[Vision2020] NSA Still Missing from AAR/SBL Conference

[nickgier at adelphia.net]

This post will be of interest only to those who are following the controversy surrounding New St. Andrews College (NSA).

I’m now at my daughter’s house in Edmonton after a weekend conference in Lethbridge.  It was the annual meeting of the regional American Academy of Religion and Society for Biblical Literature.  

I’ve extended a personal invitation to NSA every year since 2002, but they have been no shows every year.  They still must have, as NSA President Roy Atwood said in 2003, “better things to do.”

The first thing that I noticed was that the top student paper prizes went to students from conservative evangelical schools.  Each year I have notified NSA of this annual student paper competition, but there have been no NSA submissions of which I am aware.

My section on Asian and Comparative Studies had only one session (usually have three), so I was able to visit sessions on theology, history of Christianity, and New Testament.  The most interesting session was on the Gospel of John, where three evangelicals and one “liberal” had a very constructive debate about John’s relation with the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

The keynote speaker was James M. Robinson, my doctoral thesis advisor from Claremont Graduate University.  Significantly enough, he was invited to speak by Paul Anderson, the top New Testament scholar at George Fox University, supported by the born again Quakers whose Medford Friends Church I grew up in.  My pastor really wanted me to go to George Fox, but I chose the OSU Beavers instead.

Prof. Anderson could have chosen a scholar of his own “stripe,” but it is a true sign of collegiality and respect that he chose Robinson, whose greatest claim to fame is the “keeper” and editor of the Gnostic Gospels.  He has received high praise for the way he, chosen by UNESCO, preserved the original texts and arranged for their translation.

Conservative evangelical schools were well represented.  From Canada there was Trinity Western, Regents University (where our own Ed Iverson took some classes), Prairie Bible College, and Taylor University and Seminary. From the US there was Seattle Pacific, Concordia (conservative Missouri Synod Lutheran), Faith Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, and George Fox University.

I’m not well versed in Canadian accreditation, but of the U. S. schools only Faith Seminary of Tacoma has chosen NSA’s Bible College accrediting agency.  All the others listed above have found that the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities does not compromise their biblical principles.  

The following Northwest conservative Christian schools not at the conference also had no problem with these “secular” standards: Eugene Bible College, Northwest Christian College, Northwest Nazarene, Trinity Luthern, Warner Pacific, Western Seminary, and Whitworth College in Spokane.

Next year the conference will be at George Fox, and once again I invite NSA faculty and students to attend and present their papers at the conference.  

They might also reconsider their opposition to the Northwest Commission so that their students are not handicapped in their graduate education possibilities.

Nick Gier