Gone are the days when a seminary president could lose his position due to unfounded, unsubstantiated claims that he was teaching false theology and only a few people outside of Fort Wayne other than alumni from that seminary would realize that it had happened.
It is a new time, where pastors can communicate with each other at the flip of the switch (the onswitch to their computer), and even more importantly, where laity can be kept apprised of these issues as well. That honestly is the key.
4 comments:
True dat.
In the blogosphere, the people one has lied to can cross-check stories. :)
My dear MIL, a pastor's wife who lived thru Seminex, and I keep comparing notes. She keeps commenting on how very, very different this all is because of the ability of the web to disseminate information almost instantly.
Yes, the internet does help us check things out. Being the wife of one of the alumni who had just graduated CTS, we were even scratching our heads over that one.
Jane,
My husband was at the seminary from 1991 to 1998, during the years that there was quite a bit of turmoil.
Before he got there, the seminary president, Robert Preus was accused by some other seminary faculty (most of which aren't there anymore) of teaching false theology. The charges were never specific, and those that accused him never had to accuse him to his face. He was removed from office (I believe they called it retirement) and not given due process according to Synod dictates, so he sued. It took several years, but he won. Those who had leveled the accusation were never called upon to defend their charge.
The night Dr. Preus was given the right to return to teaching at the seminary, God called him home to glory.
There is a picture of him hanging on the wall in Wyneken Hall (I believe it is Wyneken). But when the picture was commissioned by the senior class, since it was traditional for a senior class to do a picture of a retired seminary president, the picture was not accepted and not hung on the wall. Several of that class did not receive calls...at least not right away. That might have been a coincidence though. At the time, nothing of the sort was regarded as a coincidence.
That time at the seminary was considered a very tense time for those that were students and faculty there.
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