About R. Scott Clark
R. Scott Clark is the President of the
Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several
books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University.
Read more» He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
Excellent and very helpful, even though I am not a public figure. All of us can experience this in our lives to some degree. Some of us more than others, and even those of us who live quiet lives.
The temptation for me has always been to swing the other direction in reaction to the treatment Trueman speaks of and become hardened to any criticism whatsoever. It becomes easier to let legit criticism slip by.
I have often wonderd if this is why so many christian leaders I have conversed with give an impression that they are “above criticism” (of any kind) and interpret even legit criticisms as “disrespect” or being “confrontational”, especially if given by a younger person (and I am referring to personal interactions, not anonymous means). I guess there comes a point when one hears so much criticism that you end up ignoring all criticism. How do we avoid this overreaction and allow ourselves to be accountable to one another without being torn down by one another?
Anyways, Dr. Trueman deserves much praise for his work for the church, as do so many other church leaders (including you Dr. Clark), and I am thankful the Lord has given his church these gifted men to help us sheep.
Can anyone tell me why Carl Trueman receives so many attacks?
I’ve read maybe 10-20 short essays by him, and I thought they were all good.
I don’t think he or anyone else for that matter is above legitimate criticism, but what’s he being criticized for?
I, too, am not aware of the lightning rod nature of Carl Trueman (maybe it is mostly contained to the cloistered cells of Westminster Philly?), but I found it ironic that he referenced Martin Luther after several paragraphs of lambasting wild-language, attack-dog blog writers. The fact is: not only Luther but Calvin himself is more in the camp of the bloggers Trueman is writing about. Of course, if the bloggers are theonomists then in the opinion of this crazy blogger they need to be horsewhipped.
Dear dt:
Read Carl carefully. He’s saying most, actually all, of these bloggers are cowards in real life. They can’t do it face to face so they hide behind a keyboard and a monitor. Calvin and Luther don’t hide from a good debate, but they do it face to face when they can (writing letters if it’s too distant and life-threatening, they are gung-ho but not stupid.)
Calvin and Luther speak the same language in person or in letters. The bloggers don’t talk like that in face-to-face communication, but somehow they changed into a totally different person on the net. That’s Carl’s point and why he looks down on them.
Some of Peter Enns’s brown shirts are particularly hostile towards Trueman and in their own perceived righteous zeal are tireless in their attacks thinking all the while that theirs is a noble cause- all of which reveals more about themselves than it does about the object of their scorn.
GLW is right. The amount of venom that Carl has received over his leadership at WTS is breathtaking. Many of his opponents are downright nasty. I’ve encountered a couple of them. It’s amazing how much trouble you can get in simply by insisting that your Bible faculty teach in accord with the standards to which they pledged themselves.