The Federal Vision (also called Auburn Avenue Theology) is a Reformed Evangelical theological conversation that focuses on covenant theology, Trinitarian thinking, the sacraments of Baptism and Communion, biblical theology and typology, justification, and postmillennialism.
A controversy arose in Calvinist, Reformed, and Presbyterian circles in response to views expressed at a 2002 conference entitled "The Federal Vision: An Examination of Reformed Covenantalism." The ongoing controversy involves several Reformed denominations including the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA), and the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States (RPCUS), and the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRCA).
Proponents of Federal Vision theology view themselves as influenced by the Protestant Reformers, especially those responsible for drawing up the Westminster Confession.
They argue that the influences of their theology are not limited to the work of pre-Great Awakening writers, however. They find precedent for their beliefs through the Awakenings and up to the present day.