Academic Freedom and Anthony Le Donne

This past week has seen the dismissal of a good scholar from Lincoln Christian University which was going to host a conference in October on the forthcoming book co-edited by Anthony Le Donne and Chris Keith, Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity. Unfortunately, Lincoln Christian University has received pressure from their constituency and have let Anthony go. You can see the reactions around the biblioblogs: Michael Bird, Larry Hurtado (and the ensuring comments), Ben Witherington, Joel Watts, Jim West, and I am sure many others.

There is little that is known of specifics to bloggers, it appears, but this is unfortunate for academic freedom. Christian institutions have the right within their statements of faith and community life policies to dismiss faculty for doctrinal reasons. This is what faculty sign on to at such institutions; however, I think Larry Hurtado is correct that when such dismissals take place the issues often involve those interpreting the statement of faith, how narrowly the statement is interpreted, and deciding when a biblical scholar or theologian's work crosses the doctrinal line.

My condolences to Anthony.

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