November 25, 2002
IMB's probe of fired missionary's
text delves into Bible's most vexing issues
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___Some of the most vexing issues of Old Testament interpretation are among areas of concern cited in the teaching of fired Southern Baptist missionary professor Chris Harbin.
___In what time frame did creation occur? Is the Bible a book of science? Does the Hebrew term "adam" refer only to a specific individual or also in general to the first humans? What is the explanation when biblical texts appear to contradict each other or known scientific fact? Should the Old Testament be read only in light of the New Testament, or should it also be read in the context of what its first hearers would have understood? Where did Cain's wife come from?
___These issues surface in 13 passages excerpted by International Mission Board administrators from Harbin's 200-page "Narratological Theology and Homiletics" syllabus as evidence that he was teaching outside the boundaries of the Baptist Faith & Message 2000.
___Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention mission
board on Nov. 1 affirmed Harbin's termination by area administrators on grounds of "persistent advocating of doctrinal positions inconsistent with the Baptist Faith & Message."
___Harbin and his wife, Karen, who also was terminated, question every implication of the IMB's language used to describe their firing. "Persistent advocating" means repeated action, Mrs. Harbin noted, explaining that her husband was confronted
| "My course text was apparently searched for content that could be used against me, regardless of whether a specific passage reflected my position or whether I was stating a position I was attempting to refute." |
by IMB leaders only in April. Between then and the time of their firing this fall, he stopped teaching the one seminary class under scrutiny until questions could be cleared up.
___Further, the Harbins believe Chris Harbin's teaching was not inconsistent with the Baptist Faith & Message. Harbin contends passages from his classroom syllabus used at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil have been lifted out of context and misconstrued to bring charges against him.
___He contends no complaint about his teaching ever was lodged by a Brazilian student or administrator at the seminary where he taught the last six years. The seminary's student body and the organization of local pastors wrote letters of support for the Harbins after learning the IMB was sending them home.
___IMB spokesman Mark Kelly insisted the Harbins' termination is in no way related to their refusal to sign an affirmation of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, currently a contentious issue among some missionaries. "He was terminated because his teaching stood outside the boundaries of what Southern Baptists believe about the Bible," Kelly said.
___Harbin's teachings, Kelly said, "cannot even be reconciled with the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message."
___"In general, the problem was that his teaching on critical theories about the Bible was not balanced with a strong advocacy for the Bible as God's word, totally true and trustworthy," Kelly said. "Understanding theories of biblical criticism is important, but we must never undermine trust in the Bible as God's word. When that happens, Christians begin to think they are too sophisticated to believe the Bible's stories are true. Inevitably, they are drawn away from a God whose heart breaks for a lost world--and they lose their sense of urgency for proclaiming salvation in Jesus Christ."
___Harbin has responded in writing to the 13 passages cited by the IMB as evidence of doctrinal lapses. The passages were taken from his course syllabus, originally written in Portuguese but translated into English this summer at the request of IMB regional administrator Robin Hadaway.
___Hadaway, who has supervised IMB missionaries in Brazil for about six years, does not read or speak Portuguese.
___Harbin, whose parents were IMB missionaries in Brazil, arrived at the Brazilian seminary as a career missionary with the IMB in 1997. He previously started a Hispanic church in Aiken, S.C., after serving two years with the mission board in Mexico in church planting and seminary extension teaching.
___Harbin earned the bachelor of arts degree in modern languages from Mississippi College in 1989 and the master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1992. Mrs. Harbin, a South Carolina native, also is a graduate of Southern Seminary.
___The Harbins received notice of their termination Sept. 12. However, they contend, they did not receive a list of specific accusations regarding doctrinal issues until Oct. 26. The deadline they had been given to appeal their termination was Oct. 6.
___"The quotes in question as extracted do not represent my beliefs," Harbin said. "My course text was apparently searched for content that could be used against me, regardless of whether a specific passage reflected my position or whether I was stating a position I was attempting to refute."
___The Baptist Faith & Message 2000, which is the doctrinal guideline for IMB missionaries, states in Article 1 on Scripture: "It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy."
___At multiple points in his syllabus, Harbin affirms the Bible's authority and trustworthiness. For example, in the introduction to the syllabus, he writes: "The authority is the word of God, supremely expressed in the Bible."
___Harbin affirms the Bible as authoritative, despite what some would consider inconsistencies or errors. In a section on divine inspiration of Genesis 2, Harbin writes: "The church has a canon due to recognition that the books in the Bible are truly God's word, as opposed to history or science. These books do not claim absence of scientific and historical errors but present witness to the word of God. This is what the people of God recognized and approved--the message of God to the people, transmitted through God's spokespersons, the prophets."
___However, the citations given against Harbin apparently require him to meet a definition of biblical "inerrancy" never formally adopted by the SBC.
___An introduction to the 13 citations against Harbin begins: "The following quotations in Chris Harbin's syllabus are in conflict with the Baptist Faith & Message statements on Scripture and go beyond the parameters of the 1991 SBC Doctrinal Study's definition of inerrancy."
___The doctrinal study in question, titled "The Doctrine of the Bible," was written by David Dockery, who at the time was academic vice president at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and now is president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn. It was the text for the SBC's annual doctrinal emphasis in churches nationwide.
___Neither the book nor Dockery's definition of inerrancy have >ever been put before messengers to an SBC annual meeting for affirmation or rejection. An IMB spokesman did not respond to an inquiry about whether IMB trustees have officially adopted Dockery's definition of inerrancy as a guideline.
___According to Dockery, inerrancy means that "when all the facts are known, the Bible (in its autographs, that is, the original documents), properly interpreted in light of the culture and the means of communication that had developed by the time of its composition, is completely true in all that it affirms, to the degree of precision intended by the author's purpose, in all matters relating to God and his creation."
___Harbin, in his syllabus, notes the difficulty of claiming the Bible is infallible only in its original manuscripts: "If it were necessary for the autographs to be completely absent of any error to be deemed inspired, then a copy would also need to obey the same criterion to correctly express the divinely inspired message. The logic also fails, as there are no extant autographs."
___He also addresses the matter of biblical inspiration in Genesis, noting: "The Bible claims its own authority, but it does not claim infallibility, especially of scientific precision regarding every topic. Its writers were not worried with such ideas. The Bible teaches about the reality of God, God's identity, God's grace and will for humanity--it is the supreme authority for questions of theology. The matter of scientific knowledge does not interfere with the inspired authority of the Bible. Its purpose never was to teach science or history. Its purpose was always to reveal God's action, identity, character and purpose among the people and humanity in general."
___While that definition did not draw the ire of IMB administrators, two sentences and a footnote in the same section were singled out as evidence of unacceptable doctrine.
___In a section explaining how the biblical books were written and passed down over time, Harbin addressed the accusations of biblical critics that the Bible contains errors: "What some apparently overlook is that the type of 'error' that such an ancient text presents has much more to do with concepts in conflict with modern science and not in the presentation of its theological message. This in reality is no serious error in any sense, as the biblical objective is neither scientific nor historical in character."
___That explanation was not acceptable to the IMB, nor was a footnote to the text that cautions students not to make the Bible a precise book of science: "Remember the church's treatment of Galileo Galilei, who declared concordance with Copernicus that the earth revolved around the sun, while the Bible declared the opposite. Currently, very few people would argue that science is wrong on this point, yet the Bible continues describing the universe in a contrary manner. If it is acceptable to agree that the Bible is wrong on this point, one should also accept that the Bible is not a text of science and its scientific presentations can be ignored without invalidating its theological teaching."
___That the Bible is not a book of science, but of theology, is a recurring theme throughout Harbin's syllabus on Genesis.
___IMB officials selected passages from the syllabus they found objectionable, often linking passages together with ellipses and thus dropping out explanatory or contextual text that spans a full paragraph or more.
___In discussing Genesis 1, Harbin advises not reading the biblical text with an eye toward understanding the complete scientific process by which God created the Earth.
___The IMB excerpts this portion from the middle of a paragraph: "As a scientific account of the progress of creation, there are serious problems with this sequencing, unless the interpretation given with regard to the term 'day' is expressly a time period equivalent to 24 hours or the light from the first day is sufficient to sustain plant life. According to current scientific thought, it would be inconceivable for the earth to be formed prior to the sun, moon and stars, for it is gravitationally dependent on these celestial bodies."
___In this section, however, Harbin does affirm God as creator of the universe. The sentence immediately following the text excerpted by the IMB adds: "The interest of the narrative, however, is not scientific description, but theological--it was God who created, not an aimless undirected process, nor the activity of a pantheon of gods."
___IMB officials drew heavy attention to a section of Harbin's syllabus in which he discusses the Hebrew term "adam," which is literally translated "man" or "humanity."
___Harbin argues that a literal first couple existed but says the Hebrew vocabulary of Genesis "goes beyond that idea to present characters that can be understood as 'representative humanity'--all of humanity role cast as the first human couple."
___He added: "This is not to say the narrative does not deal with the issues regarding the very first human beings, but it does this in a representative manner."
___By reading the Hebrew word "adam" as both specific and general, other perceived problems with the biblical text disappear, Harbin wrote. For example, how else to explain Cain's flight to another region, where he finds a wife, builds a city and fears vengeance?
___A passage in which Harbin appears to argue for the doctrine of the original sin of humanity also drew criticism from the IMB. In that passage dealing with Genesis 3, Harbin wrote: "Returning to consider the use of the term 'adam,' it is important to realize that this term essentially indicates that it was not the sin of a third party which gave way to the fall, but the sin of humanity itself."
___At other points, Harbin seemingly draws IMB criticism for advocating that Old Testament texts first must be considered in terms of how they would have been heard in their time before reading them in light of the New Testament. Two of his principles of biblical interpretation outlined at the beginning of the syllabus state that "a text must be read within its own context, in search of its contextual message" and that "only after dealing with what a specific text says for itself should its message be compared to the message of another text."
___Based on this principle, Harbin draws attention to the role of the serpent in the Garden of Eden and urges readers to consider that "Satan" is not mentioned in the Genesis text and "there is no evidence of a developed doctrine of Satan until quite late in the history of Judaism, (and thus) it would be anachronistic to assume that the narrator of Genesis 3 had a well-defined understanding of Satan."
___That passage is highlighted by the IMB, but not the sentence immediately following that adds: "This does not rule out a connection between the image of the serpent here and the later concept of a malign character that acts in opposition to the will of God."
___In his written response to the IMB's accusations, Harbin explains: "My intent here is to firstly treat the text in regard to the intent of the author. That done, the text may be read in light of a developed concept of Satan."
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