The Hartford Declaration

Abstract

IN the April issue of Theology Today (pp. 94–97), we printed the full text of “An Appeal for Theological Affirmation,” popularly known as the Hartford Declaration. The Declaration, consisting of thirteen themes of contemporary thought considered dangerous to the church's message, was signed by eighteen people from various Christian churches. Several other people were involved in preliminary consideration of the ideas expressed in the document. A meeting at the Hartford Seminary Foundation in January, 1975, was in large measure organized by Peter Berger, Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University, and Richard John Neuhaus, pastor of the Church of Saint John the Evangelist in Brooklyn, and out of that meeting emerged the text of the “Appeal for Theological Affirmation.” Theology Today erred in giving the impression that the text had been formulated in consultations prior to the January meeting. We have asked four people to respond to the Hartford Declaration, and their reactions, plus a response from Dr. Berger, are printed below. Ernest Campbell is minister of the Riverside Church, New York City, and author of the recent Locked in a Room With Open Doors (1974). Joseph Fletcher has been a regular contributor to Theology Today and is the author of Situation Ethics: The New Morality (1966). Formerly Professor of Pastoral Theology and Christian Ethics at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, he is now Professor of Medical Ethics, University of Virginia Hospital, Charlottesville, Va. Letty M. Russell is Assistant Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and author of Human Liberation in a Feminist Perspective—A Theology (1974). Earlier she served as a pastor of the East Harlem Protestant Parish in New York. Richard Shaull, Professor of Ecumenics at Princeton Theological Seminary, has also been a frequent contributor to Theology Today. Formerly a missionary in Brazil, Dr. Shaull is the author of Encounter with Revolution (1955) and, with Carl Oglesby, Containment and Change (1967). Dr. Berger is a member of Theology Today's Editorial Council and his most recent book is Pyramids of Sacrifice: Political Ethics and Social Change (1974), which is reviewed in this issue of Theology Today.