Beale on Broader Evangelicalism
” …let’s just zero in on the most significant problem with Dr. Beale’s taxonomy—that there are only two groups in our day, Fundamentalism and Broad Evangelicalism” - Doran
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When we decide a negative, secretive, threat/danger-oriented conclusion ahead of time then creatively connect the dots to “prove” it (often inventing some of the ‘dots’ themselves) we’re engaging in conspiracy theory thinking. Not that every case of creative dot connecting is a fully blown “conspiracy theory,” but the thinking is sloppy, emotion-driven rather than fact-driven, and reveals more about ourselves than our targets.
Just as there wasn’t a commie behind every bush in the 50’s, there really wasn’t a neoevangelical or pseudofundamentalist behind every bush in the 80s and 90s. Every change, even every “compromise,” isn’t proof that something sinister and disastrous is happening. In fact, not changing at all is proof of death, because the conditions around are certainly changing. The trick is to change in the right ways to thrive biblically in the environment we’re in now. That kind of changing and adapting is difficult and messy and zero of us get it right all the time. Zero.
We should dial down the judgmentalism and suspicion in regards to how others are making their effort and focus and getting it right as best we can ourselves. Not changing at all is certainly not the answer.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Looked through the BJU store to see if their dancing bears resembled those of the Grateful Dead (they don’t IMO), and found a “pop the cork” women’s t-shirt. So I’m guessing either things really are a-changing at BJU….well, either that, or some people in marketing are so isolated from the world at large, that they don’t realize what “pop the cork” refers to. Given that BJU’s President likes to sing a song that includes lines about killing revenuers and a seriously non-approved date (“Rocky Top”), maybe things are changing after all….
Seriously, the “dancing bear” is actually in a pugilistic (boxing/fighting) pose. Honestly, some of you guys need to get out more! That’s a standard way ferocious animals have been portrayed on the insignia of noble families for centuries. Here’s one from merry old England, for example. We might debate how meaningful it is for BJU to use that kind of image, and whether the fighting pose is too much of Fairhaven for our taste, but let’s remember the context from which it’s drawn.
And a serious side note; Wally, the portion of unbelieving volunteers at Graham crusades was almost certainly a minority. It is therefore unreasonable to give them the blame for the atrocious retention rates there. As Deming liked to say, “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”, and to executives at Ford (apocryphal but representative of his thinking) “85% of your quality problems are in this room.”
It was that follow-up plan you say you researched that was at fault, not the fact that they allowed Catholics and members of liberal churches to try to execute it. And that, not secondary separation, is the primary reason I’d counsel believers not to partner with crusades like Graham’s.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Of course the problem is not one single soccer game which BJU had with Furman. The problem is
1. That game WAS a change.
And? Are changes evil? They’ve dramatically shrunk the physical footprint of the library since I was there. Is that evil?
2. The BJU administration explicitly stated that it would not lead to other changes, yet that is exactly what happened.
Should BJU refuse to change until they get a plurality of votes from their constituency, a portion of which are so opposed to BJU that they would only vote to close the school?
3. Once the taste for intercollegiate sports began, people wanted more.
I’m not sure what the issue is here other than “I don’t like it”. There’s merits and detriments for having intercollegiate sports. I would hope that BJU - an organizations notorious for its resistance to change - would be able to assess the outcomes better than you or I would from the safety of our keyboards, hundreds of miles away from the boots on the ground.
4. BJU saw intercollegiate sports as one way to increase a declining enrollment and help produce unity on campus (Strange, I thought Christ was what brought unity to a Christian school).
And the theological objection to combating declining enrollment and producing unity is…what, exactly? That it would be better to close the school? Is there a real theological issue here?
5. BJU began a major fundraising campaign to finance intercollegiate sports, yet the school was also laying off staff & faculty.
Well, clearly it would be better to not fundraise and lay off everybody!
Wally, BJU is primarily a religious business. They have to make enough money so that they can continue to keep the business running. BJU isn’t purely profit-driven, but that is the reality of running an educational institution. It means that some programs that aren’t pulling their weight will need to be eliminated and yes, people will lose their jobs. I’ve hired, fired, and transitioned staff for a significant portion of my career. It’s hard, and I have it harder than some colleagues because I do weigh the moral/spiritual consequences of personnel decisions.
Until I see something more substantial for BJU’s perceived theological drift, I’m not buying it. Anyone here is free to post issues of actual substance but until then this is bordering on gossip and slander.
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
[Don Johnson]Well, they did replace the lamp with the dancing bear in the University Crest, so there is that.
Not sure why Drupal doesn’t show these inline any longer, but the links do work.
University Logo still has the lamp:
University Crest when Don and I were at BJU (note the lamp on the right, and the BJU at the bottom):
New University Crest (with bear added, BJU removed but lamp still present):
While there might be some things to take issue with, I don’t think the crest is one of those.
Dave Barnhart
[Bert Perry]Looked through the BJU store to see if their dancing bears resembled those of the Grateful Dead (they don’t IMO), and found a “pop the cork” women’s t-shirt. So I’m guessing either things really are a-changing at BJU….well, either that, or some people in marketing are so isolated from the world at large, that they don’t realize what “pop the cork” refers to.
O Bert, I fear you have just unleashed a whirlwind.
I saw a billboard in Greenville SC that advertised “Greenville’s Premier Christian University” (or words to that effect). It was for North Greenville University! Today BJU is simply a small college with less than 3000 students and, while still offering a solid liberal arts education with a distinctive Christian world view, is scarcely a blip on the evangelical spectrum.
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
Looked through the BJU store to see if their dancing bears resembled those of the Grateful Dead (they don’t IMO), and found a “pop the cork(link is external)” women’s t-shirt. So I’m guessing either things really are a-changing at BJU….well, either that, or some people in marketing are so isolated from the world at large, that they don’t realize what “pop the cork” refers to.
Or maybe most of us are “innocent concerning evil” and don’t know (or want to know) how the world uses that phrase. I know I don’t.
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
[dcbii]Not sure why Drupal doesn’t show these inline any longer, but the links do work.
University Logo still has the lamp:
University Crest when Don and I were at BJU (note the lamp on the right, and the BJU at the bottom):
New University Crest (with bear added, BJU removed but lamp still present):
While there might be some things to take issue with, I don’t think the crest is one of those.
its a joke, Dave!
Although it represents the addition of the intercollegiate sports, which I despise
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
“Pop the cork” is an extremely common phrase meaning to open a bottle of wine, especially a bottle of sparkling wine in celebration. Transitively, it can mean to start to celebrate, and if you watch the news or read the papers, you’ll hear the phrase often when a politician wins an election or a team wins a championship.
No doubt there are other, vulgar/vile Urban Dictionary kind of uses for the phrase, but I just thought that it was ironic that BJU would be selling a shirt whose name refers to opening a bottle of wine. Nobody can know everything on Urban Dictionary, but it is appropriate for even fundamentalists to know and understand the meanings of phrases like “pop the cork”, especially given its common use and the reality that there are not too many other uses for cork in the world.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
[Don Johnson] intercollegiate sports, which I despise
Can you admit - it’s a preference thing?
[Don Johnson]Although it represents the addition of the intercollegiate sports, which I despise
I wasn’t 100% sure whether or not you were joking, but I had fun looking up the logo and crest.
I don’t really care for the whole emphasis on the Bruins (which started up while my kids were there) either. I’m not actually opposed in principle (after all, in the *very* early days of the university, they also participated in intercollegiate sports) to the idea of a sports team. For me, it’s more that I feel that the BJU implementation of the Bruins draws away emphasis (and funding) from other parts of the university that I found more valuable.
I chalk this up to a change I don’t particularly like, but not one that I think is any kind of slide towards liberalism. It’s pretty obvious to me and most others that they thought this was one of the ways to keep up prospective student interest so the university didn’t go under. To be honest, looking at this 36 years after my last year there as a student, if the Bruins had existed in ‘81, it wouldn’t have stopped me from choosing the school or had me thinking they were not a school whose beliefs I could get behind.
(As an aside, I recently had to get my college ring replaced after losing it. I guess it would encourage you to know that the crest on the replacement ring is the one that was used while I was there — i.e. there is no bear on it!) :)
Dave Barnhart
[Craig Toliver]Can you admit - it’s a preference thing?
on one level it is, but it was a huge mistake and philosophy shift.
it isn’t the main problem, especially with reference to the Beale quote, but it is still a problem
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
I thought the bear was a boxing bear and represented fighting fundamentalism, but now I’m not so sure….
[AndyE]I thought the bear was a boxing bear and represented fighting fundamentalism, but now I’m not so sure….
good one! (You must be a dad, eh?)
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
[Don Johnson]I may bear a resemblance….good one! (You must be a dad, eh?)
I can go all night. :)
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