# Robert Gagnon to leave Pittsburgh Theological Seminary



## yeutter (Aug 16, 2017)

I just saw a post on Facebook by Professor Robert Gagnon saying he was leaving Pittsburgh Theological Seminary effective 21 August 2017


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## Scott Bushey (Aug 16, 2017)

I just saw that. He writes:



> I think God is calling me to an evangelical institution



I wonder what he means by this...???

Reactions: Funny 1


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## yeutter (Aug 16, 2017)

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary has not updated its website to reflect this development. 

Dr. Gagnon says in his statement, "I think God is calling me to an evangelical institution (it seems unlikely, given my stances on sexual ethics and Scripture, that any University Religion Department would take me), if the evangelical world will have me. Please keep my family in prayer as we look for a new institution."

Dr. Gagnon thanks his colleague on the New Testament faculty, Dr. Edith Humphrey, in his farewell remarks. Dr. Humphrey is a brilliant talented woman who once was an ordained officer in the Salvation Army. Later she was an Anglican. She has been Eastern Orthodox for many years. It seems remarkable that the closest thing to an orthodox faculty member at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is an female communicant in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

This was once the Seminary that had Addison Leitch and John H. Gerstner as faculty members.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Scott Bushey (Aug 16, 2017)

I see. That sounds like that is the issue.


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## Bill The Baptist (Aug 16, 2017)

He's been hinting at something like this for a long time.


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## ZackF (Aug 16, 2017)

I am surprised he just wasn't booted years ago.


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## Wayne (Aug 16, 2017)

Is Gagnon a Barthian?


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## yeutter (Aug 16, 2017)

I do not detect Barth or Brunner in anything I have read by him. I look forward to reading Dr. Gagnon's forthcoming commentary on Romans.


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## Pilgrim (Aug 16, 2017)

Wayne said:


> Is Gagnon a Barthian?



I don't know. But he is not confessional by any stretch. My recollection based on some FB posts of his (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that he rejects infant baptism and also believes that one can be genuinely saved and then fall from grace and be lost. He also rejects Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles. Rev. Glaser would know more since he is an alumnus of Pittsburgh Seminary.

I'll be interested to see at which evangelical institution he lands. Many of those loosey goosey enough to accept the above package (e.g. Fuller) are not much more solid than Pittsburgh on the issues that are the cause of him having to leave there. (No doubt, there are a good many evangelical seminaries of which I have little to no knowledge.)


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## yeutter (Aug 16, 2017)

Too orthodox to fit in to a mainline seminary or university. Too heterodox to find a place in much of evangelicalism. Never the less, those he has taught tell me he is a good instructor who challenges his students to think and wrestle with the Greek text.


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## Pilgrim (Aug 16, 2017)

yeutter said:


> Too heterodox to find a place in much of evangelicalism.



Not only that, but far too outspoken and confrontational on his signature issue for much of evangelicalism these days, especially for those (in the PCA and elsewhere) who use words like "sexual minorities." I wouldn't be surprised if the prospect of bringing him in to certain ostensibly evangelical institutions would lead to some kind of protest or revolt by a significant number of the faculty and the student body. For example, see the reaction against Rosaria Butterfield at Wheaton, etc.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Bill The Baptist (Aug 17, 2017)

Pilgrim said:


> he rejects infant baptism



I know he has some higher critical and other questionable views, but as a teaching elder in the PCUSA, I highly doubt that he rejects infant baptism.


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## yeutter (Aug 17, 2017)

Bill The Baptist said:


> I know he has some higher critical and other questionable views, but as a teaching elder in the PCUSA, I highly doubt that he rejects infant baptism.


I do not remember with certainty; but I think I read something that indicated Prof. Gagnon did not believe in infant Baptism. You may recall that Karl Barth came to reject infant baptism.
I am not sure Dr. Gagnon is a teaching elder. He is listed as an elder and member of Eastminster Presbyterian Church on the Seminary website.


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## Bill The Baptist (Aug 17, 2017)

Okay, well I just went and read a paper he wrote on baptism, and he does seem to be highly critical of infant baptism, but he doesn't outright reject it. Instead he argues for the odd view of infant baptism as a rite of hope that the child would one day come to know Christ, upon which time they would them be baptized again by immersion. Sounds like the evangelical practice of baby dedication, only with a little water applied as well.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Steve Curtis (Aug 17, 2017)

So, an Anabaptistyerian. Interesting...

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## Bill The Baptist (Aug 17, 2017)

Here is the article in question. http://www.robgagnon.net/articles/EncyclopediaOfChristianCivilizationBaptism.pdf

I have really appreciated his book on homosexuality and the Bible (with the exception of the higher critical references to the authorship of the Pentateuch) but I can see how he is going to have a hard time finding a new position. He is just a very odd mix of fundamentalism and mainline liberalism.


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## SolaScriptura (Aug 17, 2017)

I own and greatly appreciate his work pertaining to homosexuality. His "The Bible and Homosexual Practice" is THE best work that defends the traditional view. However, even in this book his stated acceptance of higher critical conclusions regarding the text inherently undermine his own work. (I.e., who really cares what the Bible says if we admit that the Bible can be wrong?)

Gagnon is sound on sexual ethics. The terrible thing is that we've come to a point in history where this is considered something to be lauded instead of assumed. Still, he's nothing if not courageous to have stood in the breach for so long, and with such clarity, regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality.


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## Pilgrim (Aug 17, 2017)

Bill The Baptist said:


> I know he has some higher critical and other questionable views, but as a teaching elder in the PCUSA, I highly doubt that he rejects infant baptism.


It might be a problem if the PCUSA actually had doctrinal standards that were taken seriously. 

If I'm not mistaken, former Fuller Seminary professor Paul Jewett, author of one of the more notable antipaedobaptist works of the last century, was ordained in the PCUSA. 

What they DO have is a form of government. So a minister wouldn't be able to insist on rebaptism or refuse to baptize infants assuming he would be in that position, which evidently Dr. Gagnon is not. 

There have been a number of notable liberals and neo-orthodox theologians who have argued that infant baptism isn't taught in the Bible and/or wasn't practiced in the early church but who stopped short of arguing that it therefore should be abandoned. Kurt Aland is one example in addition to Karl Barth who has already been mentioned. 

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## Pilgrim (Aug 17, 2017)

SolaScriptura said:


> I own and greatly appreciate his work pertaining to homosexuality. His "The Bible and Homosexual Practice" is THE best work that defends the traditional view. However, even in this book his stated acceptance of higher critical conclusions regarding the text inherently undermine his own work. (I.e., who really cares what the Bible says if we admit that the Bible can be wrong?)
> 
> Gagnon is sound on sexual ethics. The terrible thing is that we've come to a point in history where this is considered something to be lauded instead of assumed. Still, he's nothing if not courageous to have stood in the breach for so long, and with such clarity, regarding the sinfulness of homosexuality.


A few years ago I picked up Jack Roger's book arguing for SSM, etc. (For the uninitiated, he was among the evangelical or moderate holdouts in the PCUSA for a good while.) I haven't read it through, but his argument seems to be that with the acceptance of neo-orthodoxy in the PCUSA, we don't read the Bible the way that Hodge and Warfield did. Thus, we shouldn't get hung up on a few verses when the Spirit could be teaching us something else today. (Or maybe he says Paul was wrong as well. I can't remember.) 

Given that view of Scripture, is it any wonder that Biblical sexual ethics have been tossed aside in the mainline? 

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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Aug 18, 2017)

I had a conversation with Dr. Gagnon yesterday on facebook where I made similar comments as many have made above, that was certainly my experience while a student of his at PTS. He responded that he has changed his views on Scripture since I had him as a professor and now can gladly sign the Chicago Statement on Inerrency.

He also intimated that he has changed his thoughts on other matters, so it will be interesting to see the immediate future.

Something to share regarding my interactions with him as a student.

He was treated poorly by liberal students, berated publicly by them in class Yet his response was ALWAYS gracious peppered with mercy and love.

Reactions: Like 2 | Informative 2 | Edifying 1


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## yeutter (Aug 18, 2017)

Backwoods Presbyterian said:


> I had a conversation with Dr. Gagnon yesterday on facebook where I made similar comments as many have made above, that was certainly my experience while a student of his at PTS. He responded that he has changed his views on Scripture since I had him as a professor and now can gladly sign the Chicago Statement on Inerrency.
> 
> He also intimated that he has changed his thoughts on other matters, so it will be interesting to see the immediate future.
> 
> ...


Thank you Rev. Glaser for weighing in.
I had also heard that he had moved to an orthodox understanding on the nature and extent of scriptural authority. It is good to have that confirmed. 
We need to remember Dr. Gagnon and his family in prayer in these difficult times.
I look forward to reading his forth coming commentary on Romans. That should tell us a lot about his confessional stance.

Reactions: Like 1


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## ZackF (Aug 18, 2017)

Backwoods Presbyterian said:


> He was abhorrently treated by liberal students, berated publicly by them in class and had the door to his study routinely vandalized with disgusting pictures and comments posted on it (most quickly removed by the faculty secretary). Yet his response was ALWAYS gracious peppered with mercy and love.



How sad but a great testimony nevertheless. These kind of people tend to go after the families of their target as well. 'Your old man is a _____.' I hope he wasn't forced to resign. If he was, they should have taken care of him substantially.

Gagnon is also about 10 years younger than I thought he was. He's not yet 60. I hope he can touch down soon somewhere. Enns was fired and then landed almost immediately while seemingly apostatizing at the same time. Moving stronger in other direction is a different story. Fewer and fewer solid places still remain.


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## yeutter (Aug 19, 2017)

ZackF said:


> How sad but a great testimony nevertheless. These kind of people tend to go after the families of their target as well. 'Your old man is a _____.' I hope he wasn't forced to resign. If he was, they should have taken care of him substantially.
> 
> Gagnon is also about 10 years younger than I thought he was. He's not yet 60. I hope he can touch down soon somewhere. Enns was fired and then landed almost immediately while seemingly apostatizing at the same time. Moving stronger in other direction is a different story. Fewer and fewer solid places still remain.


Dr. Gagnon asks us not to speculate for on the reason for his departure. It was well known; that the powers that be, were pressuring him to resign.

Reactions: Like 1 | Praying 1


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## Pilgrim (Aug 22, 2017)

Thanks for that update, Rev. Glaser. It is good to hear that report. This is another example of former PCUSA people looking at this issue and reexamining their view of Scripture, etc. I've noticed for a while that some of the former PCUSA people in the EPC are moving right even as some in the PCA are moving left. 

As for a change of mind on other matters, in that FB thread he stated that he had reached out to various SBC seminaries. (Well wishers were throwing out the names of practically every evangelical seminary, hoping he might go here, there or where ever.) Unless one is really ignorant about the SBC, you don't do that unless you're an inerrantist as well as able to affirm the Baptist Faith and Message or the Abstract of Principles. If that's the case, that could tell us something about a change of mind on other matters. 

As for remaining silent about the details surrounding his departure, I would be surprised if he wasn't forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for a financial settlement, a good reference and whatever. That seems to be a common practice in higher ed when things go sour and the administration wants to make a change ASAP and say as little about it publicly as possible. 

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