Selective Memory

Dovetailing with my last post, you can tell where a denomination is at and going by what they think is important historically. Here is the PCUSA's Presbyterian history timeline. Some things to notice:

They make a note of the departure of the OPC under JG Machen in 1936 but don't note the departure of the far larger and more significant PCA in 1973 from the PCUS.

All that is noted as significant for the last 41 years is that a woman became moderator of GA, they became the biggest Presbyterian denomination in 1983 (they don't mark that they've shrunk dramatically since then) and finally, and of huge significance to the Presbyterian world...Drum roll please: In 1986 Holly Haile Smith is ordained as the first Native American woman in the PC(USA).

Comments

[RevK]

That timeline didn't include any historical morsels like this about the ARP either...
"Formal union talks in the American colonies between the "Associates" and the "Reformed" presbyteries, who had immigrated from Scotland and Ireland, began in 1777. By 1782, the Associate Reformed Synod organized in Philadelphia. This Synod, although not encompassing every "Associate" and "Reformed" congregation, included churches in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, North and South Carolina and Georgia."

[RevK]

Why did that "presbyterian" timeline forget to include historical morsels like this about the ARP...
"Formal union talks in the American colonies between the "Associates" and the "Reformed" presbyteries, who had immigrated from Scotland and Ireland, began in 1777. By 1782, the Associate Reformed Synod came to be in Philadelphia. This Synod, although not encompassing every "Associate" and "Reformed" congregation, included churches in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, North and South Carolina and Georgia."