Audio from Today & A Minority Report

Today was a Q & A session at Westminster Seminary, where the administration and board spoke briefly about the forthcoming suspension of Peter Enns, followed by the students' questions. An audio of that session will be available soon, and I will link to it.

Update: Here's the audio.

In the mean time, the board members who voted against the recommendation to suspend Peter Enns have released their "minority report". Here it is:

Our votes against the Board action initiated by President Peter Lillback against Professor Peter Enns are for the following reasons: (1) because the recommendation by the president is contrary to the carefully-considered judgment of our learned Faculty on the theological issues, expressed in its adoption and affirmation of the Edgar-Kelly motion after a “fair, just and orderly process” established for that very purpose by President Lillback, as he previously reported (see attached 12/1/06 report [see below]); (2) because the action failed to provide an appropriate opportunity for Peter Enns to be heard and persuade the Board and, in our view, fails to satisfy requirements of our governing documents (e.g., the Faculty Manual); (3) because, while theological concerns are mentioned, there was little Board discussion of theological specifics; and (4) because, in our view, the action is not for the good of the seminary, and in fact, if carried forward, may well be very harmful to the seminary in several ways.

Tuck Bartholomew
Jim Droge
Craig Higgins
Peter Jansson
Russell Johnson
Keith Mitchell
Leo Schuster
Mike Sharrett
John Williams

The President’s Report to the Board on The Faculty Theological Fellowship and the Current State of the Faculty Theological Discussions

Peter A. Lillback

December 1, 2006

Finally, let me state the following: I recognize and affirm that WTS is a faculty run school, particularly so in the theology that it teaches and the curriculum it employs. I believe that the faculty must clarify its theological views in the context of our vows, and our Confession. I cannot establish the theology of WTS. Nor do I intend to do so. My responsibilities are to assure that a fair, just and orderly process is followed to permit the resolution and clarification of the theological debates among our faculty.

My leadership is intended to assure that our students, our alumni, our critics as well as our posterity are well served by the faculty’s stating, developing, clarifying and articulating our theological commitments. The outcome of this process is not mine to know or to predict. I can only work to provide a process that is just in terms of order, our commitments, and our desires to be reconciled as brethren in Christ. I will continue to pursue these goals. (pp. 1-2, emphasis added)

It should be noted that the "Edgar Kelly" motion spoken of in the "minority report" states the resolution of the faculty's theological debate. In approving this motion 12-8, the faculty voted that Peter Enns' views were within the Confessional framework of Westminster Theological Seminary.