I agree with Darrel Falk here (of course I accept an evolutionary understanding of the origins of human beings, so I guess I would agree). Kudos to Bruce Waltke for being open and honest. I particularly like the final assessment (though I’m no longer an evangelical, I was one), also cited in the Inside Higher Ed piece about Waltke’s resignation:
Decades from now, when the Evangelical Church has come to terms with the reality of evolution, we hope she will look back at those who were the pioneers on its journey toward a fuller understanding of the manner by which God has created. I could list other pioneers, a number of whom are good friends and colleagues. Right there alongside them will be Dr. Bruce Waltke who, in the latter phase of an extremely distinguished career, had the courage to tell the Church what it needed to hear. The fact that he did so with a remarkably gentle spirit of love will be a reminder to all that the real battles are won when we simply live the reality of the Gospel. To do this—in the face of adversity—is the ultimate in courage.
How many of us compromise in this type of situation and try to squeeze our beliefs into a confessional statement rationalizing the whole time: “I believe what that statement says, I just use different words.”
4 responses to “Darrel Falk on Bruce Waltke's Resignation”
Thanks, Jeremy. I’m working on a roundup post on this topic.
Hey, are you not reading my blog any more? That’s perfectly all right, but what do I need to do to capture your interest again?
Hey, John. I do still read, but I haven’t been overly active online in the month of March, or really since SBL. So, I haven’t been commenting much. I’m trying real hard to get out from under this thesis. I’ve just got back into blogging more this week because I’ve gotten to a point where there’s not much more I can write until I run some more “experiments,” which I’ll do next week. Then, I may go inactive again for a while.
By the way, when you commented I looked at the BlogRoll and saw that I didn’t have you. I don’t know if that’s what I sparked the question. Rest assured, I didn’t add you on account of the comment, it was just an oversight on my part. I should have had you on there. I realized just yesterday or so that I had forgotten to add Goodacre too. I threw it together pretty quickly the other day.
Now that’s better! I even love to hate the same bloggers you do!
You don’t even want to look at my blogroll. It’s two years out of date. Once I get x and y done, I always say to myself, I’ll get to that, but it hasn’t happened yet. Jeremy, I will eventually get back to you on a lot of things. But it might not be for a couple of months yet.
I hear you. Most of my posts currently are just a little fun I have in a break between church work and writing/editing, which I’m getting ready to jump back into this week.