The prestigious Princeton Theological Seminary in the US has reversed its decision to honour conservative evangelical theologian Tim Keller with an award, following mounting criticism.
Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, was set to receive the $10,000 2017 Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Witness on April 6, when he will deliver a lecture on church planting.
But in an email to faculty and students yesterday, the president of the Protestant seminary, Craig Barnes, said that while he remains committed to 'the critical inquiry and theological diversity of our community', giving Keller the award may 'imply an endorsement' of Keller's views against the ordination of women and LGBTQ people.
Barnes added that the seminary would not award the Kuyper Prize – named after a famous Dutch neo-Calvinist theologian – to anyone this year.
Despite the row, Keller has agreed to deliver the annual Kuyper Lecture on April 6 as planned.
'We are a community that does not silence voices in the church,' Barnes wrote. 'In this spirit we are a school that can welcome a church leader to address one of its centres about his subject, even if we strongly disagree with his theology on ordination to ministry.'
It was Keller's espousal of the controversial 'complementarian' theology that teaches women should submit to their husbands that led to a backlash against the seminary. Carol Howard Merritt wrote for the Christian Century: 'I know that people are angry that Tim Keller doesn't believe in women in the pastorate. But, my friends, this goes much, much deeper than women not being able to be ordained as Pastors, Elders, and Deacons. Complementarianism means married women have no choice over their lives at all.'
She said she was 'shaking with grief' as she wrote and that she would be 'mourning' when Keller receives his award: 'I will lament for my sisters who have been maligned and abused. So much of my ministry has been dedicated to aiding the victims of these poisonous beliefs. In these difficult days, when our president says that women's genitalia is up for grabs by any man with power and influence, I hoped that my denomination would stand up for women, loud and clear. Instead we are honoring and celebrating a man who has championed toxic theology for decades.'
Another writer, Traci Smith, said in her blog: 'An institution designed to train men and women for ministry shouldn't be awarding fancy prizes to someone who believes half the student body (or is it more than half?) has no business leading churches.'
Barnes had responded to Smith's blog, saying the seminary stands in 'prophetic opposition' to the Presbyterian Church in America over its policy on ordaining women.
'What sort of reception Keller will receive at the lecture next month is the next question,' the Religion News Service pointed out.
But Smith called Barnes's decision 'the right move'. She wrote on her blog: 'Yes to academic freedom. Yes to listening to others whose opinions are different from our own (no matter how distasteful they may be). No to giving large fancy prizes that can be confused with endorsement. Some may not be satisfied with this response. I think it's a great compromise.'
