Orthodox Presbyterian Church

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The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a conservative Presbyterian church that is predominantly represented in the United States . It was founded by theologically conservative members of the Calvinist Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA). In the 1930s they fought against the rampant modernist theology. The movement was led by John Gresham Make , who also co-founded the Westminster Theological Seminary . The OPC tries to preserve the original Calvinism in a Presbyterian church structure.

According to its own information, at the end of 2016 it had 30,918 members in 278 parishes for which 540 pastors were active.

history

In the tradition of men like Charles Hodge , Geerhardus Vos, and BB Warfield , making was a leading conservative on the faculty at Princeton Theological Seminary , which was a bulwark of traditional Presbyterian theology until the early 1920s. In 1929, however, the leadership of the seminar was reorganized in the sense of more theologically liberal views and filled chairs with professors who were more open to modernism and much more friendly to certain forms of theological liberalism.

John Gresham Do

Make and a group of other Conservatives stood in the way of these changes by creating Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929 . Then Make brought this case to the General Assembly of the PCUSA. He turned against theological positions which he considered dangerous for the recognizability of the Reformed tradition, even a danger to the foundations of Christianity. The General Assembly refused to do anything. Therefore, Make and several other professors together with a group of Conservative allies founded the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions ("Independent Committee on Presbyterian Foreign Missions"). The 1934 General Assembly condemned this move. Make and his people were released from the service of their church.

On June 11, 1936, Make and a group of clergy, elders, and lay people gathered in Philadelphia to found the Presbyterian Church of America (not to be confused with the Presbyterian Church in America , which was formed some 40 years later). The PCUSA filed a lawsuit against the newly formed denomination because of the chosen name. In 1939 it adopted the name Orthodox Presbyterian Church .

At the time that preceded the creation of the OPC, Mach and his allies were known in PCUSA as well-known leaders of Christian fundamentalism . Make and the majority of the OPC, however, were more committed to the traditional Reformed legacy with its unreserved beliefs than to the fundamentalist movement, which many in the Reformed tradition felt was inadequate in its doctrinal statements.

In 1937 at the latest, one faction of the OPC committed itself to pure fundamentalism, which differs from the rest of the OPC through things like complete abstinence from alcohol , a premillenarian eschatology, opposition to ecumenism and political activities against the Communist Party . This group separated from the OPC under the leadership of Carl McIntire and founded the Bible Presbyterian Church .

Among the early leaders of the OPC were Cornelius Van Til , Gordon Clark, Robert Dick Wilson, RB Kuiper and later John Murray .

Relationships and Memberships

The OPC has a warm relationship with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the largest Conservative Reformed denomination in the United States. The two differ from each other more historically than in doctrinal questions, although the OPC is traditionally more conservative than the PCA in questions of worship, leadership and church order. In addition, as a community that historically emerged in the north of the USA, the OPC was not culturally influenced by the movement of the Lost Cause for the reconciliation of the South with the North (see Civil War ) like the churches from which the core of the PCA arose. The OPC requires elders and deacons to fully commit to Westminster Standards as an appropriate expression of Biblical teachings, while the PCA allows minor deviations.

The OPC is a member of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) and the International Conference of Reformed Churches (ICRC).

literature

  • Lee Gatiss: Christianity and the Tolerance of Liberalism: J. Gresham Make and the Presbyterian Controversy of 1922-1937 . Latimer Trust, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-946307-63-0 .
  • Robert King Churchill: Read We Forget: a Personal Reflection on the Formation of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The Committee for the Historian of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia 1987, ISBN 0-934688-34-6 .
  • Bradley J. Longfield: The Presbyterian Controversy: Fundamentalists, Modernists, and Moderates. Oxford University Press, New York 1991, ISBN 0-19-508674-0 .
  • DG Hart: Defending the Faith: J. Gresham Make and the Crisis of Conservative Protestantism in Modern America . The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1994, ISBN 0-8010-2023-9 .
  • DG Hart, John Muether: Fighting the Good Fight of Faith: A Brief History of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The Committee on Christian Education and the Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia 1995, ISBN 0-934688-81-8 .
  • Gary North: Crossed Fingers: How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church. Institute for Christian Economics, Tyler, TX 1996, ISBN 0-930464-74-5 .
  • David B. Calhoun: Princeton Seminary: The Majestic Testimony, 1869-1929. Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA 1996.
  • Edwin H. Rian: The Presbyterian Conflict. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 1940, ISBN 0-934688-67-2 .
  • Lefferts A. Loetscher: The Broadening Church: A Study of Theological Issues in the Presbyterian Church Since 1869. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
  • Paul M. Elliot: Christianity and Neo-Liberalism: The Spiritual Crisis in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Beyond. Trinity Foundation, 2005, ISBN 978-0-940931-68-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2017 General Assembly Report .