Theological Drift

Last weekend my sister called me and asked if I'd heard about all of the "controversy" going on at Northwestern College, my alma mater. I told her that no, I hadn't heard about anything controversial that was going on at Northwestern. She proceeded to send me a link to this website. Some unidentified affiliates of the college formed this website that contains documents that spell out the entire affair. To save you a lot of reading time, let me summarize what I gleaned from the site and the documents found therein: it turns out that some faculty members and trustees from the board have begun to feel that there is a bit of a "theological drift" toward postmodernism and liberalism at the college that has taken place over the last several years. These faculty members and trustees have expressed their concerns to the administration and, despite promises that there would be no repercussions for their opinions, some of them have since been demoted or replaced. And to further the tension, the faculty was surveyed and it was found that at least 44% of the faculty feels that there is a spirit of "fear and mistrust" present on the campus. That doesn't sound too good!

As a graduate of Northwestern I am concerned about the potential of theological drift (however my experiences as a student weren't necessarily laden with solid, conservative, traditional theology - a lot of my professors had somewhat of a "I'm not going to tell you what's right, I want you to figure out what's right" kind of attitude about theology, which is fine and to be expected at the undergraduate level, except when people think heresy is right. At that point a professor needs to step in.). I certainly don't want to see Northwestern tend towards liberalism and postmodernism.

For more info on the scandal, check out my sister's blog - she summarizes the whole situation nicely.

There's a forum to address the controversy scheduled for students, faculty, and alumni this Thursday. I plan to attend.