The school's doctrinal statement declares a firm belief in the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture, along with the affirmation of a literal six-day creation. An additional statement
adopted by the college trustees in August 2006 underscores a belief that objective truth not only exists but can be known by humans with absolute certainty.It appears that professors David Hoffeditz and David Mappes were more absolutely certain than some of the other professors, creating dissension among the faculty. A faculty panel judged the university's position to be that "Hoffeditz insisted that his colleagues adhere to doctrinal positions that are not in the [university's] doctrinal statement," according to a report by Baptist Press that cited a March 7 article in the The Chronicle of Higher Education, which requires a subscription for access.
Hoffeditz and Mappes, both graduates of Dallas Theological Seminary, considered themselves theologically more conservative on the issue of truth than other professors in the department, according to The Chronicle. Hoffeditz appealed the non-renewal of his contract, and won a split-decision from a faculty panel, which cited "administrative missteps."
A posting on the university website explains what administrative steps were taken and notes that one of the professors declined to meet with administrators. The professors' activities had diverted too much attention from the university's primary focus, according to the statement, and their termination was designed "to return the department of biblical education to its heritage of collegiality and academic dialogue."
What's amazing to me is that a biblical studies department whose professors are uniformly committed to biblical inerrancy and a literal six-day creation could have a problem with colleagues pressing for even more conservative positions. What position can be more biblically conservative than literalistic inerrancy?
I'm not sure I want to know -- but I am fairly confident that absolute certainty about God, the Bible, or ultimate truth cannot be obtained without a substantial measure of self-deception. Neither quality is helpful in the setting of a Christian university.
9 comments:
Well, Tony, clearly my truth is better than your truth. I know that either because (a) I just know it or (b) God told me so. Either way, I'm a fairly dangerous man, aren't I?
Back in the day, when I was a student at SBTS (1979-1986), our school was regarded as "liberal" by most SBC folks. But the good folks down the road at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary thought we were a bunch of fundamentalists.
It all depends on where you stand. But again, if the place where I stand is the sole locale of truth, then all the rest of y'all are just in for it.
I tried to look for some historical background on Cedarville's website, but there was very little about it history there. Wikipedia (while not always the most reliable source) did have at least a small amount of information. Is Cedarville U. a Baptist school of the ilk of Bob Jones brand of Baptist?
Perhaps most interesting to me is how well this story illustrates how subjective even words like "literal" and "inerrant" really are. These professors seem to have more faith in their interpretations of the Bible than in the God whom they say inspired the Bible.
Where do you stand on the issue of biblical inerrancy? Do you take it literally?
For jr ... my understanding is that Cedarville has historically had connections to the General Association of Regular Baptists, a strongly fundamentalist group of largely independent churches that split from the Northern Baptist Convention in the wake of the fundamentalist/modernist controversy of the 1920s. The GARBC started distancing itself from Cedarville after the college made overtures to the Southern Baptist Convention, which the GARBC considers too liberal.
For Anonymous,
No, I do not ascribe to the inerrancy of scripture (unless the meaning of the word is radically redefined, as some do), nor to the idea that the Bible must always be interpreted literally.
I wonder, too, what can be more conservative than a literal six days of creation. Maybe they've discovered that men really do have one less rib than women?
It is possible to read the Bible without taking every single word as being literally true. I like to believe that the Bible is truth, that the Bible contains truth.
The problem arises when truth is equated with historical accuracy. As my professor at Mt. Olive College, Dr. Richard C. Boyd, likes to say, "CNN was not there with a camera crew."
How do literalists contend with Psalm 139:8-9:
"O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us- he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks."
Let's kill all our enemies' babies, right? Even literlists know (I hope) when the Bible is to be taken literal and when it is not.
Tony,
You said,
"I am fairly confident that absolute certainty about God, the Bible, or ultimate truth cannot be obtained without a substantial measure of self-deception."
Despite all the self-vaunted moderateness of the Baptist left, such statements show you for what you really are - moral and doctrinal relativists with no real beliefs about anything, other, than perhaps, your own conceited opinions.
I note, however, that you are only "fairly confident" of your relativism - so I guess we can chalk one up for consistency.
Mark Osgatharp
Wynne, Arkansas
About taking the Bible literally - that's only one way to take it.
There are three ways.
1. Literal.
2. Intellectual.
3. Spiritual.
To clarify, anyone with a dictionary can figure out a literal meaning.
Anyone who is intelligent enough can read between the lines of the Verses and figure out the deeper meaning of the words as they were written.
Here's where it gets tricky. To get the Spiritual, often called the hidden meaning, one must ask the Holy Spirit in prayer for guidance and help. That's the only way, and it's never guaranteed to work when WE want it to.
Sometimes we're better off not getting everything we ask for, since we cannot know all the consequences of our actions like God does.
Thank God.
star
PS Many times over the years, I've posted certain words about God and my beliefs, and sometimes, it's like the Devil is working against me to keep me from publishing the comments. I've tried for 30 min. now to get this going but keep getting "server error" and told to try again in 30 seconds. Well, it finally went through, didn't it? :-)
Oops! Now it's saying "there are errors in this form!" Exclamation the computer's. Maybe someday y'all will get to read this.
3-13-08
Mark, you have such a way with words. It would certainly help to know where you are coming from to have a little background, a little biography. Could you please provide that for me?
Just post whatever you think is relevant, since in order for me to understand someone's opinion, I must know something about them besides their obvious penchant for hateful words.
Thanks a bunch.
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Starduster,
I am a Landmark Baptist. Landmark Baptists believe that whatever the Bible teaches about any matter is absolutely correct and excludes all contrary doctrines.
We do not differ great from other conservative Baptists in the particulars of our doctrine. Our distinguishing characteristic is that we hold that a real belief in Baptist doctrine makes all other doctrines, and therefore all other denominations, contrary to the word and will of God.
After doing a little research on the situation at Cedarville, I found that the issue there is that they tolerate men on their faculty who hold that we cannot know truth with certainty. The issue for the teachers who were fired is not that they charged the other faculty with teaching false doctrines per se, but that they were teaching that, after all, their doctrines might be wrong because we cannot know anything with absolute certainty.
Mark Osgatharp
Wynne, Arkansas
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