Dr. Bruce Waltke, Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, forced out after endorsing evolution
There is much frenetic activity in the Christian blogosphere currently, especially on the US side, relating to professor Bruce K. Waltke.
Bruce Waltke is a noted and highly regarded evangelical scholar of the Old Testament and last week he featured a video on Biologos. This video has now been removed, however, he was seen not only to endorse evolution, but said that evangelical Christianity could face a crisis for not coming to accept science.
Sounds pretty tame and sensible to me, however, he has been forced from his job as a result.
Here is a synopsis of the video:
Today’s entry was written by Bruce Waltke. Bruce Waltke is a world-renowned Old Testament scholar, Biblical translator and expositor. He served on the translation committee of both the New American Standard Bible and New International Version — two of the most popular modern translations of the Bible produced in the twentieth century. Waltke is a professor emeritus of Old Testament studies at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia and a former president of the Evangelical Theological Society.
In this video conversation Bruce Waltke discusses the danger the Church will face if it does not engage with the world around it, in particular with the issue of evolution, which many evangelicals still reject.
Waltke cautions, “if the data is overwhelmingly in favor of evolution, to deny that reality will make us a cult…some odd group that is not really interacting with the world. And rightly so, because we are not using our gifts and trusting God’s Providence that brought us to this point of our awareness.”
We are at a unique moment in history where “everything is coming together,” says Waltke, and conversations—like those initiated by BioLogos—are positive developments. “I see this as part of the growth of the church,” he says. “We are much more mature by this dialogue that we are having. This is how we come to the unity of the faith—by wrestling with these issues.”
Waltke points out that to deny scientific reality would be to deny the truth of God in the world. For us as Christians, this would serve as our spiritual death because we would not be loving God with all of our minds. It would also be our spiritual death in witness to the world because we would not be seen as credible.
While Christians may still disagree with one another on some issues, Waltke emphasizes that it is important that we are really interacting in a serious way—and trusting God as truth. Testing these things but holding fast to that which is good will bring greater understanding and unity among Christians.
If we don’t do that, Waltke cautions, we are going to die. If we refuse to engage with the greater cultural/scientific dialogue, we may end up marginalized and that would be a great tragedy for the Church.
This episode has now become so controversial that a joint statement from Dr. Bruce Waltke and Darrel Falk – President of The BioLogos Foundation – has now been issued, which you can read here:
InsideHigherEd has an excellent summary of “happenings” here:
NearEmmaus has noted:
…..the news on this controversy has spread quickly. The story written by USA Today can be found here. The coverage provided by Christianity Today can be found here. I am sure there are a dozen more outlets.
He also points out just how treachourous it can be for an Evangelical scholar to openly embrace theistic evolution and asks if it might be prudent to be silent on the subject, especially when your pay cheque and reputation is at risk:
NearEmmaus – Why Should Evangelical Scholars (Openly) Embrace Evolution?
Creationism and evolutionism are very much hot potatoes in the US right now, as we have also had a new school science textbook controversy:
Bartholomew’s Notes – Reference to Creationism “Myth” Creates Textbook Controversy
And a very unhappy P Z Myers is lamenting over new research on American attitudes which reveal that the majority of US citizens reject human evolution and the Big Bang.
This issue is not likely to go away anytime soon…
Tags: Christianity, Science & Medical, Theology Doctrine Philosophy
April 11th, 2010 at 8:46 am
I can understand why the Seminary fired Dr Waltke, but this is still sad, not only for him, but for academic honesty. This just increases the temptation amongst academics who are required by their employers to hold certain beliefs, not to divulge any contrary views, and thereby live a lie.
April 11th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Can an Evangelical Christian Accept Evolution? – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of0PjoZY4L0
April 11th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
This is very much an American story: such an event seems unlikely to happen here. Although we speak a very similar language, our cultures differ markedly, I’m glad to say.