One science course at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, is under scrutiny for its syllabus and reading list.

According to Inside Higher Ed (IHE), Ball State school officials say they have agreed to investigate the school's "Boundaries of Science" course, which investigates the intersection of religion and science, after the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a complaint with the school earlier this week. FFRF and other bloggers say the course endorses creationism and Christianity.

Late last month, trustees for Erskine College and Seminary announced that president David Norman will resign this summer after three years spent helping the South Carolina school recover from a bruising fight with its denomination.

"I am exhausted," wrote Norman in a resignation letter. "The toll this job has taken on me and on my family cannot be ignored. I also know that, although I have committed each day to serve God and this institution to the best of my ability, I have strained or broken relationships with several of Erskine’s most important alumni, faculty, and staff."

Southern Baptist leaders in Kentucky have reaffirmed their partnership with Campbellsville University after investigating rumors that the school dismissed a professor for, as critics alleged, "being too conservative" in his theology.

Update (May 14): Although Louisiana College president Joe Aguillard announced that the school would receive an anonymous, $10 million donation, the school also lost a $60 million, pledged donation from the Cason Foundation as a result of the trustees' decision to retain Aguillard as president.
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Update (May 6): Baptist Press (BP) reports that additional information not made known to the media—evidence contained in a "folder approximately one inch thick with documents"—helped exonerate Louisiana College president Joe Aguillard last week.

"The folder contained an abundance of information in the form of e-mails, handwritten notes, photographs and more, which contradict statements made to the Kinney law firm during its investigation and, at the very least, cast doubts on the report's conclusions," says BP reporter Kelly Boggs, who was allowed to examine the documents.
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Trustees at Louisiana College, a private school affiliated with the Louisiana Baptist Convention, have announced that Joe Aguillard will continue in his role as president. Their decision clears him of charges that he "engaged in falsehoods and misrepresented material information to the board of trustees on countless occasions."

Update (April 19): Just as Whitworth ended its exclusive denominational partnership, Davidson College in Charlotte, N.C., announced that it would re-affirm its affiliation with the PC(USA).

The decision by the Davidson trustees also upholds an existing school bylaw requiring the school president to be an "active church member" whose faith is "appropriately expressed by affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and active participation in the life of Davidson College Presbyterian Church.” The requirement has prompted much debate.
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As the Presbyterian landscape becomes more and more fractured, Whitworth University has decided to end its exclusive partnership with its founding denomination: the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

After more than 10 years of legal dueling, an unhappy Pensacola Christian College (PCC) graduate has agreed to hand over control of the website domain he used to critique the school—but only because the school started to sue him for 'cybersquatting.'

Liberty University is on the rise—and actor Kirk Cameron isn't getting left behind.

A new report from Calvin College's Financial Review Task Force says the school's $69.4 million budget gap is the result of construction costs that exceeded expectations by about $31 million.

Craig Williford announced today that he will not renew his five-year contract as president of Trinity International University (TIU), but instead will take a sabbatical next year before his contract ends on June 30, 2014.

Emmanuel Christian Seminary (ECS) is getting what it wanted—sort of.

The school's academic freedom debate with tenured professor Chris Rollston prompted Rollston's voluntary resignation, but the fallout from the scandal has contributed to the school likely being absorbed by neighboring Milligan College.

According to Messiah College professor and author Eric Seibert, misuse of the Bible is not just Christians' fault. Rather, the problem "runs right through the pages of Scripture itself."

Update (Feb. 4): La Sierra University has issued a press release regarding its decision to name its new center after Allred. Full text at bottom of post.

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A prominent Seventh-day Adventist university in California is under fire for its decision to name its new economics center after Edward C. Allred, a well-known alumnus who was also a physician who supported and performed abortions.

Updated (January 23): According to the Clery reports for Bob Jones University (BJU), nine cases of sexual assault occurred on campus in 2011. WSPA Spartanburg, a local South Carolina television station, reported in September that it was "the highest number of forcible sex offenses reported (and) significantly higher than any other institution in the area."

According to iReport CNN, BJU told police the crimes were all perpetrated by a single individual.

But allegations of sexual abuse related to BJU and the school's response have been ongoing at least since 2010, when former board member and former Trinity Baptist Church pastor Chuck Phelps was accused of helping to "cover up repeated instances of sexual abuse committed more than a decade earlier by an older male parishioner against his step-daughter."

The move to retain GRACE for its investigation also comes after Do Right BJU, a group of students, alumni, and staff who aim to support victims of sexual abuse on campus, held a silent protest at BJU in December 2011; following an alumni petition, Phelps resigned.

WSPA reports, "Soon after the protest, Bob Jones tapped a five-member committee to review the school's policy on sexual abuse. After months of meeting, the committee recommended the school appoint an independent review group, like GRACE, to look at all allegations."

BJU first named GRACE to complete the investigation in November 2012.
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For more than a year, Trinity Western University (TWU) has been attempting to start Canada's first Christian law school, a proposal that the Canadian Council of Law Deans finds "very troubling."

Hobby Lobby has found a new recipient for its gift of a free 217-acre college campus in Massachusetts: the largest Christian grant-making organization in America.

(RNS) A graduate counseling student who was expelled from Eastern Michigan University after citing her faith when she declined to advise a gay client has settled her case with the school.

When Westmont College student Seth Gruber began displaying signs with graphic images of aborted fetuses on campus, most students walked by without saying anything. But then, the Christian college tried to shut him down, according to a World magazine report.

Folks: I have accepted an offer to become a Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the Honors College at Baylor U. Excited! Nervous!

— Alan Jacobs (@ayjay) October 24, 2012

Alan Jacobs, almost certainly Wheaton College's most public public intellectual, will be at Wheaton College no more, he announced on Twitter last night.

The Tennessean is reporting that LifeWay Christian Resources will not sell its Glorieta Conference Center to Olivet University amid concerns that the school's founder and spiritual leader heads a movement that teaches he is a new Christ.

The board of trustees at Princeton Theological Seminary has named Craig Barnes as the school's seventh president.

The University of Texas is investigating allegations of “scientific misconduct” against sociology professor Mark Regnerus over his recent high-profile survey of children whose parents have had same-sex relationships.

A panel of UT professors will examine Regnerus’s methodology in response to a complaint by a blogger on LGBT issues that the study was “designed so as to be guaranteed to make gay people look bad” and was funded by conservative groups, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The Journal of Social Science Research, which published Regnerus’s study, has also received criticisms of the study’s methodology.

Regnerus, whose study found that young-adult children of parents who have had same-sex relationships are more likely to experience emotional and social problems, told the American-Statesman that his methodology was developed by a team of leading family researchers and approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board.

An influential group of social scientists--including Michael Emerson, Christian Smith, Rodney Stark, W. Bradford Wilcox, and Bradley Wright--issued a public statement defending Regnerus's study.

“We think that the Regnerus study, which is one of the first to rely on a large, random, and representative sample of children from parents who have experienced same-sex relationships, has helped to inform the ongoing scholarly and public conversation about same-sex families in America,” wrote the group. “"As social scientists, our hope is that more such studies will be forthcoming shortly, and that future journalistic coverage of such studies, and this contentious topic, will be more civil, thorough, and thoughtful than has been the coverage of the new study by Professor Mark Regnerus."

The review panel will release its conclusion within 60 days.

CT recently interviewed Regnerus on Sex Economics 101 -- his research into the sexual attitudes and behavior of young adults -- and published a cover story on his provocative argument for early marriage. He also participated in a Village Green panel on how best to encourage premarital abstinence. Meanwhile Regnerus is discussing his research on his blog and at Slate.

After four months of hosting tours, soliciting proposals and fending off controversy, the billionaire owners of a picturesque campus in western Massachusetts have announced two finalists in the competition to receive the property free of charge, reports RNS.

The Green family, which owns Hobby Lobby, will give a 217-acre Massachusetts campus founded by D.L. Moody either to the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board or the Grand Canyon University Foundation of Phoenix. The campus was first intended to become the home of much-discussed C.S. Lewis College, but organizers failed to raise enough money to make the dream a reality.

Grand Canyon University, the first American college to ever switch from nonprofit to for-profit status, has made headlines for a remarkably successful IPO, as well as releasing tenured teachers and settling a whistleblower suit with the Department of Education.

CT has reported how other Christian colleges have sought new strategies to survive financial pressures amid a bleak economy.

Richard Turnbull, principal of Britain's leading evangelical college, has taken a leave of absence amid concerns over his management style, reports Anglican journalist George Conger.

Wycliffe Hall -- which counts among its alumni Regent College professor (and CT senior editor) J. I. Packer, former Bishop of Durham N. T. Wright, and the Alpha Course's Nicky Gumbel -- has faced criticism since Turnbull became principal in 2006. Christianity Today reported the mounting troubles at Wycliffe after half of its faulty resigned in response.

Update: Following the resignations of more than one-third of Shorter University's faculty over a newly introduced lifestyle pledge in early 2012, Inside Higher Ed reports that Shorter's enrollment fell by about 10 percent. However, that doesn't seem to be far enough to force the Georgia Baptist Convention to relent on its strict lifestyle policies.)

"Everything is in place except money," C.S. Lewis Foundation founder and president Stan Mattson told Religion News Service last week about the plans to launch C.S. Lewis College at a Massachusetts campus built by evangelist D.L. Moody.

Mattson acknowledges that the foundation did not meet its December 31 goal by more than $3 million, but says its plans are far from dead.

There is still “a window of opportunity to raise the $10-15 million needed to be the sole recipient of the Northfield Campus,” the foundation wrote on its website. “Be assured, we are pressing on towards this goal.”

The campus in question is owned by the Green family, noted owners of the Hobby Lobby craft store chain as well one of the largest collections of biblical antiquities. The family is known for its giant gifts promoting Christian education and the Bible, including a $70 million donation that saved Oral Roberts University.

“If [the Green family] does gift the campus to another organization, and if, for one reason or another, collaboration with that organization should not prove mutually advantageous, the Foundation will … continue to seek to establish C.S. Lewis College at another appropriate location, preferably in the Five College area of Massachusetts,” the foundation wrote.

Though Christian Legal Society is still facing pressure from Vanderbilt University to comply with its nondiscrimination policy, the group isn’t leaving campus yet, said Kim Colby, senior counsel at CLS’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom.

CT reported in December that CLS and three other Christian groups were told they were in noncompliance with Vanderbilt’s discrimination policies, thus removing privileges given to registered student groups. All four groups require leaders to sign statements affirming Christian doctrines.

At least one Christian website had reported that despite revising its constitution to fit with Vanderbilt’s policy, CLS was still going to be “forced” off campus. However, some of the information in the article was misconstrued, Colby said. The resubmitted constitution had not been revised to fit with Vanderbilt’s policy; rather, it was an updated version of an outdated constitution, she said.

Carol Swain, professor of political science and law and advisor to Vanderbilt’s chapter of CLS, has said the group will leave campus at the end of the semester rather than change its constitution. But so far, neither the student groups nor the administration have changed their positions throughout the discussion progress, and no final decisions have been made, Colby said.

Last week, Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos sent out an email to the campus, stating the administration will hold a town hall meeting on January 31 to explain the university’s stance on the policy.

Calvin College’s presidential search committee has recommended Michael Le Roy as the next president of the Christian Reformed school.

Le Roy, currently provost and executive vice president at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, will replace outgoing president Gaylen Byker, who is stepping down after 16 years at the helm. The board will vote on Le Roy’s nomination on February 9.

If approved, Le Roy would be the first Calvin president in 60 years who is not a member of the Christian Reformed Church, as well as the first president who did not attend the college. Le Roy is an ordained elder of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Le Roy, a Whitworth alumnus, returned to his alma mater in 2002 as a professor of political science. In 2005, he was named vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty; he was promoted to his current position in 2010. During his time at Whitworth, Le Roy has been instrumental in developing Whitworth’s first international education center in Costa Rica. He also played a key role in building the new Robinson Science Hall, part of Whitworth’s efforts to reinvigorate science research and learning. Whitworth, affiliated with the PC(USA), has nearly 3,000 students enrolled in its 60 undergraduate and graduate programs.

Prior to his time at Whitworth, Le Roy was an associate professor of political science and international relations at Wheaton College and served as the department chair.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's activities have been suspended at the University at Buffalo in New York until further notice. The school's senate has also formed an investigative committee to determine the legality of the InterVarsity's club’s constitution.

The university's Student Association issued the suspension after campus newspaper The Spectrum reported that the InterVarsity chapter’s treasurer Steven Jackson was pressured to resign from his leadership role because his sexual orientation. InterVarsity explained Jackson resigned because he no longer agreed with the statement of faith InterVarsity requires its student leaders to sign. It affirms several basic Christian beliefs, including the authority of the Bible.

The suspension means InterVarsity cannot host scheduled events or access funds provided by the student association. Jackson, who is still an InterVarsity member, asked the senate to reconsider its decision in a written statement. Though he verified The Spectrum’s report, he did not blame InterVarsity for its leadership requirement.

"If [the requirement] is illegal, I do not blame InterVarsity. I blame the Student Association for failing to properly review club constitutions and inform clubs of their legality,” he said. The senate upheld its decision.

InterVarsity's University at Buffalo chapter is the latest Christian student group to be charged with discrimination because of its faith-based leadership requirements. Last year, Christian Legal Society lost a similar high-profile case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In December, CT reported how similar allegations are handled by Christian groups at private universities vs. public schools.

Arthur Holmes, author of All Truth is Gods Truth who promoted the idea of integrating faith and learning, died October 8.

The Wheaton College philosophy professor authored several books related to faith and learning, including The Idea of a Christian College and Building the Christian Academy. He was born in 1924 and taught at Wheaton for more than 40 years, according to a blog post by David Osielski.

Throughout his writings and career, Holmes emphasized that, indeed, “all truth is God’s truth.” His desire was for Christians to not shy away from the difficult questions that may arise from whatever subject of academic study they choose. With a firm belief that any truth they find can be reconciled with their faith, Holmes challenged educators and Christians in academia to grapple with what they are interested in, noting that a strong faith can handle some turbulence while coming to a better understanding of God’s creation.

In reflection on his career, it is obvious he accomplished the goals he set forth for himself as a young teacher: he encouraged faith and learning in students, he countered the anti-intellectualism he found in the American church, and he helped prepare a great many students and Christian intellectuals for the various ranks of academia.

Wheaton's archives has collected some of Holmes’ chapel addresses and his papers are housed in the college's special collections.

Palm Beach Atlantic University President Lu Hardin resigned suddenly on Friday and pled guilty on Monday to wire fraud and money laundering charges rooted in his previous job as president of the University of Central Arkansas.

Hardin had headed the Florida-based interdenominational Christian school for only two years. For much of that time, his name has been a recurring feature of investigations into questionable financial dealings that took place during his time at UCA.

This particular case involves a $300,000 deferred-compensation bonus Hardin received in 2008, which the U.S. Attorney’s office says he obtained using a forged letter in order to pay off a debt (gambling debt, says a friend). His sentence will be determined in 30-60 days, according to the Palm Beach Sun-Sentinel.

PBA is already working to turn the page on Hardin’s time at the school. The Board of Trustees appointed an interim president, VP of Development Bill Fleming, and will launch a nationwide search for a new full-time leader.

Bernie Cueto, PBA’s campus pastor, says that today’s installation of interim president Fleming was the beginning of the university’s moving-on process. “We had a nice ceremony in the chapel this morning,” Cueto said, “where several of us prayed, and you felt the warmth in the room, almost serving as a balm to the abrupt change from last Friday.”

Cueto believes the interim president was a good choice for bolstering the school’s confidence.

“The previous president…was only here about 20 months,” Cueto says. “So having someone that’s been here since 1992, that knows the university, knows all the departments, knows our story, knows what we’re about—it was really nice for people. “

Since PBA has been on spring break all this week, Cueto says it’s difficult to discern how the student body feels about the change, but he says that President Hardin "really wasn't a fixture on campus," probably because of the short time he was able to spend at the school. “I can’t imagine it being an issue...with the majority of students.”

“PBA’s never depended on one person, or one group of trustees, or the laurels of one man. It’s always been a team effort, depending on God and the Holy Spirit,” Cueto says. “Most people, although they were disappointed, it’s been a reminder of the fallenness of man, and we move forward.”

update 3/11/2011 Anna Zetterberg, managing editor of the PBA Beacon student newspaper, says that the resignation came as a surprise on an afternoon when a lot of students were already heading off for break.

"The response I've gotten from students is mixed," Zetterberg says. "Some feel that the incident shouldn't be blown out of proportions because he paid back the money. Others feel let down and confused. I'm very disappointed overall."

Zetterberg says she was relieved to find out that the issues leading to his resignation hadn't stemmed from Hardin's time at PBA. "At the same time, it does affect us," she says, "and really, it affects Christian universities everywhere because people can very easily associate the actions of our leader with the integrity of the entire institution."

"The most common thing I am hearing people say," she adds, "is just that they are praying for Hardin and for the situation. Regardless of what was done, it's a tough situation for him, his family, the university, and people are just praying a lot about it."

While Zetterberg does wonder why PBA hired Hardin in the first place—"maybe they didn't know the severity of the situation, I don't know"—she doesn't entirely regret the time he spent there.

"I do feel that Hardin was truly and sincerely passionate about PBA, its quality of education and its future," Zetterberg says. "In his short time at PBA, I felt like he really invested himself in our university, and for that, I am grateful."

Regent University has taken issue with the following Gleanings item published in CT’s September issue:

Regent U. struggles to stay afloat
Despite a $95 million booster shot from the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson's Regent University is struggling for financial stability. Moody's Investors Service predicts that the Virginia Beach school will "continue to experience deficit operating performance" that will "deplete or, at least hamper, financial resource growth" for the foreseeable future. New Regent president Carlos Campo is more optimistic but admitted to the Chronicle of Higher Education that "some fiscal challenges remain."

The item summarized a June article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Regent U. Gets a Bailout From Founder's TV Network, but Moody's Outlook Remains Negative," which in turn summarized the most recent Moody’s Investors Service assessment of Regent’s financial health, Rating Update: Moody’s Affirms Baa2 Rating on Regent University’s Series 2006 Revenue Bonds; Outlook Remains Negative.

Regent president Carlos Campo submitted this response to CT readers:

“We are grateful to have the opportunity to contextualize the recent Chronicle of Higher Education article on Moody's Investors Service credit rating update for Regent University, which Christianity Today republished this week. The article did not fairly represent the university’s financial state, nor a recent shift in endowment fund classification. In fact, Moody’s report clearly reflects the fact that the university has taken appropriate, positive steps to create a sustainable budget model for Regent University’s future. While we, like all universities, have felt the negative effects of the recent economic downturn, the fiscal outlook for Regent University is quite strong overall.”

Campo’s complete response, in which he highlights the financial strengths of Regent, can be found below.

Rusty Leonard, chairman and CEO of Stewardship Partners, offered his take to CT:

“I would agree that the $95 million gift [reclassification from restricted to unrestricted] from CBN means that Regent is no longer struggling to stay afloat. Bankruptcy is not an issue at the moment. It still has operating deficits to contend with, but much progress has already been made here and the [reclassification] greatly aided the balance sheet and gives the university considerable time to take the further corrective actions necessary to bring their finances in better balance. I think it is fair to assume they will find a way to make the needed changes and will be around for many years to come.”

Readers interested in assessing how accurately the Chronicle and CT items summarized the Moody’s report can look at the report themselves.

Campo’s letter in full is after the jump:

What seemed like a divorce turned out to be only a brief separation.

The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the American Academy of Religion (AAR), premier academic societies in the respective fields of critical biblical studies and religion, sent a letter to members this week announcing their joint conference — an annual pre-Thanksgiving event that in 2007 drew over 10,000 scholars — would resume in 2011 in San Francisco. They began holding separate conferences in separate cities in 2008.

This week April DeConick, a Rice University scholar in early Jewish/Christian thought, posted the letter, which includes agreed-upon guidelines for forthcoming conferences:

These meetings will

Occur in the same city — though the venue will change from year to year;
Occur at the same time — the weekend before the US Thanksgiving holiday;
Feature a single, jointly managed Publishers/Software/Book Exhibit;
Feature a single, jointly managed Employment Center;
Feature distinct and separate AAR and SBL programs planned with open communication between the organizations;
Encourage the organizations’ members to attend each other’s programs and events at no additional cost;
Allow the organizations to pursue their unique, if sometimes overlapping, missions;
Enhance cooperation, not competition, between the organizations.

The decision to meet separately drew criticism from attendees whose scholarly research fits AAR and SBL's respective fields, and who thus had to ask their schools to pay to attend both or opt to attend only one. Religion booksellers, seminary exhibitors, and alumni groups faced similar logistical challenges.

The letter, signed by AAR executive director Jack Fitzmier and SBL executive director Kent Richards, says nine concurrent meetings are planned from 2011 to 2019, with a fall 2012 meeting in Chicago and a fall 2013 meeting in Baltimore.

In a statement issued by Liberty University Friday, a panel of four trustees announced they had found that Ergun Caner, dean of the seminary at the Lynchburg, Virginia, school, had made "self-contradictory" statements about "dates, names and places of residence" in his public talks following the events of September 11, 2001. However, the trustees found no evidence to question Caner's basic claim that he was "a Muslim who converted to Christianity as a teenager."

Caner has been the target of both Christian and Muslim apologists and bloggers who claim that he falsified his biography in order to inflate his credibility as an expert on Islam. Christianity Today earlier reported on the controversy here and here.

Apparently, Liberty University's trustees consider Caner's misleading statements to be serious enough to undermine his ability to serve as seminary dean. They are removing him from that role while allowing him to remain on the faculty. This nettles critics.

Breaking news, update: 9:30 p.m. Monday

This evening, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia released by email this updated statement about Dr. Ergun Caner, president of the university seminary:

Liberty University Provost Dr. Ron Godwin is forming a committee to investigate a series of accusations against Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
The Internet allegations have questioned public statements Caner has made regarding the details of his personal life story. Godwin is forming a committee to conduct an official inquiry with a goal of issuing its conclusions by the end of June. Following inquiries from several members of the mainstream media, Liberty decided to initiate its own investigation. “Liberty does not initiate personnel evaluations based upon accusations from Internet blogs,” Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. said. “However, In light of the fact that several newspapers have raised questions, we felt it necessary to initiate a formal inquiry.”

One week ago, ChristianityToday.com published online a report highlighting extensive questions about Dr. Caner's background, speeches, and comments. Bloggers have alleged that Caner has knowingly deceived the Christian community about his Muslim background.

Some of these allegations include:

* Growing up in Turkey, when he actually grew up in Ohio.
* Being raised in a devout Muslim home, rather than a nominal one.
* Having been involved in Islamic jihad.
* Having debated dozens of Muslims about the Islamic faith, although there is no video or audio evidence.

Contrary to my earlier posting, this inquiry will be overseen by Vice Chancellor and acting Provost Dr. Goodwin. The names of the members of this committee were not released as yet.

CT will update this story as events develop.

Bruce Waltke is headed to Knox Theological Seminary, according to Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds. CT has a call in to Knox to confirm.

CT covered Waltke's resignation last week from the Orlando campus of Reformed Theological Seminary here.

Waltke also distributed a letter to the RTS-Orlando community, first linked to by Taylor and now posted by CT below the jump. Waltke again clarifies his position on theistic evolution, emphasizes that the resignation was his choice not a demand by RTS, and expresses regret for the hubbub that ensued.

It's worth a read. Follow the jump.

CT has been watching the online debate snowball over this week's resignation of renowned OT scholar Bruce Waltke from Reformed Theological Seminary. At issue: the March 24 release of a BioLogos interview in 2009 where Waltke states:

“...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.”

Reformed Theological Seminary asked Waltke to have the video removed. Waltke's resignation was announced April 6.

Waltke clarified his comments in the video, specifically his belief in a historical Adam and Eve and his support for those who hold creationist views. He also issued a joint statement with BioLogos president Darrel Falk regarding the importance of this debate within higher education.

JR Daniel Kirk notes that another big OT name, Tremper Longman III, was disinvited from RTS for expressing doubt over the historicity of Adam in September 2009. Reformation21 is making allusions to the Peter Enns controversy at Westminster Theological Seminary in 2008.

Rod Dreher gives his take here, and Inside Higher Ed examines "the video that ended a career." RJS offers some reflections on Scot McKnight's blog here.

Officials at Wheaton College announced this morning that Philip Ryken, pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, will become the next president of the college.

Ryken graduated from Wheaton in 1988, and received his M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1992 and his doctorate in historical theology from the University of Oxford in 1995. He became a pastor at Tenth Presbyterian Church in 1995 and became the senior pastor in 2000 after James Boice died. He and his wife Elisabeth have five children.

Most of his books address faith and the Christian life, such as Art for God's Sake, The Doctrines of Grace, and Exodus: Saved for God's Glory. Ryken's blog posts and sermons can be found on The Gospel Coalition's site and Reformation 21.

Ryken's father Leland Ryken is an English professor at Wheaton who recently wrote The Literary Study Bible with his son. The college is celebrating its 150-year anniversary this year and announced last year that President Duane Litfin would retire this summer.

Earlier this week, Baylor University announced that Kenneth Starr would become its next president.

Editor's note: Christianity Today did not break any embargoes related to this news. CT received notices from three people familiar with the details of this morning's meeting. CT has changed the time of this post (which reflected when the post was started) to the time when the post was published.

Update: The college posted a press release on its website today, stating that Ryken will begin his new position on July 1.

Cross-posted from The Christian History Blog

When theologian George Kalantzis returned to the Wheaton College campus last fall after spending the summer in the Holy Land, he had a very pleasant surprise. While he was out of the country, two donors had approached the college administration about funding a program that would encourage interaction between Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism over their mutual legacy from the early church.

No one at Wheaton knew just how much these donors would fund, but George and his colleagues decided to dream big: they envisioned a Center for the Study of Early Christianity, with a vertically integrated program from undergraduate courses up through master's and doctoral studies.

Their big vision was rewarded.

Broadcaster Pat Robertson announced his plans to retire next summer as president of Regent University, the school said today.

Robertson, 79, will retire July 1, 2010 and continue to serve as chancellor and on the board of trustees at the 4,500-student, Virginia-based school.

"As chancellor and a trustee, I will now focus on helping guide the university toward the next level of strategic growth and the implementation of our master plan," he said in the statement.

A newly appointed search committee will name a new president by the fall semester of 2010, according to the release.

Robertson founded numerous organizations, including the American Center for Law and Justice, the Christian Broadcasting Network, and the Christian Coalition. He unsuccessfully campaigned to become the Republican Party's nominee in the 1988 presidential election but became widely known as a leader for the Christian right.

Cedarville University students will not publish the final issue of their student newspaper Cedars to protest the school's new policy that public relations staff review the newspaper.

"The public relations department, directed by university trustees and some administrative officials, now reviews, approves, censors and cuts the content of your student newspaper," Cedars staff members wrote in a circulated letter. They wrote that public relations employees approved every published article beginning with the second issue this spring.

The students write that review and censorship by public relations breaks the operating model approved by the administrative council on October 9, 2006, which says "The student editors prepare copy for print and take responsibility for making decisions, along with the Faculty Adviser, for what ends up in print."

"...the PR department's excessive attempt to censor Cedars necessarily violates our operating model, and the Cedars staff has thus decided to cease publication," the students write. "Review by the public relations department undermines our ability to think critically and engage culture. We grieve the loss of free expression and healthy discourse once found in your newspaper, traits that ought to characterize all vibrant institutions of higher learning."

Carl A. Ruby, vice president for student life, wrote in a campus-wide e-mail that the newspaper will not be in publication until spring 2010. He said that the newspaper will reorganize and return next year under a new journalism program.

"We acknowledge that finding the right balance of freedom of expression is difficult, especially in the context of a community of believers who voluntarily give up some of our freedoms for the sake of our shared mission," Ruby wrote. "This has been a difficult arrangement, both for the students and for our staff in Public Relations and we recognize that it probably isn't the most ideal approach to editorial oversight for the future."

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled yesterday that a California law school could lawfully bar the school's Christian Legal Society from being recognized as a student group for requiring its members to sign a statement of faith. The ruling could set a precedent for the way Christian organizations can or cannot retain their distinct religious beliefs at public colleges with nondiscrimination policies.

The CLS chapter at the University of California's Hastings College of Law filed a lawsuit in fall 2004 against the college for denying it status as a registered student organization. According to CLS's brief, it was denied official recognition for requiring members to sign a statement of faith, which, among other things, prohibits homosexual conduct. Hastings officials had said CLS's standards violated the school's nondiscrimination policy, which says all student groups "shall not discriminate unlawfully on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, age, sex or sexual orientation."

CLS's lawsuit claimed that Hastings was practicing viewpoint discrimination and violating CLS's right to expressive association. It claimed that Hastings was applying its policy inconsistently. CLS's brief, page 14?18:

Hastings allows other registered student organizations to require that their leaders and/or members agree with the organization's beliefs and purposes. . . . Outlaw [a pro-gay rights group] is free to remove officers if they fail to support the organization's pro-gay rights purpose; Silenced Right: National Alliance Pro-Life Group may require its members to support its pro-life purposes; . . . Hastings' nondiscrimination policy is viewpoint discriminatory, as it allows a vegetarian club to require that officers and members not eat meat, but prohibits an Orthodox Jewish group for requiring its officers and members to abstain from pork for religious reasons.

Vanguard University, a Southern California Assemblies of God school that was warned last fall about its financial oversight from an accrediting body and went through a string of leadership transitions this January, may be facing sunny days again.

School officials met with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) February 18 to show that they had taken recommended steps to remedy the fiscal and management issues noted by WASC during its September visit. College president Carol Taylor announced last week that WASC had granted the school's request to defer action on its accreditation review until its June 2009 meeting.

"In granting a deferral, the WASC Commission recognizes Vanguard's progress and has noted that this deferral provides the University a window of time to bring to fruition key initiatives that have been undertaken," President Taylor said in her online message. Deferment gives the CCCU member school time to show it can run with an independent board of trustees and implement sound financial management, which it had reportedly lacked for years.

Four days after the WASC meeting, Vanguard learned that Bruce Lindsay, a millionare who hung out on campus every day and became known as the school's "campus grandpa" and "student advocate," had died and left his fortune to the school, which is $42 million in debt.

According to the Los Angeles Times profile, Lindsay, 79, was known for his frugality and made his fortune in part by buying low-cost oil leases and flipping beach homes. The worth of Lindsay's estate is still unknown, but Vanguard has said part of the donation will go toward renovating its cafeteria, where Lindsay ate three meals every day.

The board of trustees of Oral Roberts University unanimously elected Mark Rutland, president of Southeastern University, according to a news release.

The Ledger in Florida includes a bio of Rutland, who has been president of Southeastern for the past 10 years. From Cary McMullen:

Since becoming president of Southeastern in January 1999, Rutland has presided over dramatic growth. Enrollment has expanded from 950 to 3,079 students in September 2008. The school has undertaken 16 construction or renovation projects, including two new dormitories and a proposed office and classroom building, totaling more than $50 million, according to information released by Southeastern.

Rutland is the author of 13 books, hosts a syndicated radio program and is the founder of ministries in Ghana and Thailand. He is noted for his interest in leadership education, and in 2006 he began an annual conference, The National Leadership Forum, that has attracted nationally known speakers, including former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

In October 2008, Oral Roberts settled with two professors who alleged that they were forced out after detailing financial and ethical wrongdoing by Richard Roberts, the school's former president who resigned. It also announced that it will cut 100 jobs, about 10 percent of its workforce this year.

Yesterday, icy weather postponed hearings in two lawsuits against the school. An ORU accountant alleges that he was forced to commit fraud and a former student claims that he was unable to complete his degree.

Christianity Today has followed the developments at ORU on the higher education section of liveblog, and CT also published an article in September 2008 detailing the school's path to healing.

Westmont President Gayle Beebe released a statement yesterday that said no Westmont students were to blame for starting the California fire that destroyed more than 200 homes and several campus buildings.

Ten men and women, ranging in age from 18 to 22, built a bonfire Wednesday night to warm themselves, authorities told the Los Angeles Times. Other schools in Santa Barbara include the Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara City College, and the University of California Santa Barbara.

The Westmont Horizon posted Beebe's statement on its liveblog.

On Wednesday afternoon at approximately 2:45 p.m., Drew Sugars, the public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office officially informed the college that no current Westmont students were present nor in anyway involved with this tragic incident.

It should be noted that at this point, the group of individuals responsible for starting the fire are under the jurisdiction of law enforcement authorities. Again, no current Westmont students were involved with this incident.

The fire that swept through Westmont College last week was started by a bonfire created by students, authorities told the Los Angeles Times.

Ten men and women, ranging in age from 18 to 22, built a bonfire Wednesday night to warm themselves. Catherine Saillant and Jean Merl write that the students told fire investigators that they thought the bonfire was out when they left early Thursday morning.

Brown declined to identify any of the men and women involved, saying that the matter was still under investigation. However, he said they all lived locally and attended the same school. He declined to say which one.

Westmont College, a Christian university with 1,200 students, sits immediately below the mountain ridge where the Teahouse is located. But Brown would not confirm or deny that students from the private campus were involved.

The group could face charges of negligence or recklessness with fire, he said. It will be up to the district attorney's office to decide what, if any, criminal charges will be filed once the investigation is completed, Brown said.

Investigators learned about the group's late-night outing from an anonymous tipster who called a fire hotline, Brown said.

The fire destroyed 210 homes, damaged nine others, and at least 25 people were injured, three of them with burns in Santa Barbara County.

Nancy Phinney, a Westmont spokeswoman, said the college did not think that any of its students were involved. The school lost several buildings and 14 faculty homes in the fire.

"We have been working closely and cooperating fully with fire officials and at no point has anyone said that any of our students have been implicated," Phinney said.

At Westmont, the fire destroyed three academic buildings, more than 30 dorm rooms, and 14 of the 41 college-owned faculty houses.

California fires ripped through Westmont College last night, destroying several buildings at the Christian liberal arts college.

The flames destroyed several buildings that house the physics and psychology departments, a dormitory and at least one faculty home, college spokesman Scott Craig told the Associated Press.

An automated message on the college's switchboard says, "Westmont College has suffered major damage due to a wild man fire, but all students and employees are safe. All major campus buildings are unscathed, but we did lose 8 smaller buildings and 14 faculty homes in the adjacent development." Classes are canceled today, but the college hopes to resume on Monday.

The fire burned around 1,500 acres and destroyed at least 80 homes in the surrounding neighborhood, according to the Los Angeles Times. The fire is not yet extinguished, but authorities believe they have contained it.

The AP reports:

Hundreds of students fled to a gym, where they spent the night sleeping on the floor. Some stood in groups praying, others sobbed openly and comforted each other.

Beth Lazor, 18, said she was in her dorm when the alarm went off. She said she only had time to grab her laptop, phone, a teddy bear and a debit card before fleeing the burning building.

The college's website and student newspaper website are currently down, but Ray Ford has photos of the fire on his site.

The Chronicle of Higher Education writes that last night, the website listed structures partially or completed destroyed as including "the Physics Building, the old math building, Bauder Hall, and the Quonset huts."

The college lost electricity after a natural-gas line broke, interrupting the fuel supply for the college's generators. The Red Cross brought cots and blankets to the gym for people who wanted to remain there, but students and others who wanted to leave the campus were being allowed to depart.

Update: Westmont's student newspaper, The Horizon, is up and running, and Robert Gutierrez is liveblogging.

Oral Roberts University reached a settlement with two former professors who sued the university a year ago, alleging that they were wrongfully terminated, the Tulsa World reports.

The details of the settlement were confidential. The professors alleged that they were forced out after detailing financial and ethical wrongdoing by Richard Roberts, the school's former president who resigned last year.

Christianity Today has followed the developments at ORU on the higher education section of liveblog, and CT also recently published a lengthy article detailing the school's path to healing.

The university has gone through rapid changes in the past year, including new leadership. Mart Green, whose family founded Hobby Lobby and the Mardel Christian stores chain, was made chairman of the board of trustees. (Clarification) Cameron Strang, founder of Relevant magazine, told me earlier this month that he has also been added to the board of trustees at his alma mater.

Baylor University's board of regents has fired president John Lilley, whose presidency began and ended with disputes over tenure.

In 2006, associate professor of church-state studies Francis Beckwith was denied tenure. His appeal became a cause celebre in some evangelical academic circles, and he eventually prevailed. Lilley, however, continued to be viewed with suspicion by some Christian observers.

But it was April's decision to deny tenure to 12 candidates that really set the drumbeats going. Most years, about 10 percent of faculty up for tenure are denied. This year, the 40 percent rejection rate sparked accusations of a "purge" and capricious standards. Seven of the ten faculty who appealed ended up receiving tenure.

A press release from Baylor says board member Harold Cunningham will be acting president until an interim president is named.

Updates to follow. The Waco Tribune-Herald will no doubt have coverage throughout the day.

In March, the trustees of Westminster Theological Seminary suspended professor Peter Enns over theological concerns regarding his book Inspiration and Incarnation.

The controversy got a lot of people talking about the authority of Scripture and two weeks ago even made the front page of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

No doubt the discussion will continue in theology circles (Enns will be on a panel discussing his ideas on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament at the upcoming Evangelical Theological Society meeting, for example).

But the higher ed part of the story though, seems to have more or less come to a close today. Enns and WTS issued a joint statement announcing the end of his employment at the school. A hearing on whether he whether he should be dismissed was to begin August 25.

Now that Peter Enns's suspension from Westminster Theological Seminary on account of his 2005 book, Inspiration and Incarnation, has gone into effect, the tenured professor has begun to post "thoughts, musings, interactions, responses?about or inspired by the book" on his blog.

At the request of Westminster, he submitted a 38-page paper responding to his critics:

My original intention was simply to leave the matter where it was, in the hands of the faculty and board, so as not to draw undo [sic] attention to seminary matters (even though I felt that this paper would have proved helpful to numerous readers). As it stands now, the attention drawn to this issue is quite pervasive, comes from various sources, and without any aid from me.

In light of these developments, reproducing certain portions of that paper makes a degree of sense.

What he is posting now are discussions with (and responses to) his critics and an abridged and appended version of the parts of his paper that he feels best relate to the theological discussion.

For the past couple of days, an article on the demise of foreign language programs at colleges and universities has been among the Chronicle of Higher Education's most-read pieces. (Chronicle articles requires a subscription; for free reading on the same topic, check out this U.S. News & World Report blog entry.)

Such programs, it appears, are feeling the pressure from two directions. On one side is the ongoing movement to abandon liberal arts in favor of professional and business programs geared to the marketplace; on the other, an impulse among college deans to emphasize more politically oriented (and politically correct, perhaps) programs on cultural studies.

This second impulse makes it easy to drop Spanish classes in favor of courses where students read about Che Guevara, Hugo Chavez, and Evo Morales (all in English, naturally). As the article's authors write, "[T]he abandonment of [languages] . . . implies that art and literature do not matter unless they can be turned into surrogate politics. ?Relevance' these days is understood in an extremely narrow sense."

Yet foreign languages are as needed today as they were 50 years ago, both for doing business and for promoting intercultural understanding. As members of a religious movement that is increasingly based outside of the West, a movement that has always crossed cultural and linguistic boundaries with the Good News of Jesus Christ, evangelicals ought to feel particularly pained by this loss of foreign-language education. After all, we look forward to a day when "every nation, tribe, people, and language" will worship before God's throne together. We are, by identity, mission, and goal, people of many languages.

One of the truisms I heard repeated often during my time working with Wycliffe Bible Translators was that language was the bedrock identifier of any culture, and that preserving languages was the best way to preserve cultures. Canceling a German program at the University of Southern California won't harm the Federal Republic of Germany, of course. But it does harm us. Here's hoping that some colleges and universities will buck the trend.

After refusing to discuss the details of his divorce, tenured professor Kent Gramm resigned from his English position at Wheaton College.

Wheaton's faculty handbook states that the college will consider employee retention "when there is reasonable evidence that the circumstances that led to the final dissolution of the marriage related to desertion or adultery on the part of the other partner."

But Gramm declined to discuss details. "None of Your Business" headlined Monday's Chicago Sun-Times front-page story.

"I think it's wrong to have to discuss your personal life with your employer," Gramm told the Chicago Tribune, "and I also don't want to be in a position of accusing my spouse, so I declined to appeal or discuss the matter in any way with my employer."

Provost Stan Jones told Inside Higher Ed, "The policy calls for us to try to make a compassionate, thoughtful evaluation of the circumstances, and we are then in a real bind if a person for whatever reason chooses not to discuss those circumstances."

Cathleen Falsani writes in the Chicago Sun-Times that her alma mater needed to employ grace.

"? [O]nce again an evangelical Christian institution earns a reputation, deserved or not, for siding with legalism over grace. And for an institution dedicated, as Wheaton is, to ?Christ and his kingdom,' communicating grace in a world that so desperately needs it should always be the most important part of its mission."

The provost told Wheaton's student newspaper, The Record, that the administration considers one or two employee divorce cases each year on a case-by-case basis, and the specifics of who initiated the divorce are not as important as the reason for divorce.

"Many churches are responding to divorce by saying that it's too messy, this is not our business, we'll just be redemptive," Jones told The Record. "This response is problematic because you're basically declaring divorce not to be a moral issue. It doesn't seem that Scripture gives us that latitude."

Officials told the Chicago Tribune that they were willing to allow Gramm to remain at the college for another year as he sought work, but he declined. He is still looking for work.

"I plan to live happily ever after," he told The Record. "The next time someone says to you, 'Hello, welcome to Walmart,' be nice to him. I already have clothing with a W on it."

Gramm's story poses questions for many religious institutions of whether divorce should be a criterion in professional standards.

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Clyde Cook, the recently retired president of Biola University, died April 11. He was 73.

Known for several years as "Mr. Biola," Cook served as one of the nation’s longest-serving university presidents, leading the California university from 1982 to 2007.

Cook faced enormous challenges when he took the helm. A budget shortfall of 37 percent forced him to cut $1.3 million. And just two years into his presidency, he had a major heart attack at the age of 49. Also, Biola’s enrollment dropped from 3,181 in 1980 to 2,566 in 1989.

However, Biola’s enrollment has nearly doubled to 5,752, and the university added 20 acres to the campus and nine extension sites. Cook handed the reins to Barry H. Corey last summer. The university celebrated its centennial in February, and the Los Angeles Times wrote about how Biola has both evolved and stayed the same.

"When Ken Bascom arrived at Biola College in 1967 to work on his master's degree in history, his fellow students, almost all white, stuck to a strict dress code and had a 10 p.m. curfew on weeknights," wrote reporter Tiffany Hsu. "Last weekend, a multicultural throng of students, several with dyed hair, piercings or tattoos, celebrated the centennial of the private evangelical school -- a university since 1981 -- at a rock concert that extended into the early morning."

The New York Times featured Biola in 2004, when Samantha M. Shapiro wrote, "Evangelical Christianity's dance with secular culture has always been a complicated one." In the early 20th century, Biola sponsored a series of pamphlets called "The Fundamentals," which laid out the principles of the fundamentalist movement. The pamphlets opposed biblical and theological modernism, naturalism, Darwinism, and democratic socialism.

"When I spoke with Clyde Cook, Biola's genial president, he explained that the university is as committed as ever to the principles articulated in 'The Fundamentals,' although, he said, 'we've found different and more effective ways to deliver those truths.' ... [T]he school thinks it is preferable to have students internalize Christian truths through a process of questioning."

The Chimes, Biola's student newspaper, created a blog for people to share their memories of Cook.

"If it's possible for a man who towered over most people physically to walk gracefully and humbly, Clyde Cook had mastered it," wrote Chimes Features Editor Mitchell Young. "If there's one image I will always remember, it's a man whose list of accomplishments could fill books (and probably has) sitting at a crooked Caf table and eating with plastic silverware on one of the days that the Caf decided to give its dishwashers a day off."

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Two of the hottest issues in evangelical theology right now are the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament and evangelical textual criticism. Peter Enns’s 2005 book, Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, aimed to pose difficult questions about the human aspects of Scripture. It received both praise and criticism from noted evangelical scholars.

And it made things difficult for Enns at his school, Philadelphia’s Westminster Theological Seminary. A battle over whether the book undermined or contradicted the Westminster Confession of Faith has been raging for some time now, and apparently came to a head Wednesday at the meeting of the school’s board, which decided to suspend Enns.

This note is now circulating from board chairman Jack White:

On Friday, the trustees of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary elected a new president, ending a two year interim since the departure of Chuck Moore for Hillside Chapel in Dayton, Ohio.

The new president is a Scot - Alistair Brown, general director of the Baptist Missionary Society in Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK. Brown has a Ph.D. in New Testament from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from the Open University. Before his 12 year stint at the BMS, he was for 10 years senior pastor of a church in Aberdeen.

That MBA may come in handy as Northern Seminary seeks to sell its extremely valuable property in Lombard, Illinois, and relocates to less expensive digs. See Madison Trammel's 2007 news story, "Retooling Seminary" for more background.

I wonder how the findings in this article--"Conservatives Just Aren't Into Academe, Study Finds:Divergent life choices may explain the dearth of right-wing scholars," (Chronicle of Higher Education)--apply to Christian higher education.

It has been my experience that Christian college professors are more liberal than their students and than Christians in general, and that politically conservative professors are an increasing minority. But my experience is limited to a handful of colleges, and I'm willing to be challenged on this.

The article shows its own subtle liberal bias, especially in the way it frames liberal and conservative motives, but the larger issue remains, and I suspect even for Christian colleges. If true, this has all manner of consequences when it comes to offering students a balanced and intellectually rigorous education.

(Cross-posted at Galliblog)

The Wheaton College student newspaper, The Record, reports today that the influential evangelical college's president, provost, and chaplain have removed their names from a letter to Muslim leaders that has attracted criticism in some quarters.

"Loving God and Neighbor Together" was published in the November 18, 2007, New York Times as a response to an October statement from 138 Muslim scholars and clerics calling for interfaith cooperation. Wheaton College president Duane Litfin and provost Stanton Jones were among the signatories, along with pastors Rick Warren and Bill Hybels, National Association of Evangelicals president Leith Anderson, Youth With a Mission chairman Lynn Green, Frontiers mission founder Greg Livingstone, theologians Miroslav Volf and John Stott, and Christianity Today Media Group editor-in-chief David Neff.

"I signed the statement because I am committed to the business of peace-making and neighbor-love," Litfin wrote in The Record. "I did not savor the document's unnuanced apology section, but swallowed that in order to be a part of reaching out a hand to these Muslim leaders who had courageously taken the initiative. Though the statement was not written in the way I would have written it, it seemed to me that I could sign it without compromising any of my Christian convictions."

But in the last month, the statement has been sharply criticized by several other evangelical leaders, including Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Al Mohler, pastor John Piper, and Focus on the Family's CitizenLink newsletter.

After a night of tornadoes and power outages, Union University's website is back up and running. But to keep tabs on the post-tornado emergency news, they have created a new website UUEmergency. You can view a slideshow there, or use the "comments" feature on one of the posts to leave messages for students.

Both the Jackson Sun and Baptist Press have updated their stories and posted photos of the wreckage and rescue operations at Union University following last night's tornado damage.

A tornado struck the Tennessee campus last evening about seven o'clock, trapping 12 students (according to Baptist Press, or 13 according to the Jackson Sun) in dorms that collapsed. All have now been freed from the debris.

Union's website is still down this morning, and classes have been cancelled until February 13 to allow the administration to assess damage and lay plans for the future.

According to a Baptist Press e-mail bulletin just sent out to news organizations, Union University in Jackson, Tenn., "sustained heavy tornado damage Tuesday evening at approximately 7 pm when a line of heavy thunderstorms rushed through the area."

At 8:15 central, news and information director, Tim Ellsworth, reported that students were still trapped by debris in their dorms. At least four of those students have been rescued. Dorms in both the men's and women's areas have been destroyed.

"We currently have no serious injuries that we know of and rescue operations are still continuing," Ellsworth said. "Many buildings sustained heavy damage."

Electrical power is out at Union and their website is down. The school is "trying to provide parents with information," but with the power outage, that is a major challenge.

The Jackson Sun details further damage to the campus and to the surrounding area. Nashville's WKRN appears to have posted a video report, but the site is too busy right now for the video to load.

If you have friends or family at Union, you'll want to keep checking the Baptist Press and Jackson Sun websites for updates.

David A. Skeel, professor of corporate law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, will soon publish an article in the Emory Law Journal called "The Unbearable Lightness of Christian Legal Scholarship." In it, he chronicles the scandal of the Christian legal mind:

[T]he scope of Christian legal scholarship in the American legal literature is shockingly narrow for such a nationally influential movement. Why is there almost no trace of the intellectual underpinnings of the recent movement? ... Although evangelicals re-engaged American political life in the 1970s, the skepticism of religious perspectives, and the absence of a critical mass of Christian legal scholarship, lingered. There is now a substantial interest in Christian legal scholarship, but surprisingly little scholarship to turn to.

"We're going to go on with the call of God on our lives," former Oral Roberts University president Richard Roberts told The 700 Club today. "God will deal with people and false accusations. All I can say is that it's not true, and leave it at that. God is the ultimate judge."

Roberts said he will remain a "spiritual regent" to the university and CEO of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association as he returns to a full-time healing ministry.

"The healing ministry has always been my first love," he said. "I am immersing myself fully back into the healing ministry, which was what I was doing before I became president of ORU."

Our background here. Tulsa World has a year-end roundup here, here, and here.

The wrongful termination suit between three ORU professors and college administrators is going to arbitration, but meanwhile there has been a shakeup of sorts on the school's board of regents.

"The evangelist Creflo Dollar has resigned from the Oral Roberts University board of regents, and another evangelist, Benny Hinn, has lost his status as a voting member of the board," the Tulsa World reported.

The newspaper notes that the move comes as Dollar and Hinn balked at requests for financial information from Sen. Charles Grassley, but the school had no comment on the reason for the changes. Are Dollar and Hinn distancing themselves from ORU, or is ORU distancing itself from them?

Young earth creation science is out of the front page, with the Dover decision on its way into the history books alongside the Scopes trial. But creationism is still the view of 45 percent of Americans; and with that many supporters, every time any school board discusses science standards advocates for and against evolution will come out of the woodwork.

The argument against creation science is usually that it's not science, it's religion, philosophy, theology. Whatever it is, it isn't science.

The New York Times took a look at a group of young earth creationists who are trying to change that. In Rock of Ages, Ages of Rock author Hanna Rosin (who has a chapter on young earth creationism in her book God's Harvard) visits the First Conference on Creation Geology. (Full disclosure: the conference was held at Cedarville University, my alma mater.)

Creationist geologists are now numerous enough to fill a large meeting room and well educated enough to know that in rejecting the geologic timeline they are also essentially taking on the central tenets of the field. Any "evidence" presented at the conference pointing to a young earth would be no more convincing than voodoo or alchemy to mainstream geologists, who have used various radiometric-dating methods to establish that the earth is 4.6 billion years old. But the participants in the conference insist that their approach is scientifically valid. "We're past the point of being critical of evolutionists," Whitmore told me. "We're trying to go out and make new discoveries and actually do science."

Obviously, the 3,300-word article is skeptical of the idea that scientists could believe in creation as described in Genesis as well as science. Perhaps the most telling example of the compartmentalized mind these scientists with Ph.D.s from major research universities need to have is the story of "Marcus Ross, 31, the latest inductee into the movement, who got his Ph.D. in environmental science from the University of Rhode Island last summer."

Ross subsequently wrote a 197-page dissertation about a marine reptile called a mosasaur, whose disappearance he tracked through the Cretaceous period, about 65 million years ago. Fastovsky described the paper as "utterly sound," and the committee recommended very minimal edits.

At the conference I asked Ross whether he still believes what he wrote in his graduate thesis. His answer confirmed him as the product of the postmodern university, where truth is dependent on the framework: "Within the context of old age and evolutionary theory, yes. But if the parameter is different, portions of it could be completely in error."

Ross and other scientists are working on providing scientific legitimacy for the significant percentage (45) of Americans who believe in the Genesis account of creation. But they're rather patronizing toward their fellow believers without Ph.D.s. Rosin writes,

Like any group of elites, they were snobs about their superior degrees. During lunch breaks or car rides, they traded jokes about the "vulgar creationists" and the "uneducated masses," and, in their least Christian moments, the "idiots on the Web." One leader of a creationist institute complained about all the cranks who call on the phone claiming to have seen dinosaurs or to have had a vision of Noah's ark.

And their scientific method leaves Rosin skeptical. "'We don't subscribe to this idea of the ?God of gaps,' meaning if you can't explain something, then blame God," [John] Whitmore [a professor at Cedarville] told me before describing a method that hardly seemed more scientific. "Instead, we think: ?Here's what the Bible says. Now let's go to the rocks and see if we find the evidence for it.' "

Their work is likely to cause only more headaches for proponents of evolution on school boards across the country. Armed with whatever evidence these scientists come up with, creationism proponents (or teach-the-controversy proponents) will be crashing the gates of school boards for decades to come.

But it's not only secular evolutionists who are playing defense. In fact, "The new creationists are not likely to make much of a dent among secular scientists, who often just roll their eyes at the mention of flood geology." Rosin writes, "But they have become a burden to many geologists at Christian colleges around the country."

Christian evolutionists are the ones really bugged by this movement. "Geology at Wheaton is presented and practiced much the same way as at secular universities," Stephen Moshier, the department chair, says. However, young earth creationists have a lot of influence, Moshier says. "It can get so frustrating," he said. "Many of us at Christian colleges really grieve at what a problem this young-earth creationism makes for the Christian witness. It's almost like they're adding another thing you have to believe to become a Christian. It's like saying, You have to believe the world is flat to be a Christian, and that's absolutely unreasonable."

Rosin's full article is worth reading. The characters, quotes, and stories she tells give an illuminating look at this movement that keeps rearing its head, to the chagrin of Christians and atheist evolutionists alike.

On Monday this blog asked, "Will Richard Roberts Let Go or ORU?" Concerns had surfaced in both the Oklahoman newspaper and in the Chronicle of Higher Education that because Roberts had remained president and CEO of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, he would still be able to misuse funds at Oral Roberts University.

I spent a few minutes studying the IRS Form 990s of both ORU and the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association. The overlap between the boards of the two organizations is so huge that the evangelistic association was obliged to report that these organizations were under "Common Control."

Well, no longer. This morning the Associated Press, the Oklahoman, and the Tulsa World are reporting the promise of a major gift to ORU from Mart Green (founder of the retail chains Mardel and Hobby Lobby). He's offering $70 million to help the school out of its financial pit.

But there are conditions, and from the timing of the gift, it seems that one of them is for the school and the evangelistic association to cut their ties. According to the university's regents, they plan to disentangle the two organizations. Patriarch Oral Roberts has long opposed separating the two, according to the Oklahoman, but has apparently had a sudden change of heart.

The Green family made an initial $8 million gift on Monday, with the balance to be given over the next three months as the university shows progress in reforming its governance and its financial management and in dealing with pending lawsuits. To keep the reforms going, the Green family will likely get two seats on the ORU board of regents, says the Tulsa World.

Meanwhile, the regents' chairman has announced that Roberts will be allowed to remain in the ORU presidential palace--temporarily.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I posted a brief note about Richard Roberts resignation as president of Oral Roberts University, the school founded by his famous faith-healing evangelist father.

But how significant is that resignation? Here are a couple of paragraphs from today's coverage on The Chronicle of Higher Education's website (subscription required):

Despite the controversies, Mr. Roberts has declared his intention to remain as chairman and chief executive of Oral Roberts Ministries, the central organization in the empire that includes the university.

Because of the ties between the two groups, Mr. Roberts's resignation from the university will have limited effect on his ability to misuse its funds if he remains in control of Oral Roberts Ministries, Tim Brooker, one of the three former professors who brought the lawsuit, told The Oklahoman, a newspaper in Oklahoma City.

As the university's regents search for a new president, and as candidates' names are rumored about, it will become clearer whether or not they are heading in the direction of reform. The new president needs to have few personal ties to Richard Roberts, or the credibility of his or her administration will need to be established over several years of hard decisions.

And, apparently, ORU's new president will have to make some tough decisions. More from the Chronicle:

The university, meanwhile, has reported itself as more than $50 million in debt. Much of the debt stems from the failure of the university's City of Faith hospital complex, which was intended to combine modern medicine with a belief in the power of prayer.

CT's December issue (already in your mailboxes, we trust) reported on a lawsuit three former professors brought against Oral Roberts University president Richard Roberts, the university, its regents, and three administrators.

According to the CT story, the lawsuit alleges misuse of university funds to support the lifestyle of the president and his family. It also alleges that Roberts coerced students into working for a politician's campaign and that Mrs. Roberts spent the night with an underage male student. The three professors claim they were wrongly forced out of their faculty positions for having brought the irregularities to the school administration's attention.

Tonight the Associated Press is reporting that Richard Roberts has resigned and that the school will announce a presidential search within a few days. See AP story here.

While the ballroom sessions of the first day of the Evangelical Theological Society meeting had more attendees, no session was as packed as J.P. Moreland's "How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It." While the average breakout session seems to be attended by fewer than 50 people, easily more than 200 packed the room to hear Moreland's talk, with dozens standing and more listening outside the door.

It's little wonder why so many people attended. ETS membership has only two doctrinal requirements: you must affirm the Trinity and the inerrancy of Scripture. The first part has not been controversial of late, but the second was the focus of the society's recent fight over open theism and was named as a reason why Francis Beckwith could not remain as ETS president after his conversion to Roman Catholicism.

In short, to accuse evangelicals of over-commitment to the Bible at ETS would be like accusing environmentalists of talking too much about climate change at a Sierra Club meeting. But Moreland, who has gained some prominence as a philosopher and apologist, wasn't pulling any punches.

Oral Roberts University president Richard Roberts will take a leave of absence after being accused of mishandling school funds and becoming illegally involved in a political campaign, the Associated Press reports.

The ORU Board of Regents announced today that it has accepted his leave of absence, and board executive Billy Joe Daughterty, senior pastor of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, will become acting president.

"The ORU Board of Regents regrets that the university family has had to endure this situation during recent weeks," George Pearsons, chairman of the board said in a statement. "The board is fully committed to supporting the efforts of the independent outside professional firms that will review the allegations and the practices in place at the University and report back to the Board."

Three former ORU professors filed a lawsuit on Oct. 2 that says that they were wrongfully dismissed and alleges the spending using school funds, including home remodels and a trip to the Bahamas. It also accuses Roberts of enlisting students in a local political campaign, which would violate the university's nonprofit status.

An amended complaint included details of an internal ministry report that says Richard Robert's wife Lindsay Roberts' contacted underage males. The AP reports that the documents says Lindsay Roberts spent the night in the university guest house with an underage male on nine separate occasions, among other allegations.

"The last three weeks have taken a serious toll on me and my family," Richard Roberts said in a statement Wednesday. "The untrue allegations have struck a terrible blow in my heart. The untrue allegations of sexual misconduct by my wife have hurt the most."

Oral Roberts is a 5,300-student charismatic university and a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.

A story in today's Chicago Tribune illustrates one of the tensions of living in an increasingly secular society. The article, "Religious-based education on trial: Christian high schools sue University of California, alleging bias in admissions," discusses a lawsuit that an association of Christian schools is suing the University of California because "the admissions policy at the university unconstitutionally discriminates against them because they teach from a religious perspective."

More specifically the plaintiffs claim that "UC follows the policy of rejecting any course in any subject, even if it teaches standard content, if it adds teaching of the school's religious viewpoint."

The University denies it, of course: "That statement simply is not true," said Christopher Patti, counsel for UC. "There is no prohibition on religious content in UC a-g courses," he said. "If the course adequately teaches the subject matter and adequately teaches the skills that students need in that subject, then the fact that it may also make reference to other theories doesn't disqualify it, even religious theories."

Without knowing more the details of the case, on the surface it seems like another battle in the culture wars than in cultural confusion.

The University, for example, refused to give credit for a course called, "Course: Special Providence: Christianity and the American Republic," the text of which was "American Government for Christian Schools" (Bob Jones University Press). The reason rejected was that " Content was not consistent with the "empirical historical knowledge generally accepted in the collegiate community."

Now this could indicate that the University has a narrow, Enlightenment understanding of what constitutes history--it may, for example, rule out miracle a priori as an explanation for an event.

Or it could mean that the textbook and class have not prepared students to participate in classes and conversations that will take place in a modern, secular university on the topic of history. A university has the right and obligation to ensure that when students step on campus, they are familiar with terms, theories, and perspectives that constitute the conversation on campus on any given topic.

Christian schools have an obligation not only to teach from a Christian perspective, but to thoroughly immerse their students in the worldview and perspective of the secular university if they expect them to attend there. This strikes me as a reasonable requirement of the university, but a necessary requirement of those who hope to bring Christ's salt and light to academia. If we demonstrate that we have not listened to or thoroughly understood the point of view of those with whom we disagree, why would they ever give our point of view a hearing?

No one in Washington or in mainstream media outlets seems to be coming right out and saying it, but the implication from much of the reporting and commentary regarding yesterday's House Judiciary Committee testimony of former Justice Department official Monica Goodling seems to be that Christian college graduates shouldn't be permitted in high government positions.

Try to find a news story today that doesn't mention that Goodling is a graduate of Regent University's law school, that the school was founded by Pat Robertson, and that it has a distinctly Christian mission. (Several reports also note that she did her undergraduate work at Messiah College, another distinctly Christian school.)

In fact, Rep. Stephen Cohen (D-Tenn.) spent most of his questions on Goodling's Christian education. Here's the transcript:

From a press release:

The Board of Trustees of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary has appointed Dr. Haddon W. Robinson as Interim President, effective July 1, 2007. Dr. Robinson succeeds Dr. James Emery White, who has resigned, effective June 30, 2007, due to family considerations which resulted in his unanticipated inability to relocate as planned from North Carolina to Massachusetts. Dr. White will continue to teach as Professor of Theology and Culture at the Charlotte Campus.

White has been president since July 1, 2006. CT's original report to follow shortly.