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© Copyright 2009
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
*Waits for folks to go read and come back*
So here’s the fist section of the paper:
On May 26, 2008 the Board of Trustees at Westminster Theological Seminary announced that tenured professor Peter Enns would be suspended, in lieu of a further investigation as to “whether Professor Enns should be terminated from his employment at the Seminary.”[1] Despite protest by both faculty and students at Westminster Seminary, the seminary and Enns came to “mutually agreeable terms, and that, as of 1 August, 2008, Prof. Enns [would] discontinue his service to Westminster Theological Seminary after fourteen years.”[2]
The subject of Enns suspension and eventual departure from Westminster Seminary was his book published in 2005 (and is, presently, in its fourth printing) Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament. In his book, Enns proposes that Evangelicals appropriate a doctrine of Biblical inspiration analogous to that of the incarnation: both fully human and fully divine. However, this was apparently not received well amongst some scholars.[3] Evangelical Theologians, Philosophers, and Biblical scholars wasted little time responding to I&I through journals and even personal blogs. In his response to Enns’ book, D.A. Carson accused Enns of being divisive.[4] Reviews by G.K. Beale, John Frame, Paul Helm and others echoed Carson’s sentiments and concerns.[5] Even some of Westminster Seminary’s congregational constituency refused to send any more students as long as Enns remained on faculty.[6] I&I sparked a wildfire of controversy in both support and disapproval. It struck a sensitive chord within Evangelicalism.
Enns, however, is far from alone in his sentiments regarding the problem of evangelicals and a traditional doctrine of Biblical inspiration. In 2008, Kenton Sparks continued the conversation to provide new ways for evangelicals to think about the Biblical doctrines of inspiration with his book God’s Words in Human Words (GWHW). Although, Sparks’ book has not yet received nearly the controversial attention that Enns’ received, it expands on Enns’ work developing a new way of thinking evangelically about biblical inspiration. Moreover, biblical inspiration and inerrancy remain topics of interested and heated discussion amongst evangelical biblical scholars, theologians, and clergy.
Based on the momentum of Enns and Sparks’ work, one could argue that a modern reorganization is occurring within evangelical theology. A new vein of Evangelicals are reconsidering theologies past in light of present scholarship. They seek to affirm its claim of Biblical Inerrancy without shying away from the information provided by modern historiography and natural science. This paper will argue that the attempt by Enns and Sparks to synchronize critical biblical scholarship with a redefinition of biblical inerrancy stems from the overriding evangelical convictions of confronting and consecrating its surrounding culture as well as a resurgence of the “Inerrancy Debates” of the mid twentieth-century.
To accomplish this, this paper will (1) describe the evangelical convictions of confronting and consecrating culture. It will then (2) establish an historical context for the twentieth century debate amongst evangelicals over the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy. In light of these definitions, this paper will then examine the theologies presented in (3) in Peter Enn’s I&I as well as (4) Kenton Spark’s God’s Word in Human Words. Finally, this paper will (5) discuss Enns and Sparks as both a continuation of the ongoing inerrancy debates within evangelicalism as well as an attempt to preserve evangelical identity in a postmodern society.
[2] Westminster Theological Seminary, “Joint Statement by WTS and Professor Enns,” Westminster Theological Seminary.com , July 23, 2008, http://www.wts.edu/stayinformed/view.html?id=187 (accessed April 12, 2009).
[3] It seems pertinent to note that, despite the scholarly uproar, Enns specifically wrote I&I to a lay audience.
[4] D.A. Carson. “Three Books on the Bible: A Critical Review,” Republished on Reformation21.com with permission from The Trinity Journal, http://www.reformation21.org/shelf-life/three-books-on-the-bible-a-critical-review.php (Accessed April 12, 2009).; Carson argues that while Enns proposes that “despite his initial claim that he is writing the book to comfort the disturbed [evangelical laity], as it were, the actual performance aims to disturb the comfortable.”
[5] G.K. Beale compiled and elaborated on his reviews of Inspiration and Incarnation in his book: The Erosion of Inerrancy within Evangelicalism: Responding to New Challenges to Biblical Authority, (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2008).; I will discuss Beale’s comments later in this paper.
[6] Sarah Pulliam. “Westminster Theological Suspension: Peter Enns’s book Inspiration and Incarnation created a two-year theological battle that resulted in his suspension,” ChristianityToday.com, April 1, 2008. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/aprilweb-only/114-24.0.html (accessed April 15, 2009).
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[...] A New Face for Biblical Inerrancy: Introduction (Part 2 of 6) [...]
[...] A New Face for Biblical Inerrancy: Introduction (Part 2 of 6) [...]
If we create a system in which equitable access to national resources is guaranteed regardless of any form of affiliation, then people will no longer feel the need to fall back on these affiliations either defensively or offensively and political leaders who then seek to exploit our differences for their own ends will find themselves without followers. ,