Faith
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Thinking the Faith, Praying the Faith, Living the Faith is written by the PC(USA) Office of Theology and Worship.
Thinking, praying, and living the faith is at the core of ministry in the Office of Theology and Worship. In the following videos, learn more about what thinking, praying, and living the faith means to the leadership of the Office of Theology and Worship. Discover why it matters and what difference it makes in our lives, work, and worship.
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What’s so hard about Bible references?
The Heidelberg Catechism is very important to me, with its strong emphasis on belonging to God and gratitude as the theme of the Christian life. At the baptism of both my children and my ordination to the ministry of Word and Sacrament, I asked that the first question be read:
q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
a. That I belong--body and soul, in life and in death--not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ . . .
I remember clearly hearing this read by Ed Henegar at my ordination, a pastor who embodies for me faithful pastoral ministry. Ed, in a voice I had heard described as “God’s voice” when I was in college, read to me these powerful words of the past with real deep conviction. And then he came to the line, “he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head.” Ed paused, looked over the book at my somewhat shiny head, and intoned, “I guess God fell down on the job in your case.” I think he got in trouble from his wife for that one!
I remembered this story as I have been meeting the past couple of days with the Special Committee on Translating the Heidelberg Catechism. This is one of the best stories of national Presbyterian life the last few years. I know, it doesn’t sound that exciting, but this committee has done remarkable work. They began their work amidst great controversy over the decision to re-translate Heidelberg, but this remarkably diverse committee has come to a consensus on how to proceed, thanks be to God.
After thoroughly combing through the sixteenth-century German and Latin editions, the committee agreed to work with the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the Reformed Church in America on a common, contemporary English translation that made best use of the original sources. What a great result: a common, ecumenical, usable translation. It should be public soon.
Who would have thought that the harder part of the process was the accompanying biblical citations? We will share a common translation with the RCA and CRCNA. However, the biblical citations are not considered part of the text, so the PC(USA) is working independently on these references.
In the vast majority of cases, working out the references is relatively easy. But not always. It turns out that the German edition lists only chapter, while the Latin adds specific verses. Then there are a few places where the German and Latin editions have differing citations. What do you do when you look up the Scripture citation and find no connection to that section of the catechism? And in one place, even though the German and Latin agree on a nonsequiter citation to Matthew, the same chapter and verse from Luke is right on topic! Furthermore, in several cases the verse listings from the Psalms are perplexing, until you look at the Vulgate and discover that it has different versification from our current English translations, and the references work just fine with the Vulgate. Or what if the citation is to the parable of the Good Samaritan that only makes sense if one accepts the allegorical interpretations of the text that folks like Calvin completely rejected?
Through all this discussion the members of the committee are having a very spirited discussion on the role of scripture and catechism, and what the purpose of these citations is to begin with.
My hope is that all this technical work of combing through biblical references will encourage the church to delve deeply into the catechism itself, that its wisdom from centuries back will help the PC(USA) remember who we are, what we believe, and what we intend to do (G-2.0100a).
- Posted at 9:20 p.m.
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