Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

Pointing and laughing at religious lunacy for more than half-a-century

US Baptist preacher boasts of being appointed honorary chancellor of Spurgeon’s College in the UK. Two years on the college collapsed.

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IN May, 2023, London-based Spurgeon’s College announced it had named former Saddleback megachurch pastor and author Rick Warren, above, as its first-ever honorary chancellor.

Proud as a peacock, the paunchy purveyor of biblical baloney told of his family connections with the college founder, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in a video. Little did he know then that his tenure would be short-lived, for the college has gone tits up due to financial problems.

Christian Today, under the headline “Baptist Union of Great Britain ‘deeply saddened’ by closure of Spurgeon’s College”, reported:

Christians have spoken of their shock and sadness over the sudden closure of Spurgeon’s College, a leading institution in Christian education in the UK for the last 169 years. 

The Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) said it was “deeply saddened” by the news. In a statement, the BUGB said it had been made aware of the funding crisis affecting the college prior to its announcement to close but that:

Sadly, it was not possible for the Baptist Union of Great Britain to offer financial support on the scale that would have been required.

At the time of Warren’s appointment, the college said its primary aim and that of the overfed hog, Warren, was:

To make Jesus known, in part to respond to the most recent census data showing that less than 5% of the U.K. population identify as practicing Christians …

Prof Mark J Cartledge, Principal of the London School of Theology (LST), called the closure of Spurgeon’s “shocking and terribly sad”.

The College has provided highly regarded theological education for Baptist and other Free Church students since 1856. We shall miss the College’s distinct contribution to theological education in service of the Kingdom of God.

Image via Wiki CC

Warren was an odd choice for the college, because he approved of women preachers, something that Spurgeon, above, and the college certainly did not. According to this report:

Spurgeon believed that the preaching of the Word in the gathering of the church was restricted to men, along with the office of elders and deacons. At the same time, his predominant emphasis was on calling women to engage in ministry in all the other ways that were available to them.

As a consequence of Warren’s acceptance of female preachers, Saddleback, in California, got booted out of The Southern Baptist Convention in 2003 for having “a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor.”

When Southern Baptists last updated their official statement of belief — The Baptist Faith and Message — in 2000, they added this clause:

While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

This update is is probably based on this vile passage from Corinthians:

Women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law also says.  If there is something they want to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church …

Hat tip: Malcolm Dodd

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Barry Duke

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3 responses to “US Baptist preacher boasts of being appointed honorary chancellor of Spurgeon’s College in the UK. Two years on the college collapsed.”

  1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
    malcolmjdodd

    That means fewer theologians available to brainwash our children.

    Like

    Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I actually gasped to read here that Spurgeons is closing. I was a trad baptist for decades, and married to a non-stipendary baptist pastor for years, it’s always been the ‘mecca’ of baptist bible colleges, their ‘Oxbridge,’ as it were, very prestigious indeed. Shows the state of x-tianity is still in decline here.

    My favourite Spurgeon quote? He was famed for his oratory and apparently in his sermon notes, for one sermon, there is a note pencilled in the margin, ‘Shout louder here, argument weak.’

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. barriejohn Avatar
      barriejohn

      Me, too, as an ex-evangelical, but I now laugh at such phrases as “highly regarded theological education.”

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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