David Wilkin has an interesting article that is prescient for anyone considering theological education or considering attending a private Christian college.
In his article, he writes,
If your son or daughter wants to go to Bible college or seminary, you would be wise to check out the schools, and particularly the New Testament departments, very carefully. Most schools do not believe in inerrancy.
If you think that there are no errors in the Bible based on the highest standard of what an error is, then you can’t trust New Testament Professors today.
The Southern Baptist Convention turned the tide when those denying inerrancy were seeking to take it over. They even rid their flagship seminary, Southern Seminary in Louisville, of all the Professors who did not believe in inerrancy. [Note from David: this took place at every SBC seminary, not just Southern Seminary.]
Some of the faculty at Biola and Talbot Theological Seminary left to teach at The Master’s College and The Master’s Seminary. While I do not agree with the Lordship Salvation stance of the President of those schools, I am pleased by their high regard for the inerrancy of Scripture. Drs. Robert Thomas and F. David Farnell, both New Testament Professors there for many years, are among those highly criticized by Blomberg as being overly conservative [and] judgmental.
If it could happen for the SBC and some seminaries, it can happen elsewhere. But until it does, I will not be sending students or any financial donations to any school which fails to teach a high view of inerrancy. If enough of us withdraw our support, the schools will make changes. As Blomberg says, if the schools determine that their faculty no longer agree with their doctrinal statement, then many professors will freely move on to other less conservative schools and some will be fired (p. 120).
While I would not align myself with the Grace Evangelical Society (in the article, he mentions the differences he holds with those at The Master’s Seminary – I would align much closer with them), he is on point in this emphasis on inerrancy.
While his title will garner more than a few clicks and concerns, it is ultimately misleading. “Can we still trust New Testament Professors?” is not really the question at hand.
The real question is,
Can we really trust New Testament professors who do not trust the Scripture to be (as the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 states) “totally true and trustworthy” and “truth, without any mixture of error?”
The answer to that question is simply “No.”
And for those who might object that inerrancy is a fuzzy, politically-loaded term, I would direct you to its locked-down, crystal-clear definition: the “Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.”
