11/21/11 I FEEL SORRY 4 DAVE AUGSBURGER, FULLER SEMINARY ...he had 1 big book "Care Enough to Confront"..& still has an ego based one the semi-success of it from "back in the day"...& still continues to teach at fuller seminary as if he's relevant ..problem being that AFTER a certain age these professors lose their relevance to the younger, more modern world...yet their large egos (& compassion/obedience from students) &/or lack of genuine care or concern for the welfare of the students & our world, propel them onward in their "perfect careers" as tenured seminary academicians . & Augsburg isn't alone. There's a long list of ego-filled profs at fuller seminary (calvin seminary also). Ironically, that's not to say every elderly, aging professor becomes irrelevant, only those with a bombastic, ego-filled, personality. For that matter, they were probably weak & innefectual even at a young age, but because of the fraternal nature of the seminary, once they get in, there's no getting them out. Believe it or not, there's some odd creatures who actually long-term shrewdly pre-plan their lives in advance with the hope for a "seminary job" because #1) the "kids" are easy to control (can u imagine a more obedient group of people than seminary students, eager to serve?) #2) tenure is relatively easy to obtain, #3) pay at a place like fuller seminary is actually pretty darn good ( surely 6 figures). #4) work hours aren't too bad, with plenty of travel time...& all travel is done "for the kingdom" so they can say a trip to hawaii was a "mission consultation" trip, etc. #5) there's really not much, if any, accountability (ask nancey murphy or rich mouw), #6) even if you go to church, you get to feel like you're superior to the pastor (you're the pastor's teacher, of course), #7) you can pick on any seminary student you don't like without much repurcussion ; 8) and the list goes on
By the way, I recently read in one of rich mouw"s musings that he wasn't particularly planning on becoming a "seminary president" ...it just sort of worked out that way....ha ha...& I'm mickey mouse...mouw has been shrewdly gunning from day 1 as a professor in grand rapids to "move up in the ranks" ...he grudgingly attended our church (because all calvin professors are required to attend a crc) and thought,in his east coast jersey superiority, that grand rapids was a quaint little town (ie a stupid little town with a bunch of small-town clowns, including me...imagine having a grown man despise you as a child before you even knew that your beloved hometown of grand rapids was a a stupid "small hick town" in his eyes) ...rich mouw was gunning to get out of grand rapids & away from the crc. He hated us.
