Theologian has pessimistic opinion about denomination By John H. Adams The Presbyterian Layman Volume 34, Number 2 Posted March 26, 2001 Shirley Guthrie LOUISVILLE, Ky.– Shirley Guthrie, a Presbyterian professor of theology, says the Presbyterian Church (USA) is “falling apart” over “these little trivial debates.” That conclusion was part of Guthrie’s response to a question that was asked after he spoke Feb. 19 to a joint meeting of the Committee of the Office of the General Assembly and the General Assembly Council. William Maloney, moderator of the Committee of the Office of the General Assembly, asked Guthrie at the end of a question-answer session, “What do you see the living God doing here and now?” “We’re falling apart,” Guthrie said. “Maybe God is saying no to what we are doing in these little trivial debates in the church while hundreds of thousands of people are starving to death. “Could it just be that our issues are a way of escaping what the issues are? What did God say to Israel? I’m sick and tired of you and I’m not even going to listen to your prayers any more. Do justice and then come around. “I don’t have a great deal of hope for our church. In a way, I never have. It’s been one crisis after another. But I do have a lot of hope in the God we confess. And so there may even be hope for us.” Guthrie’s pessimism was a departure from the tone of his presentation to the denomination’s elected and staff leadership. He spoke on Biblical interpretation, citing what he identified as the “rules of interpretation” that he had gleaned from the denomination’s confessional and the Reformed tradition. He said he fully expected to raise the hackles of both liberals and conservatives, and he fulfilled his expectations. Without specificity, at one point Guthrie, long-time member of the faculty at Columbia Theological Seminary, identified as one of the interpretive taboos any discrimination against people of different “sexual orientation.” But he also stressed an evangelical emphasis: that the first rule of Scriptural interpretation should be to use Scripture itself. Guthrie’s rules for interpretation were: 1. “Scripture interprets itself. It is the very central rule for interpretation. ... This rule is a safeguard against the tendency of all of us – that we ought not to only quote passages of Scripture that confirm what we already think and want the Bible to say.” 2. “Scripture is to be interpreted in light of God’s central revelation in Jesus Christ. This is especially helpful in light of interpretation of the role of women in society or justice. How did Jesus do it?” 3. “Follow the law of love. This is mentioned in all of the confessions in the 16th century, but by the time you get to confessions in the 17th century, when people were fighting, the rule of love lost out. No interpretation with hostility, contempt or indifference toward any person can be a right interpretation.” 4. “The rule of faith with respect for the church’s essential tenets.” He warned against “confusing interpretation by the Holy Spirit with our own biases.” 5. “Respect for literary and historical context. This encourages us to discern the Word and work of God for our time in a book written by and for ancient Mideastern people.”

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