Publishing Has Consequences

Theology Professor Leaving Traditionalist Seminary Over Bible Claims

GLENSIDE, Pa. (AP) — A theology professor who was suspended for suggesting the Bible was the work of both God and people has agreed to leave the conservative seminary where he taught.

In a joint statement, Westminster Theological Seminary and professor Peter Enns said they "arrived at mutually agreeable terms" that are effective as of Friday. No other details were released.

Westminster trustees voted in March to suspend Enns, a tenured 14-year veteran of the school, because of his 2005 book, "Inspiration and Incarnation."

Enns' book was written to help students grapple with recent scholarship suggesting contradictions in the Bible, especially the Old Testament. In it, Enns urges readers to understand the Bible is both divine and human.

Trustees said it appeared that Enns had defied the school's founding principle, based on the 1646 Westminster Confession of Faith, the core creed of the Presbyterian tradition. It says that Scripture is solely the word of God and proclaims the "infallible truth" and "entire perfection" of the Bible.

Westminster, located near Philadelphia, was founded in 1929 by former Princeton Theological Seminary faculty who believed that school was becoming too liberal.