Is There Value in a Multi-Faith Seminary?
Lillian Kwon writes in a recent Christian Post article about the ways that Claremont School of Theology is partnering with colleges from other faiths. Their goal is to create a multi-faith seminary.
Understandably, this has some Christian leaders taken aback. Here’s a portion of the article; you can read the whole thing to get a few dissenting opinions on Claremont’s plan:
Claremont’s president, the Rev. Jerry Campbell, announced Wednesday that the seminary will be partnering with Jewish and Islamic schools to offer clerical training to students of various faiths. Students will be trained in their own religious traditions as well as gain understanding of other faiths through shared classes with the Academy for Jewish Religion and the Islamic Center of Southern California. Eventually, the seminary plans to expand its training to include Hinduism and Buddhism, among others.
The new consortium of graduate schools, which is believed to be the first of its kind, is being launched to essentially better prepare students for the multi-religious world they are living in.
But a multi-religious environment isn’t anything new, said Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a conservative watchdog that monitors mainline denominations.
Christians have had to deal with such an environment for the past 2,000 years and Christianity has stuck to its truth claims amid the diversity, he noted during Mohler’s radio program.
“If they are to be faithful to the Gospel then they should be accepting the multi-religious environment as a challenge rather than trying to accommodate it or succumb to it,” Tooley commented.
While I think that Claremont’s reasoning for partnering with other schools is a little theologically shaky, the end result could be interesting. Keeping one’s faith intact in a setting like this would require a deep understanding of and commitment to one’s Christian faith. I have a hunch that Christian students at this school will find themselves articulating their faith to outsiders nearly every day.
Also, a World Religions class in this environment could be excellent; instead of one professor attempting to accurately describe many different religions, spiritual leaders from those religion could come in to teach. As a consequence, Christian students might leave with a much better understanding of the intricacies of preaching the Gospel to adherents of those religions.
What do you think? Assuming the Christian arm of the seminary is orthodox, do you think there’s value in a multi-faith seminary?
If we read the Bible (God’s testimony), Have mans attempts at inclusive faith ever led to harmonious Christ-centered, God-honoring life? Like many things on the Wide Road that many find today, the idea sounds good because we try to spiritualize it by laying evangelism on top of it. However, Scripture leaves room for only one path of instruction – the teaching of Christ, the prophets and the Apostles (Ephesians 2:19-21, Deuteronomy 6).
In our desire to bring peace to this side of eternity, we need to make sure it is God’s Peace to men, not broken mans flawed peace to broken man.
Think about it.
With you for His Glory
This is an interesting idea, although not necessarily what God expects. the idea of openness and opportunity to learn other religions and therefore knowing what these other religions believe etc. sounds exciting. The opportunity it affords to share with persons of other religions your own faith and beliefs would seem like something that should not be missed….purely from an academic stand point there is merit. The opportunity to hear from others first hand what they believe and why, what they practice and how sounds like a great learning experience.
But… Is this how God would want His missionaries, pastors, shepherds trained? Honestly I doubt so. If one accepts that the Gospel of Christ as taught in the christian faith is the “truth” and that which leads to salvation then to my mind that truth must be taught unadulterated. The devil is cunning, subtle and devious we should never give him an inch…he will take the rest of the journey…In such an arrangement we give the devil room for maneuver, for infiltration for doing what he does best…deceive.
Let God’s messengers be taught the pure word of truth, expose them to Christ in their training, one does not need to experience error and live with error in order to stand up against error.
I see satan coming in as an angel of light to mix the pureness of the Word with the filthy waters of a false gospel and multi false god’s. A little this and a little that cannot be when under the umbrella of Christian ministry. People are hungry for real truth and revelation and even given that quest to wholeheartedly seek it takes many years. To mix other false christ’s in the mix will set young hungry people to compromise and to form no absolutes and worse to have a false belief that tolerance and compromise is acceptable. In the last days men’s hearts will wax cold and they will search with itching ears to hear what will satisfy their curiosity and stroke any tilted belief they lean toward. Christian ministries should not be a disgrace that accepts “baal”. There will increasingly be more skewed doctrine as time progresses but organizations should be careful that they are not setting a banquet amongst honoring participants that will go forth and lead others into an eternal state of damnation in which they will one day give an account for.
I find it amusing that Nether the Bible nor any Eastern Catechism that I have read Discourages Multiculturalism, yet many Western Christians today see it as Sings of the Antichrist, even though the Abomination of Desolation is about Absolutes not Acceptance. If fact if I am to do unto others as I want done to me then I must Respect their Religions and even understand them as I already expect from them.
I am strongly Christian.
But I love the Qur’an. Does this make me Less of a Christian?
I seriously would say NO.
On the contrary the more I learn of Judaism and Islam the more I become A stronger believer of Eastern Christianity than even before.
I also feel that Jews and Muslims are Children of God as we Are.
It is important that we are strong in our own faith. Learning new cultures and new religions are not wrong, as long as we know what is true and right. We are more educated to lead more people to Christ if we have an understanding what others know than just what we know ourselves.
Don’t fall for false beliefs that state “all paths lead to the same God”. There are forms of worship such as “Summer Feast for the Soul” that proclaim all faiths (or gods) are the same. The Feast asks participants to light candles on an alter and “honor all other paths known and unknown to the world”, to invoke (summon) spirits and worship gods/goddesses. This group and others like them want you to believe that worshipping any god/goddess leads you to Heaven. What does the Bible say?
Look at how Barnabas and Paul reacted in Acts 14. First they tore their clothes to show mourning or sadness. They didn’t say that Zeus and Hermes were acceptable to worship but instead warned against worshipping “these worthless things” and turn to the one true God.
Acts 14:8-18 In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
This passage shows that there is only one God.
Deuteronomy 4:35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides Him there is no other. –No multiple paths—Just one God.
2 Peter 2:1-2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
Jeremiah 5:30-31 “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. –This means believe in the Lord, repent of your sins, read the Bible and follow the Lord instead of the world
Many false teachings try to focus people on the world and each other. The Lord wants us to focus on Him—to put our faith, hope and trust in Him only.
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Isaiah 2:22 Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
Jeremiah 17:5,7 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him”.
Micah 7:5 Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words.