Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., serves as the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary-the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world.
Dr. Mohler has been recognized by such influential publications as Time and Christianity Today as a leader among American evangelicals. In fact, Time.com called him the "reigning intellectual of the evangelical movement in the U.S".
-- From the biography at www.albertmohler.com
Here is a random selection of items pertaining to Dr. Mohler’s positions.
From 1999
Item: Mohler preached to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) in Louisville, Kentucky. He prefaced his remarks, in part, by saying "As a citizen of Louisville, I'm so glad to have a Presbyterian group here that doesn't have a gay and lesbian caucus."
From 2000
Item: The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has called the Roman Catholic Church "a false church" that "teaches a false gospel."
Appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live," Al Mohler was speaking on Pope John Paul II's pilgrimage to Israel and his recent apologies for the past sins of the Catholic Church. While stopping short of calling the Catholic Church a "cult," Mohler said the Catholic hierarchy is unbiblical.
"As an evangelical, I believe the Roman church is a false church and it teaches a false gospel," Mohler said. "I believe the pope himself holds a false and unbiblical office."
From 2001
Item: As officials continue searching for answers to the horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, God is using the tragedy to humble America and remind the nation of its complete dependence on him, R. Albert Mohler Jr. said on a radio program the afternoon of the tragedy.
From 2004
Mohler: “The Scripture does not even envision married couples who choose not to have children. The shocking reality is that some Christians have bought into this lifestyle and claim childlessness as a legitimate option. The rise of modern contraceptives has made this technologically possible. But the fact remains that though childlessness may be made possible by the contraceptive revolution, it remains a form of rebellion against God's design and order.”
From 2005
Mohler: Those who love the gospel learned again that Islam rejects Christ as the incarnate Son of God and the cross as the atonement for our salvation. There can be no reconciliation between the claims of Christianity and the claims of Islam. The enemies of the cross know this full well.
From 2006
Mohler: “Christians must have the cultural maturity to know that many of the most famous and influential producers of cultural materials, whether in literature, art, or entertainment, have been homosexuals.
This does not mean that we cannot enjoy their music, art, or performances. Christians start from the presupposition that all humans are sinners, and that every artistic endeavor is marred by sin in both its conception and its demonstration.”
----
On December 13, Dr. Mohler will be the speaker at Leadership Southern Indiana’s breakfast series at Kye’s II in Jeffersonville. According to the LSI web site:
Leadership Southern Indiana, a non-profit organization in Clark and Floyd counties, is proud to have a role in valuable networking and leadership training.
Mission: To improve the quality of life in Southern Indiana by identifying, informing, and motivating community leadership in Floyd and Clark Counties.
My only question: Will gays, Catholics, the childless, Muslims and artists if all marred stripes actually be allowed to attend this questionable exercise in the enhancement of their "quality of life" by means of the theocratic version of “leadership?”
Just curious.
Albert Mohler.
ReplyDeleteI was having a good day until you mentioned Albert Mohler. There is a wonderful book entitled "A Generous Orthdoxy," by Brian McLaren. I purchased the book immediately upon hearing Albert Mohler condemn the book by saying that there was nothing 'generous' about Christianity and orthodoxy. I did it on the premise that if Albert Mohler said it was bad, it was probably good.
Southern Seminary used to be one of the finest theological institutions in the country. It used to have one of the finest religious affliliated schools of social work, in the country. It used to have a strong social conscience. It used to have an incredible ecumenical link to Presbyterian Seminary, St. Meinrad's, a Roman Catholic Seminary, and strong connections to the Jewish community in Louisville.
Please note, I used the phrase 'used to' a great deal. Southern Seminary was purged of faculty members who disagreed with Mohler. The school of social work is gone. The great academic reputation is gone. The great social conscience is gone. The strong spirit of ecumenism is gone. The links to the Jewish community are gone all because of Albert Mohler.
Will I be listening to him? No, I won't. Frankly, the only thing of value that wil come from this is if he gives a list of terrible books for people to avoid. It would give me my new reading list.
Here is yet another example of irony for you. The non-denominational christian churches (Southeast Christian, Northside Christian, Scottsburg First Christian,etc.) would denounce from the pulpit many of the doctrinal positions of the Southern Baptist Seminary.
ReplyDeleteThey would then turn around and send their brightest & best theology students to the SBS to earn their doctorate degrees because the non-denominational schools (Cincinnati Bible Seminary & others of thier ilk) were not recognized as accredited institutions!
Much like greed, the seems to be no end to hypocrisy.
It'd be interesting to see how the nine women that make up half of LSI's board would react should Mohler go into one of his riffs on the importance of patriarchy.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if he had his way, they'd never hear him since they'd be at home.
Check out Mohler's review of E. o. Wilsons new book, a book which seeks to find common ground between scientists and evangelicals.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/religion_and_ethics/article/0,1375,VCS_151_5184024,00.html
http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/religion_and_ethics/article/0,1375,VCS_151_5184024,00.html
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