All things considered, my time at CU exposed me to the riches of biblical and theological studies, and it left me hungry for more.

College gave me a love for Christ’s gospel and Christ’s Church – which has only increased since I arrived at Beeson.

Plus, I met my wife there! 🙂

And yet, college also left a bad taste in my mouth.

See, in the year before I graduated, some crazy things went down at my alma mater.

• It all started with some sketchy White Papers getting sprung on the faculty right before contract renewal.
• Then, it led to the secret summer firing of a professor.
• I reacted on my blog.
• Christianity Today picked it up. As well as a local newspaper.
• The same day the Christianity Today piece ran, the President “resigned.”
• So did the Vice President of Student Life.
• You know what? It’s a long story, just read it here if you’re interested.

Between my original blogpost and my “final farewell,” I tried to take a pretty active role in the student protests against what was going on at CU.

I’d like to think we made a bit of a difference – perhaps in slowing things down enough to let professors find jobs elsewhere before they got fired. Heck, we even made it into The New York Times. (Although, I will say: I’m embarrassed of the picture they chose for the article.)

However, in the long run, we failed.

Cedarville is now a much different place than when I arrived. What’s more, I became so entangled in the mess that I arrived to seminary with some burn wounds – from a prophetic fire that burnt a bit too hot.

I’m thankful for my time at Cedarville, however.

God has been healing those wounds. Beeson Divinity School and Anglicanism have both been balms to my spirit. And, with the healing has come the realization that I would not be who I am today were it not for my four years in Cedarville, Ohio.

Many of the lessons I learned there were sealed with blood, sweat, and tears – as it were. However, those kinds of lessons are often the most important and enduring.

By God’s grace, I hope to carry forward into my future ministry a combination of prophetic fire and patient faithfulness in the face of injustice and suffering.

Here’s the thing, though: I’m worried about the other members of the “Cedarville Diaspora.”

“Cedarville ex-pats”? Take your pick of terms.

No, not so much the professors who were pushed out. They’ve miraculously landed on their feet, and I’ve witnessed God’s powerful work of redemption through them in their current careers and ministries.

No, I’m talking about the alumni who got burned by fundamentalism and may have already thrown out the Christian baby with the fundamentalist bathwater. Or perhaps they’re seriously considering doing so.

See, God has blessed me with a wonderful seminary and church community in which to grow and heal after Cedarville. Without those things, I don’t know where I’d be after the awful ending to my Christian college experience.

Others, however, may be feeling very lonely and angry right now.

If that’s you, or if you know someone to whom this applies, would you let me know if there’s any way I can help you?

I’ll gladly listen to you vent. I’d love to pray for you specifically, and perhaps to share what I’ve found helpful along the journey.

~Josh (@joshuapsteele)

“Class Limited to Women” … I know, ludicrous. Especially considering Joy Fagan’s previous track record of making the first class, Scriptural Interpretation of Gender Issues (or SIGI), a truly excellent course by all accounts from former students, male and female.

Equally ludicrous? The textbook choices! Are you ready for what CU students will be reading to form an even-handed perspective of what the Bible has to say on gender? Maybe some Miroslav Volf? “Junia is Not Alone” by Scot McKnight? NOPE.

Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism: Biblical Responses to the Key Questions, by Wayne Grudem

The Feminist Mistake: The Radical Impact of Feminism on Church and Culture, by Mary A. Kassian

Words fail.

Cedarville, get your act together. Prospective students, stay far away until the institution recovers it’s broad evangelical vision (the one carried forward by Bill Brown and Carl Ruby, for example). Unfortunately, it appears that vision has been thoroughly squashed in the conservative takeover.

Despite my Lenten Facebook fast, I was made aware of the following post by my friend Marlena Graves. I thought I’d share it, just in case anyone is considering Cedarville as a choice for college. I’d still strongly recommend you attend another institution, where you can trust the administration. My previous thoughts on these matters still stand.

======

“Dear friends,

“Every. Single. Week. I am contacted by people who attend and work at CU who are just miserable. I pray about what to say and what not to say; my motives aren’t malicious. This morning I was reading about Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and how he couldn’t believe that the Christians in Germany remained silent about Hitler or actively conspired with Hitler to get rid of the Jews. This situation at CU is no Germany. But faculty and staff at the school I loved are now forced into silence. They’re being oppressed. If they speak, they’ll lose their jobs. Their FB accounts and e-mails are monitored. A coup occurred at CU as it did at Southern Seminary, Southwestern Seminary, and Southeastern Seminary at the hands of Paige Patterson. Paige Patterson is now a trustee and mentor to the new president, Dr. White. Many who made decisions who fought to keep us and our friends (Bible profs/Carl Ruby and others) at the school told us that it was a coup. So the current administration doesn’t care about what fac/staff think. And students are there temporarily so….The chair of the board has said that he is willing to take the school down to 1200 to get their way. Shawn and I can afford to speak up because we didn’t sign a non-disclosure agreement. We are thriving and not bitter. But, I do get angry about how people are being treated. Thank God Shawn got a job right away and didn’t have to worry about providing for his family. Every single person who knows me will tell you I deliberate about my words. I am tired of the pain people are going through. And so I speak up because I can. I think this is the last chance for those currently there to give an outcry. Otherwise it’s over for them. They have moved to forbid egalitarians from teaching there, too. Next year, if you cannot say you are comp, you cannot work there. Only money and power can accomplish such a coup. I have no money or power. But, I have the freedom to speak up. So this below is just more evidence of what is going on. Students pray for your professors and staff. Many are suffering and can’t even tell you. Many of their jobs are on the line. They continue to clean house while silencing people. Pay attention to who is no longer there and from where they hire their new faculty. I’ve lost count of who is gone. People have to decide whether or not they’ll feed their families or speak up. So please, speak up on their behalf!

“Take a look at the fall course schedule. The new female Bible prof’s classes are limited to female students only:http://www.cedarville.edu/courses/schedule/2014fa_bi_beth.htm. Even under Dr. Dixon, that was never the case for Jean Fisher’s classes.”

========

Grace and Peace,

~Josh

Today I received two awards at Cedarville University’s 49th Annual Academic Honors Day Chapel.

The first: The Oxford University Press Award in Preseminary Bible, given to the graduating senior with the highest cumulative GPA in the preseminary major.

The second: The Daniel Award.

“Established in 2001 by David and Jean Heyd, this endowed award was created to honor their parents, Charles and E. LaRue Wilcox and Elmer and Kathy Heyd. The scholarship assists a graduating full-time male senior student who has been accepted by a conservative evangelical seminary. The recipient must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3, demonstrate the spiritual qualifications and godly leadership skills necessary to excel in this ministry, and plan to serve as full-time pastor of a church. […] The Department of Biblical and Ministry Studies faculty select the recipients.”

The first award got me a copy of The Contemporary Parallel New Testament (edited by Kohlenberger, III). The second award? $5,000 toward my seminary education. Barring any significant price hikes, that should cover the remainder of my tuition at Beeson Divinity School for the next 3.5 years!

Despite my standing critiques of Cedarville University, I must admit that my life would look radically different today had I not arrived here four years ago.

As I look forward to the next stage of my life, I’m realizing more and more how much my life each day depends on the grace and generosity of others. I’m extremely thankful for the opportunities – even the painful ones – I’ve been given to live, learn, and grow at Cedarville. I never would have imagined meeting so many wonderful, Christlike, and challenging people in the middle of cornfields in Southwest Ohio.

I’m thankful that God’s Kingdom transcends Cedarville,
but also that I’ve gotten to glimpse the Kingdom here.

Grace and Peace,

~Josh

Until further notice, I hereby rescind my use of the Let There Be Light platform (including blog, Facebook, and Twitter) to protest recent changes at Cedarville University. The LTBL platform will now be exclusively alumni-run, and I encourage everyone interested in developments at the University to follow their posts and make subsequent judgments regarding Cedarville’s identity and vision.

My goal in all of this is to honor my Messiah by following him well and furthering his Kingdom with justice, unity, and true peace.

Let it be known that I am bitterly disappointed with the direction in which Cedarville University is currently heading. Unless its leaders frankly and forthrightly admit their agenda for the future and their recent decisions including the firing of Dr. Carl Ruby, I cannot in good conscience recommend Cedarville to any prospective students. If CU leaders are willing to get rid of people like Dr. Ruby and yet unwilling to admit that they’ve done so, that’s not just disingenuous – it’s dangerous.

I also cannot recommend a place which holds un-scholarly documents as the White Papers as official explanations of its doctrinal stances. I cannot recommend a place where people like Dr. Michael Pahl are not allowed to teach, and where good evangelicals are “reviewed” by ad hoc doctrinal panels. I cannot recommend a place where my mentors are harassed for being forthright with their students. If Bob Gresh’s words are true and men like Mr. Scharnberg want to return Cedarville University to the “real Cedarville” of 19 years ago, I cannot support such a move. That’s not the Cedarville I’ve known and loved.

My resignation from Let There Be Light does not change these personal opinions. However, I do pray that Cedarville might change and thrive, so that one day I can gladly and sincerely recommend it once more.

I will continue to use my own personal social media outlets to express my views freely and openly. For now, as a current student of Cedarville University, I will content myself with asking questions, trying to make sense of all this, and encouraging the members of the CU community who have had the biggest impact on my life.

With people like Carl Ruby, Chris Williamson, and Bill Rudd gone, we’re quickly losing leaders at Cedarville who will advocate for these types of concerns. I’m therefore convinced that my time left at Cedarville will be better spent on encouragement than advocacy. Although I am unsatisfied with the recent decisions and direction of my University, there are still many good and godly women and men here whom I’d like to uplift and affirm before I graduate.

Although I will no longer be a contributing member of Let There Be Light, I ask you to join with me in always calling for transparency and justice within our respective communities. The justice-filled Kingdom of God is being built one context, one community at a time, all over the world.

I do not regret founding Let There Be Light, nor do I regret my efforts to make Cedarville a more just community by striking a prophetic pose as a student with relatively little to lose. I’ve not done it perfectly (see my Open Apology), but speaking truth to power will always be necessary.

Our God is a god of justice, peace, and unity. There can be no true unity or peace without justice.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Grace and Peace,

Joshua Steele

—————

• Cedarville, Let there be Light (pt 1)
• Cedarville, Let there be Light (pt 2)
• An Explanation
• Open Letter to CU Trustees and Admins
• Oh Cedarville…
• Open Apology

I’d like to apologize publicly to any persons I may have offended during the past few months of my student activism efforts at Cedarville University.

After all, I recognize that some of my statements/claims about the perceived injustices at my University have seemed quite shocking, especially without further context. So I apologize for the times when I put pithiness before precision and unwittingly ostracized many good people whom I was not intending to criticize at all.

Many times my frustration – directed at the nebulous group of trustees and administrators most directly responsible for things like the White Papers, the firing of Michael Pahl, and the firing of Carl Ruby – has seeped over and negatively affected some of the good people I’d like to defend and advocate for, if it were their necks on the chopping block.

There are MANY great people at Cedarville University in between those who’ve been fired and those who’ve made the firing decisions, and I don’t want to overlook them or accidentally attack them. If you’re a member of that group and you’ve been put-off by my recent words and actions, I truly am sorry. Please forgive me.

I’d also like to apologize publicly for any embarrassment I’ve caused to the Kingdom of God in this process.

That is, while I’m NOT sorry for seeking prophetically to address injustices being committed by the people of God against the people of God, I AM sorry if I’ve given the impression to those on the outside looking in that this is how Christianity always goes.

(This is not a retraction of my activism efforts, for I am sincerely convinced that the University has committed institutional sins, if you will, in its recent decisions.)

However, I would like to remind all “outsiders” that following Jesus of Nazareth is not supposed to look like the current controversies which plague Cedarville University. Christianity is more than just intrigue and infighting, although those things will always be a part of Christendom until the end of days because us Christians are messed-up people just like everyone else.

Would you please forgive me, and please forgive us Christians, for doing a poor job of representing Yahweh to you?

He is a God of unity, justice, and peace, and yet far too often we, as his people, miserably fail at embodying those things.

In the end, Yahweh has told us human beings what is good: to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him. (Micah 6:8.)

Justice, mercy, and humility.

Please forgive me for when I’ve failed to embody mercy and humility in my pursuit of justice.

Sincerely,

Joshua Steele

That’s been my experience during my final year here at Cedarville University. See, I love this place. And that’s why I can’t stand it sometimes. There are still so many good and godly women and men here, so much potential for God’s Kingdom. And that’s why recent decisions made by Cedarville Admins and Trustees are so heartbreaking. I’ve written about this before (Open Letter).

The sources of my angst? I’ll give you the top three from my growing list of concerns.

The White Papers

I found out about these a year ago, when I had no idea of the storm that was brewing. I won’t spend time repeating what’s already been well said about the Papers here and here, but suffice it to say that if I turned in a White Paper as an undergraduate theological essay, I’d be getting a C- and a talk from my professor for my sub-par work. It’s patently obvious that Bib/Theo scholars were NOT consulted in the composition of these documents. Or, if they were, they were summarily ignored. And CU is making PhDs in Bib/Theo studies sign these things! Despicable.

This seems like a shameful attempt of reigning in the “creeping liberalism” of Cedarville’s Bible department. First, if you know any of the conservative evangelical CU Bible faculty, you’ll realize that this is some sort of sick joke. Second, at least proofread your documents to the standards of good scholarship! Even if I agreed with the White Papers’ attempts to silence debate and discussion on matters related to creation, justification, and omniscience, I would still be ashamed of their poor quality.

If you haven’t read Cedarville’s White Papers, they can finally be found here (to the right), on the University website. We had to petition and then wait a couple months before the Administration publicly posted the White Papers, even though they are supposed to describe the University’s official position on three important areas of doctrine!!! Did Cedarville ever intend on releasing these documents if students hadn’t petitioned Dr. Gredy and Dr. Cornman? Or were the White Papers just supposed to be a secret weapon to cleanse the Bible faculty? Apparently they were important enough to be used in the firing of Dr. Michael Pahl.

Michael Pahl

Dr. Pahl was hired before the 2011-12 school year. He moved his family (wife and four children) all the way from Canada to Cedarville, OH, persuaded that he was going to be a good fit for the Bible department at Cedarville University. After all, the CU hiring process is lengthy and it’s a very long way to move one’s family. After teaching for just two semesters, and closing on a 100 year-old farmhouse in town, he was fired for a doctrinal discrepancy related to his book, The Beginning and The End.

Keep in mind that the book was already in manuscript form when he was hired by CU, meaning that he wrote this book before he even knew he’d be working at a place that would have loved to see a shout out to Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis somewhere, anywhere in the tome’s 106 pages. Furthermore, the hiring committee was made aware of Dr. Pahl’s forthcoming book, and he taught his sample lecture during the hiring process on Genesis and the creation accounts! But that wasn’t enough to save him from getting “reviewed” by an ad hoc panel and “released from his teaching duties.”

Thankfully, he’s remained on the school’s payroll this academic year, so that he and his family didn’t get sent back to Canada right away without work or housing. However, to the best of my knowledge, he is still looking for work.

“Dr. Pahl’s orthodoxy and commitment to the gospel are not in question, nor is his commitment to Scripture’s inspiration, authority and infallibility. He is a promising scholar and a dedicated teacher, and he will be missed by his colleagues and students. Nevertheless, the University has determined this decision to be in the best interests of its constituency at this time.”

What a shameful way to treat a gracious and godly immigrant family.

Carl Ruby

As if the previous two concerns weren’t enough, the University quickly got rid of Carl Ruby, the Vice President for Student Life, this January. Not only have the Administration and Trustees neglected to justify this decision, they refuse to admit that they made the decision in the first place!!! According to the University PR statements, we’re to believe that Carl Ruby, after 25 years of service to his alma mater, randomly decided in January that now would be a great time to seek employment opportunities elsewhere. Apparently he also thought it would be great to leave his office just five days after his resignation was announced for him!

What’s the other option? Moral or legal failure, right? Well, Dr. Gredy (acting CU President) himself denied this at the SGA Town Hall meeting last month (Link is broken, but original URL: http://cedars.cedarville.edu/article/585/SGA-Town-Hall-Meeting-Jan-22/), saying that Ruby’s resignation was not due to a personal/moral failure.

What’s left, then? Well, despite my University’s urging to “not connect the dots” on these matters, the unavoidable conclusion is that Dr. Ruby was FIRED and that CU Admins/Trustees are hesitant (and deceptively so) to admit that.

Compare this “official” answer from the Cedarville Alumni and Family Questions and Answers page:

“Why did Dr. Carl Ruby leave?

“Dr. John Gredy, Provost, announced to the University family on January 10 that he and Dr. Ruby had come to a mutual understanding and that Dr. Ruby would conclude his service to Cedarville University. His last day in the office was shortly thereafter, although Dr. Ruby’s administrative contract continues through June 30. The University is committed to protecting the privacy of its employees so is not commenting publicly on the reasons for the decision.

“Sadly, much speculation and questions have arisen. The Board of Trustees at its January 25 meeting carefully reviewed the events surrounding the announcement that Dr. Carl Ruby would conclude his service. The Board acknowledged and expressed regret that the lack of clarity had made this transition even more difficult for the Cedarville University family. Nonetheless, the Board of Trustees supported the understanding between Dr. Ruby and the administration. The Board of Trustees expressed its gratitude to Dr. Ruby for his service.

“Dr. Ruby built a legacy at Cedarville, and he will be missed by many. The passions Dr. Ruby embraced were not simply his personal interests, but rather reflect core values of the Cedarville family. The University is committed to continuing these priorities.”

Allow me to thank you all for your countless hours of service to this institution. I do not want to underestimate your care and concern for this place. In fact, I want to reassure you that I share your passion. Here at Cedarville I have been blessed with the opportunity of meeting, falling in love with, and marrying my wife. Even more importantly, at Cedarville I have fallen in love with the Gospel. Thanks to godly men and women here – whose vision of God, his Word, and his world I’ve been privileged to catch – my eyes have been opened to the richness, complexity, and scope of God’s redemptive mission.

I therefore raise the following concerns not as one who wants to malign Cedarville, disregard your wisdom, or perpetrate verbal violence. I raise them because I want Cedarville to contribute to God’s Kingdom to the fullest extent possible. I have invested four years of my life here as a CU Scholar, Getting Started Leader, Discipleship Leader, Student Grader, and Resident Assistant. I want future students, perhaps my own children someday, to be able to do the same. I want this University to thrive, inspiring true greatness for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

That is why certain events within the Cedarville community this past year have caused me such great concern. I say this as respectfully as possible: some of your decisions and actions seem to contradict the most precious lessons that I have learned at your institution about the Gospel.

Among other troubling things, including the harassment of those “godly men and women here – whose vision of God, his Word, and his world I’ve been privileged to catch,” I have observed the following:

• your approval of the White Papers on omniscience, justification, and creation,
• your rejection of the proposed Theology Major,
• your dismissal of Dr. Michael Pahl,
• the untimely resignation of Dr. William Brown,
• the extremely untimely resignation of Dr. Carl Ruby,
• your imminent cancellation of the Philosophy Major,
• and subsequent imminent release of either Dr. Shawn Graves or Dr. David Mills.

As your younger brother in Christ, I am obligated to approach you peacefully. However, given the circumstances, it seems I am also obligated to approach you prophetically. Because of the biblical concept of *shalom as true peace, I believe I can do both at the same time. For true peace is not the absence of conflict or strong words, but the longing of the prophets for the time and place where the image-bearers of Yahweh will be reconciled to one another, to all of creation, and to God himself. It is the relational fullness and completeness of God’s justice-based, truth-filled, and transparent Kingdom.

In the interests of shalom, then, I cry out for justice.

In the interests of shalom, I cry out for truth.

In the interests of shalom, I cry out for transparency.

For brevity’s sake, I’d like to distill my myriad concerns and frustrations into just two questions. After all, I’m just an undergraduate, and you do not owe me a thorough explanation of all the managerial minutiae behind your every move. However, you do owe me – along with current/future faculty, staff, students, and constituency – a thorough and impeccably honest explanation of Cedarville University’s Identity and Vision.

In the interests of shalom, justice, truth, and transparency, I cry out for answer to the following two questions:

1. What is Cedarville University?
2. What does Cedarville University hope to become?

All of your actions and decisions mentioned above, from the harassment of my mentors and friends to the proposed cancellation of the Philosophy Major, point towards Cedarville University being and becoming a fundamentalist (euphemistically, a “conservative evangelical”) institution – silencing honest dialogue, erecting thick walls between “us” and “them,” and carving out our own niche instead of engaging the unified diversity of God’s kingdom.

After all, Dr. Ruby and Dr. Brown were two of Cedarville’s most prominent voices calling for a robust evangelicalism, for this self-proclaimed liberal arts university to embrace and embody both cultural and ideological diversity – in the hopes of becoming one of the most influential Christ-centered learning communities in the twenty-first century.

I and many others came to Cedarville University to study, work, and teach because we find this vision extremely compelling. We find things like poorly-written White Papers, inadequately explained rejections/cancellations of valuable majors, and questionable, sudden changes in beloved personnel much less compelling.

I will give you the benefit of the doubt and not discuss at-length the many rumors and reports of shameful things like ad hoc and biased “review” panels, bullying, power plays, and gag orders. If the rumors be true, then perhaps someone much higher than I should call for your repentance, if not your resignations. Such is the high responsibility of having “For the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ” as your institutional motto.

However, I will ask you for one important thing: your honesty about where you want to take Cedarville University.

Here’s why: as the Administration and Board of Trustees, you have a certain right to decide whether or not Cedarville will be robustly evangelical or fundamentalist. We might strongly disagree about which of those two options is preferable, but at the end of the day you make that decision, not I.

However, you have no right to obfuscate or vacillate on these important matters of identity and vision. While I can’t tell you what direction to take this University, I can boldly ask that you decide and then very clearly and publicly announce your decision.

Even if I and many others disagree with your decision, we will respect you much more for your clarity. Trying to accomplish your goals behind the scenes has only resulted in confusion, damage, and pain to several individuals and families within the Cedarville community. In the wake of Dr. Pahl’s dismissal and the questionable resignations of Dr. Brown and Dr. Ruby, we need a clear statement, not a polished and vague press release. If you don’t plainly declare your position and objectives, then we will be forced to assume the worst regarding your motives.

After all, if achieving your goals involves getting rid of:

• Michael Pahl, an outstanding biblical theologian of whom you were willing to say: “[his] orthodoxy and commitment to the gospel are not in question, nor is his commitment to Scripture’s inspiration, authority and infallibility. He is a promising scholar and a dedicated teacher, and he will be missed by his colleagues and students.”
• William Brown, the president and beloved face of Cedarville University for thousands of students.
• and Carl Ruby, a man whose respect and admiration from students, faculty, and staff transcend cultural, theological, and political dispositions…a preeminent model of Christ-like service, love, patience, respect, grace, and wisdom…and a pioneer for open and honest dialogue for the sake of God’s Kingdom.

…then your goals are probably in need of revision, but they are most certainly in need of immediate clarification.

For the sake of our Messiah, Savior, Lord, and King whose crown our University bears on its seal, I appeal to you as your younger brother in the faith: publicly declare your vision for the future of Cedarville University. In the face of the growing angst, confusion, and frustration among students, alumni, faculty, staff, and constituency, explicitly state who you do and do not want working, teaching, and therefore studying at the University.

It is my prayer that, as a result of your honesty and transparency, Cedarville University might become a more peaceful and just community in the midst of God’s shalom-filled Kingdom.

For King and Kingdom,

Joshua Steele

Cedarville University Class of 2013

Further Questions, All Relating to the University Statement on Dr. Pahl’s Dismissal:

• If Dr. Pahl’s book, The Beginning and the End, was controversial enough to lead to his dismissal, why was the book allowed to be used as a textbook last school year?
  • Shouldn’t we trust the Bible professors’ judgment in their selection of the book as a text?
  • If we should, then was it worth firing Dr. Pahl over a book which other CU professors approved of enough to require as a text for their courses?
  • If not, why not? Why don’t we trust these highly-trained men and women as an institution? Shouldn’t they be a resource instead of a feared danger? Does this potential fear have anything to do with Dr. Pahl being dismissed?
• Do all members of the Board of Trustees agree with “each and every position of Cedarville University’s Doctrinal Statement” in the way Dr. Pahl was expected to in order to still be allowed to teach?
  • If he was dismissed, despite the apparent alignment of his personal views and those expressed in his writing to the Doctrinal Statement, is there a possibility that some of the trustees should also be dismissed according to such strict standards?
• Was Dr. Pahl dismissed for something that wrote which contradicts the Doctrinal Statement? If so, what was it exactly that he wrote? (I have been unable to find anything in The Beginning and the End)
• If Dr. Pahl was not fired for something he wrote, was he fired for something that he didn’t write? Again, if so, what was it exactly that he didn’t affirm?
• Furthermore, is firing someone for not affirming something fair? Are all professors required to affirm the Doctrinal Statement in its entirety in everything they write and/or publish?
• What is the administration’s vision for the future of the Bible Department at Cedarville University?
• How does firing an orthodox, promising scholar who is committed to Scripture and to the gospel help to achieve that vision?
• Has Dr. Pahl been cared for by the University in any way during this process? As our brother in Christ, have we dismissed him in a way that is honoring to God and helpful to him and his family?
• What explanation has been given to the students who have been affected by Dr. Pahl’s dismissal (i.e. the ones registered for his classes)? Has that explanation been accurate and forthright?
• Are any other professors currently being considered for dismissal by the University for things they have written and published?

(CONTINUED: An Explanation)

“Dr. Michael Pahl has been relieved of his teaching duties because he is unable to concur fully with each and every position of Cedarville University’s doctrinal statement. This decision was made following a review by the University administration and trustees prompted by Dr. Pahl’s recent book, The Beginning and the End: Rereading Genesis’s Stories and Revelation’s Visions.

Dr. Pahl’s orthodoxy and commitment to the gospel are not in question, nor is his commitment to Scripture’s inspiration, authority and infallibility. He is a promising scholar and a dedicated teacher, and he will be missed by his colleagues and students. Nevertheless, the University has determined this decision to be in the best interests of its constituency at this time.”

The “Logic” of the Statement:

• Despite the Following:
  • Dr. Michael Pahl is orthodox.
  • Dr. Pahl is committed to the gospel.
  • Dr. Pahl is committed to Scripture, its inspiration, authority, and infallibility.
  • Dr. Pahl is a promising scholar.
  • Dr. Pahl is a dedicated teacher.
• The administration and trustees of Cedarville University have “relieved” Dr. Pahl of his teaching duties.
  • “because he is unable to concur fully with each and every position of Cedarville University’s doctrinal statement“
  • …”prompted by Dr. Pahl’s recent book, The Beginning and the End: Rereading Genesis’s Stories and Revelation’s Visions.”
  • because it is in the best interests of the “constituency” at this time.

Hence, the Following Questions:

• Why were the five accolades attached to Dr. Pahl above (orthodox, gospel, Scripture, scholar, teacher) not enough to keep him on the teaching faculty of Cedarville University?
• Don’t we want promising scholars and dedicated teachers who are committed to the gospel, to Scripture, and to orthodoxy at Cedarville University? If not, why not?
• Upon review of Dr. Pahl’s book, I do not see how it contradicts with any of the points of Cedarville’s doctrinal statement.
  • Have I missed something?
  • Are there more standards that the ones enumerated in the Doctrinal Statement that the professors are expected to hold to (i.e. White Papers)?
  • If so, why aren’t these made public? If the White Papers flow directly from the Doctrinal Statement, and if they are important enough to fire faculty over, then shouldn’t the students and general public know about them?
  • Is it possible that other motivations are at play here?
  • Does the “best interests of its constituency” imply that Dr. Pahl was dismissed from teaching because of non-doctrinal concerns?
  • Was this decision in any way motivated by attendance or enrollment or popularity of the institution in certain Christians’ eyes?
  • If that’s the case, then why would those things be worth more than “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” to the administration and the trustees?
• What did “the review by the University administration and trustees” look like? Were the proceedings ethical? Were the proceedings made public in any way so as to provide for oversight?
• What is the definition of “constituency” according to the statement above? Does it include the entire constituency of the University, or just a select portion?

CONTINUED —>

I say this as someone who used to be a zealous defender of everything that Answers in Genesis stands for. I viewed the Creationism vs. Evolution debate as central and foundational to the Christian life. I would sit for hours on end and listen to guys like Kent Hovind and their defenses of Young Earth Creationism…

…and then I learned more about how to study the Bible.

And now I’m not so sure that people like Ken Ham are really about humbly submitting to what Scripture has to say. Instead, they seem to hold tightly to an anti-intellectual hermeneutic of suspicion and paranoia.It’s all about “us” vs. “them,” about building thick walls and banishing the “crazy liberals” from our midst. And the more I listen to the rhetoric, the more I’m convinced that anyone can become a crazy liberal, so long as they disagree with key figures such as Ken Ham about anything.

Consider the following quote from a review of The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age (by R. Stephens and K. Giberson):

Ken Ham, with no scientific credentials, no credentials in biblical scholarship, no evidence, and no research program, has become the front person, the spokesman for a large segment of evangelicalism. He proves nothing, he asserts what he finds to be truth and tells a story to make it so. He is a charismatic speaker on a mission and has become for many the authority on the evil of evolution and the dishonesty of modern science. Ken Ham and his organization Answers in Genesis have become “powerful shapers of popular opinion in America’s vast evangelical subculture.”

Ken Ham is an anointed and respected authority in much of American evangelicalism and fundamentalism.

One of the premises of Stephens and Giberson is that the broader evangelical culture has become enamored of the charismatic individual who can tell a good story, do it in a flashy and entertaining fashion, and has a message easily reduced to simple black and white points. Ken Ham is such an individual.

Why is Ken Ham believed?

People like Ken Ham and AiG claim to have a high view of Scripture and to hold to a “literal” reading… but in reality, I think that they have a low view of Scripture because they are unwilling to even consider that certain passages were not written to answer the questions we might like them to answer for us! If we don’t even try to approach the text on its own terms, then I would argue that we’re being unfaithful to Scripture.

For those of you still reading who don’t think I’m a crazy liberal yet (I can assure you, I’m not), consider the following resources as first steps in moving beyond Ken Ham, AiG, and the vitriolic debate between Young Earth Creationism and Neo-Darwinism, to what Scripture actually has to say about creation!

Check out my blog post on Biblical Creation Theology.

…and the paper I wrote on how biblical creation theology leads to doxology.

Also, the following are some interesting posts for anyone interested:

The Evangelical Brain Trust (NYT)

Anointed? … Evangelicals and Authority (RJS)

Ken Ham is a Con Artist… (via Patheos)

The first thing I ever decided about Cedarville University was that I would not, under any circumstances, attend. Since my administrator’s son, Drew Flamm, worked in admissions at CU, I had been inundated since before I could remember with calls to become a yellow-jacket, and out of sheer stubbornness of heart, I refused.

Almost seven years later, and I stand before you all with the hopes of graduating next May. What changed? Well, for starters, God’s grace was, well, irresistible for even a stubborn high school student named Joshua Steele. While I don’t have time now to recount all the details, suffice it to say that receiving this scholarship was the final capstone of a tumultuous and miraculous college search process. I offer my sincerest thanks to the members of the selection committee. I stand before you now on nothing but a mountain of God’s grace, of which your generosity has been no small portion.

As I near the end of my Cedarville experience, two things have made my journey thus far particularly unforgettable and life-changing:

Firstly, at Cedarville I met and fell in love with my wife, Rachel. That’s right, we met in Up-Chucks the first time my freshman unit got the chance to meet our Printy sisters. It wasn’t love at first sight, but it was love pretty darn quick. Together we’ve been Getting Started Leaders, served as brother/sister RAs, worked together at summer camp, completed a marathon… and now we’re lifelong partners in the pursuit of God’s grace and shalom. I don’t care if this sounds trite to some, falling in love with my girlfriend, fiancée, and now wife has been the most rewarding-yet-challenging aspect of my time here at Cedarville. I can’t wait to see how God uses us for his kingdom in the future.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone in here has to find a husband or wife and get married during their time here at Cedarville. Furthermore, and this is especially for the underclassmen, I hope that your Cedarville experience is somehow better than mine. But could I encourage you all to do the second thing that’s made my Cedarville experience unforgettable?

At Cedarville I fell in love with the Gospel and learned how big God’s redemptive mission is. I changed my major from Mechanical Engineering to Preseminary Bible because, by God’s grace at the time I finished high school, I was sick of pretending like the Gospel was a shallow flow-chart or bullet-pointed list that could be pulled off the shelf and employed in a five-minute conversation in order to “make a new Christian.”

I knew that something was wrong, and I wanted to devote my years at Cedarville to learning more about the Gospel in order someday to be better able to preach that good news to others. While I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface, I have learned a few important things during my time here, things that have made the Gospel all the more precious to me.

And I owe many of these lessons to the godly professors who have poured into my life, (directly or indirectly), whose vision for God’s redemptive mission I have been privileged to “catch.” People like TC Ham, John White, Carl Smith, Jeff Cook, David Mills, Chris Miller, Dan Estes, Joel Williams, Tim Gombis, and Michael Pahl.

See it’s frighteningly easy to slice and dice the missio Dei, the mission of God, into dilapidated pieces. We want the moralistic “holiness” slice, the private piety chunk, the ticket to escape from hell-fire, the perfect precision in doctrinal orthodoxy, and the list goes on.

None of these are bad things, but when we act as if they’re the main thing, we fragment the Gospel, which fragments the Church, and we’re left with nothing but a shadow of the gloriously good news that, in Christ, God is reconciling the world to himself.

That is, God is “heading-up” all things, things on heaven and things on earth,

…the Jews and the Gentiles

…the rich and the poor

…the Regular Baptists and the Southern Baptists

…the Presbyterians and the Catholics

…the angry fundamentalists and the crazy liberals

…the black and the white

…the “have”s and the “have-not”s

…”us” and “them”

ALL THINGS, THINGS ON HEAVEN AND THINGS ON EARTH,

in His Son, who has defeated Sin and Death, and whom we proclaim as King, Messiah, Savior, and Lord over the entire universe.

These truths can unify us, as Jesus prayed for in John 17. They can radically change the way we see God, other human beings, the universe around us, and even the way we see ourselves.

But they can also alter the life of the son of a bricklayer and a homemaker from Toledo, OH, who has no other reason for his unforgettable Cedarville experience than the sheer grace of God alone.