 Reformation
Press The Presbyterian Left’s Great Witch Hunt
By J. William Giles Birmingham, Alabama In the spring of 2000, a book bearing the title A Moment to Decide: The Crisis in Mainstream Presbyterianism appeared in the life of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Its purpose was an exposé of the evangelical movement in the denomination. This monograph, which bears the title of its central essay, is a response to A Moment to Decide. The five renewal organizations that were treated in the book chose not to respond to it. Therefore, I have invited Parker T. Williamson, editor in chief of The Presbyterian Layman and the book’s chief villain, to write the introduction to this monograph. Bruce L. Felknor is a noted researcher, author, editor, churchman and lifelong student of “smear politics.” Mr. Felknor, in The Presbyterian Left’s Great Witch Hunt, has provided an extensive critical analysis of A Moment to Decide. His review is marked by a significant and incisive assessment of the tactics to which competing groups and people, in both the sacred and secular realms, frequently resort when addressing movements with which they disagree. The next piece in this monograph is a straightforward review and critique by Dr. Stephen D. Crocco, the James Lenox Librarian and director of the library at Princeton Theological Seminary. His review, from the Winter edition of the Princeton Seminary Bulletin, is reprinted with his permission. Dr. Jerry D. Andrews and The Presbyterian Outlook graciously have permitted us to reprint his comments about the book that were carried in the June 12, 2000 issue of that journal. While his review is written in a humorous vein, it does call our attention to the rather bizarre conclusions drawn by the author(s) and how they arrived at them. While others have reviewed A Moment to Decide, I have incorporated these particular reviews into this monograph as a response from three important and theologically moderate voices in our Church – an elder, a pastor and an academic – that need to be heard in the theological and political debates currently taking place in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Finally, I am grateful to Reformation Press for assisting in this project and for its interest in publishing The Presbyterian Left’s Great Witch Hunt. |
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