Regenerate Puritans

I couldn't exactly not post this, given what I've been reading/posting about recently:

We want to be medieval Protestants

So I have complicated feelings about this. In general, I am better disposed to old-fahsioned fundamentalism than the Mega-Church variety. On the other hand… these people are 17th century Congregationalist throwbacks! And, even aside from the slightly weird phrasing of aspiring to be"medieval Protestants," I don't quite see how trying* to replicate a 17th-18th century education (although, for that matter, why isn't Biblical Hebrew on the curriculum?) straight is useful. (Which is to say, I would love to have a 17th or 18th century (male) university education. A real one.) But there's a lot more to the literature, and the languages and the Scriptures, than just taking them doctrinally, which seems to be the idea at this college. And, to be honest, the social/political/cultural/theological landscape has changed a lot in these 300-400 years. I can't quite believe I am writing this, but the trivium and the quadrivium just might not be sufficient, you know? Particularly since they don't seem to be being updated with critical theory or more modern analytical techniques.

Also:

The college handbook forbids students to embrace or promote “doctrinal errors” from the 4th through the 21st centuries, “such as Arianism, Socinianism, Pelagianism, Skepticism, Feminism.” If drawn to such ideas, they must “inform the administration immediately and honestly in a letter offering to withdraw from the College.”

My first reaction is to laugh, but it's more than a little creepy. I think I like my puritans a little more (legitimately) historically located.


* Given that someone like Jonathan Edwards started at Yale when he was 13, probably already basically fluent in Latin and theological literature, one wonders what four years of college can really do to give modern students something similar. You might be lucky to end up with a grammar-school level education… maybe.)

Also, these quotes:

Doug Wilson proudly declares himself more right-wing than most Idaho conservatives. “They voted for Bush; I’d vote for Jefferson Davis,” he chuckles.
…

Wilson emphasizes his flexibility when it comes to Old Testament law. “You can’t apply Scripture woodenly,” he says; instead of executing them, “you might exile some homosexuals, depending on the circumstances and the age of the victim.” He adds: “There are circumstances in which I’d be in favor of execution for adultery. . . . I’m not proposing legislation. We’re saying, Let’s set up the Christian worldview, and our descendants 500 years from now can work out the knotty problems.”

I'm not sure there really are any words. Except, YOU! OUT OF MY AREA OF STUDY!