This blog post says better than I could a number of things that have grieved me in recent years. If you ‘re teaching or planning to teach the Bible, please read it. If you ‘re thinking of sending your child to a “Christian college,” please read it. If you ‘re considering beginning a seminary education, please read it.
http://blog.9marks.org/2009/10/beware-your-seminary-professors.html
Just one clip:
In the Western secular academy, one of the highest values is an open exchange of ideas without pre-judgment, a value which has clearly transmitted into Christian academic circles. Yes, there should be a place for Christians to openly consider new ideas, but consider the anthropology behind that democratic value: it assumes (these days, at least) that people are rational, objective, and basically good. When this is our starting point, we feel free to say whatever, whenever. An elder has a very different starting point. He knows that his sheep are weak and susceptible to temptation and self-deceit. Like a parent, he knows that intellectual growth is highly intertwined with spiritual and social maturity. So he takes great care in what he says and does not say. He’s not nearly so democratic. Instead, he must be judicious.
I have a myriad of thoughts floating in my brain, but I think I ‘ll just let you read this and save my comments for future times.
Thanks Todd, this is a very valid concern. Seminaries are increasingly wanting to be respected as accredited centers of academia (which they should be). Yet in the effort to be academic, doctrinal issues have largely become optional. As a result you can no longer assume a pastor-graduate of a known seminary will have an expected doctrinal stance. Seems like every year the range of accepted views drifts farther.
It’s one reason we chose classes under professors who were seasoned (even older than we were!) and who were pastors as well. They were gracious, but also held fast to truth.
Todd,
I would love to hear some of those myriad of thoughts. In several of your postings, I (perhaps mistakenly) detect a hint of cynicism towards evangelical academia. Yet, at the same time, you are pursuing an academic degree, have already earned academic degrees, and you teach for an academic institution. I consider you a sharp thinker and I always benefit from your knowledge and analysis in your newsletters and your other blog.
Is the idea of evangelical academia wrong-headed? What specifically do you see evangelical scholars doing wrong and how do we do it right? Maybe there are particular individuals in your experience that you have in mind that I am not aware of.
I read the original 9Marks blog, and I found myself identifying more with the lengthy comment by John than with Jonathan Leeman’s blog. Is it because I am blessed to be at a school where these problems are not as abundant? Is Leeman’s assessment off-target? Or, am I perfectly blind to a major problem that needs to be addressed?
A.D.
A.D.,
I am concerned when Christian college and seminary students graduate and they love God less than when they started, trust his Word less than when they started, and doubt core doctrines that initially attracted them to the seminary. Christian college and seminary professors do not score points with me when they reject tradition and see how close they can come to denying elements of the doctrinal statement. The strategy of some seems to be to open the students up to the broad world of religious thinking without teaching them the Scriptures that provide a rudder. Students (or the parents who send them) think they’re getting an education that affirms the teachings of the doctrinal statement, but graduates who reject key teachings or the faith altogether suggest that something is amiss. Of course I’m not speaking about an individual or two but a trend. It should be alarming if professors do not want what they teach to be public lest they be criticized by parents and alumni.
Some professors are trying to make their mark in the guild by espousing new ideas. Some professors are trying to be accepted in the guild by espousing unexpected (for them) ideas. The pressures are very real. It is human nature to want to be accepted and applauded. Pride is very subtle and rationalizations come easy.
Lest anyone think otherwise, I am not thinking of any single professor or school here, but rather of a number that I have observed over a long time.