# What is the deal with Erskine College/Seminary?



## RamistThomist (Feb 2, 2013)

I've heard that Erskine is going liberal. The word liberal has a wide range of meaning: is it "Not holding to the Solemn League and Covenants" Liberal or is it "Priestesses and Higher Criticism" liberal?


----------



## Marrow Man (Feb 2, 2013)

None of the above.

They are two separate entities with two separate concerns. One is a liberal arts college and the other is a seminary. I am a graduate of the seminary and I can assure you that higher criticism was not part of the curriculum. There are some solid guys on the seminary staff (including some guys out of the PCA). Feel free to message me if you would like more information.

As you point out, "liberal" is a slippery term that can have a wide range of meaning for some. I had a professor while at seminary who was fond of saying "Everybody is somebody's liberal."


----------



## SolaScriptura (Feb 2, 2013)

I am NOT a graduate of the seminary. But I attended there for DMin coursework as recently as June of 2011. 

I wasn't impressed.


----------



## Wayne (Feb 2, 2013)

Ben, you haven't been _Impressed_ since the day you were inducted.

(look it up.)

)


----------



## Marrow Man (Feb 2, 2013)

Ben, I know there are some problems (you communicated these to me on one occasion), but Jacob mentioned "priestesses and higher criticism." I was taught neither of those (we did discuss higher criticism, but in order to critique it) and I trust that you were not either.

The biggest problem I had were one or two professors who were what I would call contra-confessional. That is, they had one or two particular issues ("exceptions") to the WCF and did not hide those in class. While that is troubling, it does not make them "liberals." The other issue (much more serious) is that, while I was there, there was a Barthian on the faculty. He had tenure, was close to retirement, everybody knew it, you just didn't take him for a class. He has since retired. The problem now is that another Barthian (technically, a neo-Barthian) was also hired within the last decade. While I would not for a second agree with his position on Scripture, he is not a liberal in the classical sense. One or two problem professors do not mean the entire seminary is "going liberal."

Also, the program that Ben was a part of is a military program, not the standard D.Min. program. There is a separate D.Min. program (the Institute for Reformed Worship) that is headed by Hughes Old and generally has a very good reputation (e.g., Terry Johnson is a graduate of the program and speaks well it). I only attended for the M.Div. program and graduated in 2004.


----------



## Marrow Man (Feb 2, 2013)

But ....

Let me offer up one huge criticism. The seminary does grant M.Div. degrees to females. I did not realize that until after I was already enrolled there. Part of the issue is that for a while, the school had a sizable number of United Methodist students attending. That program has since been discontinued (i.e., Erskine's M.Div. program is no longer approved by the SC body which oversees these things for the UMC). But this is not a recent development, and if anything, there are now fewer women enrolled in this way.

When people attach the term "liberal" to Erskine, they are usually talking about the college, which has a different set of issues, and has been a sore spot for the ARP for the past several years. But I would not want to say much more than that in a public forum.


----------



## Alan D. Strange (Feb 2, 2013)

Wayne, 

You put me in mind of a _Punch_ cartoon, as I recall, of some years ago. As two Americans on board an American commercial vessel in the Jefferson Administration watched a British naval ship pass with a full song-and-dance routine on deck, one turned to the other and said, wearily, "It's the British seeking to impress Americans again." It's off-topic, but I could use a laugh.

Peace,
Alan


----------

