CHURCH DOCTRINE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22369, 17 September 1934, Page 10

CHURCH DOCTRINE

A PROFESSOR'S TEACHINGS HISTORIC MEETING. (From Our Own Correspondent.) ' SYDNEY, September 8, For the first,, time in. the .history of the Presbyterian Church in Australia, the Judicial Commission, consisting of commissioners from all parts of Australia, will sit in Syduey on September 19 for the consideration of an appeal brought by New South Wales churchmen who are opposed to the teaching of Professor Samuel Angus, of St. Andrews College, within the University of Sydney. During the last 18 months the opposition to the teachings of the professor has twice occupied the attention of the Sydney Presbytery, which referred the case to the Australian General Assembly. The General Assembly, which, is considered by a majority of those interested in tho controversy to be the proper and only competent tribunal to decide crucial questions of the kind that have been raised, will not meet again until September, 1936; and the step taken by the- opponents of the professor in appealing to the Judicial Committee is the last, probably, they can take before then with any possibility of gain ing what they seek. The history of the case goes back to December, 1932, when a move was made to obtain the resignation of- Professor Angus on the ground that his teachings <md utterances were not in harmony with the teachings of the church. A motion to that effect was ruled out at a meeting of the Sydney Presbytery on February 14, 1933, but the presbytery agreed that a committee of seven should confer with Dr Angus and submit a report. Professor Angus gave notice of dissent and appeal to the General Assembly against the appointment of this committee. On February 22 the Methodist Conference decided to withdraw Methodist students from lectures given by Professor Angus. At another meeting of the presbytery on March .14 it was agreed that as it appeared that Professor Angus's were not in harmony with tho general doctrines of the church, the General Assembly should make inquiries and take any steps which it deemed advisable.

The ease provoked keen and, at times, almost heated discussion at the General Assembly in Melbourne last September, and it was finally agreed that a case for proper inquiry had been demonstrated. Tt was remitted to the Sydney Presbytery, with directions to proceed According to the rules of the church, a proviso being added that if the decision of the presbytery and the State Assembly were appealed against, the moderator should summon the Judicial Commission. In May of this year the New South Wales Assembly, with dramatic suddenness, carried an amendment accepting an assurance from Professor Angus that he held the essential substance of church faith, and staying further action until the General Assembly had expressed its mind on creed revision. This left open the appeal to the Judicial Commission.