Media Coverage
Guest Commentary: THE REV. DANIEL PLASMAN
Saturday, February 26, 2005


His distinguished ecclesiastical and seminary career might not be in jeopardy had he failed a driver's road test or even a surprise testing for steroids use. But the Rev. Norman Kansfield, president of New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Brunswick, N.J., committed a failure that many in his denomination, the Reformed Church in America, view as inexcusable.

His religious offense? Last summer, the 64-year-old clergyman officiated at the wedding of his daughter and her same-sex partner.

This June, at the RCA's annual General Synod, the Rev. Kansfield's professional and ordination credentials will undergo scrutiny in what may turn out to be a rare ecclesiastical trial by fire.

From where I sit, his chances do not look good. I have more than a mild curiosity about the outcome, for Norm (as I know him) is my friend, mentor and, along with his family, a former member of a congregation I pastored from 1983-1989 in Rochester, N.Y.

The Rev. Kansfield's present troubles are the direct result of having failed what is fast turning out to be a litmus test by which orthodox purity is understood.

He did what the RCA and most denominations have refused to do. He treated two people -- who happen to be gay -- as people. For that grievous transgression, his seminary presidency in a few months will come to an abrupt end, and no few members of his denomination are poised to brand him with the red-hot, heretic iron.

Maybe his accusers are right. Maybe the Rev. Kansfield is a heretic of the worst order, the kind who defies centuries of church doctrine and teaching. If so, we should at least know a bit more about the suspect theology of this alleged heretic.

I know the Rev. Kansfield to be a conservative theologian. He affirms the The Apostles' Creed and believes in a triune God, the virgin birth, the atoning work of Jesus' crucifixion and his bodily resurrection. He believes in a final judgment day and the forgiveness of sins.

But none of those affirmations matters now, for he failed the litmus test. He treated his daughter and her partner like two people who want to establish a life together. He treated them like, well, like Jesus treated so many whom first-century religious gatekeepers shunned (think lepers here).

The Rev. Kansfield did the unthinkable, the unpardonable, the most unchurchly thing imaginable.

He embodied the love of Christ and the presence of God when his daughter and daughter-in-law said to each other, "I do."

For that indiscretion, rooted in his grace-filled theology, the Rev. Kansfield, like all noble heretics, will have to pay the price.

The Rev. Daniel Plasman is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America. He grew up in Holland, graduated from Calvin College and has served three RCA churches. Now a freelance writer, Plasman, 51, lives in Downers Grove, Ill., and is working on a devotional commentary on the Gospel of Luke.




ecclesia reformata, sed semper reformanda