My biggest complaint about my seminary (its weakness in dialog) has been alleviated. The official theological documents under discussion have been released today have been released on Westminster’s website. I'm only partially sorry that I won't have time until next week to read it all but I'm thankful to be able to hear the other side of the theological discussion. But it promises to be an interesting read. Yeah, sometimes I miss being in seminary.

I always thought I would end up at Dallas Theological Seminary. - I was born in Dallas while my dad was getting his Th.M. there. I remember when I was in college, I started researching schools. I made a list - Dallas, Trinity, Gordon Conwell, Westminster. There was a guy speaking around Greenville named John Piper - I asked him about Seminaries - he looked at my list - he suggested I look at Southern Seminary - and then said that Dallas, Trinity, Gordon Conwell - were good choices, but he said WTS should be at the bottom of the list - I don't remember what he said, but somehow he hinted at theological trouble/compromise.

Then I started reading books. For whatever reason (ok, maybe Josh Jalinski) I started reading a book called Exodus in the NIV application commentary by a guy named Pete Enns. It was (and is) brilliant. It changed my life. He had this wonderful God-honoring way of taking the scripture seriously as the principium of theology - he melded great theology and scripture with the story of Jesus and the Bible in a way that made the Bible and ministry come alive. I made a visit to Westminster with some friends - Joshie and Mackey - We went to a Ph.D. seminar with Enns and then he took us out for Chinese food - we were very concerned about parts of WTS - about being strictly Reformed, about being too theological or historical, but Pete really inspired us to look seriously at Westminster - he took a practical, Jesus/Counseling take on his field. His humility in himself, yet confidence in Jesus and orthodoxy coupled with creativity was the reason why we went to Westminster. I remember at the time the news on the streets was an ossuary find that seemingly rocked the biblical studies world, but I remember being struck by two things about Pete - that he was not at all defensive about the ossuary find. His confidence in the gospel was not at all shaken by the ossuary find - that and he was perfectly fine being lectured about the ANE by a M.A. student from Bob Jones Seminary. (his humility made me feel foolish, but I left wanting to be like him when I graduated.)

Coming from Bob Jones, there were a lot of warnings about Separation from false teachers. There's the fundamentalist image about the danger of false teaching that in one sentence Pete shattered for me. Basically the storyline goes like this. You have a good Christian who has been sheltered from false teaching all his life - this is good. One day he reads or hears liberal/progressive thinking, then the next day he denies the faith. So coming from this storyline, I remember visiting and warily asking Pete about this. He said (shockingly) - that he believes the Gospel and the confession - and was confident enough to expose himself and even interact with positions and people without being afraid. He was confident in the gospel. - It seems pretty simple, but that rocked my world - this revolutionary idea of really really believing that the gospel was right - not out of blind faith, and to not be worried that there are facts out there that will change his mind that he must be sheltered from. This idea that engaging culture and learning from others doesn't scare Jesus.

So despite the warning from Piper, I ventured into the dangerous world of Westminster. We read a lot of stuff that we disagreed with, and had enough confidence in the Gospel to use our imaginations without fear. I was all about the Biblical Studies faculty. ST was great if anyone from George Washington's era ever asked me any theological questions, AP was great as long as you didn't intend on talking to anyone without a Ph.D. CH (ok, yeah I loved Trueman) PT was good on days when I didn't skip class... but for me the Bible Faculty (esp the OT Dept) was where my education took place. - You can ask some of my students now.... pretty sure they're tired about hearing stuff from the OT, but that's what I love.

So as you can imagine, I've been rather upset for the past couple days at the news that what I loved about Westminster is changing. News like this or this or this - make me upset. Of course I hope it's all false. I realize that presidents in 08 are generally stupid, but I hope that Lilback has bucked the trend. But what alarms me is the possibility that the thinking that I loved about WTS is precisely what is now being the target of a witchhunt. I hope that what is coming to me only secondhand is false. I hope that this will never change about WTS. But I'm worried and concerned... and praying a lot.