The Future of Erskine and the ARP?

[PointyHaired Calvinist]

I have been keeping up (thanks to Rev. Phillips and others) with the Erskine college mess. I am very concerned with the direction of this school, and hope the ARP will do what the Southern Baptists and Missouri-Synod Lutherans did if they have to.

I have also been reading Gary North's Crossed Fingers: How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church and was struck by chapter 5; many of the statements by Charles Augustus Briggs and his ilk remind me a LOT of what Profs. Burnette and Crenshaw have been saying to the media lately. Am I right that this looks eerily familiar?

May God bless and strengthen our ARP brethren!

 

[sastark]

Funny you mention Crossed Fingers, particularly Chapter 5. I was just re-reading that myself last week. In my opinion, yes, we are seeing the past repeat itself, somewhat, on a much smaller scale. The difference this time, in my opinion, is that we know what to expect and what to do to counter it. That, in some part, at least, is due to Gary North's Crossed Fingers.

 

[Marrow Man]

It is essentially the same view. I wrote an article for an issue of ARPTalk (actually a revised seminary paper) where I included the following footnote about Jack Rogers, who adopts a similar position on inerrancy (that is, a denial of it) -- it includes one of my favorite all time rhetorical quotes:

Rogers, “Biblical Authority,” 135-8. Rogers is apparently so enamored with the work of Charles
Augustus Briggs that he will go through all manner of contortion to bring sixteenth century Reformed
theology in line with his own. See Scripture in the Westminster Confession, 28-38. Briggs attempted, in his
pursuit of higher Biblical criticism, to prove that the Reformers and Puritans did not believe in inerrant
Scripture. See Gary L. Johnson, “Briggs vs. Warfield: Rogers/McKim Revisited,” (M.Th. thesis,
Westminster Theological Seminary; Portland, OR: Theological Resource Exchange Network, 1987), 61-62.
Johnson refers to Briggs’ effort to place himself with the Reformers and Divines as “raping history.”

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

Gary North is one smart fella...

 

[Marrow Man]

Gary North is one smart fella...

Except when it came to Y2K ...

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

Gary North is one smart fella...

Except when it came to Y2K ...

Well ole Scary Gary and the other El Rushbo told y'all this was where the Government was headed 20 years ago.

So besides Y2K their track record is doing pretty well...

 

[Grace Alone]

Here's the latest: TRO continued for no more than 10 days.

BREAKING NEWS: Temporary Restraining Order in Erskine College Case continued for no more than 10 days

 

[DMcFadden]

It is essentially the same view. I wrote an article for an issue of ARPTalk (actually a revised seminary paper) where I included the following footnote about Jack Rogers, who adopts a similar position on inerrancy (that is, a denial of it)

What? You're picking on my old seminary prof? Jack was always such a problem child. I have great problems with his historiography, tangential attachment to the Reformed tradition, and defense of so MANY trendy unbiblical things (e.g., his recent book on homosexuality). The man has been the quintessential mainline Presbyterian. Hard to believe that he and R.C. Sproul studied under the same mentor!

 

[sastark]

The latest update: Complete Story: Erskine College TRO hearing continued for up to 10 days