Wheaton College

[temporal1]

Oh, this happened because Wheaton decided not to get involved in a political dispute on Facebook.

i agree, if your point is to read in context.

[ohio jones]

I would agree that Wheaton has indeed drifted if an alum helped draft Project 2025 and is serving in the president's cabinet.

I'm not sure it's fair to criticize a college on the basis on one alumnus. After all, people have gone to ultra-conservative Bible Schools and ended up in gay marriages. If there's a pattern of a significant number of people related to the college doing similar things, and the official communications have a pattern of supporting it, that's a different story.

Wheaton was never Anabaptist, CM. Not for one day.

Yes. What they are experiencing is tension between evangelical right and evangelical left.

[temporal1]

Biblical standards, not political affiliations, should shape the direction and hiring policies of a 'Christian institution'. The college's board members and teaching staff should be chosen from among those who support its purpose and doctrinal stance.

If a formerly Christian educational institution experiences a shift in its Biblical fidelity, they should change their name.

i agree.
BRAND NAMES are valuable.
i don’t expect to see improvement in honest labeling, not even in churches, faith-based endeavors. i wish.

[Ken]

Biblical standards, not political affiliations, should shape the direction and hiring policies of a 'Christian institution'. The college's board members and teaching staff should be chosen from among those who support its purpose and doctrinal stance.

Not professional competence?

I've seen how this actually works in practice. At one "Christian Institution" I'm familiar with and where my wife was an affiliate faculty, prospective hires are just presented with a statement of doctrine to sign in which they indicate their agreement. Maybe they ask a softball question or two during the interview and that is it. It is like checking off any other of the blizzard of HR forms you deal with as a new hire.

[temporal1]

Biblical standards, not political affiliations, should shape the direction and hiring policies of a 'Christian institution'. The college's board members and teaching staff should be chosen from among those who support its purpose and doctrinal stance.

Not professional competence?
I've seen how this actually works in practice. At one "Christian Institution" I'm familiar with and where my wife was an affiliate faculty, prospective hires are just presented with a statement of doctrine to sign in which they indicate their agreement. Maybe they ask a softball question or two during the interview and that is it. It is like checking off any other of the blizzard of HR forms you deal with as a new hire.

you’re in the wrong place for gotcha games.

[temporal1]

.. As far as drift in the other direction, closer to the gospel, I don't see that happening either. The college didn't seem shy to congratulate Vought. They withdrew their social media post after realizing it was worded too politically one-sided. It seems they withdrew it because it was too partisan, not because it was too political or too much idealizing power. And I am really curious about the drift happening toward a more liberal political stance. A lack of evidence would have been more convincing then the evidence presented, which implies no real evidence, and a need to misrepresent things.

Wheaton has never had a problem with being political.

i wouldn’t see “drifting in the other direction” as being “closer to gospel” (which some authentically want) .. but drfting to leftist politics, which they’re already so deep into, they’re not seeing it, whether out of authentic blindness, or denial, not wanting to rock boats.

i have the benefit of noticing the leftist drift in Wheaton over years+years, not close, not relying on the article alone.
oj’s post above sums it up.

oj:
Yes. What they are experiencing is tension between evangelical right and evangelical left.

it could be comical, if not so tragic, how the left feels 100% entitled to their flags-blazing politics, yet EXPLODE at the mention of the possibility of opposing positions. it doesn’t make much news until the left EXPLODES. then, it’s everywhere.

there are always some quietly watching. ignored. [not non-existent.]
my wise mother urged, “don’t ignore-underestimate the quiet ones”. great advice.

[JohnH]

Biblical standards, not political affiliations, should shape the direction and hiring policies of a 'Christian institution'. The college's board members and teaching staff should be chosen from among those who support its purpose and doctrinal stance.

Not professional competence?
I've seen how this actually works in practice. At one "Christian Institution" I'm familiar with and where my wife was an affiliate faculty, prospective hires are just presented with a statement of doctrine to sign in which they indicate their agreement. Maybe they ask a softball question or two during the interview and that is it. It is like checking off any other of the blizzard of HR forms you deal with as a new hire.

you’re in the wrong place for gotcha games.

In judgment day none of us will be asked to present our professional credentials.

[Neto]

Biblical standards, not political affiliations, should shape the direction and hiring policies of a 'Christian institution'. The college's board members and teaching staff should be chosen from among those who support its purpose and doctrinal stance.

Not professional competence?

I've seen how this actually works in practice. At one "Christian Institution" I'm familiar with and where my wife was an affiliate faculty, prospective hires are just presented with a statement of doctrine to sign in which they indicate their agreement. Maybe they ask a softball question or two during the interview and that is it. It is like checking off any other of the blizzard of HR forms you deal with as a new hire.

I didn't intend to imply that this would be the ONLY criteria. Professional competence would be a "given".

But as to doctrine, when I applied for service with WBT, I was required to write out an entire doctrinal statement - not just sign off on one the agency had written up. We were required to agree to the doctrinal statement even just for the language school in Brazil, and it made a huge up-roar when we didn't agree to their stance on eternal security for all who at one time had believed. If we had not already been taking the classes for around a month and a half - without any other students or staff knowing of our different position - we would have been asked to leave the school. (We were suppose to have been asked to sign off on it before starting classes, but the director was on a short furlough, and the temporary director, another student, never mentioned it, or asked us if we had signed it. We were there there as students for over 10 months, and I don't think anyone who was not in that hours-long meeting where we were 'interrogated" about it ever found out. If we had been asked to leave at that point, there probably would have been lots of questions about why we left before finishing the course. The thing is we DO believe in the eternal security of the believer - the condition being that the person in question has a living belief.)

I really do think that ordination candidates for pastoral ministry (and at least for long-term ministry/missionary service) should be able to describe their beliefs as well, but I doubt if that will ever happen in our (collective) setting.

[JohnH]

Didn’t we just hear in another thread that personal morality impacts how one conducts business?

[Pelerin]

Wheaton was never Anabaptist, CM. Not for one day.

Yes. What they are experiencing is tension between evangelical right and evangelical left.

In a sense nothing has changed at all. I read the letter and looking at the way the issues are framed it’s pretty much identical to something you’d read from the Family Research Council about the correct biblical position on the Bush capital gains tax rate cut or something. Just with issues that are currently more fashionable for people of their class.