Ivy League Divinity Schools, What Do You Think?

Ivy League divinity schools are so radically liberal on theology as to defy imagination. They can scarcely be called Christian.

 

I have met some who have come from these schools and many are dedcicated to everything less than God. A number of the professors are not believers. They have an intellectual kmowledge but not in accordance with scripture and God's power.

 

Strengths? They're a joke academically. They have no theological moorings. I can't think of a single strength in the whole cadre of them, save for the 'impressiveness' of saying you went to Harvard or Yale or Colgate. But even that is becoming a joke.

 

It is a shame that these schools which were once the stalwarts of Christianity, the training grounds for great theologians and preachers, and what are they to-day, but pre-burial preparation ports for the pornography of modernity.

The co-founder of Youth For Christ and once pastor of the same church as A.W. Tozer was sound in faith until he decided to attend Princeton for further theological training. He came back an agnostic and abandoned everything except his personal friendship with Billy Graham. A sad, sad story, but true; he was Charles Templeton.

Cheers,

Jim

 

I have a friend who attents Harvard Divinity School. She frequently refers to God as She.

 

Pete, that is common in many churches. Actually, God is gender neutral. neither male nor female, but since the Bible was written during patriarchal times, the expression of God as He would be natural. Prolly neither He nor She is appropriate, but what term would we use?

I always shrink when I hear God as She, but, I too, grew up in a patriarchal society.

Cheers,

Jim

 

The question I come back to is if a man knows God how can he say He doesn't exist?

 

Gb,
The difference between an agnostic and an atheist is that the former says, one cannot know, and the latter says He does not exist. I know it is a fine line, but it is there.

In the case of Charles Templeton, he never denied the existence of God, but denied many of the former doctrines he held so dearly.

Yes, we can ask many questions, and believe me, they were asked of him by his friends in ministry. For others in similar circumstances, I cannot answer. I believe firmly in the perseverance of the saints, but we are always taken back to the notion that perhaps one was not saved in the first place. How can anyone show all the signs of bing saved, preached the unadulterated word of God and then pass it off? I don't know. Could it be that this is the unpardonable sin? To feign the twice born experience? It is certainly food for thought.

Which leads us back to the famous seminaries who once taught the truth, and fell away. It was not an overnight thing. Perhaps it started with the rationalization of religion and fed by neo-orthodoxy, where they employed the same terminology with quite different meanings. Perhaps this is Barthianism gone mad. At any rate, it does show the fault in going astray from the clear teaching of scripture, even when we don't have all the answers in some areas.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Jim,

I agree that God is not a man (though we can not ignore that the masculine pronoun is how He wished us to refer to Him). However Jesus is a man, and He is God, and He will live eternally in heaven in His ressurected body, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't nuetered during His ascension

 

emphasis mine

So much wisdom in so few words!!!

 

My Two Cents:

Though I have never been to an IVY League School and never plan to do so I believe that it is over rated. I have heard stories of people even abandoning the faith for the sake of scholarship (Poor scholarship at that)

I'd much rather attend a school that boldly proclaims the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The M.Div that someone gets from SEBTS, Liberty, etc. is just as good (in my opinion better) than any Yale, Harvard, etc. A school that does not stand for the fundamentals of the faith and leans toward pluralism should not even be labeled as a "Divinity School" or "Theological Seminary" nor should it be called Christian.

I believe most of these schools have failed academically, theologically and spiritually.

God Bless you and yours!

In Christ,

Brooks

 

Yale was in trouble some time back for low admission standards (probably needed to attract enough students).

Harvard is one of the few schools still to offer a Th.D.

Princeton University does not have a divinity program. Princeton Theological Seminary is a separate institution.

Yale Divinity School, Harvard Divinity School, and Princeton Theological Seminary are bastions of deep liberalism and modernism. Their reputation is that of destroying authentic faith in those who go there.

Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania don't have accredited divinity programs, only secular religious studies departments. Dartmouth College has neither.

On the other hand, schools with solid conservative reputations, as far as I know, include:

Episcopal Divinity School
Nashotah House
Asbury Theological Seminary
Dallas Theological Seminary
Denver Seminary
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Bethel Theological Seminary
Ashland Theological Seminary
the SBC seminaries
Reformed Theological Seminary
Talbot School of Theology (Biola)
Concordia (Theological) Seminary
Northeastern Seminary (at Roberts Wesleyan)
Multnomah Biblical Seminary
Regent University School of Divinity (CBN)
Knox Theological Seminary
Columbia Biblical Seminary
Beeson Divinity School (Samford)

 

I think Ive League schools are great, often the best of the best. That doesn't mean that non-ivy league schools are bad, though. I went to a great run-o-the-mill college, and don't regret it at all. I would never belittle an ivy league school,nor would I belittle an ivy league student. For in doing so, I sould simply fall prey to the sins of coveting and envy.