From: Kenneth Piers (Pier@calvin.edu)
Date: Mon Nov 17 2003 - 09:20:39 EST
REPLY: While my colleague, Loren, is very likely correct about the teaching of
YEC at Calvin Theological Seminary, it should also be said that the preacher
employed by the radio ministry of the Christian Reformed Church (The Back of
God Hour) is a strong supporter of YEC and has preached a series of sermons on
the Genesis text along these lines. It is also true that both Calvin College
and Calvin Seminary enroll many students who are supporters of YEC - presumably
most of these come from homes and/or schools where YEC was the prevailing
paradigm. Some of these students are deeply offended when presented with
criticisms of YEC in the classroom; others are courageous enough to examine the
basis of their own beliefs in YEC and begin the pathway to a more nuanced
position or may even reject YEC altogether in favor of a less literal
understanding of Genesis.
These thoughts remind me of a situation that my daughter found herself in
during her first year of teaching high school biology in a small Christian High
School in Ontario, Canada about fifteen years ago. During one of her classes in
biology, she must have used the word "evolution" in one of her classes (but not
in the context of any creation-evolution discussion, simply in the context of
teaching a biology lesson). A few days later she got a note from her principal
saying that she would have to appear before the School Board to defend herself
on the charge that she was teaching or promoting evolution in the classroom. By
this time she had already forgotten that she had used the E-word in her class
and had no idea what this charge was about. As it turned out one of her
students went home and told her father (who was on the School Board and an
aggressive supporter of YEC - this is a man whom Howard knows quite well too
from withering condemnations directed his way by this same person) that my
daughter had used the E-word in class. So without any contact with my daughter,
or any discussion at all about the context in which that word was used, she was
haled before the Board on these trumped up charges. Needless to say, although
she completed her teaching year at that school, she found her experience there
so off-putting that she decided that there must be easier ways to make a living
and left teaching altogether.
I believe that YEC continues to be a strong force in the constituency that is
served by Calvin College and Calvin Seminary. While I can accept YEC supporters
as fellow believers (some of my siblings continue to be YECists), it is
exceedingly tragic that many YECists have difficulty granting the same
privilege to persons who have different views from theirs.
respectfully,
ken piers
>>> Loren Haarsma <lhaarsma@calvin.edu> 11/15/2003 1:27:36 PM >>>
On Sat, 15 Nov 2003, John W Burgeson wrote:
> ICR's ACTS & FACTS for Nov 2003 included an "Impact" article #365 on
> "Creationist Colleges."
Got to set the record straight. I'm pretty sure they need to scratch
Calvin Theological Seminary off their list. There _might_ be a YEC on
faculty there, maybe, but all of the past and present faculty whom I know
about have a more nuanced view, and some would outright reject the claims
of ICR. Reformed hermeneutical principles, taught at Calvin seminary and
elsewhere, are quite at odds the flawed hermeneutical claims of ICR. In
addition, the synod of the Christian Reformed Church, for which Calvin is
the seminary, officially said years ago that there are multiple views on
origins within the church that are acceptable.
Loren Haarsma
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