Closure of Calvary Baptist Seminary: Predictable and Repeatable

In October 2012 I published, What Does Pillsbury, Tennessee Temple and Northland International University Have in Common?

“Tennessee Temple and its leadership pursued a path of ‘relevance.’ accommodated carnality, and today even secular media can’t help but notice that there is a parallel between the institution’s decline and its accommodation of the world at the sacrifice of Biblical, Christian distinctives. Let those pastors, churches and institutions who abandon their fundamental heritage, have disdain for those who have gone before, and pursue a path towards ‘Conservative Evangelicalism’ be forewarned…their end is tragically predictable.”

Last week, Calvary Baptist Seminary (CBS) in Lansdale, PA announced that it would be closing its doors at the conclusion of the current academic year.  At the pseudo-fundamentalist Sharper Iron (SI)* I have read how the members there lament the news of CBS closing.  What we read, however, is primarily what I see as a blame shift. They seem to think that not keeping up with the times in Internet offerings killed off the school. While having an aggressive Internet program for off-site learning may have been helpful, there is IMO a more reasonable explanation for the closing of CBS.

A reason for the closure of CBS that is not being discussed by the new wave of new evangelicals at SI is that CBS drifted far from its foundational roots.  Tim Jordan and Sam Harbin charted a course far from the school’s fundamental, Baptistic, separatist heritage.

In recent years Jordan/Harbin have opened the school to new evangelicals.  Drs. Mark Dever and Haddon Robinson most notably. For the Mark Dever event both Dr. Kevin Bauder and Dr. Dave Doran eagerly participated in the conference.

What Calvary Baptist Seminary once was under the leadership of Tim Jordan’s father, “Chief” Jordan, will be missed. What CBS became under Tim Jordan and Sam Harbin will not.

Finally, it is my belief that the closure of Calvary Baptist Seminary was predictable and will be repeated. Calvary joins Pillsbury Baptist Bible College and Tennessee Temple in their demise. I also believe we will see the closure of Northland International University (NIU) and Central Baptist Seminary (Minneapolis, MN). For drifting far from their original markers as fundamental Baptist separatist schools NIU and Central will not survive. NIU and Central will not survive having become non-separatist, evangelical schools. They will not survive having alienated their base and alumni! NIU and Central cannot compete for students with the star personalities of and/or high-profile schools in the so-called “conservative” evangelicalism.

Northland and Central will not survive having abandoned their fundamental heritage, disdain for those who have gone before, and pursuing a path toward “conservative” evangelicalism.

LM

Update: June 15, 2014
For an important continuation on the closure of Calvary Baptist Seminary please refer to, “They are Accountable for Failure and Won’t Own Up to It.”

Related Reading:

Dr. Ernest Pickering: The Separatist Cause is Not Advanced by Featuring Non-Separatists

Kevin Bauder & Dave Doran to Join Mark Dever at Lansdale: Is This a Fundamentalism Worth Saving?

The Convergence of Fundamentalism and Non-Separatist Evangelicalism

*Sharper Iron: In the Iron Skillet

Kevin Bauder Reassigned and Relieved From Administrative Responsibilities

Dr. Kevin Bauder has been reassigned to a newly created position as Research Professor of Systematic Theology. Kevin Bauder “will be entirely liberated from administrative responsibilities.”1

Kevin Bauder’s Fundamentalism worth saving has proven to be a call to embrace the so-called “conservative” evangelicals. To fellowship and co-minister with Evangelicals Bauder has been writing to influence his readers to allow for, tolerate and excuse their aberrant doctrine, worldliness, disdain for biblical separatism and ecumenical compromises. As one writer noted,

“Dr. Bauder does often speak on separation issues, yet seems to have blind spots in regard to disobedient brethren and ecclesiastical separation. (Matt. 18:15-18; Rom. 16:17-18; 1 Cor. 5:1-13; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14-15; Titus 1:9-10) Is there absolutely no separation here with ‘conservative’ evangelicals’? Dr. Bauder is seeking to administer the morphine of ‘Conservative Evangelicalism’ to ailing Fundamentalism to finally put it to sleep…. Militant, Separatist Fundamentalism is anathema to the Non-separatist Evangelical and in their estimation, the sooner it is buried the better.”2

Dr. Gerald Priest rightly defined the tone of Bauder’s articles on the Fundamentalism/Evangelicalism discussion.

“Kevin has been quite lavish in his praise of conservative evangelicals while castigating so-called fundamentalists. Yet he has spent very little time warning us about the pitfalls and problems of conservative evangelicalism…. What I fear is that we may be allowing a Trojan horse into the fundamentalist camp. And after a while, if we keep going down this track, any significant difference between conservative evangelical and the fundamentalist institutions may disappear. Fundamentalists will become even ‘nicer’ to the conservative evangelicals and they in turn will appear more ‘respectable’ to the fundamentalists. It may be that some fundamentalists desire this. But then, would they not also have to forfeit the label?

On learning of Bauder’s reassignment one pastor said he is more concerned than ever because Bauder’s power is not linked to any ability to gather a large student body or preach dynamic messages. His power is in his pen. More time for him to engage in writing may bring more problems.

Central acknowledges that funding a man to exclusively research and write “involves a substantial financial commitment.” Because of Bauder’s redefining biblical separatism3 to brush aside the obvious reasons to restrain oneself from promoting and embracing Evangelicalism, because he redefines biblical separatism to legitimize fellowship and unity with Evangelicals, because he castigates Fundamentalism with impunity, my hope will be that funding for his new position will dry up quickly.


LM

1) Central Seminary Creates Research Professorship

2) The Convergence of Fundamentalism and Non-Separatist Evangelicalism by Pastor Tod Brainard, The Projector, Fall 2010. (To appear at IDOTG in the coming days.)

3) Kevin Bauder has strayed far from and is trying to influence the current and next generation away from the application of the principles biblical separatism of his CBTS predecessors Dr. Richard V. Clearwaters and Dr. Ernest Pickering.

For related reading see-

Kevin Bauder and Dave Doran to Join Mark Dever at Lansdale: Is This a Fundamentalism Worth Saving?

Do Fundamentalists & Evangelicals, “Believe, Preach and Defend the [Same] Gospel?”

Kevin Bauder, “It Won’t Fly With Us Who Know…”

Excusing the Brother For the Sake of His Sister: Is This the New “Fresh Application” of Biblical Separatism?

A Letter From Dr. Richard V. Clearwaters to Kevin Bauder

John MacArthur Refreshes Kevin Bauder’s Short term Memory: “Conservative” Evangelicals” Extended Christian Recognition to Roman Catholics