Carl Trueman, about whom I previously posted at least seven times,* is departing his long-time academic home at Westminster Theological Seminary for Grove City College, a highly-regarded undergraduate institution.
(Lawyers among my readers may recall that a dispute between Grove City College and the US Department of Education reached the United States Supreme Court in 1982. After the college won, Congress changed the law to ensure that the reach of the DOE would extend to all programs of colleges even thought the school did not accept any federal money. Standing on principle, Grove City then declined to matriculate students who accepted federal financial aid and now stands as one of the few bastions of true academic freedom in the United States.)
But back to Carl. While over the years I have had fine conversations with Carl, I certainly cannot count him as an intimate friend. And, while at times he can be a bit of a contrarian (well, okay, maybe that's another reason I like the guy), Carl's abiding love for Christ's Church as both an academic and as a pastor is exemplary. Carl's Church-centered theological perspective finds an appropriate ecclesial home in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. As recounted by D.G. Hart here, over the past several decades the OPC has gained by attrition as its more Evangelical pastors and members have left for the looser pastures of the Presbyterian Church in America. But even here Carl has proved something of a contrarian by not falling into the vice of sectarianism, which, it seems to me, characterizes the ethos of many who speak with a distinctively OPC voice.
The short of it: Grove City will be much the better for Carl's move.
* Posts about Carl as keynote speaker in 2012 at the annual Renew Conference of Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church here and here.
* Posts about his writings, print and online here, here, here, and here.
* A post about Carl as keynote speaker at the 2016 Convivium Irenicum of The Davenant Institute here.
(Lawyers among my readers may recall that a dispute between Grove City College and the US Department of Education reached the United States Supreme Court in 1982. After the college won, Congress changed the law to ensure that the reach of the DOE would extend to all programs of colleges even thought the school did not accept any federal money. Standing on principle, Grove City then declined to matriculate students who accepted federal financial aid and now stands as one of the few bastions of true academic freedom in the United States.)
But back to Carl. While over the years I have had fine conversations with Carl, I certainly cannot count him as an intimate friend. And, while at times he can be a bit of a contrarian (well, okay, maybe that's another reason I like the guy), Carl's abiding love for Christ's Church as both an academic and as a pastor is exemplary. Carl's Church-centered theological perspective finds an appropriate ecclesial home in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. As recounted by D.G. Hart here, over the past several decades the OPC has gained by attrition as its more Evangelical pastors and members have left for the looser pastures of the Presbyterian Church in America. But even here Carl has proved something of a contrarian by not falling into the vice of sectarianism, which, it seems to me, characterizes the ethos of many who speak with a distinctively OPC voice.
The short of it: Grove City will be much the better for Carl's move.
* Posts about Carl as keynote speaker in 2012 at the annual Renew Conference of Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church here and here.
* Posts about his writings, print and online here, here, here, and here.
* A post about Carl as keynote speaker at the 2016 Convivium Irenicum of The Davenant Institute here.
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