Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 75:2 (Fall 2013)
Article: The Early History Of Peniel Bible Conference Part 1: Zeal Without Knowledge (1933–1938)
Author: Caroline Weerstra

---

WTJ 75:2 (Fall 2013) p. 297

The Early History Of Peniel Bible Conference
Part 1: Zeal Without Knowledge (1933–1938)

Caroline Weerstra

Caroline Weerstra is a member of Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Schenectady, N.Y., and the author of the Westminster Shorter Catechism for Kids series and other Sunday school curriculum.

Peniel Bible Conference has always been a shadowy enigma in Orthodox Presbyterian history. The controversy surrounding the group churned through the courts of the Presbytery of New York and New England, the Presbytery of Philadelphia, the Presbytery of Ohio, and the General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for more than thirty years. Yet today it is little known and poorly understood. Some histories of the Orthodox Presbyterian denomination ignore it entirely. Others give it a cursory mention and brief doctrinal analysis before moving on.1 Probably the most in-depth and accurate account is presented in History for a Pilgrim People: The Historical Writings of Charles G. Dennison, which outlines the controversy from the perspective of the documentation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and from interviews with a handful of participants.2

While these summaries are helpful, they present an incomplete picture. Camp Peniel appears on the horizon of the narrative abruptly, leaving the reader with the impression that some external flash-in-the-pan organization influenced two or three Orthodox Presbyterian ministers. The OPC is reported to have taken a stand against it, and history moves on. In reality, the Peniel controversy is far more deeply rooted and complex. Peniel’s own records reveal a level of involvement with the OPC generally unknown to the OPC itself. Peniel’s influence on the OPC was so widespread and long-lasting that two members of the Peniel Prayer Council (the camp’s ruling assembly) served

WTJ 75:2 (Fall 2013) p. 298

as elders in the Orthodox Presbyterian denomination from 1938 through the 1970s without interruption. Other lifelong Peniel adherants held office as ministers and elders in the OPC well past the year 2000.3

Comprehension of the lengthy timespan is crucial to a proper understanding of Peniel’s history. Peniel was not a static organization. Although many of the leaders remained the same, the theology and practices of the camp made dramatic shifts over the process of several decades. The most notorious events in Peniel’s saga took place almost exclusively in the 1930s and 1940s—before the broader OPC denomination was even aware of the existence of Peniel Bible Conference. T...

visitor : : uid: ()