Controversey in the Presbyterian Church -- but not the PCUSA

While following up on some postings of friends, I found this interesting site called Presbyterians and Presbyterians Together.

Apparently, this is a call for charitable theological discourse within the evangelical presbyterian community (PCA, EPC, RPCNA, OPC etc). It seems these communities are being convulsed by arguments over The New Perspective on Paul and Federal Vision theology (this topic also led me to the very cool online Theopedia)

So here's this group calling for charity in conversation over theolical issues. Meanwhile there are others who believe that the very foundations of the christian faith are at stake. Does this sound familiar to anyone in the PCUSA?

Now there are a few notable differences: the issues at stake in the PCUSA (the nature of scripture, the nature of Jesus work, concepts of sexual purity, the implication of Christ's redeeming work for non-Christians, etc) are not even on the table in the circles of the Presbyterians and Presbyterians Together folks: They all basically agree with each other on these things. However they still fight like Sharks and Jets. John Frame has a fine essay that touches on the topic of contentiousness in the evangelical Reformed community.

I'm not sure what the implications are for our present situation, but perhaps we in the PCUSA should start paying closer attention to what is happening in other reformed communities around us.

Soli Deo Gloria
Russell