Petition protests firing of SBTS Dr. Eric Johnson
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The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, under the leadership of Dr. Albert Mohler, has decided to fire Dr. Eric Johnson after 17 years of ministry in Christian scholarship and soul-care. His termination was not due to differing Christian beliefs or failed morality but rather due to pressure from an outside organization, the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC), and its leader, Heath Lambert.
From the statement on his petition page:
Christian psychology is a thoroughly Christian approach to counseling and soul care based on the resources available in the Bible, the Christian traditions, and good science.
Another statement:
Heath Lambert is a pastor who has set himself against Dr. Johnson since he was an M.Div. student at SBTS. Now as the executive director of ACBC, he is able to influence large churches who have deep commitments to the Bible-only counseling philosophy. Lambert has used his influence as leverage with Mohler by threatening to disparage the seminary and send students elsewhere if they do not fire Johnson.
Whose side would you be on?
The petition site is very partisan. The only people who know the full story are Mohler and Johnson. The professor, Johnson, seems to be trying to build a bridge to secular psychology with a Christian reinterpretation. This is not what the biblical counseling movement stands for. If this “bridge” is not what SBTS expects it’s professors to do, then I’m not surprised he was let go.
We don’t have enough info to understand this dispassionately, and we likely never will. It’s an internal matter for SBTS.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Discussion