A Teacher’s Manifesto

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Well-fenced, and well-languaged, Jeremy Crenshaw has suffered much for what he is gifted to do, even though it has cost him professionally.
This is one Teacher that makes me honored to call friend.
He writes:

Not too long ago I heard one biblical scholar critique another. He suggested that the scholar in question was more confessional. The suggestion was that, even though this scholar is considered to be one of the giants in his field, the scholar was some how less academic because he was biased towards the Bible, Christianity, and the Church. My thought then and now is “what the heck are we doing then?” I felt led by the Spirit to attain higher education, to get my Ph.D., as a way of serving my Lord to the best of my ability. Being “confessional” should be everything for the biblical scholar. I certainly did not get into this for the fame and fortune! I could have went and got a doctorate in engineering or medicine if I wanted that. What have I endured all of the trials and pain of this journey for, if not to use it to proclaim the truth to the best of my ability? Education is worthless if it causes me to doubt and be cynical about the Lord, his word, and his people. This is the same reason that I reject modern “academic” notions in certain circles that say “everything should be on the table for discussion” because it is academics. No! No! No! I might add that this is the same reason that I have rejected certain “principals” of certain church groups when they argue for things that clearly are not scriptural. This has, in fact, cost me dearly on a professional level. Yet, I say let his word be truth and everyone else a liar. So, excuse me if I sound “confessional,” but my allegiance to my Lord is much more important to me than methodological skepticism guised in the cover of academic rigor. I started this, and I continue to do this because I really do believe. In fact, the more that I have learned the more that I have been strengthened in that belief. At the end of the age, I will gladly stand with the scholars being critiqued by arrogant systems of this world and be told “well done my good and faithful servant.” It is much better than the alternative.

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