As our readers are well aware, Professor Bruce Waltke’s departure from Reformed Theological Seminary back in April was big news on these pages http://bit.ly/9MWqny. He left RTS because he no longer fit into the confessional standards of the school.

Now, however, he has become both the whipping boy and role model of fundamentalism in the middle of a major stir-up at the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). According to SBL’s website (http://www.sbl-site.org/aboutus.aspx) they are:

…the oldest and largest international scholarly membership organization in the field of biblical studies. Founded in 1880, the Society has grown to over 8,500 international members including teachers, students, religious leaders and individuals from all walks of life who share a mutual interest in the critical investigation of the Bible.

The Society’s mission to foster biblical scholarship is a simple, comprehensive statement that encompasses the Society’s aspirations. Our vision is to offer members opportunities for mutual support, intellectual growth, and professional development.

As I read that statement, and as I review the names of members of SBL that appear on their website in various situations (presenters, reviewers, writers, etc.) I certainly don’t get any sense whatsoever that this group is under the control of a bunch of fundamentalists. However, Ron Hendel, the Norma and Sam Dabby Professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at the University of California, Berkeley certainly gets that sense.

In his Farewell to SBL letter recently published in the current issue of the Biblical Archeological Review (http://bit.ly/9BveTT) Professor Hendel blasts the SBL leadership for being money-hungry and therefore allowing fundamentalists into their midst:

In order to keep up its numbers at its annual meeting, SBL has reached out to evangelical and fundamentalist groups, promising them a place within the SBL meeting. So instead of distinguished academic organizations like ASOR and AAR in the fold, we now have fundamentalist groups like the Society of Pentecostal Studies and the Adventist Society for Religious Studies as our intimate partners. These groups now hold SBL sessions at the annual meeting. The participation of these and other groups presumably boosts attendance—and SBL’s income—to previous levels.

What wrong with showing a little diversity, you might ask? Professor Ron will esplain:

What’s wrong with bringing in such groups? Well, some of them proselytize at the SBL meetings. One group invited some Jewish scholars to their session, asked them if they observed the Sabbath, and handed them materials intended to convert them. And recently the SBL online book review journal (Review of Biblical Literature) has featured explicit condemnations of the ordinary methods of critical scholarly inquiry, extolling instead the religious authority of orthodox Christian faith. Listen to this, from Bruce Waltke:

Well, shame, shame, on those guys sharing material about the Sabbath with those Jewish scholars! But to use Bruce Waltke as the prime illustration of the effect of ‘fundamentalists’ on the SBL is quite disingenuous (notice how you have to find a big word when you’re trying to be nice).

And so much in need of defending his position which causes him to leave SBL (which, after all, is a voluntary organization) he has to go and quote Pascal out of context. The nerve! Here’s what Professor Hendel said:

“The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.” This famous line from Pascal’s Pensées draws a wise distinction between religious faith and intellectual inquiry. The two have different motivations and pertain to different domains of experience. They are like oil and water, things that do not mix and should not be confused. Pascal was a brilliant mathematician, and he did not allow his Catholic beliefs to interfere with his scholarly investigations. He regarded the authority of the church to be meaningless in such matters. He argued that “all the powers in the world can by their authority no more persuade people of a point of fact than they can change it.”1 That is to say, facts are facts, and faith has no business dealing in the world of facts. Faith resides in the heart and in one’s way of living in the world.

Sorry, Professor Ron, that just doesn’t present Pascal correctly. First of all, the quote comes from a secondary source. And of more importance, it is taken badly out of context. Pascal did NOT believe that “facts are facts and faith has no business dealing in the world with facts.” According to another Professor Ron, this one Ronald Huggins from Salt Lake Theological Seminary and an SBL member (writing in a comment posted in the online BAR with Hendel’s resignation letter):

The “fact” Pascal refers to in context was a point doctrine, not science, namely did Jansenists believe in irresistible grace (Provincial Letter 18). Hendel could have broadened his perspective on his subject had he wrestled with Pascal’s actual views.

Professor Hendel makes one final stab at the SBL on his way out:

So critical inquiry—that is to say, reason—has been deliberately deleted as a criterion for the SBL. The views of creationists, snake-handlers and faith-healers now count among the kinds of Biblical scholarship that the society seeks to foster.

Sorry, folks, I just have to take a time-out here so I can control my laughter. Creationists on the par with snake-handlers and faith-healers (neither of which, I am certain, present papers at SBL meetings)!

I am fond of saying that if the left is yelling at me and the right is trying to straighten me out, I must be doing something right. By that measure, all must be really well with Bruce Waltke these days. Bet he’s looking forward to next winter in Ft. Lauderdale – wish I could be there with him.