Keeping Institutions True

It’s hard to argue with history, but it is possible to learn from it. This article is advice well taken.

Delnay is making the mistake of universalizing the story of fundamentalism. He gives a pretty good account of the decline of conservative theology in the Protestant denominations during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But is that the only pattern for doctrinal compromise? I would propose that error can creep into institutions in other ways.

One of the minor lessons we can learn from the Reformation is that doctrinal “innovation” in schools can also be a healthy thing. Anti-reform Catholic scholastics were horrified at the new heresies introduced by Luther, Calvin, Bucer, and many others. Ironically, the conservatives in academics at the time were the “bad” guys from our perspective. Praise God they weren’t more effective at defending their doctrinal orthodoxy else the Reformation could not have proceeded as it did.

So what is the lesson to take away? How do we fight institutional decline? Only by trusting in the grace of a merciful God.

I like the statement about ‘universalizing the story of fundamentalism’!

I must admit to reading a bit of history about dispensationalism - Professor Delnay’s first cited doctrinal shift. It’s my understanding that it developed (or was ‘systematized’?) by John Nelson Darby of the Plymouth Brethren in the early 1800s, and later spread via Scofield’s notes/reference Bible.

So…does this mean that if Darby had remained true to his Institution we wouldn’t have the Dispensational system now?

[Paul Matzko] How do we fight institutional decline?

The history of religious higher education shows very specific actions that have caused a faith-based college/university to decline in terms of its denominational identity. When an institution stops requiring its faculty/employees to agree to the institution’s doctrinal statement and when an institution’s governing board is not selected from people who are in full agreement with the statement of faith/doctrine/core values, then it can lose a “critical mass” necessary to keep its identity. This is true for any institution from any religious background.

Perhaps the best history on this is Burtchaell’s (1998) tome, The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from their Christian Churches.

Eric

I think Delney here is wrongly employing the slippery slope argument. I find it interesting that he uses Jonathon Edwards (a post-mil puritan) as the standard but then later proceeds to make the case that the abandonment of dispensationalism is the first step towards doctrinal decline. Didn’t Jonathon Edwards blurr the lines between Israel and the church and embraced a Reformed position, the very thing that Delney warns against? Sigh…….

Second, I can not think of a single school that modified its dispensatational stance (from classic to progressive) that has gone done this doctrinal drift road. Two of the primary advocates of Progressive Dispensationalism, Dallas Theological Seminary and Grand Rapids Theological Seminary haven’t. They hold unswervingly to infallability and inspiration of the scriptures, creation, salvation through faith in Christ alone, and eternal punishment of the lost and there is not a single iota of evidence that it is going to move that direction as Delney believes will eventually happen.

Third, Delney also mentions that the breakdown of personal standards as a preliminary cause before the doctrinal shift takes place. Although we all know of several examples of how the compromise of personal holiness affects everything, there are also examples out there where the opposite takes place. When I was a student at Grand Rapids Baptist College (now Cornerstone) when it had all sorts of rules that forbid us to go to movies and listen to much of CCM over twenty years ago, its atmosphere breeded rebellion and legalism among the majority of students. However, when it changed the rules such as going to movies and listening to CCM with a policy of teaching their students how to Biblically discern, the atmosphere changed from one of rebellion to one of students that are passionate about serving Jesus Christ. As a adjunct prof a few years back, I saw this transformation take place. Now of course there were incidents where some students abused their liberty, but it was the minority, rather than the majority.

Unfortunately at the end, his whole argument seems to be based on his nostalgic version of fundamentalism.