Category: Booklets & Journals
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Bearing The Marks Of The Church
Who or what is the church? By what stars shall we navigate as we seek to be the church here and now? The three essays gathered in “Bearing the Marks of the Church” use Nicene marks of the church – one, holy, catholic, apostolic – as navigation points as we seek to be the church now…
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Guidelines for Child Care at Church-Sponsored Meetings
Recommended by the 207th General Assembly. How to have quality child care at church related meetings. Includes: Responsibilities of governing body, local churches, coordinator and parents. Sample employee questionnaire, background checks, resource guide.
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Identity, Polity, Praxis
In this essay Paul Hooker Hooker calls us to hear and respond to the questions we face in this time of intense transition — starting with one of the most basic questions: “who are we called to be?†Hooker points to resources we have at hand to help us formulate strong answers to that question.
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The History Of The Presbyterian Church
Sketches the life of John Calvin. Shows how Presbyterianism spread throughout Europe, and depicts three centuries of church growth in America, including reunification.
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Rebuilding The Presbyterian Establishment
Have we structured our life together in a way that serves our best aspirations? Do the current institutional arrangements of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) help us flourish? Of the many things we carry with us from previous generations of Presbyterians, do they all continue to work well – or is it time for some of…
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The Best of Times and the Worst of Times for Religion, Especially Christian Faith
From the Publisher’s Note: […] John Leith has long been one of this church’s most significant theological voices. He is a learned thinker sho has also served as a pastor and who has devoted himself throughout his career to building up the church through the training of clergy and through his penetrating theological reflections. […]
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Thinking Theologically About The Church
In this paper, Burgess explains what thinking theologically about the church looks like and what its sustaining 6 sources will be.
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Who’s In? Who’s Out?
This insightful essay, Who’s In? Who’s Out? by church theologian Joseph Small, is particularly relevant given the debates currently being conducted in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Indeed, this trenchant theological reflection may well come at a kairotic moment (in the words of Paul Tillich), as the church seeks to understand what characteristics deï¬ne this ecclesial community and what constitutes…
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The Shape Of Pastoral Ministry
Occasional Paper #13 reprints two significant essays that are no longer readily available. “The Maceration of the Minister” by the late Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler is an incisive, sympathetic analysis of the plight of ministers. “The Teaching Authority of the Minister in the Reformed Tradition: A Contemporary Proposal” by Richard R. Osmer, the Thomas W.…
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Confessional Standards for a Confessing Church
From the Publisher’s Note: […] The term “confessing church†has come to mean something altogether different in the current Presbyterian context, however, as right-wing organizations seek to use confessional statements as theological sledgehammers to bludgeon Presbyterians into a rigid orthodoxy that divisively excludes certain persons from ecclesiastical leadership. It is in this context that Union Theological Seminary— Presbyterian School of Christian…