» News: Mid-America Reformed Seminary Issues Theological Statement

Mid-America Reformed Seminary this week released a fifty-page statement titled "The Doctrinal Testimony Regarding Recent Errors" (pdf). According to the cover letter by Cornelis Venema, president of the seminary, the statement resulted from a request by the seminary's board to "to compose a clear statement concerning the doctrine of justification by faith with respect to current controversies relating to this doctrine, so that the Board may consider the statement for approval at its next meeting." Venema presents the statement as unanimously approved by the faculty and board of the seminary.

The statement clearly identifies the views it opposes - "New Perspectives on Paul" and "Federal Vision". The report states, "These errors are bringing about confusion within the churches, and are so egregious that they are undermining, even bringing about the abandonment of, the testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Mid-America, located in Dyer, IN, is an independent seminary in the Reformed tradition. Current faculty members include: J. Mark Beach, Nelson D. Kloosterman, Alan Strange, Mark D. Vander Hart, Cornelis P. Venema, and Charles K. Telfer.

Previous faculty engagements with these controversies include Venema's article Getting the Gospel Right, and Strange's article Understanding the "Federal Vision", both in the February 2007 issue of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church's denominational magazine, New Horizons.

Corrections: 5/19/07 - corrected spelling of Venema's first name, changed second paragraph from characterizing the report as "targeting" certain views to "opposing" certain views in response to a reader's suggestion.