The Protestant Seminary in America

Abstract

The Protestant Reformation established a theological basis from which all subsequent movements and institutions claiming to be Christian would be measured. The Protestant Seminary in America has sailed through the troubled waters of higher criticism, modernism, postmodernism, and secularism and because of these contrary pressures has not always remained faithful to the Reformer’s biblical convictions. This chapter traces the historical development of the Protestant seminary down to the present time, taking special note of the tension that exists between the academic and spiritual goals inherent in the process of training Protestant clergy. This chapter is written with two presuppositions. First, that the Bible’s testimony to the person of Jesus Christ and his Gospel should set the direction of all activities associated with the Protestant Seminaries. Charles Hodge of Princeton Theological Seminary said it like this: “The True and Christian method is to begin with the doctrines and let them determine our philosophy, and not to begin with philosophy and allow it to give law to our doctrines.” Second, given the nature of spiritual battle, we should not be surprised that pressures coming from hostile forces would far too often push the seminary off its evangelical course. J. Gresham Machen makes that point when he writes, “the same old story, so often repeated, of an institution formerly evangelical that is being made to drift away by insensible degrees from the gospel it was founded by godly donors to maintain.” I conclude by offering five essential characteristics that would bind the American Protestant Seminary to its orthodox origins: (1) institutional integrity; (2) intellectual integrity; (3) biblical fidelity; (4) sacred militancy; and (5) heart-felt piety.

The acquisition of academic knowledge [the ‘pride of life’] is a wearing process and I wonder now if it is all worthwhile. The shiny paint laid on by curiosity’s hand has worn off. What thing better can a man know than the love of Christ, which passes knowledge? Oh to be reveling in the knowledge of Him, rather than wallowing in the quagmire of inscrutable philosophy! My philosophy prof says I can’t [this is a direct quotation] expect to learn much in his class – all he wants to do is to develop an inquiring mind in order to ‘make explicit and critically examine philosophical problems of the widest generality.’ Ho hum.

Jim Elliot (as cited in Elliot, 1956 , p. 40)