EXPOSING UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NYC

The Union in the News newsletter contained several revealing articles reflecting UTS’ unchristian and unbiblical sympathies. In “The Boston Declaration and God’s monstrous entourage: People do terrible things. So does the biblical God,” the author favorably sites a talk by Esther Hamori called “The Biblical God and His Company of Monsters”:

·       In the Hebrew Bible, God is surrounded by an entourage composed of various monsters who do his dirty work for him. This work includes wounding and killing, as in the case of the seraphim of Isaiah 6 and Numbers 21 (“God has just committed mass execution by snake”); torture, as when the Satan inflicts painful sores on Job; and manipulation, as exemplified by the “malevolent spirit” who entices King Ahab to die in battle through the words of the lying prophets (I Kings 22). The members of the divine entourage protect boundaries (as when the cherubim guard the gates of the Garden of Eden to keep Adam and Eve from re-entering)… https://www.christiancentury.org/blog-post/cover-cover/boston-declaration-and-god-s-monstrous-entourage

Rather than trying to justify the righteous judgments of God, I will just make the simple point that to denigrate the God of the Hebrew Scriptures is also to denigrate and reject the God of the NT and Jesus. In place of the Biblical God, UTS has established a replacement god, one that is predictably identical with their progressivism.

However, the God of the Hebrew Scriptures is also the God of Jesus, who taught:

·       For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (John 12:49-50; ESV)

Without any reservation, He endorsed everything in the Scriptures as the Words of God:

·       But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4; citing Deuteronomy 8)

·       For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:18-19)

In light of just this small sampling, UTS has clearly relinquished any basis to call themselves a Christian seminary or even followers of Jesus. Besides, Jesus also taught a lot about the final judgment. I guess that makes Him a “monster” in the opinion of UTS.

Another article cites vice president of Union Theological Seminary, Fred Davie, and his commentary on the new Museum of the Bible in DC:

·       Davie, who’s gay, said. “The Bible as we know it has been used to do lots of bad things to God’s creation, both creatures and flora and fauna throughout history — everything from enslaving people to denigrating women and relegating them to a lesser roles to all forms of oppression against LGBT folks.” http://www.washingtonblade.com/2017/11/22/bible-museum/

No indication of any praise for the Bible! Davie’s position pretty well reflects that of UTS. If the Bible doesn’t support their opinions, then it is irremediably flawed. Our beliefs “Uber Allis,” even over the Bible.

In an interview with the New York Times (1/12/2002), a former president of UTS, Joseph Hough, Jr, the NYT introduce him by stating that Hough “has been calling in recent speeches for Christians to adopt a new theological approach to others, one that goes considerably beyond simple tolerance.”  What is Hough calling for?—that Christians surrender their claims that they are right and others are wrong:

·       “Religion, our rituals, our music, even our theology is a human attempt to express what we have experienced…Therefore, we want to be careful about claiming that one religious form is the only one that is authentic or real.”

If the Bible is only a human attempt, this gives UTS the opportunity to be creative.

Ironically, even though UTS denigrates oppressors, they too promote racism, albeit reverse racism. Last year, my wife and I attended a UTS banquet in honor of James Cone who has taught at UTS for 46 years.

Cone is a flagrant racist, but this doesn’t seem to bother UTS at all. It didn’t stop them from heaping accolades on Cone, who preached that the Black Church should get rid of White theologians like Luther, Augustine, and Calvin and replace them with Black theologians. Later, one of Cone’s admiring students readily disclosed to me that Cone boasts in class about the extent of his racism, presumably confident of the backing of UTS.

Evidently, UTS believes that we can fight racism with more racism. It has abandoned the color-blind teaching of Martin Luther King that we should judge by the character and not by the skin color.

UTS has also abandoned Jesus Christ. That is their right. However, they need to be transparent about this fact.