All Entries in the "Newsletter" Category
A Vision for Erskine as Articulated by the Erskine Facebook Participants
It is safe to say that it would have been unthinkable at that time for anyone in the ARP Church to envision Erskine Seminary as a place where there would be attempts to undermine and even betray the theological tenets of the ARP Church. In the last 40 years, what once was unthinkable has been thought and has taken place and is continuing at Erskine Seminary.
What’s Going on with the EC Foundation?
There is a constant call on the Alums’ Facebook Site for contributions to be made to the EC Foundation. The EC Foundation reportedly has a war chest of at least $150,000 to bring a civil suit against the ARP. Four of the EC Foundation Directors are ARP Elders (Can we hear echos of Parker Young?). What will the ARP Church do when this takes place?
An Open Letter to the Participants at the Monday Pre-Synod Meeting at Reformation Presbyterian Church
I think most of us who were participants in the 2011 General Synod of the ARP Church arrived at Bonclarken discouraged and left for home encouraged. Honestly, I expected more and deeper division amongst us; however, I returned home with a renewed hope for unity and renewal in the ARP Church.
An Open Letter to Columbia Theological Seminary
Enclosed is the motion by Dr. Rob Roy McGregor that was adopted by the 2011 General Synod that condemns the PCUSA for allowing the ordination of those who are avowed, practicing homosexuals.
2011 General Synod Report
Well, the June/annual meeting of the General Synod of the ARP Church has come and gone, and the Editor of ARPTalk is not depressed. The Editor, in fact, was surprised by both the actions of the Erskine Board of Trustees (EBOT) and the General Synod (GS). Included is a recounting of the highpoints of the meeting of the 2011 General Synod with commentary.
An Open Letter to the 2011 General Synod of the ARP Church
I think that the tragic character Gollum in J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings is specifically analogous to the relationship between the ARP Church and Erskine College and Seminary. Like Gollum and the ring, the ARP Church for the past 50 years has been both spiritually seduced and gelded by the power of a deadly ring. Our dream of an evangelical and confessionally Reformed college and seminary that are second to none has gripped us in blind and stubborn devotion to the point that we have thrown ourselves and our resources into a fruitless and, I sincerely believe, sinful endeavor.
Unreality and Reality – Part 1 – Wishful Thinking
The only way this article by Ms. Nancy S. Campbell and Rev. Andrew K. Putnam can correspond to any reality is if we have entered the realm of the Superman comic books where there is a faithful, evangelical Erskine College in our universe.
Unreality and Reality – Part 2 – Abusing Matthew 18
Matthew 18 seems to be the refuge of those who are unwilling to confront serious theological and administrative issues at ETS and correct them. The issues regarding the inerrancy of the Bible are as public and open and noisy and sharp and seminal to the future of ETS as they can possibly get. For the last three years, as the ETS ship was burning at sea from stem to stern, where were these advocates of Matthew 18? Were they going to the administration, the President, and to the Board? Or were they busy defending an indefensible status quo?
An Able and Faithful Ministry
In the shadow of a stunning failure of ecclesiastical nerve on the part of the General Synod last June at Bonclarken, continuing theological unfaithfulness on the part of Erskine College and Theological Seminary that goes uncorrected at this time, a long history of unfaithfulness to and subversion of the theological standards of the ARP Church, now is not the time to speak of unity as thought these disruptive issues are not divisive and matters of public record.
A Statement on the Authority of the Bible
While some have thought that what has been termed the “battle for the Bible” was successfully concluded in evangelical circles almost three decades back, there can be little doubt at this point that the doctrine of Scripture is now a front-burner issue among American Evangelicals. In particular, there is increasing interest in the formulations of Karl Barth, whose dialectical theology is thought by some to provide…