No honor among. . . academics. . .

Whether you agree with him or not, it would be difficult to deny not only the parish success but the great influence of Tim Keller -- an influence well beyond his own smaller denomination!  He is someone Lutherans listen to as well as evangelicals across the board.  It is a no brainer to acknowledge the long shadow Keller has cast over Christianity in the past two decades.  He is not only well known but well published as well.  So when Princeton Theological Seminary decided to honor him with the annual Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Witness (named after a famous Dutch neo-Calvinist theologian), it was also a no brainer.

Then Princeton Theological Seminary reversed course and said Keller will not receive the honor after all.  In an email to faculty and students on March 22, the president of the once conservative and now liberal mainline Protestant seminary, the Rev. Craig Barnes, was backtracking all the while insisting that Princeton and he remain committed to academic freedom and “the critical inquiry and theological diversity of our community.”  Well, to a point, it seems.  Barnes wanted to distance Princeton from Keller lest the award “imply an endorsement” of Keller’s views against the ordination of women and LGBTQ people.  Lord knows, we can offend conservative Christians all we want but no one dare challenge the sacred cows of women's ordination and the LGBTQ agenda.

“We are a community that does not silence voices in the church,” Barnes wrote. “In this spirit we are a school that can welcome a church leader to address one of its centers about his subject, even if we strongly disagree with his theology on ordination to ministry. Reverend Keller will be lecturing on Lesslie Newbigin and the mission of the church – not on ordination.”  No, Princeton may not silence voices but they do everything in their power to discredit them and to deny them -- even one as significant as Tim Keller.  Keller was gracious enough to agree to offer the lecture even without the award but this is about much more than that.  Can a Christian theological seminary, much less a university of any stripe, accept the viewpoints of those who were once mainstream only a decade or so ago but have now quickly been sidestepped by the new intolerance of feminism and gay rights?  That is the issue.  Increasingly the answer is "no."  The views that were once mainstream Christian doctrine and practice a decade or so ago have now become a pariah on secular university campuses and even those of so-called liberal Christian universities and seminaries.  So quickly and deeply have these become the litmus tests of new orthodoxy that no one may be allowed to offend.  That is the intolerance of the tolerant.

Just in case you do not know who Tim Keller is, look at his book credits below. . .

• Resources for Deacons: Love Expressed through Mercy Ministries (Christian Education and Publications, 1985) ISBN 0-9703541-6-9
• Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road (P&R Publishing, 1997) ISBN 0-87552-217-3
• Church Planter Manual (Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2002)
• The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (Dutton Adult, February 2008) ISBN 0-525-95049-4
• The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (Dutton Adult, November 2008) ISBN 0-525-95079-6
• Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (Dutton Adult, October 2009) ISBN 0-525-95136-9
• Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just (Dutton Adult, November 2010) ISBN 0-525-95190-3
• King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus (Dutton Adult, February 2011) ISBN 0-525-95210-1
• The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (Dutton Adult, November 2011) ISBN 0-525-95247-0
• The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy (10Publishing, March 2012) ISBN 978-1906173418
• Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (Zondervan, September 2012) ISBN 0-310-494184
• Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work (Dutton, November 2012) ISBN 978-0-525-95270-1
• Galatians For You (The Good Book Company, February 2013) ISBN 978-1908762573
• Judges For You (The Good Book Company, August 2013) ISBN 978-1908762900
• Walking with God through Pain and Suffering (Dutton, October 2013) ISBN 978-0-525-95245-9
• Encounters with Jesus: Unexpected Answers to Life's Biggest Questions (Dutton, 2013) ISBN 978-0-525-95435-4
• Romans 1-7 For You (The Good Book Company, February 2014) ISBN 978-1908762917
• Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God (Dutton, 2014) ISBN 978-0-525-95414-9
• Center Church Europe (Wijnen, Uitgeverij Van, 2014) Contributors are José de Segovia, Leonardo De Chirico, Michael Herbst, Frank Hinkelmann, Martin de Jong, Jens Bruun Kofoed, Daniel Liechti, András Lovas, David Novak, Stefan Paas and Martin Reppenhagen. ISBN 978-9-051-94480-8
• Romans 8-16 For You (The Good Book Company, February 2015) ISBN 978-1910307298
• Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism (Viking, June 2015) ISBN 978-0-525-95303-6
• The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotionals in the Psalms (Viking, November 2015) ISBN 978-0-525-95514-6
• Making Sense of GOD: An Invitation to the Skeptical (Viking, September 2016) ISBN 978-0-525-95415-6