Reformed Chicks Blabbing

Reformed Chicks Blabbing

The WTS board has suspended Prof. Peter Enns

posted by Susan Johnson | 4:13pm Thursday March 27, 2008

Over his book, Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament. Crap! I was hoping they wouldn’t do this! He is such a wonderful professor, I can’t believe they did it. The seminary has lost someone who has helped conservatives understand the issues we face with the doctrine of inspiration and the OT and gave us a defense for it. Someone who introduced us to how the Bible is interpreted in this age of post-modernism and helped us to understand the similarities and differences between Second Temple Judaism and the NT writers in interpreting the OT. I deeply valued that class as much as I did my systematic theology classes and I am really upset that I probably will not be able to take Poetry and Wisdom with him.
It is a sad day in the history of Westminster Theological Seminary!
Update: Here’s the announcement we were sent.

Thank you very much for your prayers for the special meeting of the Board of Trustees that was held on March 26 to address the disunity of the faculty regarding the theological issues related to Dr. Peter Enns’ book, Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament. After a full day of deliberation, the Board of Trustees took the following action by decisive vote:
“That for the good of the Seminary (Faculty Manual II.4.C.4) Professor Peter Enns be suspended at the close of this school year, that is May 23, 2008 (Constitution Article III, Section 15), and that the Institutional Personnel Committee (IPC) recommend the appropriate process for the Board to consider whether Professor Enns should be terminated from his employment at the Seminary. Further that the IPC present their recommendations to the Board at its meeting in May 2008.”



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Comments read comments(17)
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Dave Watson

posted March 27, 2008 at 5:02 pm


I’m grieved to hear this news. Is there any written announcement from the seminary available?
Dave Watson (MAR ’88), Kent, WA – CRC Minister



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Michele McGinty

posted March 27, 2008 at 5:18 pm


Yeah, I’ll update the post with the letter I was sent. It isn’t on the website yet but others have been posting it.



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Tom

posted March 28, 2008 at 11:28 am


This controversy is not new and it would seem the decision by the Board was/is not a hasty action. I can recall the discussion by many when Enns’ book was first published. Some were calling for his immediate dismissal.
It would seem the Board was carefull and deliberate in their actions. Enns’ teaching ability notwithstanding, is the issue not his belief in ispirtation?
Tom Troxell, M. Div. 1973
PCA Pastor



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Tom

posted March 28, 2008 at 11:29 am


This controversy is not new and it would seem the decision by the Board was/is not a hasty action. I can recall the discussion by many when Enns’ book was first published. Some were calling for his immediate dismissal.
It would seem the Board was carefull and deliberate in their actions. Enns’ teaching ability notwithstanding, is the issue not his belief in inspiration?
Tom Troxell, M. Div. 1973
PCA Pastor



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Michele McGinty

posted March 28, 2008 at 12:14 pm


I think that might be the issue but I’m not sure. I know for a fact that he taught inspiration in class and I could see no difference from what I learned in class and what I learned in Introduction to Systematic Theology. In the ST class we focused on God’s authorship in the OT class we focused on man’s authorship but at no time did he ever deny inspiration (as far as I could tell).



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Moonshadow

posted March 28, 2008 at 1:33 pm


Makes me want to read the book! (Seriously!)
(On that WTS bookstore page you linked to, I’m reading a “related resource” by Craig Allert, “A High View of Scripture?” and debating sending you a copy.)
Well, I hope they can come to some reconciliation or level of understanding. But, I agree with Tom – this isn’t entered into lightly because of the potential for scandal.



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Michele McGinty

posted March 29, 2008 at 8:19 am


I think you should read the book and see what the controversy is. I have it but haven’t gotten the chance to read it (I keep forgetting to read it during break and only am reminded of it in the middle of the semester when I don’t have the time). Albert’s book sounds interesting but Ridderbos did go over that material in his book though I never turn down books :-)



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Tom Muldoon

posted March 29, 2008 at 4:00 pm


This blog is becoming necessary for my emotional health, so I hope
people read my comments, even if they’re written a day or two after the newsitem posted.
When I attended the Reformed Pres. Church, there was an elderly
Dutch man there still pondering the controversy between Norman Shepherd and C. John Miller. For the last decade or so we’ve had the “new perspectives on Paul.” This is the first I’ve heard of Professor Enns.
I fear I am alienated forever from the intellectual life of Westminster Theological Seminary, but it’s nice to have some knowledge of what goes on there from “Reformed Chicks…”



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Moonshadow

posted March 29, 2008 at 4:24 pm


I suppose you mean this one – http://www.wtsbooks.com/product-exec/product_id/392/nm/Redemptive_History_and_the_New_Testament_Scriptures
I guess I’ll get it and compare. And I’ll get Enns but I’ll probably agree with him because the incarnation analogy has long been posited as a way to appreciate not only Scripture but the Christian church. A quote from Mark Noll’s book – http://teresatwocents.blogspot.com/1990_01_01_archive.html
Perhaps inevitably, Allert’s reasoning is based upon his study of patristics. I like how Allert spans a potential crisis of faith his study may spawn …
—- Before I began my serious study of the formation of the New Testament canon, I subscribed wholeheartedly to the creed (!) “No Creed but the Bible.”
But I soon came to the realization that the Bible grew in the cradle of the church.
The church existed before the Bible.
This is what John Henry Newman is getting at in his famous “An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine” when he states, “And this one thing is certain; whatever history teaches, whatever it omits, whatever it exaggerates or extenuates, whatever it says and unsays, at least the Christianity of history is not Protestantism. If ever there were a safe truth, it is this.”
Theological history drove Newman away from Protestantism and to the Roman Catholic Church. I, however, was driven to a deeper appreciation for the church while I remained in the Protestant tradition. (page 76) —-



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Michele McGinty

posted March 29, 2008 at 5:49 pm


Tom, I try to read all comments posted to this blog. I may not comment on all of them but I do read them.
And I’m happy to let you know what’s going on when I get info. Unfortunately I’m not really in the loop as far as the latest controversy for which I’m really glad :-)



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Michele McGinty

posted March 29, 2008 at 6:00 pm


Yeah, that’s the one. I think you’ll enjoy the book, I’ve been told it’s very similar to his (actually be him :-) and looking through it, I can see that it is. The class was very challenging but helpful.



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Dick

posted March 31, 2008 at 10:56 am


Perhaps the reformed chick is not reformed. Perhaps she is not a believer. Perhaps the fact she needs this blog so reveals that she is not grounded in the word of God. Perhaps she should consider finding a good man and shut up.



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Michele McGinty

posted March 31, 2008 at 12:15 pm


Perhaps Dick needs to wonder why he had to come here and make that sexist comment. And if you had checked my profile you would have seen that I’m married and my husband (you know, the head of my household) is very pleased with my blog and has made it his home page.



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Moonshadow

posted April 1, 2008 at 10:01 am


I’m tryin’ to figure whether “Dick” posted anonymously and michele gave the moniker based on the comment … or whether the name “Dick” is self-imposed.



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Guy Cothran

posted November 20, 2008 at 1:44 pm


Disappointing, but not surprising. Kudos to Peter for speaking the truth with love and being willing to accept the consequences. Great is his reward.



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Guy Cothran

posted November 20, 2008 at 1:48 pm


Kudos to Professor Enns for speaking the truth with love, and accepting the consequences. Disappointing, but not surprising decision by the Board.
Do you think they are more interested in the truth, or their reputation within the Reformed Community?



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escort brunette

posted August 4, 2010 at 8:57 pm


Rather interesting blog you’ve got here. Thanx for it. I like such topics and anything connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more on that blog soon.
Joan Benedict



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