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Wondering if Gourley is aware from his network among progressive Baptist Movers and Shakers what their take is on Shorter College.
In the last few days John Lanier, son of former Bull Street BC pastor and FBC Rome, Ga pastor Forrest Lanier has had a letter in the Rome News Tribune, as well as Al Mohler, several Shorter Trustees including the pastor of Fellowship BC in Rome, an opera singer grad of the school and and LA Actor, not to mention several former large contributors to the school.
The comment line to Rebecca Garrett's letter published on same day as Lanier's is particularly interesting.
I'm sure Gourley is aware. By chance is someone at Baptists Today looking closely at this matter and having on the record remarks from folks like Mercer's Underwood, and the Presidents of Samford and Carson Newman.
Would be a grand time for them to make it clear how a Baptist affiliated institution can Remain Christian without becoming fundamentalist; which it appears is the bill of goods--fundamentalism--Nelson Price and new Prez Dowles are trying to sale Shorter Nation with the help of the Art Demoss PR firm.

It has been painful to read the letters and online posts from the Shorter community over the recent weeks. I have a family member who is a Shorter alum. When it was returned to the GBC in a court battle a few years back, she wrote to say "Now I know how you feel about Southern Seminary."

I know nothing will change the decisions made, not even the loss of large donors and much alumni support, but I'm glad people are speaking up and making the world aware of how they feel about the recent changes to a once good school. I will no longer encourage anyone to attend or support the school in any way under its current leadership.

The school's affiliation with the GBC, and what is perceived by some as a "return to its true Baptist theological roots" is seen as a means of restoring the confidence of many of its donors which had stopped contributing, and a way to recruit new students and increase what was a sagging, declining enrollment.

The process of getting a college education is going through a major paradigm shift. The costs are astronomical, and there has been a sort of super inflation of tuition and fees that is disproportionate to monetary inflation. The availability of on-line and distance learning alternatives is creating competition and cutting into the recruiting of "traditional" college students. The cost of a traditional, on-campus education is driving many students to state-supported options and community college districts. So small, "church-affiliated" schools have to find a niche to appeal to students in order to keep their doors open. There are some very inexpensive options for Christians who want to attend a school that operates under a distinctively Christian philosophy of education. A lot of the small, state convention supported Baptist schools haven't been as "distinctively Christian" as their competition. If you live in Georgia, you can certainly find a distinctively Christian education from a distinctively Baptist position not too far away, at Liberty University, for about two thirds of what one of the state-convention related schools will cost. I'm sure that is at least part of what Shorter's trustees have in mind.

My alma mater, which was the only fully accredited, Christian related university in Arizona when I went to college in 1975, faced some real financial issues about a decade ago, brought on by the scandal in the Baptist Foundation of Arizona. Their trustees left the exclusive control of the state convention, and sold the school to a corporation with stock held by some of its alumni, among others. They actually broadened the school's appeal to the larger conservative, evangelical Christian community in the state, and added on line and distance learning options under a Christian philosophy of education. They are now a "for profit" business, with an enrollment that is roughly equal to the active membership of the entire Arizona Southern Baptist Convention. It is distinctively Christian, though not distinctively Baptist, but distinctively conservative evangelical. That's where a lot of state convention supported Baptist schools are going to have to go, and they'll have to be conservative enough to have broad appeal among evangelicals. They can't move to the left and hope to fill that role.

You are now part of the heated discussion in the Rome News Tribune. I just copied and pasted your remarks there, with a plug for your weekly blog at baps today dot O r g and your bio of Dunn. Look for sales in Floyd County Georgia to go through the roof

You may want to saymore in this comment line of the Carol Garrett letter; and if you visit there check out the fine testimony of Forrest Lanier's son and Rob Nash's column if you have yet to do so.

Still waiting on Bruce Gourley to testify there:

http://rn-t.com/pages/full_story/push?n ... d=16529098

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php? ... 0674048188

And November 15 print issue of Christian Century has grand review of The Anointed as well.

You state your case well.

The thing with Shorter is the History of the players are a big factor, Nelson Price being the key, as well as recent history of Georgia Baptist Convention which I think BDW did a grand job of in his testimony about Brewton Parker and the situation at T McConnell.

Marilynne Robinson was at both Furman and Duke wiithin the last three months. And four years ago she had a two day stint in Bham which included a day at Samford.

I don't see the likes of Union in Jackson, Tn; nor Shorter engaging the conversation you suggest. And unless somehow the students and faculty at Shorter force Dowles and Price into an invitation of Rachel Held Evans of Evolvling in Monkeytown I don't see Price and his fundamentalist trustee board having her on campus anytime soon.
Get your hands on the book soon as you can. I'm gonna call the Rome Barnes and Noble and encourage them to order ten copies right away. I think they can sell em. Put em next to Ann Beatties new work on Pat Nixon new arrivals shelf when you walk in the door; or special section that says ofInterest to Shorter; maybe with the greatflicks soon to be in the Criterion section: The White Ribbon and a Better World.

And Sandy, do check in at RN-t.com and click on opinion and letters to see how it is playing on the ground in Rome, Georgia.

Another great read for you if you are interested in the truth of this matter rather than just scoring debating points--didn't mean that as a thumb in your eye, just for reference for others who come along to read these exchanges--I can recommend no better than my friend Jeff Rogers grand essays in the Helwys publication What Really Matters; a presentation at Furman in 94 or so as Furman was reviewing what had happened in its big scrare with S.C. Baps.

I agree with you a good Baptist kid who comes to a campus that has a historical affiliation with Baptists in America should not be in a world that is alienating to him. If he comes from a church where the Preacher loves the Scripture and preaches right living and has insight into the stories, then that is a rich intellectual tradition and world of imagination that should set him up for greatness in the humanities.
As an example my late hero Marshall Frady--some say the greatest social justice journalist in last half of the 20th Century; and my Pen Faulkner nominee friend Ron Rash--see my interview in the June 2010 Baptists Today.

But Pressler and Patterson's gunk about the science and history of the first 11 chapters of Genesis, and Jerry Vines sermon of 1987 in St. Louis--and don't forget Vines was twice pastor of West Rome BC, about a mile, if that, from the Shorter Campus--well ain't much of a liberal arts education coming from that mess. Perfect examples of what it looks like Giberson and Stephens are gettin at; which in a nutshell is the bogusnes of the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC.
Erskine College in Due West, S.C. went through similar anxiety couple years ago with Reformed Presbyterians.

Main point, Inerrancy want scour in a good liberal arts scene; and Shorter is being taken over by rogue group, pretty much stolen from Baptists who were the major funding trajectory over the last 100 years. Again, BDW and Jeff Rogers cement my point.

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/is ... wolfe4.htm

I hope Gourley can bring this To Dr. Underwood's attention, and Aaron Weaver to the Baylor President if they haven't already come across it

Very Strong. Two folks, Night Owl and Almost Anonymous coming in as apologists for Price, one quite well tuned to Price's blog:

http://www.rn-t.com/view/full_story/170 ... eft_column