Theological debate in the PCA

It’s long been a frustration that there are few fora for theological discussion and debate in the PCA. Presbyteries sometimes devote time to such discussion, but that’s too rare. And GA is simply not a place where theological debate can be expected to happen.

Yesterday’s debate on the Federal Vision was a case in point. Nearly two hours were devoted to the committee report, but virtually no theological claims were made or disputed. The GA quickly determined that justification by faith was the issue at stake, on the assumption that some in the PCA are denying it (which is not true). Once the debate went in that direction, the outcome was obvious. We all know what we think about justification by faith; there’s no need to discuss it; let’s vote.

There are multiple problems here, no doubt, but one of them is certainly structural. 800 men with very different degrees of theological training are simply not capable of carrying on high-level theological discussion. The PCA’s solution has been to delegate the heavy theological lifting to committees, but, like David Coffin, I am a study committee skeptic. Perhaps in addition to the business meeting of GA, there needs to be a delegated assembly to discuss theological questions at length when they come up.