|
Update May 2007: After feedback from readers who are suspicious of anonymous comments, I contacted alumni and past students who are quoted here to see if they would like to have their names put on the web site with their comment, or if they would prefer to be described generally (e.g. what they do in ministry, what year they graduated or attended if they did not graduate). Those whose names are not attached can still be contacted through the web site if you'd like to do so. Some alumni took the opportunity to revise or amplify on their comments, so if you've already read these it would be worth your while to do so again. I especially appreciated the "spirit of '76" with which alumni from the class of '77 (Rick Klueg) and '78 (Joe Basile) responded. Rick said he wanted his information printed "large enough so that the king of England can read it without his spectacles." For those who don't know to what that refers, Joe explains: "Make my name look like John Hancock wrote it."
[this was sent about July 1 as a letter to the editor of Christianity Today] It is with great concern that a significant number of alumni of Biblical Seminary in Hatfield PA. have started the website http://postbiblical.info/ Members of Christ's body are urged to weigh in on this subject. Alumni are especially concerned with Biblical's new commitment to the Emergent Church movement and Professor John Franke's book “Beyond Foundationalism”, his teaching, and this book that indicates a departure from orthodoxy.
Alumni who endorse http://postbiblical.info/ include Professors: Will Varner of the Masters Seminary (seen on the History Channel's documentary on Hell), John Bloom of Biola University, Carl Martin of Clearwater Christian College. Dedicated alumni who are committed to charity in the non essentials felt this a matter of great importance.
Terry Wilcox MA, MDiv
Pastor Open Doors Christian Fellowship
Litchfield, NH
Former Area Director - Church Dynamics International
Thank you for putting together this site. I was wondering what other alumni of BTS thought about the current direction the school is taking. I first found out about this sad turn a couple of years ago when a student who graduated from the Bible College where I am a professor attended BTS. He began sending books and other comments to some of our current students. It was then that I was forced to read the heresy of Brian MaClaren and other sources this student had recommended. To discover that he was turned on to these at BTS broke my heart. I pray often for a drastic change for BTS to occur, but I am afraid that without a new president, new board, and maybe all new faculty (especially the removal of Franke), this change will not take place. It is very sad when you are unable to point students who want to learn to your alma mater, but now I point them in another direction. Dr. Kevin D. Newman, MDiv 1986
I have recently started my journey ("conversation") with "emergent church' study and I have been made aware of BTS's moving toward it and was very unsettled, and you and your site have added some meat on the bones on what is happening. I am a local church shepherd and must work outside my church ministry, and I am very grateful for your analysis and very informative website. (Sad, but grateful.) What I have found is that most of us are so busy, we need people like you to distill and organize the material. RD Harris, MDiv 1975
I was attending Biblical back in 1999-2001 where I sat under Franke for numerous classes. It was his teaching, his theology, and his personality which made me decide to come to Southern [Seminary]. His understanding of theology was so negative and destructive to the over all theological task that I as a young seminary student couldn't handle it. I would literally leave theology class depressed. His book (co-authored with Stan Grenz) Beyond Foundationalism was the final straw. I moved to Louisville to finish my degree at Southern. William E. Turner, Jr.
We’ve had several BTS students attend [our church]. When I started hearing some of the things they were rebutting in Franke’s classes, I couldn’t believe my ears. Nor could I imagine that if the alumni at large were aware, there wouldn’t be an outcry. Penny Orr, former Assistant Director of Admissions & Dean of Women at BTS, MA (Counseling) 1993 Read more:
I am glad you guys are working on this. As I have gotten to know more about the emergent crowd (I know Brian McLaren personally, although I haven’t talked to him since before he was famous), I have come to see them as very dangerous to the future of evangelicalism in North America. It is not the candles and couches I am concerned about. That is OK. It is the abandonment of orthodox formulations and language regarding essentials. Christian and Missionary Alliance Pastor, MDiv 1984
I want to tell you that I decided to not give to Biblical’s annual phonathon drive that they do every February. It was after the 2006 phonathon that I first heard from various ... BTS graduates in Hatfield that Biblical was heading in a missional/emergent church direction. Over the course of 2006, I heard from a lot of people that we went to school with. Some were mildly upset. Some were very upset. But ALL were upset. NONE were happy. Dr. Douglas Chinn, attended 1981-82
I am disgusted that we would need to fight about inerrancy at Biblical … . Spiritual warfare is raging everywhere. Christ is still Lord. Thanks for fighting the good fight. I am involved in Bible translation and the training I received years ago at BTS stands me in good stead here. LeRoy Whitman, MDiv 1991
When I’m in Pennsylvania I don’t drive anywhere near the seminary because if I do my throat begins to dry up and I begin to cry. Dr. Joe Basile, Pastor, MDiv 1978
Yours and others’ efforts to impact the direction of BTS are appreciated. It has greatly saddened me to see the changes over the years that have gradually turned a solid seminary into one adrift in relativism. Your findings only confirm for me the downward spiral BTS is on. Unfortunately I am not surprised but I am appalled … . We need to pray that the Lord will deliver this institution from its defection from biblical faith. Rev. Steve Myers, Associate Pastor, MDiv 2000
I have yet to meet a single BTS grad who is even mildly enthusiastic about what is happening there. ... I walk past the school and pray that the Lord will close their doors rather than allow them to damage the Church further. MDiv 1978
Yours and others’ efforts to impact the direction of BTS are appreciated. It has greatly saddened me to see the changes over the years that have gradually turned a solid seminary into one adrift in relativism. Carol Cornish, former Dean of Women & Adjunct Faculty at BTS, graduated 1990 (Carol is also co-author of Women Helping Women [Harvest House, 1997]).
After hearing the Franke and Moreland debate at the 2005 ETS meeting, I came home and dropped Biblical as a beneficiary from my will. I humbly suggest that it may be time for a new board and president at BTS. Sadly, it seems that a new generation of teachers arose at BTS who knew not MacRae and do what is right in their own and Barth’s eyes. Dr. John Bloom, Director, MA in Science and Religion Program, Biola University, MDiv 1983
I have given up on BTS. I think my alma mater is too far gone to come back. Of course, I cannot discount a miraculous work of the Lord, but I base my attitude on observations about other institutions where these things started to happen. … It is not in my nature to be pessimistic, but I do believe the letters of "Ichabod" are being written on the walls of BTS. Therefore, while I am deeply concerned, I do not hold out much hope that things will change. … In my opinion, the seminary will either shrivel up and die or it will move into a type of liberalism that still calls itself "evangelical" (to keep those contributions coming). College Professor, MDiv 1972
John, it is sad beyond words but not surprising. BTS is a lost cause. Pastor, MDiv 1993
Thank you for starting this website. I attended BST for 1 year before entering full time ministry. I have been appalled by the teachers in that school. The verse that says "professing themselves to be wise, they became fools..." I pray that those who come to this site will be encouraged. Rev. George Hopper, attended 1972-73
I too have been concerned for Biblical since [name withheld] … wrote me about a year ago expressing great disappointment in the new direction of the school, in terms of "emergent church theology", which no one has defined because they don’t know what it will look like yet. Every definition I have heard makes no sense, but it is the opposite of having a bibilical-historical-theological understanding of church. Rev. Mark Harbour, missionary to Taiwan, MDiv 1979
Biblical played a tremendous role in my life, and it breaks my heart to see what has happened. May the Lord turn things around for His glory. Rev. Rick Klueg, Pastor, MDiv 1977
The pervasive changes at BTS have been of abiding concern in more ways than a few. Gratefully, those who invested themselves to establish the seminary, had both a focus on the cultural needs of humankind and the Biblical stewardship of the Gospel in order to meaningfully respond to our neighbors, near and far. Their labors, though scorned by the elite today, are of eternal value from eternity's perspective. Dr. Carl Martin, Associate Professor of Bible, Clearwater Christian College, MDiv, 1982; STM, MABS, 1989
The changes I have seen taking place at BTS have been weighing heavily on my heart for some time. My hope is that as we lovingly and prayerfully confront the administration that they will be willing to closely examine their current doctrinal positions and be careful to think them through Biblically. Thank you for your concern and for your faithful commitment to the Scriptures. Lorrie Skowronski, MA (Counseling), 1990, and former secretary to the VP for development
Here’s one sent to our sister site: Let me say that I took one course taught by J. Franke my first year. It was my last. Seminary was supposed to establish us in propositional truth not discard it! I feel that the leadership of the seminary is responsible for drifting from the original vision of the founders. Thanks for what you're doing. I look to contributing to the discussion in the future.
Also see "News and Reviews" for several (long) open letters to the Biblical Seminary board.
Boil them slowly: we’re certainly not claiming here that no alumni are happy about BTS. There are, and that should be a matter of concern. Even some who went to the "old" BTS are happy (think of Dunbar himself, and there are some on staff who were at BTS with me in the 70's who are fine with where BTS is at now). Difficult to understand, but maybe it’s like the proverbial frog in the pot being slowly boiled to death, not realizing what’s happening to him.
It has come to our attention that BTS resigned its membership from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (see http://www.ecfa.org/Default.aspx). We are wondering why any such organization would withdraw membership, especially in light of the New Era scam in which BTS had invested lots of money, and the presumed interest in keeping the records open. Anyone have any insights? "No one will doubt that Christian's of to-day must state their Christian belief in terms of modern thought. Every age has a language of its own and can speak no other. Mischief comes only when, instead of stating Christian belief in terms of modern thought, an effort is made, rather, to state modern thought in terms of Christian belief." (B.B. Warfield, Works 10, p. 322.) |
