Religion

A lot has been written regarding the happenings at Emmanuel Christian Seminary in relation to what should have been a very uncontroversial blog post.1  The academic blogosphere has come to his defense, so I will let the biblical scholars tell you about Dr. Rollston’s superlative credentials and the responsibility of an institution to a tenured...
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Today, Inside Higher Education published an exposé revealing pieces of information surrounding Dr. Christopher Rollston’s plight at Emmanuel Christian Seminary. It brings to the forefront a letter written to Dr. Rollston by ECS President Michael Sweeney detailing several of the justifications for his (still pending) termination. It does not reveal the entire contents of...
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Much ink has been spilt recently over the treatment of a beloved professor of mine – namely, Prof. Christopher Rollston. Thom Stark has already shown how Prof. Rollston’s detractors are entirely lacking any kind of convincing argument...
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Dr. Paul Blowers has now posted a response to some of his critics over his public criticisms of and institutional maneuvers against Dr. Christopher Rollston. In the comment thread, Dr. Bob Cargill has identified Dr. Blowers’ post as a distraction from the real questions involving the purported disciplinary action taken against Dr. Rollston for...
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Since I wrote my analysis of the fiscally-driven controversy surrounding Dr. Chris Rollston’s anything-but-controversial Huffington Post article, several others have weighed in with support for Dr. Rollston: First, Bob Cargill engages ECS’s Paul Blowers here. Tom Verenna writes: “On Academic Integrity and the Future of Biblical Studies in Confessional Institutions” Jim West writes: “An...
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In last night’s debate, Mitt Romney accused President Obama of being hyper-partison, using the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) as his sole example. Romney’s logic was that, since no Republicans voted in favor of the ACA, Obama was simply intent to shove his own agenda down the throats of Republican legislators. Obama’s response was to...
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Before I begin with the story and mount my defense of Dr. Rollston against his cultured despisers, I need to make clear that I wrote this post without Dr. Rollston’s knowledge. Dr. Rollston has no knowledge of the contents of this post, nor is he responsible for its contents, nor did I ask him...
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You’ve heard it from the media, from your colleagues at work, from behind the pulpit, and out in the street. The so-called “Muslim World” is on fire, irrational religious mobs are perpetrating senseless violence, and it’s not just because of a silly little anti-Muslim film that portrays Muhammad as a child molester. It’s because...
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In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Zaphod Beeblebrox steals a technologically advanced spacecraft. He’s not actually sure why he does this; he’s President of the Galaxy and thus not in particularly dire straits. In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, we find out that he had actually altered his brain (brains, to be...
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Once, when I was teaching music at a Christian college, I was trying to explain some arcane bit of theory when one of the students blurted out, “That’s gay.” “Please,” I replied, “let’s not use the word ‘gay’ as a pejorative in this class.” “Fine,” the student said. “That’s homosexual, then.” Some lessons go better...
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