Hey people, I live in Wheaton. I know students, profs and admins that work there. This is not surprising AT ALL.
I pointed that out in the OP, and numerous times since.
Unless there is some other essay she wrote, it was actually a Facebook post on her personal page.
I live near Wheaton too. It’s very disappointing.
It is a struggle to keep the integrity of a christian college’s beliefs. So many schools have lost touch with their christian founding roots.
The God of the Bible is part of the trinity–the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons, and yet each are fully God. Mind-blowing, yes, but this is central to the Christian Faith. As the muslims do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, their religion does not recognize the Christian’s Triune God.
The professor’s statement about christians worshipping the same God as the muslims is disturbing. (I will not say that it OFFENDS me. That word has already been worn out by others.)
Maybe this professor got a little too excited in her compassion, and maybe she spoke/wrote her post without really thinking it through. There can be compassion without embracing another religion’s god.
What next?
Firing jewish professors who exchange xmas gifts?
If you read the New Testament, it is absolutely clear that its writers believed they were worshipping the same God as the Jews, although they added new doctrines. Islam also accepts the Old Testament account of God, but adds new doctrines. You can argue about all these doctrines, but it is just silly to say these religions don’t worship the same God. I’m just surprised to learn that Wheaton is silly.
I expected better. They weren’t the over-the-top Liberty types.
A few thoughts based on comments:
1. I'm a Protestant and Wheaton is a Protestant school -- not sure which denomination, but the whole "saved/justified by faith" thing has been a common teaching in every church I've spent any serious time in... to date: Quaker, Presbyterian, Nazarene, Methodist, Evangelical Free. It is a central tenet of Christianity to us spiritual descendants of Luther, Wesley and (actually, or...) Calvin.
- I think they ought to join me and many others in realizing that the creation story was a loose metaphor for what went down... that instead of six days of work, it was more like six billion (or more...?) years. We can't explain the origins of space or matter -- maybe an eternal God created them and started the clock by causing matter to move. But it's pretty clear that things have been evolving for a long time, regardless of origins.
Would that be such a bad hybrid theory for them to accept and promote? That way at least they could teach evolutionary biology/chem/physics and avoid denying their students those integral concepts.
- To my knowledge, Wheaton is the best (practicing) Christian LAC in existence, in terms of academic quality. Their rep is pretty strong aside from the obvious issues with science content. Maybe it's time, to avoid further negatively impactful cases like this, to loosen up the collar just a bit and practice the Golden Rule and forgiveness aspects of Christ's teaching as opposed to the fire-and-brimstone aspects. All have fallen short of Christ's glory; start there. Forgive the prof, talk it out, try to move on with her still on staff.
Interesting thread, thanks!
@prezbucky @al2simon @Scipio Wheaton does NOT teach creationism in the science departments. Unless I’m badly mistaken, the school holds a theistic evolutionary view (ie. evolution is real, but set in motion by God). A biology class at Wheaton is probably 99% identical to one taught at the University of Illinois (or any other secular institution). Nova/PBS did a documentary covering Wheaton’s view on evolution a few years ago that might be on Youtube. Anecdotally, I have former classmates in my graduating class attending Mayo, University of Minnesota, Wake Forest, and University of Washington Medical schools (and several other schools). They would not have been able to score well on the MCAT and be accepted to these schools had Wheaton’s science curriculum been deficient.
The thing that posters he have a hard time understanding is that many evangelicals do not believe in freedom of religion at all. They believe in freedom of their religion.
Wheaton’s action here is typical and predictable. They don’t care how it looks to others. It is what they believe. They do not accept that they worship the same God. They believe this on faith. Their is no way to argue against it.
It is like someone believing that batman and superman are really the same person, while others do not accept that view. Neither view can be proven with facts because these characters do not exist in the natural world. It is a discussion about the imaginary.
On the one hand, yeah, it’s disappointing that Wheaton is acting like Liberty. But the photo of kids protesting was wonderful to see. I have so little hope about evangelicals being on the “side of the angels” these days that it was really encouraging to see that there are evangelical kids out there who see their faith as an inspiration for tolerance. I assume those kids have a conservative interpretation of the Bible, and are pretty darned devoted or they wouldn’t be at Wheaton – but they find it’s moving them to support the professor. Impressed by the kids, if not by Wheaton.
On hijab, actually, if they’re going to be literal followers of everything in the Bible, one of the earliest books in the NT (pre-dating the gospels) is a letter from Paul, one of the few that can really be attributed to him, and here’s what it says about women and veiling. Maybe Wheaton (and Liberty) should be using this prof as a fashion example for all women students, at least in church, at Bible study, at daily prayers, etc:
1 Corinthians 11:5-7
“Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head–it is the same as having her head shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.”
I don’t think that protest would have happened at Liberty, so that’s a point in Wheatons favor, unless they punish those students.
That’s correct as I understand it, @OHMomof2. It was a lengthy essay she posted on her FB page, on 12/13, which anyone one FB can read:
And this is the article by Miroslav Volf (“Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God?”) she links to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miroslav-volf/god-versus-allah_b_829955.html
Again, I ask, where in her FB essay does she contradict, in any way, Wheaton’s official Statement of Faith and Educational Purpose (which I linked to upthread)?
I am not a theologian, but I am very familiar with evangelical faith. My suspicion is that Wheaton’s administration caved to pressures from those with close ties to the school (board, parents, students?) and not any actual theologians within their faculty.
<<<
- I'm a Protestant and Wheaton is a Protestant school -- not sure which denomination, but the whole "saved/justified by faith" thing has been a common teaching in every church I've spent any serious time in... to date: Quaker, Presbyterian, Nazarene, Methodist, Evangelical Free. It is a central tenet of Christianity to us spiritual descendants of Luther, Wesley and (actually, or...) Calvin. <<<
Which is why I wonder how tolerant they are of Catholics who believe that we are saved by grace alone.
sola gratia (Catholic) vs sola fide (Protestant)
Hunt said…“You can argue about all these doctrines, but it is just silly to say these religions don’t worship the same God.”
But Hunt, the Islamic principle that Jesus is not the Son of God is an un-mendable gap; a distinction from Christians’ fundamental beliefs. I think this is part and parcel of Wheaton’s discomfort with the professor’s statement. That said, the appropriateness of suspending her is debatable.
@LakeWashington @Much2learn @LucieTheLakie @Pizzagirl It’s important to note that the Wheaton admin is not passing definitive judgement, but suspending her until that determination can be made. From today’s Chicago Tribune article on this incident, it seems like the school admin and the professor are moving toward reconciliation, which is good to hear.
The point of contention the admin had in her essay was her theological statement about Islam and Christianity sharing the same God. I think the administration is concerned that her statements contradict the language of the Trinity, which is a key tenet in the evangelical Protestant religious tradition. To people who are not religious, this whole incident is understandably silly, but the Wheaton College admin always been deeply concerned with safeguarding its religious identity (one reason so many colleges with deep religious roots are “religious in name only” today is because they didn’t do this)
I don’t agree with her suspension, but I think the tolerant position would be to extend to Wheaton, as a religious institution, the ability to protect its expression of its beliefs as it sees fit and how it carries itself in the world.
Sorry – yes, it’s “saved by grace, justified by faith”.
I can’t believe I forgot to mention grace.
In Catholicism these are two different things. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is that Mary, the mother of Christ, was conceived without sin. My understanding is that this is one of the Catholic beliefs which Wheaton sees as incompatible with its Statement of Faith and which caused it not to renew the contract of a professor who converted to Catholicism.
The virgin birth means that Jesus Christ did not have a biological human father.
^^^
Right…the Virgin Birth is not and never is considered to be the Immaculate Conception.
the Immaculate Conception occured about 15 years earlier when Mary was conceived in HER mother’s womb. As the Ark of the New Covenant, she had to be pure.
Nothing personal, but this is one of my pet peeves: “Just a theory.” It implies that a theory is just a hypothesis–a guess.
Scientific American calls it one of 7 misused scientific words.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/just-a-theory-7-misused-science-words/
Theories are factual. Defy the germ theory of disease at your own risk.