ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

The polity debate regarding gay and lesbian ordination and/or installation in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

 

 

Roché F. Vermaak

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Brentwood Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, USA

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

The paper summarises the formation process of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s (PC(USA)) polity regarding the ordination and/or installation of partnered gays and lesbians as officers, i.e. deacons, elders and ministers of the Word and Sacrament, in light of General Assemblies' decisions and General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commissions' ecclesiastical rulings since the 1970s.

Keywords: 'definitive guidance'; gay/lesbian ordination; General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission; The Book of Confessions; the Book of Order

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Full text available only in PDF format.

 

 

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Vermaak, R.F., 2010 [in press], 'The historical development of Presbyterian ordination polity as background to the gay and lesbian ordination debate in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)', Verbum et Ecclesia 31(1).

 

 

Correspondence:
Roché Vermaak
2512, 28th Street, Apt 101
Santa Monica
CA, 90405
USA
Email: vermaak@verizon.net

Received: 09 July 2009
Accepted: 10 May 2010
Published: 23 Sept. 2010