Over at his Patheos blog, New Testament scholar Scot McKnight has offered an interesting commentary on the move by Union University to leave the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Union has done this because of the decision by two member institutions, Eastern Mennonite and Goshen, to permit faculty and staff to be in same-sex marriages. McKnight does not agree with same-sex marriage nor the policy of the two colleges, but he objects to the language of ‘gospel’ being used by Union to justify its withdrawal.
I am more sympathetic to Union's move than McKnight is. I can see that extraordinary times could lead to action which, while not strictly necessary or perhaps even entirely consistent, might yet make an important public statement. But I do, however, have a lot of sympathy with his central point. Groups like CCCU exist for the mutual convenience of the members. Their unity is really pragmatic and only very superficially theological. Thus, the problem with leaving on the basis that gay marriage is a gospel issue is that CCCU’s membership is so diverse that it embodies at best only a very minimal understanding of what the gospel is. Indeed, it is unlikely that Union would ever have regarded the available doctrinal consensus of CCCU institutions as an adequate account of the Christian faith, so to protest on this one issue makes accusations of simple anti-gay prejudice look plausible to the outside world. The gospel was never the basis of the confederation in the first place so can hardly provide a rationale for departure.
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