Evaluating Trends in Seminary Education, past & Present

I have been pondering Paul Martin’s recent blog on Reform the Seminaries! The article that he refers to—Neela Banerjee, “Students Flock to Seminaries, but Fewer See Pulpit in Future”, The New York Times (March 17, 2006)—is mostly centred on the trend away from pastoral ministry in mainline denominational seminaries. Yet, the trend is not restricted to such institutions. Even in Evangelical schools, according to Daniel Aleshire, executive director of the Association of Theological Schools, this trend is quite evident. Paul is convinced that money—ever a root of many evils—is at fault here. No doubt the cost of doing seminary today can introduce a pragmatic element into student recruitment and thus the catering to all kinds of extra-ecclesial ministries. But, at the core, surely the problem is theological? Is it not a loss of confidence in the church? Is George Barna’s recent registry of his loss of faith in the church a reflection of a widespread problem? If I am having problems with the church little wonder I would be reluctant to become its lead representative!

There is a circular action here: the move away from pastoral ministry in seminaries reflects a larger disenchantment with the church while at the same time this lack of passion for the church has become de rigueur in the theological academy and further fosters negative attitudes towards the church. Again, no wonder some megachurch/quasi denominational bodies have given up on the seminary and are starting their own schools for their own pastors.

Of course, the impact of seminaries upon the church is nothing new. I was reading this afternoon Joseph Stennett’s The Complaints of an Unsuccessful Ministry (2nd ed.; Circular Letter of the Western Association, 1753) (http://www.mountzionpbc.org/books/JS_complaints.htm). Near the end of the circular letter, Stennett notes that if enquiry were to be made into the reasons for the “remarkable disregard the gospel meets with in our own times [i.e. the 1750s],” a number of reasons would be forthcoming:

  • First, there was a growth in a love of luxury;
  • Then, there was “pride in natural and acquired knowledge, which are too often the attendants of a long series of civil and religious liberty”;
  • Third, Stennett was not slow to take note of the fact that “our fountains of learning are corrupted.” What this meant was that “many unrenewed men, who are strangers to experimental religion themselves, have taken upon them to be the ministers of it to others.”
  • Finally, the preachers of Stennett’s day needed to be more like the Puritans of the previous century—“ whatever improvements we have made in the politeness of our address, I doubt we have lost much of that serious and striking manner, in which our fathers, in the last century, delivered this message to the consciences of men.”

I find it noteworthy that Stennett traces the problems of making inroads for the gospel in his day to what he calls “our fountains of learning.” In this regard, what was true then is true now. When a seminary begins to lose confidence in the Scriptures and drift from an orthodox Christian heritage, the growing “rot” of its teaching (see 2 Timothy 2:17) is spread far and wide through its graduates.

This brings me to a topic that has occupied much of my thinking over the past month or so: what is the raison d’être of the school, Toronto Baptist Seminary (TBS), where I am Principal? Surely part of it is to buck this trend that Aleshire comments on.

Toronto Baptist Seminary was founded in 1927 in the midst of the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy to train pastors since it was rightly deemed that solid leadership in local Baptist churches was essential to the well-being of the movement. Over the years it has done this work faithfully as well as trained many others for other Christian vocations.  

We need to keep on doing what we have done historically. Now, more than ever, churches in the Greater Toronto Area need a school that will stress pastoral ministry as well as the training of potential missionaries. God helping us, we need to be a center for pastoral formation, and the training of church planters for here at home and for overseas.

Please pray for us that we might be found faithful!

Light for the Armenians

I have been thinking about Patrick and the Irish in the last day or so, and the way in which the darkness of the fall of the Western Roman Empire—which was taking place during Patrick’s days—did not extinguish the light of the gospel. In the midst of darkness there was light that Patrick took to Ireland and the darkness of Irish paganism could not overcome it. At the other end of the Graeco-Roman world, there was also light shining forth in the darkness. In this case it was the persecution of Armenian believers by Sapor of Persia. But out of that persecution came the translation of the Scriptures into Armenian. See the story of that translation by Mesrob Mashtots and Isaac (Sachak) the Catholicos here at http://armenianbible.org/ .

Thanks to Radagast’s Church History Project (http://radagast2.livejournal.com/).

Two Exiled Preachers

One of the amazing things about the blogosphere is that even after a while blogging one can discover blogs of which one has never heard and that are absolute gems. My assistant Ian Clary e-mailed me about the blog of Guy Davies of Westbury, Wiltshire: “The Exiled Preacher.” I confess I had never even heard of it. But it is excellent. Pastor Davies is a Welshman living in what he calls “voluntary exile” in Wiltshire. On St. Patrick’s Day—that celebrates another voluntary exile, namely Patrick the Romano-Brit, living in exile in Ireland for the sake of the Gospel—it is an appropriate find.

The Evangelical Magazine & Southern Baptist Roots

The Evangelical Magazine was established in 1793 by a group of leading English Evangelical ministers, including Congregationalists such as George Burder (1752-1832) and Samuel Greatheed (d.1823) and such Calvinistic Baptists as Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) and John Ryland, Jr. (1753-1825). From its inception till 1809, it served as the denominational journal for both the Congregationalists and Calvinistic Baptists. In fact, for a number of years it was the most widely circulated religious periodical in England. In 1809, the year that the Baptists withdrew from their involvement in the magazine and started their own periodical, The Baptist Magazine, the circulation of The Evangelical Magazine exceeded 20,000 [Southey’s Common-place Book. Fourth Series, ed. John Wood Warter (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1850), 410-411]. Working through the first and fourteenth volumes today at McMaster University—the latter volume in relation to Abraham Booth—I came across this extract of a letter from the United States, dated May 10, 1793, and mailed from Philadelphia. The writer of the letter has been talking about the theological perspectives of the various denominational bodies of the country. He then says this about the Baptists:

“The Baptists are very numerous in the southern States. Some of them are Arminians, too many Antinomians, but the majority are real Calvinists, a good deal acquainted with experimental religion.” [“Extract of a Letter from a Minister in the United States of America”, The Evangelical Magazine, 1 (1793), 119-120].

I found the quote interesting because it is often argued today that Southern Baptist origins were not primarily Calvinistic. But this quote—albeit a generalized observation and needful of further historical evidence—speaks quite differently from this popular perspective. Like other Anglophone Baptists, Southern Baptist roots are overwhelmingly Calvinistic.

Physical Descent–No Claim to Spiritual Inheritance

How right is that saying that God has no spiritual grandchildren. Time and again in the history of God’s people it becomes clear that organic physical links to faithful believers of the past ultimately count for very little. What is vital are the deeper links of spiritual affinity. This story about a lineal descendant of Jonathan Edwards—obviously through one of his three sons—and her marrying a lesbian couple is clear proof of the above. According to a story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for March 6, 2006, “The Rev. Janet Edwards, 55, likens performing the ceremony to her famously orthodox ancestor, Jonathan Edwards, preaching to the Mohicans in the 18th century, when racism made Native Americans the object of scorn and fear. “I would say his acceptance of the Mohicans of the time is similar to my inclusion of gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgendered people now,” Janet Edwards said.”

Jonathan Edwards scholar Amy Plantiga Pauw, a theology professor at the Presbyterian Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, agrees with Janet Edwards and says that her argument is persuasive. “There is a kind of parallel—Jonathan Edwards was not afraid to challenge so-called respectable Christians of his time,” Pauw said.

While there may be some similarity in the outward form of the radical bent of Jonathan Edwards and his physical descendant, there the parallel ends. Jonathan Edwards would have been horrified by his descendant’s actions and her justification of sin. And, it bears remembering that some of Edwards’ leading opponents were family members who shared with him a common grandfather, Solomon Stoddard.

For the story, see Lara Brenckle and Rick Wills,“Embattled cleric cites ancestor’s example”, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Monday, March 6, 2006) (http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pittsburgh/s_430196.html; accessed March 8, 2006).

Thanks to Justin Taylor for alerting me to this story.

Das Kapitals!

Two further and final remarks in this blog regarding the issue of caps. Matthew Wireman, a student acquaintance from SBTS, pointed out that while caps in internet text do indeed signify yelling/screaming, caps “used in titles” do “not signify yelling or emphasis. Yes, even in the blog world CONTEXT IS KING!!”

And then Andrew Belli has reminded me that I have very good Scriptural precedent for caps, since the entire Greek NT would have been in caps—technically known as uncials. He also gave me a great title for this blog entry: DAS KAPITALS!

Hey, if capitals were good enough for the early Church, then they’re good enough for me!

To Cap or Not to Cap?

I tried the no-caps for my blog titles and frankly really did not like the look of it. But I would not have changed back if Gordon Woods had not e-mailed me and told me, “Where in the Bible is ALL CAPS a sin? Sure, in controverted posts and comments ALL CAPS is considered screaming, but what's the authority that is applicable to the title of your…posts? The fact that in six months of posting no one has ever accused you of screaming your titles is sufficient evidence that ALL CAPS titles are not screaming and ranting.”

Well, Gordon, you have convinced me. So, I am sorry, Reid, I think I going back to the caps. Trust you understand!

The Use of the Poetic Faculty

What is the use of reading/writing poetry? Well, for one thing reading/writing poetry requires the reader/poet to ponder and meditate. This is one literary genre that slows us down and helps us to truly observe the world. Now, that’s a good thing in our world of instant communication—blogs included!—and fast food.

The Folly of Faculty-Run Schools

The recent debacle at Harvard with the resignation of the President, Lawrence Summers, reveals—as Albert Mohler rightly notes in his blog for February 23, 2006—the folly of faculty-run schools. Given the nature of academia, it is vital that schools have a strong board of governance that is hands-on in the running of the school, setting its vision and direction. Can this be combined with a significant degree of academic freedom? Of course, as many past examples of academia in North America show.

The War of Jenkins’ Ear and the Cartoon Riots

The “long” eighteenth century was a 125 years of warfare between the two European superpowers of the day, Great Britain and France. Spain, who had been reckoned among the superpowers in the sixteenth century, was in decline, yet still able to bite. A good example is the conflict that we know as the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-1742/3). This war would lead into the larger conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession and began when a British naval captain, one Robert Jenkins, claimed that the Spanish had cut off his ear in 1731. He exhibited his loss in the British House of Commons, thereby inflaming public opinion against the Spanish. Somewhat reluctantly but forced to bow to public opinion, the government of the British Prime Minister Robert Walpole, really the first to hold that office, declared war on  October 23,1739. In the last few days we have seen something that has historical parallels—the inflaming of the Muslim public around the world over certain offensive Danish cartoons. In addition to the violence and anger among Muslims, the so-called Cartoon Riots have sparked all kinds of commentary in the West. Two of the most insightful of the latter are here: an article by John Piper on Being Mocked: The Essence of Christ’s Work, Not Muhammad’s and this comment by Russ Moore on Piper’s commentary, Piper on Islamic Cartoon Riots.

For those who have eyes to see, these Cartoon Riots clearly reveal the vast gulf in mindset and praxis between Christianity and Islam!   

On Johnny Cash

One of the great delights of the Christian life is the discovery of books and works by believers that one has never considered before or read before. Up until recently I had never really paid much attention to Johnny Cash. But thanks to my good friend Ian Clary I have been introduced to his music. A few months ago, in the weeks leading up to the appearance of the movie about his early years, Walk the Line, Ian encouraged me to listen to some of his songs and I discovered a brother who used his God-given skills in singing to share the gospel powerfully. Cash was not afraid to confess that his only hope was Christ and his cross and that all that this world longs for is in the end “an empire of dirt”!

Powerful stuff and a good reminder that our God loves diversity.

Christian Blogs: A Witness to Muslims

What an amazing witness our blogs can be! I have just noticed that my blog was recently visited by one entitled “Forever Islam” (http://foreverislam.blogspot.com/). Visiting this Islamic site revealed a person who was a confirmed Muslim. My prayer is that his eyes might be opened—as with all of the elect among Muslim communities—and that he might see in Jesus not simply a prophet, but the radiant Lord of glory.

Lord, before this person’s life is o’er, open the eyes of their heart and give them a love for the Crucified Lord, the only way to God. May the hairs on the nape of their neck stand up as they fall before this Glorious King of Heaven—awed by the privilege of worshipping such a Saviour!

Do not think such cannot happen. All of the elect will be gathered in. Even from among Muslims. Praise our sovereign God with whom all things are possible!