 Princeton Seminary president stands by '78 GA statement By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, June 30, 2004
That included the rumor that Tom Gillespie, president of Princeton Theological Seminary for 21 years, had changed his mind about the 1978 Authoritative Interpretation he helped to write. That's not so, Gillespie told the General Assembly Committee on Church Orders and Ministry, which invited him to address that question. "I'm the president of Princeton Theological Seminary for 36 hours and 40 minutes, but who's counting," Gillespie said Tuesday morning, referring to the time for the installation of his soon-to-be successor, Dr. Iain Torrence of Scotland. Gillespie dealt lightly with the rumors that he had changed his mind since helping to write the 1978 Authoritative Interpretation. "At my age, you expect me to remember 1978?" he asked. But he remembered well enough to declare that he still stood behind the statement that declared that homosexual behavior is sinful and that the church should not ordain practicing homosexuals. He also made a point to address uninformed responses of people who say the Authoritative Interpretation banned the ordination of homosexuals. "When people say homosexual people may not be ordained, that is not true," Gillespie said. "Homosexual practice was, of our understanding, not God's choice for his people." He noted that the issue is a "hot-button topic on our campus, but the wonderful thing about being on an academic campus is that there are no votes. "We've done that now during my 21 years at Princeton Seminary. I have not changed my opinion on that issue." At the time of the 1978 statement, it was referred to as "definitive guidance." A member of the committee asked Gillespie whether he considered then that guidance would have the force of church law. "Anything that is 'definitive' I would take as authoritative," he said. |
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