This list was formerly on Brandon Withrow’s site and will be updated whenever new documents, posts, and news stories appear.
Updated: 11-03-2008
This will remain the default post for updates on Enns’ book. There are probably some I have left out. If you know of any significant articles or posts (for or against) that are available online, especially related to the current suspension feel free to leave them in the comments section below. If you are so inclined, you may also cordially discuss the book in the comments. For now, any updates to current links in this post are marked below with “**Updated” and will temporarily be listed at the top under “Highlights and Newest Additions.”
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His personal site: http://peterennsonline.com/
His Wikipedia Entry
His Theopedia Entry
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Highlights and Newest additions
***Peter Enns has a series of responses to general criticisms of I&I on his website.
00. The introduction
01. Is I&I Inconsistent with the Reformed Faith?
02. Does I&I ignore other possible solutions?
03. Does I&I deny inerrancy?
04. Does I&I lack precision and clarity?
05. Important Scholars Disagree with I&I
**** Peter Enns is interviewed on WHYY’s Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane. You can listen to the entire interview here.
***Also, contrary to the speculation of some, there has not been, to my knowledge, any critique of I&I written by Dr. Vern Poythress that has become publicly available. If you find it, please let me know.
Responses
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Beale and Enns Debate
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MYTH, HISTORY, AND INSPIRATION: A REVIEW ARTICLE OF INSPIRATION AND INCARNATION BY PETER ENNS by G.K. Beale
RESPONSE TO G. K. BEALE’S REVIEW ARTICLE OF INSPIRATION AND INCARNATION by Peter Enns
A Surrejoinder to Peter Enn’s Response to G. K. Beale’s JETS Review Article of His Book, Inspiration and Incarnation by G.K. Beale (cached version on Google).
Two Testaments, One Story: Top evangelical scholars team up for landmark commentary on New Testament use of Old Testament (an interview with Beale by Christianity Today which interacts with I&I).
(There is debate between both of these authors in Themelios, 32 (2007), neither are online at the moment.)
Greg Beale’s forthcoming book, The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism: Responding to New Challenges to Biblical Authority (Crossway, 2008) is said to look at the positions of many theologians, including Enns. (HT: Christian Trader, Puritan Board)
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Ferry and Enns Debate
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Brenton C. Ferry’s review at New Horizons
A response by Pete Enns to Ferry’s review (Google cached version; Scroll down to see his letter to the editor).
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Paul Helm and Enns Debate
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Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament by Paul Helm (Internet Archive cache). Now that he has a venue for it, Pete has put up a response to Paul Helm’s review of his book. You’ll find his response here. Helm has also since responded at his blog, Helm’s Deep.
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D.A. Carson on Enns
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Three Books on the Bible: A Critical Review (N.T. Wright, John Webster, and Peter Enns by D.A. Carson
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Other Responses
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Enns on Inspiration by Joel Garver
In the Denver Journal by M. Daniel Carroll R.
A review at Higgaion by Christopher Heard (see also his review in Restoration Quarterly 48.2 [2006] 119-120). Heard also weighs in on the current situation on his blog, Higgaion.
The Living Enns by Barry Hofstetter
Messy Revelation: Why Paul would have flunked hermeneutics by Susan Wise Bauer
Interpreting the Bible: The False Assumptions of Modernism by John Armstrong
The Problem of the Old Testament by Doug Wilson
Some Reflections by a Christian College Professor by William B. Evans
Implications of I&I’s Hermeneutic Method by Scott Oliphint
Observations on a Controversy by Richard Gaffin, Jr.
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In the Media
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The Philadelphia Inquirer writes a front page story on the situation at WTS. The online version can be found here.
The Philadelphia Inquirer follow-up on the mutually agreed parting of Enns and WTS.
ChristianityToday.com: “Westminster Theological Seminary Suspends Peter Enns“
ChristianityToday.com: “Westminster Theological Suspension“
Christianity Today’s Live Blog reports on the parting of ways of Enns and WTS.
Interviews
Interview with Peter Enns at Solent Green
Westminster Theological Seminary Controversy
Citing his book as the reason, Westminster Theological Seminary suspended Dr. Peter Enns. Below are items related to that suspension and the controversy surrounding it.
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Westminster Documents
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March 27, 2008: Letter from Jack White, Chairman of the Board
March 29, 2008: A Message from the Board of Trustees
April 10, 2008: A Communication to the Westminster Seminary Community
April 15, 2008: Official documents released by Westminster Theological Seminary (Direct link to PDF)
May 23, 2008: Statement of the Board
Westminster Theological Seminary and Dr. Peter Enns mutually agree to part ways. The official joint statement can be found on Enns’ website or WTS’s website.
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Responses to Controversy
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Ongoing Petition in support of Peter Enns: Saveourseminary.com
Dr. Clair Davis (Westminster Professor of Church History, Emeritus): “The Significance of Westminster Theological Seminary Today”
March 22, 2008: Dr. Darryl Hart: “Can Westminster Seminary Put the Genie Back in the Bottle?”
April 1, 2008: Chapel service with students regarding Dr. Enns suspension (official copy at wts.edu)
Unofficial, unedited copy: Click here to download MP3 – Download transcript of service in PDF
[audio:SpecialChapel.mp3]
April 27, 2008: Dr. Joel Garver’s response (LU) to the Westminster documents.
May 20, 2008: Dr. Bruce McCormack (PTS) “reformed christology and the westminster htfc report“
Initial responses to and from McCormack include:
**R. Scott Clark, Mark Jones, and Steve Holmes.
**McCormack’s response to Clark: “an open letter to r. scott clark“
**Clark’s “A Friendly Response to Bruce McCormack“
June/July edition of Ordained Servant: “Incarnation, Inspiration, and Pneumatology: A Reformed Incarnational Analogy” by Lane G. Tipton.
**McCormack briefly responds to Tipton: “An Open Letter from Bruce McCormack to Lane Tipton.”
June 6, 2008: Peter Enns blogs his reponse to the faculty of Wesminster Theological Seminary (part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4,5)
June 9, 2008: Christianity Today’s blogger, Susan Wunderink writes the post “Enns Explains.”
June 10, 2008: Dr. John Frame reviews I&I over at his website, The Works of John Frame and Vern Poythress.
Over at GreenBaggins: A summary of “A Short Precis of Jue and Tipton.” EvangelicalInerrancy.com says that the full text may be this document.
NOTE: Please feel free to discuss this subject (from either side) in the comments below, but please keep it cordial.
25 June 2008 at 12.42 pm
As far as Westminster board members resigned, the WTS site has list of board members, and names from the minority report have been dropping off.
http://www.wts.edu/about/leadership_2/trustees.html
As of this post, eight of the nine are no longer listed.
25 June 2008 at 8.41 pm
Green Baggins has a piece by Gaffin now, Art.
27 June 2008 at 1.28 pm
[...] peter enns: inspiration and incarnation [...]
28 June 2008 at 10.38 pm
I heard that there is a Poythress critique on the net. Is this true?
28 June 2008 at 11.15 pm
That is the first I have heard about it. If/When it becomes available, I will make sure to add it.
29 June 2008 at 11.27 am
I’ve been told that a Poythress piece was released, but I have not seen it surface online yet.
30 June 2008 at 5.10 pm
Art, thanks for hosting this. You might want to add Melissa’s very well-researched post showing (from the Faculty Handbook and other documents) that the Enns suspension process has not been handled according to “due process” rules. To my knowledge, she’s the only one who has posted on some of these questions in the blogosphere:
http://windofhebel.blogspot.com/2008/04/let-by-laws-be-bye-gones.html
10 July 2008 at 11.08 am
Hi Art,
I see that the Philly Inquirer picked up the story finally and you are in it.
Bible professor suspended over teachings
11 July 2008 at 9.58 am
Art,
The story is now hitting other news sources. Check out the The Chronicle for Higher Education and the comments following. Westminster now looks like the religious right.
Also, Inside Higher Ed has the story.
12 July 2008 at 10.22 am
Art,
For some time I have been trying to find D.A. Carson’s review of I&I online. The link that you have above does not work for me. This morning I found this active link to “Three Books on the Bible: A Critical Review” on the Reformation 21 website.
http://www.reformation21.org/shelf-life/three-books-on-the-bible-a-critical-review.php
12 July 2008 at 4.27 pm
The Chronicle link is actually here:
http://chronicle.com/news/article/4811/tenured-professor-faces-dismissal-at-theological-seminary
13 July 2008 at 1.16 pm
Woops. I missed the extra 1.
17 July 2008 at 11.47 am
Art,
Over at the Conn-versation GLW just said that you have a link to the Poythress response to Enns over here at your blog.
I do see your comment above on June 28th where you say that is the first you’ve heard of a Poythress response, and the comment on the 29th where cbovell said he had not seen it surface on the internet yet.
Have you added a link to the Poythress response since then, because if you did, I just can’t find it in the list above.
GLW keeps refering to this suppossed response from Poythress as if its a publicly accessable document, but when I asked for the link to it he just replied that there was already a link on your site, and that one had already been listed on the Conn-versation blog.
Sorry if I am just overlooking it.
Thanks
28 July 2008 at 11.06 am
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/25930754.html
Philadelphia Inquirer follow-up article after official party of the ways between Pete Enns and WTS
31 July 2008 at 7.01 pm
The Associated Press has a short blurb about the Enns suspension and departure.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RELIGION_BRIEFS?SITE=ILLIN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-07-31-12-23-20
It’s at the very end.
4 August 2008 at 4.51 pm
Thanks for providing these resources.
31 August 2008 at 10.56 pm
I appreciated your comment. I went back to lay out my final thoughts with a little more focus.
8 September 2008 at 8.24 pm
Did the incoherence of Lillback’s recent welcome statement strike anyone else?
1. WTS stands for the truth and has suffered for this stand. People say it will be miraculous if WTS survives. That’s ok – if you stand for truth you can expect to suffer.
2. The dough is now officially rolling in! $4.2 million! $1 million! $3 million! More bucs are on their way!! Praise God!!!
Or is the welcome statement just a gesture (a common rude one) in the direction of those who said WTS’s best days were over? The prayers of the disgruntled Save our Seminary have been answered, but not how they wanted! Hah Hah!!
5 October 2008 at 12.54 pm
I think you may be missing one positive review by Fuller’s Joel B. Green. It’s for the SBL’s Review of Biblical Literature (RBL) and it’s dated Sept. 9th, 2006. You should be able to find it at:
http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/5300_5580.pdf
3 November 2008 at 12.01 am
Hi. I like your blog. Great stuff.
Just wanted to give a heads up… The links for Carson’s response to Enns are all dead. It was a real bummer.
D.A. Carson on Enns
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Three Books on the Bible: A Critical Review (N.T. Wright, John Webster, and Peter Enns by D.A. Carson (Google cached version). (Appeared in Trinity Journal)
3 November 2008 at 1.25 am
Donald,
Thanks for pointing that out. I just fixed the link. The problem was that Reformation21 switched from a .com to a .org recently and the link got lost in the switch. It is fixed now.
5 December 2008 at 11.36 pm
[...] not that – ahem – school. I’m talking about Westminster Theological Seminary. Maybe their ordeal can be instructive for other schools (not that I know of any) in similar [...]
6 December 2008 at 12.00 pm
art — great job compiling all this information in an informative way, this is a great venue for outsiders to learn what is actually going on.
10 January 2009 at 9.02 am
[...] Enns is interviewed 0n WHYY’s Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane. (HT: Finitum non capax infiniti) I still haven’t got through the book yet. In the interview Peter summarizes the content of [...]
18 January 2009 at 5.46 pm
I appreciated the review by Carson. It seems much more balanced than that of Beale. The whole situation has caused a good amount of sorrow for me.
11 February 2009 at 4.37 pm
FYI, you make Baby Jesus cry.
4 March 2009 at 10.57 pm
Art a bunch of the Beale links are broken.
4 March 2009 at 11.01 pm
I’ll take a look and see if I can track down where the hosts moved the articles. Thanks for the heads up.
28 May 2009 at 9.25 am
[...] (with other links) here, here, here, and here. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Not your average day in [...]
20 June 2009 at 4.16 pm
[...] I’ve never been happy with the standard Evangelical approach of “see no evil, hear no evil” when it comes to Scripture and its relationship to its sources, culture, and context, so I fully appreciate Pete’s honesty with Scriptural difficulties and his ability to allow for nuancing a position, rather than arguing for an all-or-nothing approach. He seeks to keep the text sacred while recognizing the issues involved. Pete took a huge blow for this book, even by his colleagues. He allows for the place of myth and borrowing in Scripture that made many entirely uncomfortable. Information regarding the controversy over his book can be found at Art Boulet’s blog. [...]