Timothy Kauffman wrote an article for the Trinity Review in 2013, which I am just now re-reading with interest after watching a series of YouTube videos by Jon Harris on Tim Keller's liberal views. (Conversations that Matter). Keller's compromises in the direction of pragmatic church growth began with his mentor, Edmund Clowney. This is unfortunate because Clowney originally decided to attend Westminster Seminary at the behest of Gordon H. Clark when Clark taught at Wheaton College. You can read the article by Kauffman here:
Clowney, according to Doug Douma's book, The Presbyterian Philosopher: The Authorized Biography of Gordon H. Clark, was one of the five ministers of the Philadelphia Presbytery of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church who exonerated Clark on charges that he was unorthodox on the doctrine of divine incomprehensibility. Though Clark was previously exonerated by the presbytery, Clowney served on the committee appointed at the general assembly of 1945 which again exonerated Clark at general assembly one year later, according to the authorized biography by Douma.
It is troubling that someone like Clowney could see the issues clearly when examining Clark's case but went down the wrong road himself when it came to the embelllishments made by Tim Keller. According to Timothy Kauffman, Clowney himself went into error by telling students not to preach line by line or precept by precept. This gives me even greater pause in recommending either Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia or Westminster Seminary, California. Clowney was a huge influence at both seminaries.
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