SBU prof's firing, university's theology discussed

The battle for the inerrancy of the Bible and fundamental doctrines of the faith never ends.

There will always be those who push the boundaries of sound doctrine. And, those who call them out will be considered the bad guys.

There will always be institutions that are neglectful when it comes to the truth of God’s Word. Institutions more interested in donor dollars and influence than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There will always be the tendency to say, but he’s such a nice guy, we can overlook some of his teaching.

May we always stand for the truth of God’s Word and the basic teachings of Christianity.

David R. Brumbelow

@David: Do you know more about this than the article says? Beyond this article, what I know about these parties can be written on a postage stamp.

I’d want to know: what are the school’s stated procedures for escalating such concerns, and did Bass follow them? The grounds for his dismissal say (maybe?) that he didn’t interact with the people he was accusing before bringing up his charges to the president. (“collecting evidence and ascribing views to [faculty colleagues] without personal interaction”)

You would think that if A has a problem with what B has written, the first step is a personal conversation to get clarity, and if A is still not satisfied, to let B know that A is going to escalate the concerns per whatever policy is there.

And I think we’re agreed that if inerrancy and fundamental doctrines are at stake, then certainly they should be escalated.

…it’s a matter for deep concern. If it’s a rightful firing, you have the reality that the hiring and retention process at SBU missed a loose cannon who was willing to slander colleagues on fundamental issues. If it’s not, you’ve got the reality that the hiring and retention process is run by loose cannons who happen to miss clear signs that teaching professors are not orthodox in their faith. Or worse yet, a bit of both.

And let’s face facts; unless we have a huge midlife crisis on the part of the fired professor which could not have been foreseen by administration, we’ve got something of a crisis for administration. There ought, therefore, to be some soul-searching about how these procedures are done so that the result is not repeated. As W.E. Deming is said to have noted, Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

Praying for them in this, obviously.