Re: On evangelical seminaries, etc., and religion/science

From: <pcjones5@comcast.net>
Date: Wed Apr 05 2006 - 15:55:07 EDT

This reminds me of a discussion that took place among professors at SWBTS while I was a student there (early 90's), and was later relayed to me. They noticed in hermeneutics and philosophy classes that students coming in from Southern Baptist colleges/universities struggled the most because they were hearing for the first time viewpoints not discussed in Baptist undergrad schools where schools seem to be limited on what they can teach. The seminary professors said these students come in from the far right and are pulled toward the middle.

The reason it was relayed to me was because these profs used me as an opposite example. I studied religious studies at a state university where I studied for the N.T. side under a member of the Jesus Seminar and Nag Hammadi translator, and for the O.T. side I studied under an ancient Hebrew culture expert, all of which was in a non-theological setting. So when I got to seminary, the professors saw me as coming in from the left and being pulled to the middle. Not sure how accurate their assessment of me really was, but I was not at all alarmed by the various viewpoints presented in hermeneutics and philosophy classes in seminary. Instead, I was quite fascinated by these viewpoints and never saw them as threatening my faith.

One of the common problems I saw among many students was they equated the concept of 'inerrant Word of God" with their interpretation of scripture. Any scrutinization of their interpretation was immediately identified by them as an attack on the authenticity of the Bible. I remember watching a student break down into tears and sobbing in a hermeneutics class when the professor described the book of Job as an allegorical literary genre, as opposed to a historical genre. The student loudly stated to the professor how he had never doubted the Bible until he took this class. While other students to openly cry, there was a sense of dismay expressed iin casual conversations outside of class.

This falls back to the issue I've described before where we have an academic gap. Kids are raised in churches learning only popular theology. They get to seminary and either relax their personal locked-down on the pop-theology, or they resist it. Those that relax or adopt a non-popular viewpoint can't exactly introduce it in the pulpit.

-Phil

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "David Opderbeck" <dopderbeck@gmail.com>
> I went to Gordon College back in the 80's, and this was the approach taken
> there as well. I think most or many CCCU colleges take this approach,
> probably because they have science departments of one sort or another.
> There seems to be a gap between the colleges and the seminaries, though,
> although maybe that's narrowing too.
>
> On 4/5/06, Ted Davis <tdavis@messiah.edu> wrote:
> >
> > >>> <pcjones5@comcast.net> 04/05/06 2:44 PM >>>Phil writes:
> > When I attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the
> > required classes for my M.A.Th. in Philosophy of Religion path was a
> > course
> > entitled "Philosophy of Religion: Faith and Science", which was a rather
> > popular class. Popular because a lot of students, e.g. myself at the time,
> > had a lot of unresolved issues with the alleged science and creation
> > dilemma.
> >
> > The course professor, who refused to reveal his personal position on the
> > matter of creation theology, introduced the class to all of the theories
> > on
> > Gen. 1 interpretation. He encouraged us to research the facts and draw our
> > own conclusion(s). Interestingly, for many of us this was our first time
> > to
> > hear of Christian-based views outside of the YEC and Gap theories.
> >
> > I appreciated this approach for the following reasons:
> > - it was not an indoctrination class telling us what we should believe
> > - it promoted academic freedom of allowing us to reach our own
> > conclusion(s)
> > - it differentiated primary theology (God created) and secondary theology
> > (how God created)
> > - the prof gave us a bibliography of resources that covered all
> > theories/approaches/views
> > - the prof distinguished between biblical interpretation issues and
> > scientific data interpretation issues
> >
> > I wish evangelical colleges and seminaries would all adopt this approach.
> >
> > Ted notes:
> > Phil, thank you for the description of my own courses here at Messiah,
> > except that I don't usually provide a bibliography to my students beyond
> > the
> > various articles/books that we read in the course. I only tell the
> > students
> > what I think, if they directly ask me at various points in the
> > course--which
> > they invariably do.
> >
> >
> >
> >
>

attached mail follows:

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I went to Gordon College back in the 80's, and this was the approach taken there as well.  I think most or many CCCU colleges take this approach, probably because they have science departments of one sort or another.  There seems to be a gap between the colleges and the seminaries, though, although maybe that's narrowing too.


Received on Wed Apr 5 15:56:55 2006