Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Meet and Greet: Third Personal Encounter with Theological Liberals

Meet and Greet: Third Personal Encounter with Theological Liberals

Again, we are developing a series of posts on “Meet and Greet:  Personal Encounters with Theological Liberals.”  Again, we are aware of the technical and historical definition of 19th-20th century “theological liberalism.”   For my children reading this, “theological liberalism” is a long story.  The Veitchs emerged from  “theological liberalism”  in Canada. Let’s “Meet and Greet” another liberal.  We reflect on the consequences of it:  theological indifference, relativism, incompetence and ineffectiveness.  Here’s a practical consequence of a theological liberal (half-wit), “Hey, I don’t care much about Biblical doctrine and theology, so why should you or the congregation or the children?  We've advanced beyond the quest for doctrinal depth.”  The series was prompted by several posts (see at end).  So let’s meet another one.
Background.  I had an occasion to fly, compliments of the military, from Naples, Italy, to London, UK, for further air transfer to Rota, Spain.  There were several Chaplains slated to attend an annual “Chaplaincy Training,” a five day affair.  En route, I travelled and sat with one Chaplain, a graduate of Princeton Seminary and PCUSA Chaplain.  I did this for both flights.  We chatted.
I was a graduate of Westminster Seminary (Confessional Presbyterian) and he was trained and ordained through the “theologically liberal” Princeton (non-Confessional Presbyterian).  What happened?
Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia
Before further comment, years before this air flight and conversation. I had taken some Th.M. courses at WTS with the Rev. Dr. Philip Edcumbe Hughes, a scholar, gentleman and Church of England man.  In Dr. Hughes’s NT course, we had a Princeton student, a student on exchange for a few semesters.   I specifically recall him grousing and observing that Princeton students had half the workload of the Westminster students.  It struck me as odd at the time;  old Princeton had a reputation for scholarship;  what was the new Princeton like (post-1930s)?  Dad often—at the dinner table—spoke very highly about those “old Princetonians,” that “careful and scholarly breed.”  But, as a youth, what did I know?
Fast forward from WTS to the air flight and conversation with a PTS graduate.
Princeton Seminary
Occasioning incident.  Here I was, travelling with a PTS graduate.  I asked him several questions.  The answers surprised me.  Based upon that conversation, if what he was saying was true, I was not impressed with the PTS program.  This sloppy fellow lived up to what I’d later conclude more widely:  doctrinal indifference and incompetence.
Here’s the upshot of the conversation “in the air.”
I asked him what language requirements existed, e.g. Greek and Hebrew.  Those were always demanding.  The PTS man said, “I took a few of them, although it was not required.”   Huh? That was a bit stunning.  “Just a few courses in the old languages” I mused.  Of course, I grew up with a Dad who studied the Greek, Hebrew and Latin texts weekly through 4 decades of ministry.  I’d started Greek lessons at age 18 and took 2-years in undergraduate studies.  What was this, I pondered.  I asked him about systematic theology.  He said, “I may have had a year and a half of systematic theology.”  He really was not sure about his answer either.  “What?”  I thought, it can’t be true.  Dad handed me Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology and Charles Hodge’s 3-volume Systematic Theology upon graduation from high school and entrance to university.  Dad said, “No matter what you major in, read 10 pages from the systematicians and 10 chapters of the OT and 10 chapters of the NT per day.”  Indeed, I did that too, long before attending seminary.  What was this PTS-man and PCUSA Chaplain saying?  A year and a half of systematics?  Say it ain’t so!  I asked him about church history.  “Oh yes, I had a few of those also.”  The dismissive and casual answers were distinctive.  I asked, “That’s it?  What else did you take?”  He said, “Courses on counseling, sociology, psychology and practical theology.”  I was a bit shocked.  These tallies or demands did not compare to Westminster Seminary or The Reformed Episcopal Seminary that I had attended.  PTS sounded like a cake walk.
Here’s the 2010-2011 catalogue for Princeton.  You can draw your own conclusions. 78 graduate hours for the M.Div. (Not 90?  Like WTS and RES?)  12 hours in Bible.  That’s it?  4 courses on the Bible?  12 hours in History, 4 courses covering early, medieval, early modern and modern history?  That’s it?  12 hours in Theology, that is, 4 courses in systematics?  Say it ain’t so.  14 hours in Practical Theology?  Huh?  And the rest in electives. This is very, very poor.  See:   https://our.ptsem.edu/UploadedFiles/catalogue10-11REVatblue.pdf .  The results were evident in my friend, his conversation, and casual indifference to his own specialty.
Post incident reflections.
(1)  I had read the old 19th-20th Princetonian theologians per my Dad (long before seminary it must be said), as well as the history of Princeton and Westminster, an old scholarly tradition of top drawer thinkers.  How had Princeton fallen?
(2)  I did not attend Princeton and this was really the first conversation with a modern Princetonian.  Again, I heard the grousing of a Princetonian in Dr. Hughes’s course at WTS.  It would take years of connecting dots here and there.
(3)  The stunning impression was this:  the casual, indifferent, and ignorant review of  theological education.  (I suspect the Ph.D. program would be different, but am discussing the M.Div. program). 
(4)  Beyond his casual answers, on a personal level, he was overweight, a bit sloppy, and drank heavily during the week of Chaplaincy training.
(5)  Was this man interested or qualified for ministry?
(6)  The fruit of theological liberalism was theological indifference, clear Confessional and catechetical ignorance, Biblical incompetence, language-incompetence, historical incompetence, and doctrinal incompetence.  It would appear that PTS lost some of the energy and scholarship of the old days.  WTS had not lost that.

Objections.
(1)  Objection. Are you imputing theological ignorance and/or indifference to Princetonian alums?  Isn’t that an overstated claim?  Rebuttal.  We affirm in part and deny in part.  We do not impute that to all PTS M.Divvers.  For example, the Rev. Dr. James Montgomery Boice, our Pastor for a few years, was a PTS alum.  (Jim could have done better, by the way.) However, we emphatically impute exactly that—ignorance and indifference—to this graduate and several other Presbyterians.  Indeed, we do that here.  However, granting your objection on a wider arc, we say this.  Having met other PTS alums, the question, curiosity and questions stand.  PCUSA Chaplains, in my experience, graduates of  liberal schools, were not substantively-oriented or theologically-driven people.  That infects and affects listeners and followers.
(2)  To revise and extend on the rebuttal, we expect that the Th.M. and Ph.D. programs have well trained Professors.  But again, we are not impressed with the M.Div. program.  Nor have we been impressed with those we met. 
Conclusions.
(1)  Confessionally incompetent. 
(2)  Absence of doctrinal rigour and, hence, an absence of a compelling vision and faith-system, resulting in communication of that horrific disease to others.
(3)  At the time, more questions were raised in my mind.  Self to self:  “You’ve read about theological liberalism for years.  Is this what they are really like?”
(4)  We continue our “Meet and Greet” tour.  This was one liberal Presbyterian amongst others with whom I had dealings.   There will be more.


 (5)  Connect the dots across the mainline denominations.  There will be other connections.


(6)  I’ll have another post about another Presbyterian Dumb Ass, Tom, a Senior Chaplain.  A Dumb Ass?  Indeed.


Related Blogs on this subject.
Detwiler, SGM, Mahaney, TEC, Sandusky/Penn State & Leadership Corruptions
A Personal Encounter with a Theological Liberal
A Second Personal Encounter with Theological Liberals
http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2012/07/second-personal-encounter-with.html

Dr. Timothy George: 3 Lesson from Mainline Crisis and Decline
The following tags are applied. Mainline Decline, Mainline Protestants, Theological Liberalism, Liberal Chaplains, Theological Education, Uneducated Ministers, Dumb Asses.

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