Scripture & Theology

As Christianity Today noted last week, the board of Westminster Theological Seminary has voted to suspend Old Testament professor Peter Enns in connection with his 2005 book Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament. The faculty, on the other hand, had voted 12 to 8 in support of Enns.

Today the seminary hosted a town hall style meeting with the Seminary President and the Board Secretary and Chairman.

Bloggers have had quite a bit to say on the matter. (For round-ups of some of this chatter see here and here.) Some succeeded in drawing attention to the controversy well before news broke in official channels. A current student posted full audio of today’s chapel address and Q&A session. Another typed up the “minority report” from dissenting board members.

Of special note is “Save Our Seminary,” a blog founded in January 2008 to express dissatisfaction with the events at WTS. To date, its petition to the WTS Board has generated over a 130 comments “signing” their agreement.

Unsurprisingly, the few current faculty members who comment do so anonymously. Many of the petitioners are not widely known, and a few have rather slight connections to WTS. Buried at 51, however, are remarks from Tremper Longman III, posted on 1 February. They are worth quoting in full:

I cannot speak to all the issues that this web page addresses, but I can speak with some measure of authority concerning biblical studies at WTS. I was a student from 1974-1977, where I was captivated by the teaching of many professors, but most notably Ray Dillard who was my mentor and was soon to be my colleague and close friend. I taught Old Testament at the school from 1981 to 1998 with Ray, Bruce Waltke, and Al Groves. I was involved with these friends in the hiring of Peter Enns (as well as Doug Green). I have continued as Visiting Professor of Old Testament since 1998 till the present. I have recently written an article on E. J. Young for the Dictionary of Biblical Interpreters that has taken me back to the earlier history of the school’s instruction in biblical studies.

I have a great love for the school to say the least. I like to say that there is no institution I love as much as Westminster Seminary. However one of the reasons why I left in 1998 was my perception that the seminary was beginning to change from the deeply Reformed but outward facing institution that it was from the time that I first knew it in the 1970’s to a more inward defensive institution. I remember talking to one colleague, for instance, who told me that if I felt the Bible taught something that the Confession did not that I had to side with the Confession. That’s not the Reformed approach to the study of the Bible that I know and love. However it is a perspective that I think has only grown with time

In any case, I have no desire to cast aspersions on anyone. I think everyone is acting out of a good conscience in this. This, however, I can say with a great measure of confidence. The present Old Testament department represents continuity with the past. I work closely with Peter Enns. We are co-editing two Bible dictionaries together and are on a number of editorial boards. I have served as his editor for his wonderful Exodus commentary and have read his important Incarnation and Inspiration three times. In my own speaking and teaching, I have talked to countless people whose faith has been increased and whose confidence in the Bible has been enhanced by reading this book. His thinking is clearly within the Princeton-Westminster tradition. If WTS loses him or anyone else, I worry who might replace them. Will they continue the WTS tradition while still not “shirking the difficult questions”? I know what I think about the matter and I am confident that my dear departed friend Ray Dillard would agree.

I would encourage my former students and others to express their support for the OT department at WTS. Notice I am asking for shows of support. We can do this without casting aspersions on anyone at the seminary.

Clearly this issue is very divisive. The official reason for Enns’ suspension is “faculty disunity,” but it is easy to imagine how the board’s decision last week will only deepen the existing rifts. Disruption among the student body has further costs, although the decision to confront the matter directly today is commendable. The pressing question for WTS is whether the decision is “for the good of the Seminary,” as claimed, or the reverse.

Finally, it will be small consolation to Enns, whose suspension comes at a very bad time in the job cycle, but Inspiration and Incarnation is now likely to be more widely read than ever.

UPDATE: Christianity Today followed up with a longer piece. It concludes with a number of relevant links, including to reviews of the contentious book by Susan Wise Bauer and Greg Beale.