Last week Stephen Welch blogged a post titled Knox Theological Seminary: A New Haven for Federal Visionists. If you haven’t already done so, check it out. It’s a good post. The article, which also appeared here on The Aquila Report site, breaks the news that Knox Theological Seminary (KTS) has hired Federal Visionists John Armstrong and Peter Leithart. This is certainly big news. But to some pre-2007 KTS students , it’s not especially surprising.
At the height of the fall 2007 controversy centering on OT professor Warren Gage and his – uh, how shall I say it – unique brand of typology, my friend Jason Grabulis started a blog focused on providing accurate news and commentary to KTS students, who had largely been kept in the dark by the administration about the details of the Gage firing/suspension/rehiring circus. Jason, writing on his now defunct Stuff That Matters blog – the administration at Knox out of their concern to keep students up to date and preserve the free flow of information forced Jason to take down the blog on pain of losing his scholarship, the truth may set you free, but at KTS it also gets you the left foot of fellowship, not to worry, though, you can find the full contents of Jason’s blog here – made the following statement on November 10, 2007,
Since some Federal Vision (and some NPP) advocates appear to endorse Dr. Gage and his hermeneutic (for instance, Peter Leithart) – since Dr. Gage’s hermeneutic does provide an exegetical basis for their theology – then will the Federal Visionists see this as an opportunity to move into Knox Seminary and establish a Federal Visionist and New Perspective on Paul institution and ministry?
Good call, Jason. That’s insight. Now what do you think about the odds of NT Wright being the next Knox guest of honor? For my part, I imagine they’re pretty good. If nothing else, the weather in Ft. Lauderdale’s got to be better than in St. Andrews.
At about the same time another former KTS student, one of Jason’s classmates, made a similar comment, writing,
Now that Gage and his Federal-Vision-friendly teaching are firmly ensconced at Knox Theological Seminary, and his opponents Beisner, White, and Reymond, who also were opponents of the Federal Vision, are now gone from the school, Knox Seminary is in danger of becoming a bastion of Federal Vision/New Perspective on Paul teaching. And this danger extends to the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church as well. – Imagining a Vain Thing, p.104, n.10
The predicted chickens have finally come home to roost. And while there’s some satisfaction in being ahead of the curve regarding the doctrinal direction of KTS, that satisfaction is more than offset by the knowledge that the transformation of Knox into a Federal Vision school is no longer a future event, but a present reality.
All this raises an interesting question, now that KTS has gone FV, whither Coral Ridge? It’s separated from Knox by no more than the breadth of N. Federal (Vision) Highway and wide open to an FV takover…if that hasn’t happened already.
May the Lord defend the truth of his Gospel.
[…] Read the full article here. […]
[…] written at some lenght about Knox in the past (see, here, here, here, here, here, and here). For those unfamiliar with Knox, the history of the school falls […]
[…] Trinity Review I wrote at the time Gage retired, I have on occasion published blog posts on KTS (see here, here and here). But until last week’s interview, admittedly it’s been a while since […]