[A new series, “[Look the Facts] Up,Chuck!”, posted soon after I find out about each new ARP Talk missive. Because truth is not much harder to write about than fiction.]
Today: ARPTalk Extra 11, an amalgamation of old issues already covered on this blog and a few new issues. I’ll cover the new stuff.
2. “No competent person who understand what an evangelical Christian is will call EC/ETS distinctively evangelical Christian.” I begin to question my own competency since I clearly believe Erskine is evangelically Christian. Oh dear. But let me get this straight: every administrator for 35 years ignored and subverted the mission of EC? Huh? John Carson? Don Weatherman? These are two examples from this decade that are admired to no end by Synod-supporters. Not to mention editorializing “subverted.” There are no differences of opinion in Chuck-world: you either do what he thinks is Erskine’s mission, or you are a dirty rotten subverter.
4. Tenure is a terrible system that I despise. Go figure. My problem here is not the conclusion, but Chuck’s apparent ignorance as to why Erskine has a tenure system at all (it’s certainly not to increase faculty productivity). Secondly, Chuck is so blinded by rage that he never bothers to figure out who is publishing/researching/etc and who is not. I know faculty are contributing far more than he lets on. Chuck, maybe you should compile a list for us instead of weasel words like “scant” and “some.” Let us know what you find.
5. “A faculty that very largely rejects the faith of the Church they were hired to promote.” Actually, pastors promote the ARP Church; faculty promote teaching and Erskine and the BoT. I know this is confusing. I am “very largely” hesitant to challenge Chuck’s gut feeling that Erskine professors are godless atheists (or worse, Methodists), but humor me here. Does he have a list? Or do we just know it is a lot?
Did you catch what he said, though? “In a sane world, the BoT owns and operates Erskine College and Seminary in trust for the ARP Church.” What a striking contrast to the Commission reports and Mr. Wingate’s answers at Erskine when this all started! In case you have forgotten, the Commission report said, “The ARP Church owns and operates Erskine College and Seminary through the trustees it appoints,” and in the complete report, the ARP Church “owns Erskine and appoints its board.” Enjoy the little things, my friends.
6. “The Scandal of Erskine is a president who uses bifurcated disingenuousness in dealing with a personnel issue.” Uh oh, somebody’s snitching again. Now Chuck knows the “private” communications of Dr. Ruble. Chuck’s right of course: we should immediately fire Dr. Crenshaw for unsubstantiated and unproven allegations of intimidation in the classroom. This is illegal, but that didn’t stop Synod in March!
8. How exactly is Dr. Ruble to blame for fiscal mismanagement that occurred under Dr. Carson’s presidency. I’m not even going to try to figure that out.
9. The election of Ruble by one vote is not a scandal; that’s called “majority rule.” Election by half a vote would be a scandal.
10. Wait, Chuck attacks Scott Mitchell for starting the lawsuit, and then for withdrawing the lawsuit? Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
11. Matthew 18:6 - “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Such a fate is clearly deserved for Dr. Crenshaw and all the other faculty, as Chuck writes, for Crenshaw winning the Younts Excellence in Teaching Award. When, exactly, did Dr. Crenshaw cause a “little one” to sin? That’s a pretty heady accusation to make, in my opinion.
12. Dr. Ruble is blamed for the current “divide” between the ARP Church and Erskine. Hm. I’m pretty sure the divide is “great” and “contentious” because of the Commission and firing the Board of Trustees – not because Ruble kept a balanced budget and increased student enrollment. Just a thought. Although blaming Ruble for all of our problems does seem like a Christian thing to do (and so convenient!).
13. Fiscal mismanagement in Admissions. Follow the budget, people. Also, I think it’s hilarious that “as far as anybody knows” means “nobody has snitched to me yet about it, so it hasn’t occurred.” Wow. Center of the universe, much?
15. The ARP Talk Editor is one of the few people who can transform a volunteer spirit, generous attitude, and commitment to one’s academic field into a criticism. Yes, Dr. Alston is on the Jump Rope committee or whatever it is. For the (third) time in your magazine, we know you’re “not making this up.” Until ARPTalk Extra 12…
20. Agreed! It’s important to blacklist hymns at Erskine. Next up: “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” I hear the author challenged Church authority. Shame on him!
Regarding the last sentence of the issue, “simper” means “to smile coyly.” I’m not sure what this has to do with a “shallow stream” and Erskine – I think he might mean “whimper.” Actually, the entire analogy is false because the scandal of Erskine is supposed to be a roaring waterfall drowning anything in its path and not a weak coy smile flowing slowly along.
Anyway, a better sentence would be, “THE SCANDAL OF THE ARP CHURCH will continue roaring along like a deep river if Chuck Wilson continues to make personal attacks and baseless accusations.” I understand the opinion that Erskine is not correctly following its mission statement; this is something we can argue about and (hopefully) solve. What I do not understand is the illogic (example: blaming Dr. Ruble for things he had no control over), the lack of attention to detail (ex: how many professors publish?), the sensationalistic accusations (ex: Dr. Burnett and Hering control the seminary?), and the ludicrous personal attacks (ex: Dr. Alston and jump rope) that characterize Chuck Wilson’s writings.
Tomorrow! My own submission to ARP Talk, published on this blog, where I reveal Erskine College to be the den of asps we all know it to be.
Bravo, Temp! Or Brava!
ReplyDeleteLove Medusa. Almost as poisonous as Chuck.