Waltke is expected to be interviewed by the board of Knox Theological Seminary later this week to beginning teaching there during upcoming winter/spring periods.

On Tuesday, April 6, the Reformed Theological Seminary website carried a very brief note about more than 50 faculty members who had signed contracts for another year of teaching and mentioned the three that were leaving.
· David Jussley – leaving the Jackson campus to return to a pastoral position.
· Sam Larson – stepping back to part-time teaching due to health concerns.
· Bruce Waltke – resigned his position as Professor of Old Testament at the Orlando campus.

During the next few days, the blogosphere became alive with discussions about Dr. Waltke’s resignation. Then, on Thursday the secular media (Orlando Sentinel) carried a brief story making public for the first time the reasons for the resignation – an issue at the heart of the inerrancy of Scripture: were Adam and Eve historically the first two humans.

For the next three days many other media outlets picked up the story. A long and critical article from Friday on the Web Magazine Inside Higher Education hit the web and the next day the USA Today website reprinted the story. This story, written by Scott Jaschik, the Editor of Inside Higher Ed, was especially problematic.

Jaschik based a large portion of his story on blog entries from writers who are commentators, not reporters. One blogger claimed that RTS had ‘bullied’ Waltke into his resignation; the story below will show this to be incorrect. Another extensive portion of the IHS story (several paragraphs) is attributed to the wrong blogger.

In order to put all of this in perspective, this story follows a detailed chronological order. (This results in a longer than normal story for this magazine, but the topic is complex and important and we believe that it is necessary.)

The chronology begins with a brief background of Dr. Waltke. The following is from the RTS website (which shows the esteem that institution held for their professor):

Prof. Bruce Waltke is a preeminent Old Testament scholar, holding doctorates from Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.D.), Harvard University (Ph.D.), and Houghton College (D. Litt.). His teaching appointments at Dallas Theological Seminary, Regent College, Westminster Theological Seminary, and currently at Reformed Theological Seminary Orlando, have earned him a reputation as a master teacher with a pastoral heart. In addition to serving on the translation committee of the NIV and TNIV and as editor of the Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, Waltke has written commentaries on Genesis, Proverbs, and Micah. His latest publication, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical and Thematic Approach, earned the Christian Book Award in 2008.

One can see a thread weaving through this career, moving from Bible church dispensationalism to a more and more Reformed view of theology, resulting in his being hired as faculty at two of the premier confessional seminaries in the country.

But one can also note, by looking at the faculty listings at Westminster Seminary Philadelphia that Waltke served during the period that Peter Enns was a student. Rick Phillips, pastor at Second Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Greenville, S.C., reported in a recent blog that during the time he was a student at WTS it was recognized that Waltke was Enns’ ‘mentor’. Enns returned to the faculty after completing his PhD and served for 14 years, until 2008 when the Board of Trustees, acting on a series of issues that developed from his teachings and writings – including his view on the mythical nature of Genesis 1 and 2 – suspended him at a March meeting and confirmed his termination that May, effective later in the summer.

After leaving WTS, Enns became involved with the formation of The BioLogos Foundation which states that, as its mission, it “explores, promotes and celebrates the integration of science and Christian faith.”

In November of last year, BioLogos, in partnership with Tim Keller, Senior Pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in New York City and several other individuals, sponsored a workshop, inviting 55 individuals to participate. The stated purpose of the gathering was “to build bridges and enable comfortable communication channels between respected evangelical scientists working on origins and key religious leaders in the evangelical Christian church.’”

Nearly 50 of the participants signed a joint statement at the end of the workshop and their names and backgrounds are listed in this document: http://biologos.org/uploads/projects/Workshop_statement.pdf. Several of these names will show up again in this story.

A number of the participants in the workshop produced ‘white papers’ seeking to “provide trustworthy and authoritative information about science-and-religion.”

One of the papers was written by Professor Waltke: “Barriers to Accepting the Possibility of Creation by Means of an Evolutionary Process: I. Concerns of the Typical Evangelical Theologian.”

In the text of his white paper Waltke focused on eleven barriers that prevent evangelical theologians from accepting evolution as a possible means for creation and what we these barriers tell us about the tensions between science and religion perceived by many evangelicals.

At the time of the workshops, and even when the white paper was published, administrators at Reformed Theological Seminary – who were fully aware of Waltke’s participation – were not aware of the nature of Dr. Waltke’s published statements, and especially were not aware of the positions being taken by BioLogos. However, on March 24 of this year that changed.

BioLogos’ website put up a video interview with Dr. Waltke which they had first published on Beliefnet.com in the Science and the Sacred section. Although that video is no longer available (explained below), the BioLogos website described the content in this way:

In this video conversation Bruce Waltke discusses the danger the Church will face if it does not engage with the world around it, in particular with the issue of evolution, which many evangelicals still reject.

Waltke cautions, “If the data is overwhelmingly in favor of evolution, to deny that reality will make us a cult…some odd group that is not really interacting with the world. And rightly so, because we are not using our gifts and trusting God’s Providence that brought us to this point of our awareness.”

We are at a unique moment in history where “everything is coming together,” says Waltke, and conversations—like those initiated by BioLogos—are positive developments. “I see this as part of the growth of the church,” he says. “We are much more mature by this dialogue that we are having. This is how we come to the unity of the faith—by wrestling with these issues.”

Waltke points out that to deny scientific reality would be to deny the truth of God in the world. For us as Christians, this would serve as our spiritual death because we would not be loving God with all of our minds. It would also be our spiritual death in witness to the world because we would not be seen as credible.

While Christians may still disagree with one another on some issues, Waltke emphasizes that it is important that we are really interacting in a serious way—and trusting God as truth. Testing these things but holding fast to that which is good will bring greater understanding and unity among Christians.

If we don’t do that, Waltke cautions, we are going to die. If we refuse to engage with the greater cultural/scientific dialogue, we may end up marginalized and that would be a great tragedy for the Church.

In the week the video was posted, nearly 5,000 hits were compiled between the BioLogos website and the YouTube versions. Several of the people who viewed the videos, disagreed with these positions and contacted members of the administration at Reformed Theological Seminary.

After viewing the video, Dr. Cannada contacted Professor Waltke via e-mail suggesting that he wanted to set up a time to talk to him about the video. In his return e-mail, Waltke immediately offered his resignation for the good of the seminary. He apparently knew by then that what he had said in the interview was problematic. This fact – Waltke’s offer of resignation at the very beginning of discussions with RTS – appears to be contrary not only to a number of blogs antagonistic to RTS but also contrary to a number of the secular media reports.

In their first phone discussions, Cannada told Waltke that he did not want to accept the resignation and that he had the hope that a detailed explanation might be possible to resolve the issues. Cannada did ask Waltke to request that BioLogos remove the videos from the web, which he did. Although BioLogos did not agree that they should be removed, they honored the professor’s request.

It was the desire of the RTS Administration, as well of Dr. Waltke, that every effort would be focused throughout the process on seeking peace for everyone involved, as well as maintaining the confessional integrity that is important to institutions like RTS that work so closely with and hire faculty from confessional based denominations.

Waltke himself was clear that the videos were misleading. He explained that he was used to writing his materials and that writing could be edited before publication, but in this case – his first venture at a video statement – he did not have the ability to edit it prior to it being published.

In asking that the video be removed, Waltke also wrote an explanation that BioLogos published. That statement was as follows:

I had not seen the video before it was distributed. Having seen it, I realize its deficiency and wish to put my comments in a fuller theological context:

· Adam and Eve are historical figures from whom all humans are descended; they are uniquely created in the image of God and as such are not in continuum with animals.

· Adam is the federal and historical head of the fallen human race just as Jesus Christ is the federal and historical head of the Church.

· I am not a scientist, but I have familiarized myself with attempts to harmonize Genesis 1-3 with science, and I believe that creation by the process of evolution is a tenable Biblical position, and, as represented by BioLogos, the best Christian apologetic to defend Genesis 1-3 against its critics.

· I apologize for giving the impression that others who seek to harmonize the two differently are not credible. I honor all who contend for the Christian faith.

· Evolution as a process must be clearly distinguished from evolutionism as a philosophy. The latter is incompatible with orthodox Christian theology.

· Science is fallible and subject to revision. As a human and social enterprise, science will always be in flux. My first commitment is to the infallibility (as to its authority) and inerrancy (as to its Source) of Scripture.

· God could have created the Garden of Eden with apparent age or miraculously, even as Christ instantly turned water into wine, but the statement that God “caused the trees to grow” argues against these notions.

· I believe that the Triune God is Maker and Sustainer of heaven and earth and that biblical Adam is the historical head of the human race.

· Theological comments made here are mostly a digest of my chapters on Genesis 1-3 in An Old Testament Theology (Zondervan, 2007).”

The key statement over which Dr. Waltke and the RTS Administration continued discussions for several days was this one: “I believe that creation by the process of evolution is a tenable Biblical position, and, as represented by BioLogos, the best Christian apologetic to defend Genesis 1-3 against its critics.”

As the RTS Administrators read more and more of the BioLogos positions, it was clear that the phrase ‘as represented by BioLogos’ meant Waltke’s position could be interpreted as agreeing with those who believe that genetic science has ‘proved’ that Adam and Eve could not have been the only ‘original’ humans, but that as many as 1,000 were needed to produce the genetic codes that science as identified. Not to mention the fact that ‘creation by evolution’ denies the miraculous creation of Adam and Eve from dust.

By Monday, April 5, Chancellor Cannada came to the conclusion that these views of BioLogos and Waltke’s support of them could not be reconciled with the confessional statements to which all RTS faculty must adhere and informed Dr. Waltke that his resignation was going to be accepted. The seminary family was notified that day and the public announcement was made the next day.

During these conversations, Dr. Waltke mentioned that he was already in conversations with another seminary. The Aquila Report has confirmed that the position he is considering is with Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It appears the position will be finalized at a meeting of the Knox Board later this week. The chairman of the Knox board is Dr. Luder Whitlock, who was among the attendees at the BioLogos workshop in November.

It should be noted that Knox Seminary is still under the control of the Session of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale and that actions of the board are subject to its final approval. Knox Seminary was founded by the long-time pastor of Coral Ridge – Dr. D. James Kennedy – who was known for his strong support of the inerrancy of Scripture and the full historicity of the Genesis account of creation and an ardent defender of the young earth view of creation.

As the story goes to posting on the web site on Monday morning it is clear that the desire to maintain peace has been achieved among the principal parties.