial Uniting Reformed Church

in Southern Africa, with the Belhar

Confession among its confessional

standards, and the new church has invited

the white Dutch Reformed Church to jointhem. Unification discussions continue,

but they are not easy.


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The usefulness of Calvin’s theologyin bilateral dialogues

The significance of Calvin’s theology for

today’s ecumenical movement has beenrecognized in the Reformed bilateral

dialogues. Since the 1960s the Alliance has

been engaged in bilateral dialogues with all

the world Christian bodies and also some

traditions, like the Pentecostal one, which

have no organized world bodies. Calvin would

probably be pleased at the progress already

made in Lutheran-Reformed dialogue, withfull communion now established in Europe,

North America, and some other localities,

and regular, strong cooperation between the

LWF and WARC at the world level.

Another of the long-standing dialogue

partners has been the Pontifical Council for

Promoting Christian Unity, and new

opportunities for joint Catholic-Reformedcooperation have emerged. At a special

Catholic-Reformed conference held at

Princeton Theological Seminary in 1996,

Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy, then

responsible for that council for Christian

unity, spoke of challenges ahead, one of

which is broadening the circl e of the

ecumenical movement to make it more

comprehensive and inclusive. He suggested:

“...the dialogue between the World Alliance

of Reformed Churches and the Catholic

Church may have significance far beyond

the constituencies they represent.” He then

pointed to statements which had been

made by “evangelicals” outside the Alliance

and outside the mainstream of the

ecumenical movement who defend their

distance on the grounds of their Calvinist

theology. “The examples cited above suggest

that if the dialogue between the World

Alliance and the Roman Catholic Church issuccessful in helping to resolve long-standing

theological differences between us, this may

also be of service to other Christians not

presently part of the usual ecumenical

circles. This dialogue may serve as a

bridge...”11

Cardinal Cassidy’s suggestion reminds us

that there are followers of Calvin whounderstand him differently than do the

members of the Alliance. These Calvinists

are in several denominations: some

Reformed churches, some Baptist churches,

and some churches loosely described as

non-denominational. His suggestion also

underscores the serious relevance of

ongoing study of the theology of John Calvin

today both within the circle of those who

claim his influence and with our ecumenical

partners.

Other Catholics have also been calling

for a greater presence of Calvin’s voice in

ecumenical dialogue. George Tavard, writing

in 2000, finds the past Catholic-Reformed

dialogues disappointing in results, partly

because of Calvin’s absence from the

debates. He judges the unofficial dialogue

since 1937 between French-speaking Catholic, Reformed, and Lutheran pastorsknown as the Groupe des Dombes far more

penetrating and substantive, where Calvin’s

voice is detectable. Their documents often

take the form of an invitation to conversion,

a form “close to the heart of Calvin’s own


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theology.” Tavard has been teaching and

writing about Calvin.12

The Franciscan theo logian , Denni s

Tamburello, author of the book, Union withChrist: John Calvin and the Mysticism of St.

Bernard, has published a small article

entitled “Christ at the Center: The Legacy

of the Reformed Tradition.” He speaks

warmly of how he has come to appreciate

many aspects of Calvin’s thought, especially

his emphasis on the centrality of Christ, his

sacramental theology – including a doctrineof the real presence and a conviction that

the Eucharist is the bond of love connecting

the sacraments to social justice –, his

pervasive doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and

his teaching that Christians express their

gratitude to God by loving their neighbours.

He thinks Calvin’s important teaching on

the Christian’s union with Christ has not

been fully appreciated by the Reformed

tradition, and that neglect has led to

misrepresentation of Calvin’s thought and

to Reformed dogmatism. He comments on

how difficult it is to persuade those who do

not read Calvin that he is not a rigid

dogmatician but a Christian of deep

spirituality and a biblical theologian. The

old caricature of Calvin dies hard, he says.

But Tamburello believes that Calvin’s

articulation of the twofold grace of Christ in

human beings is “one of the most significant

contributions of Reformed theology to the

church.” He refers particularly to Institutes

III.16.1 as a fine balancing of justificationand sanctification.13

This teaching of Calvin is in fact one of

the Reformed contributions to an ongoing

ecumenical discussion of justification. The

World Alliance declined simply to sign the

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Catholics and Lutherans

but agreed to participate in a broader further

conversation which also includes the

Methodists. The Reformed were particularly

concerned about the connection between

justification and justice. One of the Reformed

theologians participating is Anna Case-

Winters, who comments:

The place where the issue of justicehas arisen most clearly in the recent ecumenical dialogues that I have beenprivileged to be part of is in the discussionof the Joint Declaration on the Doctrineof Justification. The Roman Catholic-L u t h e r a n - M e t h o d i s t - R e f o r m e d

conversation – a “quadrilateral”, if you will! – found the Reformed voices asking about the connection between justiceand justification. Reformed folk generallycelebrated and affirmed the doctrinalagreement achieved in the JDDJ andpressed to ask about implications. For me, the Reformed insistence on holding justification and sanctification together as a two-fold grace (Calvin’s duplex gratia )

is where connection naturally arises. It seems to me that we have carefullybalanced the matter of forgiveness of sins with that of renewal of life. The latter isnot about our works (!) but about God’s work in us as we grow day by day, moreand more into union with Christ (Institutes III.2.24).

This growth in grace, grounded in our justification, issues in transformed life –

individual and social. The matter can alsobe connected, as Gabriel Fackre does with our affirmation of God’s sovereignty


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over all of life. Thus to be justified is togrow into living justly. To me it seems alogical – even necessary – connection. Inthose same conversations Russel

Botman raised the issue of relevance.How does an agreement on justificationmake a difference? His concern was that it may not, unless we get to the matter of justice.14

United confessing in the search for

justice Many Reformed people have come

to believe that the severe problems of world

economic injustice today as the result of economic globalization, where poor nations

of the South are experiencing life-

threatening suffering, constitute for this

generation a confessional situation.

The General Council of the Alliance in

Debrecen in 1997 called for a “process of

confession” where the churches would study

this issue to see what action they must take.

Once again we recognize the struggle against

the “idols,” an insistence that no realm is

outside God’s governance, and so one

cannot argue for the absolute autonomy of

the markets. God’s call for justice includes

the economic realm, as Calvin certainly

believed. The Alliance invited the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of

Churches to share in this process of

confession, and they, too, have taken up

the matter, becoming partners in this

ecumenical effort. The Lutheran World

Federation has recently produced its own

statement on economic justice.

The 2004 General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in Accra

called for the churches now to take a

confessing stance, covenanting together for

justice in the economy and for the earth,

declaring their faith and reinforcing these

same theological points around the Council’stheme, “That all may have life in fullness

(Jn 10.10).” The solidarity of the human

family and God’s special concern for the poor

and for creation are emphasized as requiring

resistance to an unjust economic order

imposed by empire. Echoes of the Barmen

and Belhar Confessions call for faithful

resistance despite the consequences. Jesusis Lord!

Reformed initiative has thus been

encouraging much wider ecumenical

participation in this work for economic

justice, as it did earlier with the concern

for the rights of non-human creation and

the programme for Justice, Peace and the

Integrity of Creation.

I will conclude by reporting with pleasure

that the Accra confessing statement is

sparking much ecumenical interest in a far

corner of the world, that is, in California

(USA). A group of about forty grass-roots

activist leaders from many Christian

traditions, Catholic and Protestant, gathered

in an inner-city Presbyterian church in Los

Angeles to discuss the Accra declaration

and decided to find a way to set up

partnerships which would allow them to

live out together the commitment to

economic justice exemplified by that

document. A Faith and Order group of a

council of churches has studied thedocument. At a seminary in northern

California, a year-long seminar led by


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Catholic theologian Rosemary Ruether will

be studying the declaration.

A short Calvinian conclusion A final word from Calvin: “Each time

we read the word one , let us be reminded

Notes

1 William J. Bouwsma, John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait (N.Y.: Oxford UniversityPress, 1988), p.47.2 Lukas Vischer has brought together several helpful quotations of Calvin’s teaching in hisbook, Pia Conspiratio: Calvin on the Unity of Christ’s Church, Geneva: John Knox International Reformed Center), 2000; Lukas Vischer, “Pia Conspiratio. Calvin’s legacy andthe divisions of Reformed churches today”, www.warc.ch/dt/erl3/12.html .3 Paul Corby Finney, ed., Seeing Beyond the Word: Visual Arts and the Calvinist Tradition(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999).4 L. Vischer, pp.29-30.5 André Biéler, Calvin’s Economic and Social Thought . Geneva, WCC-WARC, 2005, 545pp.(Editor’s note)6 For an extensive bibliographic survey on this topic see Odair Pedroso Mateus, The World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Modern Ecumenical Movement – A Selected,Chronological, Annotated Bibliography , Geneva, WARC, 2005, 143pp.7 Cf. Odair Pedroso Mateus, “Towards an Alliance of Protestant Churches? The Confessionaland the Ecumenical in the WARC Constitutions (I)”, Reformed World , 55(1), March 2005,pp.55-70.8 “Theological Declaration of Barmen”, www.warc.ch/pc/20th/. (Editor’s note)9 L. Vischer, “The Ecumenical Commitment of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches,”Reformed World, vol. 38, no. 5 (1985), p.262.10 “The Belhar Confession 1982” in Preparatory Documents for the WARC Consultation inSouth Africa, Geneva: World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 1993; cf. also “Confession of Belhar”, www.vgksa.org.za/confessions or www.warc.ch/pc/20th/ (Editor’s note).11 Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy, “Ecumenical Challenges for the Future: A CatholicPerspective,” The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, 18 (1997), pp.26-7.12 George H. Tavard, The Starting Point of Calvin’s Theology (Grand Rapids: William B.Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000), pp.vii-viii.13 Dennis Tamburello, O.F.M., “Christ at the Center: The Legacy of the Reformed Tradition,”

The Bulletin of the Institute for Reformed Theology, 4 (2004), pp.1, 3-6.14 Letter from Anna Case-Winters to Jane Dempsey Douglass, Oct. 26, 2004.15 Commentary on Eph 4.5 in L. Vischer, Pia conspiratio, p.13.

that it is used emphatically. Christ cannot

be divided. Faith cannot be rent. There are

not various baptisms, but one which is

common to all. It cannot but be our duty tocherish holy unity which is bound by so many

ties.”15


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VOLUME 55(4), DECEMBER, 2005

The true worship of God:social and economic themes in

contemporaryReformed Confessions

Margit Ernst-Habib

The Reformed principle of confessing the faith in this time and place does not prevent contemporary Reformed confessions from sharing a common concern as to

“how the Christian faith is related to issues of social and economic relevance”,argues the German theologian Margit Ernst-Habib. She approaches these contemporary faith statements from the perspective of classical theological topics.Ernst-Habib taught Systematic Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur (USA). She published recently “A Conversation with Twentieth-Century Confessions” in Joseph Small (ed.), Conversations with the Confessions, Louisville (USA), Geneva Press, 2005.

Believers truly worship God by the righteousness

they maintain within their society.

Calvin, Commentary on Matthew 12.7

God is in a special way the God of the destitute,

the poor and the wronged.

Belhar Confession (1982)

Between these two quotes lies a gap of

more than four centuries, two continents

and contexts that could hardly be more

diverse. And yet, a common faith theme

spans this gap: the God described and

confessed here is a God who cares

particularly for those who live on the

margins of society , polit ically and

economically.

The God Calvin had encountered in the

Scriptures and experienced in his time of

persecution and exile, but also in his time

as a (more or less) powerful authority in

Geneva, was not a removed, neutral and

uncaring God, but, as he emphasized over

and over again throughout his enormous

work, a sovereign God who governs the whole

universe and the communal and private lives


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of all human beings, who brings about a

reform of the religious as well as the secular

realm.

Because of this “theo”-logy Calvindisplays a strong sense of responsibility to

the world; a sense that four centuries later

is mirrored in the Belhar Confession.

Surprisingly, to many outside and inside the

Reformed tradition for whom Calvin is

tantamount to powerful establishment and

Calvinism just a synonym for Capitalism,1

the theme of social, economic, and in recent times even of ecological justice continues

to be of particular relevance and importance

for Reformed churches, finding a significant

expression in one of the central places of

the faith and life of these churches: their

confessions and statements of faith.

One of the characteristics of churches of

the Reformed tradition throughout the

centuries has been the fact that they are

never satisfied with their inherited

confessional statements or even a collection

of statements. Indeed, the last century has

seen something like a “revival” of

confessions in many parts of the Reformed

world: there about 50 new statements

issued by churches of the Reformed tradition

from all over the world.2

These confessions differ considerably in

almost every respect. They do not share a

common set of theological doctrines, they

use various languages and styles, they

emphasize a wide range of themes, and they

come from churches with backgrounds asdiverse as one can imagine. Finding

something like a “Re-form-ed identity” or

even “tenets of the Reformed faith” in these

documents is an important and exciting, yet

almost impossible task.

The characteristic principle of confessing anew in tempore et in loco (in this time and

this place) has not kept many, if not most of

these confessing churches, though, from

sharing at least one concern: how the

Christian faith is related to issues of social

and economic relevance. Some of those

confessional statements have even been

written on the background of imminent social, political or economic problems – most

prominent among them the Theological

Declaration of Barmen (Germany, 1934) and

the already mentioned Belhar Confession

(South Africa, 1982).

These issues could be studied in a variety

of ways, yet to me it seems that one of the

most informative and intriguing ways to look

at the question at hand is to begin with the

doctrinal roots and the contexts of where

this discussion is located. Related to central

theological doctrines, those parts of the

confessions are not just incidental and

subjective “add-ons”; or, to use a classical

term, they are not adiaphora (things that

do not make a difference) that could be

understood and implemented arbitrarily, but

belong to the main corpus of the faith

Reformed Christians confess today.

Within contemporary confessional

statements, we find at least six different,

though interrelated approaches, and one

confession may actually use several of them within the same document. Roughly

generalizing, we see the confessions relate


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the discussion to christological and

trinitarian arguments; to the context of the

doctrine of sin; to Christian life and

discipleship; to ecclesiology, and to thereflection upon the “world” as the secular

realm of God’s reign. These are the main

sections of this article.

The last section will deal with three

rather specific issues, which cannot be

excluded from our considerations although

they are not based on one theological

doctrine: the whole Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba;

b) the understanding of “God’s preferential

love”; and, finally, c) the WARC processus

confessionis and the “Accra Confession”.

The limited space of this article allows

for no more than a brief discussion with

only a few examples from the actual texts,

intending to provide the reader with starting

points for her or his own research into the

subject matter.

1.The christological context

Quite often, the discussion of social and

economic issues is incorporated into a

trinitarian context, but still bears a more

pronounced christocentric emphasis. The

confessions insist that we know what justice

and injustice are only in God who has

already liberated humankind in Christ from

all powers of injustice. The following two

statements from Korea and the United

States emphasize the Christian God as the

One who is active in the world, and whose

promise of the Reign of God has already

become real and revealed in Christ.

[Jesus] became a friend of the poor,the oppressed, the sinners, the outcastsand the estranged. He lived a life for them, and he withstood all the evil

powers of injustice and of falsehood tothe point of death. … Jesus Christ standsat the right hand of God. … He himself sets the standards for this world andeffects history.3

Jesus’ involvement in the humancondition is God’s involvement. Hiscompassion for all kinds of people is God’scompassion. His demand for justice,truth, and faithfulness is God’s demand.

His willingness to suffer rejection is God’s willingness. Jesus’ love for the very people who reject him is God’s love.4

The Broederkring of the Dutch

Reformed Church (South Africa) declared on

the background of the theological heresy of

apartheid in 1979:

We believe that God reveals Himself in his Word as the One who throughout history in his relationship to men bindsHimself to his own justice in order tomake the world a place to live in. His life-giving Word became man in Christ Jesus,through whom He breaks the power of injustice. … We believe that God gathersfor Himself in this world a new people

who consist of men and women He hasliberated from oppressive powersthrough Jesus Christ. … As God’s propertythe church must be busy standing whereGod stands viz. against injustice and withthose who are denied justice.5

The sovereignty of God, one of the major

themes of classical Reformed theology and

confessions, is no longer expressed in rather

metaphysical or ontological ways. Instead,


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God’s majesty, justice and mercy are

articulated in a context of God’s powerful

engagement in the world with a particular

focus on the life and ministry of Jesus. Where the traditional confessions kept

silent, modern ones try to describe who Jesus

Christ is, in his time and for our time. Those

descriptions call for a newly defined imitatio

Christi (imitation of Christ) of all believers:

“the decision about Jesus’ identity is a

decision about the community to which one

belongs”.6

The Brief Statement of Faith of the

Presbyterian Church (USA) from 1990 uses

explicit biblical language and metaphors to

explain who Jesus Christ is and what the

Reign of God he ushered in is like. It calls

every believer, within the PCUSA and

beyond, to spell out concretely what it

means to confess Christ to be “fully human,

fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:

preaching good news to the poor and release

to the captives, teaching by word and deed

and blessing the children, healing the sick

and binding up the brokenhearted, eating

with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling

all to repent and believe the gospel.”7

It becomes clear in the course of this

confession that following Christ also means

concrete social and political action – not

because of our own theological and political

agendas, but because of the revelation of

full humanity in Christ.

2.The trinitarian context

The God confessed in modern

confessions is a God who has made Godself

known as the trinitarian God through God’s

work in the world – God’s being and acting

cannot be separated. And it is the trinitarian

God who commands and equips us toactively participate in this world and all its

struggles for freedom and justice. The

Statement of Korean Christians (1973) ,

written by a group of both theologians and

laypeople who belong to a wide range of

Protestant denominations suffering in a

situation of persecution and imprisonment,

uses a trinitarian structure, and the issue of justice figures prominently in each of the

three articles.

We believe that, just as Jesus thenlived with and for the oppressed, the poor and the outcasts in Judea, so we must now live with the oppressed, the poor and the outcasts and share their fate.

(…) We believe that God, the Lord and

Judge of history, commands us to pray for the freedom of oppressed people and of those who suffer innocently for their neighbours.

We believe that the Spirit summonsus to active participation not only in therenewal of our own personality but also

in the creation of a new society and anew history. He is the Spirit of theKingdom of God who commands us tofight for social and politicaltransformation.8

It is not only the life and ministry of Jesus

which inform us about the true Christian worship and life, but the trinitarian God who

“effects not only the renewal andsanctification of individual lives but also therecreation of history and of the universe.”9


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In a similar way, a document from South

Africa confesses the trinitarian God in and

for its context. The aim of A Declaration of

Faith for the Church in South Africa 10

is “toexpress the response of that [Christian] faith

to an urgent, specific and contemporary

problem in the Church … and in our

society.”11 But even though it is specifically

written against the “ideological heresy that

insists on the separate identity of racial

groups as a supreme value and ideal”,12 it

can only be read and understood as one voice of and for the una sancta ecclesia.

We believe in the Father, … who wantsall his people to live together as brothersand sisters in one family. We believe in Jesus Christ the Son, who becamehuman, … to break down every separating barrier of race, culture or class. … He

summons both the individual andsociety, both the Church and the State,to seek justice and freedom for all andreconciliation and unity between all. … We believe in the Holy Spirit, … who givesthe church power to love and serve allpeople, to strive for justice and peace, to warn the individual and the nation of God’s judgment.13

3.The doctrine of sin

Unlike the first two approaches, the third

uses the form of a “negative” approach. In

Christ and through the power of the Holy

Spirit, we know what God does not want.

We know where we fall short of what we are

created for in the image of God; where we

have turned justice into injustice,stewardship into exploitation, unity intosegregation and domination. In short, we

know our sin, individually and communally.

Many contemporary confessions emphasize

the understanding that sin is not only an

individual rebellion against God, but that it always has a social and communal side, too,

and that liberation from sin also includes

those two sides. The Evangelical

Presbyterian Church in Chile confessed in

1983:

I believe that sin is a real force which

radically disrupts our relationship withGod; it manifests itself personally and socially ; it turns both our desires and our deeds towards egoism, destruction anddeath. … I believe in God the Son, who …rose from the dead, triumphantlyasserting the power of the God of lifeover life-negating forces of oppressionand injustice, both personal and corporate.14

The Presbyterian Church in the Republic

of Korea phrases this understanding

comparably: “Man’s evil, universal and

individual, is the origin of corruption and

depravity. It manipulates the individual, and

as a social power it permeates the whole

human community and destroys God’s

creation.”15

The Presbyterian Church in Canada

explicitly includes what liberation

theologians from Latin America and other

regions have long since claimed; that is, our

sin affects every area of created life and has

a structural or systemic component:

Because we are sinful the societies


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we live in are sinful . There are noexceptions: every system is flawed. Weare part of the evil of the world, of its violence, neglect, injustice.16

With vi vid words , these sta tements

demonstrate one common theme in

Reformed confessions: every confession of

sin is first of all a confession of our sin, the

sin of the church, and not judgment on the

sin of others. Accordingly, the Evangelical

Protestant Church of Djibouti proclaims the

mercy of God, even for those who are

responsible for the sufferings of the victims

of “political oppression, economic disasters,17

or all ideological domination”18 as well as

for the sinful individual believer: “I believe

in the mercy of God also for me: often I

denied my brothers, deaf and blind to their

sufferings, I may have even participated in

their oppression.”19

The already mentioned Brief Statement

of Faith (PCUSA) adds yet another

dimension to the confession of sin. On the

background of the global ecological crisis, it

defines the results of sin as follows: “Ignoring

God’s commandments, we … exploit neighbor

and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s

condemnation.”20

In a more poetic style, the Creed of Hope

of the Waldensian Evangelical Church of

the River Plate (1997) describes the

ecological crises as a result of human sin,

but also their hope in a compassionate God:

I believe in a God who watches the worldtoday attentively, … who sees … the dirty water and the death of the fish, the pollution

that destroys the earth and perforates the

sky. … I believe in a God who sees all that …

and who cries about it. But I also believe in

a God … who laughs – because, despiteeverything, there is hope.21

4.The Christian life

Since God has already liberated us from

the power of sin, both individually and

communally, in the religious as well as in

the secular realm, the “Life of Love”22 can

and has to reflect this liberation, as thePresbyterian Church in the Republic of

Korea emphatically emphasizes:

The “new man” in the Spirit followsthe example of Christ in becoming thefriend of the weak and the fighter against the oppressors and their oppressive evilstructures; he sacrifices himself for the

sake of the oppressed and organizesforces who also wish to support theoppressed. Life in the Spirit means a lifededicated to sharing in the suffering andresurrection of Christ.23

In our global world and economy, the

Declaration of Faith of the Presbyterian

Church in the United States urges us to

newly define who our “neighbor” is, and how

our lives are intertwined with those living

far away from us.

We believe Christ gives us anddemands of us lives that recognize allpeople in all cultures as our neighborson this planet. Christ teaches us to go

beyond legal requirements in serving andhelping our neighbor, to treat our

neighbor’s needs as our own, to care


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passionately for the other’s good, to share what we have. It is part of our disciplineto live in simplicity, avoiding greed andluxury that threaten our neighbor’s

survival.24

Our Song of Hope , issued in 1974 by the

Reformed Church in America, describes the

new life of the believer, entitled “Our Hope

in Daily Life”.

As citizens we acknowledge the

Spirit’s work in human government for the welfare of the people, for justiceamong the poor, for mercy towards theprisoner, against inhuman oppression of humanity. … We give thanks for God’s work among governments, seeking toresolve disputes by means other than war, placing human kindness abovenational pride, replacing the curse of war with international self-control.25

In a more general way, two documents,

one from Europe and one from Latin

America, conclude their respective

statements with a call to active social and

political discipleship:

Devoted to the values of social justice,

of peace and of tolerance, Protestants,along with others, denounce the dangersof idolatry and infringement of humanrights wherever it is necessary.26

It is our responsibility to identifyourselves with all people and to servethem; to fight against those forces whichoppress human beings and bar the wayto their full realization as children of God.27

5.The mission of the churchFollowing these lines, modern Reformed

ecclesiology also displays a specific

accentuation. The church is not understood

as an entity separated from the world, but

as God’s instrument for God’s reconciling mission in and for the world and all aspects

of human life.

The Confession of 1967 is built upon the

main theme of reconciliation, which is

understood to be the “heart of the gospel in

any age”.28 In this context, the ministry of

the church is understood as the ministry of

reconciliation. The United Presbyterian

Church defines four specific social and

economic “problems and crises through

which God calls the church to act” and that

are “particularly urgent at the present

time”;29 namely, racism, peace, poverty, and

family life. Regarding the issue of poverty,

the Confession of 1967 asserts:

Because Jesus identified himself withthe needy and exploited, the cause of the world’s poor is the cause of hisdisciples. The church cannot condonepoverty, whether it is the product of unjust social structures, exploitation of the defenseless, lack of nationalresources, absence of technological

understanding, or rapid expansion of populations. … A church that isindifferent to poverty, or evadesresponsibility in economic affairs, or isopen to one social class only, or expectsgratitude for its beneficence makes amockery of reconciliation and offers noacceptable worship to God.30

It is obvious, that the ministry of reconciliation of the church cannot be

understood as some sort of church’s “agenda”


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which could easily be changed, because it isrooted in christological convictions: “The life,

death, resurrection, and promised coming

of Jesus Christ has set the pattern for thechurch’s mission. … The church follows this

pattern in the form of its life and in the

method of its action. So to live and serve is

to confess Christ as Lord.”31

This mission of the church cannot be

understood without the work of God who is

actively engaged in world and church, and

who calls and sends the church to becomepart of God’s own mission. To follow this call

of God can lead a church to become a church

under the cross, to suffer all sorts of

persecution for its confession of faith.

In the midst of a collusion of several super

powers in their own country, the

Presbyterian Church in Taiwan dared to call

upon its own members to “get rid of apsychology which is concerned only with

the preservation of its own existence and a

salvation that has to do only with the

individual”;32 and it claimed:

The church should become theservant of justice and truth; the aim of

the church’s existence is to communicatethe message of God’s love, and becauseof this the church must, in the spirit of real love, get involved in the actualitiesof modern society and through serviceseek to change the conditions of society. The world today is full of the fear of injustice and war. … The church cannot,here and now, keep silence, sitting byand watching the world sink into ruin;

besides participating in the spreading of the gospel and leading men to repent and believe in the Lord, it must express

concern for the whole nation, for society,and for the whole of mankind.33

In general, Reformed churches

emphasize that the ministry of the church

includes caring for the individual as well as

for society, and wherever one part is missing,

“the mission of the Church is defective”,34

as the Plan for Union of the Joint

Commission on Church Union in New

Zealand declared in 1971.

6.The world

Even more emphatic than the classical

confessions, contemporary texts do not

make a division between a sacred and a

secular realm, on the contrary, “…God’s

primary concern is with the world. … The

world and its history constitute the arena

of God’s concern”.35 For example, the

doctrines of reconciliation and salvationare not limited to the discussion of

personal and individual reconciliation, but

are also discussed in a communal, even

global sense; they are rightly understood

only in the perspective of God’s completion

of history.

It does not come as a surprise, then,

that modern confession can even includea whole section on “The World” as does,

for example, the Confession of the Church

of Toraja (1981). After confessing that “the

world and everything that is in it is the

good creation of God”,36 this documents

claims that

The life of mankind is out of balance,and this is especially clear in thedistinction and difference of socio-


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economic position, which has beenlegalised in the various structures of society, both traditional and modern. Thesocio-economic structures which cause

injustice need to be taken down andrenewed by the power of the Holy Spirit so that they may be in accordance withthe will of God.37

As a consequence of our sin, God’s good

creation has become a “hopeless world”.38

In this context, the traditional

understanding of the gubernatio Dei (God’s

government of the world), the trust in Jesus

Christ as “the hope of God’s world”39 has to

be confessed anew:

This world, with all the institutionsin it, which has been put into disorder bysin, is constantly loved, cared for andgoverned by God in His faithfulness. God

has liberated and renewed, and isliberating and renewing, this world in Jesus Christ, towards its fullness in thenew heaven and earth.40

The Christian God is confessed in

modern Reformed confessions as the one

“who watches the world today attentively”41

and “who is at work, especially in events

and movements that free people by thegospel and advance justice, compassion, and

peace.”42 Since “Jesus Christ is Lord over all

life, individual, social, national and

international”,43 Christian life and hope andhope for and in the world is to be understoodin this broad perspective too.

7.Three special issuesa.The Confession of Faith of the

Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba

(1977) This provocative faith document from

Cuba is the endeavour of a church to testify

to “the significance that the Gospel of Jesus

Christ has today for the Church in Cuba”,44

while the particular characteristic of it “lies

in the fact that it expresses the faith of a

Reformed Church which has consciously

embraced the goals of the socialist

revolution”.45

The Cuban confession is not only unique

in that it is, to my knowledge, the only official

statement of faith of a Reformed church ina socialist society, but also in that it explicitly

assumed that the Marxist-Leninist

revolution may lead church and society closer

to the fulfilment of God’s plans for humanity.

The Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba

claimed that in doing so, “it comes

dangerously close to the radical

secularization taken on by God in Jesus

Christ, and runs the same risks that He did

of misunderstandings, sufferings and

crucifixion.46

It is impossible to summarize adequately,

in a few lines, this lengthy document and

its theological arguments with respect to

social and economic issues. A few quotes

relating to its three underlying fundamental

principles may suffice to give a first

impression of this challenging document.

The first principle, the so-called

“anthropocentripetal criterion”,47 declares

that the absolute centrality of the human

being is given in Jesus Christ: “Faith in Jesus

Christ obligates the Church to place thehuman being in the center of its interest and concern, and to consider him as a


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parameter to judge all things, especially to

evaluate its own doctrinal teaching, itsspecific ecclesiastical structures and its

particular mission as the Church.”48

The second principle, the criterion of

historical impetus, relates terms such as

“salvation” and “liberation” no longer

exclusively to individual and private

salvat ion, but a lso to the “socia l-

economical reconstruction of the human

being”:49

Salvation for Scriptures means thereconstruction of the human being as‘co-heir of all things’; that is, of thosegoods which, in faithfulness to his�