In case you missed it, a Wheaton College graduate took a shot at his alma mater last week in the pages of the conservative journal First Things. We covered it here and here.
Today Timothy Larsen, the McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton (and a contributing editor at Current), has weighed-in. Here is a taste of his piece at Church Leaders: “Some Say it Thundered: The Lordship of Christ at Wheaton College.”
…So when did Wheaton veer off course? Some say it was during the presidency of A. Duane Liftin, a Dallas Theological Seminary graduate and a pastor from Tennessee.
After all, Litfin presided over the changing of the name of Wheaton’s sports teams from Crusaders to Thunder. One advantage, however, of the new name is that it reminds us of Bible passages. For me, it makes me think of when a voice from heaven confirmed that Jesus was truly glorifying the Father: “The people therefore, that stood by and heard it, said that it thundered” (John 12:29).
Wheaton must ever be vigilant. A day could come when the courage of Wheaton fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of Christian fellowship, but it is not this day. Wheaton is still unabashedly standing for Christ and his kingdom. Those words are defiantly on our letterhead and business cards and promotional literature for all to read—not even in Greek or Latin, but in plain English.
And they do not belie the reality on the ground. A prominent evangelical leader recently said publicly that you should not send your children to Wheaton, but to a truly Christian school such as Hillsdale. Hillsdale has many strengths, but being a thoroughly Christian college is not one of them. Hillsdale professors are not even required to be Christians, let alone adhere to a detailed statement of faith and community covenant as Wheaton faculty members joyfully do.
Of course, there will always be things that happen at Wheaton that you would wish were not so. People will always be able to point and exclaim in outrage, “They assign ‘The Communist Manifesto!’” or “Litfin gave in to political correctness and got rid of the Crusaders,” or the like.
My simple plea is that you don’t just cherry-pick the evidence that fits a decline narrative, but take an honest look at what Wheaton as a whole is like today.…
Read the entire piece here.
