There was a day in the USA when Presbyterian ministers were required to write a theological treatise in Latin as part of their trials for ordination. That expectation disappeared sometime toward the end of the 19th Century.
And also on this continent.
a paper on the history of the Presbyterian denomination in which I was ordained
You're a Presbyterian? For some reason I thought you were Lutheran.
Well, I did have both influences in my rearing. The grandmother in whose home I grew up was Lutheran; but she respected the affiliation of my deceased mother who was Presbyterian. You might say that I had a Reformational Ecumencial rearing.
My mother was Presbyterian because Chester, Illinois did not have a Christian Church (i.e. Disciples of Christ.) Her father was reared as a Primitive Baptist; but was theologically and socially liberal. He joined the Disciples and reared his family in it. When the family moved from Missouri to Illinois, there was no Disciples Church, therefore they joined the Presbyterian Church (from which the Disciples traced their origin.)
My grandmother was Missouri Synod Lutheran. Her husband was Methodist. He died before I was born. They lived in Ste Genevieve, MO, a Roman Catholic town. The only Protestant church was a mission supplied by ministers from the Presbyterians and the Methodists. My father became a Presbyterian because he joined the church on a day that a Presbyterian minister was present. I know. Sounds corny.
Therefore, I was raised in the Presbyterian church even after my mother's decease although my Lutheran grandmother did influence me. Maybe it's because I mentioned her Hymnal and Catechism that confused you or the fact that I went to the Lutheran School, the year after my mother's death.
But that doesn't say why *I* am Presbyterian. I was converted (that's a theological issue that I won't get into here) in a Baptistic context and in that context sensed a call to ministry. Therefore, I went to a Baptistic college. Once there, however, through my studies, I became persuaded that Presbyterianism was the most faithful of the churches to the theology and government of Biblical Protestantism.
Therefore, upon graduation from the Baptistic college, I enrolled in a Presbyterian seminary. During my third year, I served as pastor of a Bible Presbyterian CHurch in Coatesville, PA, after which I was ordained to serve as pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church of Grand Junction, CO.
Subsequent to that service, I have served churches with three different Presbyterian affiliations and now in a denomination known as the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, which is one of the older Presbyterian denominations in America. It is Calvinistic or Reformed in theology and Presbyterian in government. Its ministers still subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith.
It was while attending the Presbyterian seminary that I became acquainted with the Rev. Dr. Francis Nigel Lee, who now resides in another of those antipode islands.
VH
