Groothuis and Hexham 1/3
First exchange of three between Groothuis and Hexham
Subject: AR-talk Hexam/Poewe book slams evangelicals
To: AR-talk, AR-talk@xc.org
Originally from: <DGrooth133@aol.com>
Originally dated: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 01:06:23 -0400 (EDT)
In "New Religions as Global Cultures" (Harper, 1997) Irving Hexam and Karla
Poewe slam numerous evangelical authors in their first chapter, including
Doug Groothuis, Walter Martin, Elliot Miller, Norm Geisler, David Clark, and
other people who really deserve it more, such as Dave Hunt.
Somebody needs to take them to task for all this. They make some veryirresponsible claims.
Doug Groothuis
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Subject: Re: AR-talk Hexam/Poewe book slams evangelicals
To: AR-talk, AR-talk@xc.org
Originally from: Irving Hehxam <hexham@acs.ucalgary.ca>
Originally dated: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 16:01:38 -0600 (Mountain Daylight Time)
Doug Groothius writes:
On Thu, 12 Jun 1997 01:06:23 -0400 (EDT) "DGrooth133@aol.com" <AR-talk@xc.org> wrote:
> In "New Religions as Global Cultures" (Harper, 1997) Irving Hexam and Karla
> Poewe slam numerous evangelical authors in their first chapter, including
> Doug Groothuis, Walter Martin, Elliot Miller, Norm Geisler, David Clark, and
> other people who really deserve it more, such as Dave Hunt.
>
> Somebody needs to take them to task for all this.. They make some very
> irresponsible claims.
Surely, this claim in itself is "irresponsible." If Dr. Groothuis does not like what we say he is under an obligation to spell out where we are wrong not simply make vague accusations. Since I am not a mind reader there is only one issue on which I know Dr. Groothuis and I disagree. Therefore, I will address it here. In our book and an earlier article I argue that DEPENDING ON ONE'S DEFINITION it is possible for Christianity to be interpreted as a form of monism and that both Gordon H. Clark and Augustus Strong supported forms of Christina monism. Consequently I maintain that in dealing with the New Age Movement it is a mistake for evangelical apologists to condemn all forms of monism. Rather, it is essential that we define our terms very carefully. Dr. Groothuis disagrees with my approach and claims, in private correspondence, that I have "a bee in my bonnet" about this issue implying that it is trivial. My response to him was to point out that, working as I do in a secular university, I regularly meet students who claim to have "lost their faith" because the evangelical apologetics they were given by their pastors contained claims which were far too sweeping to be taken seriously. Therefore, when confronted with more complex arguments in Religious Studies or Philosophy courses they faced a crisis. Because I have to deal with such students all the time I am very aware of the dangers of some forms of apologetics. I am also aware that students can be less than honest and that sometimes people welcome reasons to reject Christ. At the same time I recognize that for many church members the type of apologetic which upsets some university students is exactly what is needed at a popular level. Further, I know that some of my own books, dealing with African Independent Churches, may well create a crisis of faith for certain individuals. Therefore, in pointing out that sometimes Dr. Groothuis' approach may be problematic I am not claiming to be free from fault. All I am arguing is that evangelicals need to be very careful when they attack other systems or throw around terms like monism. Like Dr. Groothuis I welcome responses to our book.
In Christ,
Irving
----------------------
Irving Hexham
E-mail: hexham@acs.ucalgary.ca
Web Site: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~hexham
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Subject: Re: AR-talk Hexam/Poewe book slams evangelicals
To: AR-talk, AR-talk@xc.org
Originally from: Douglas Edward Cowan <decowan@acs.ucalgary.ca>
Originally dated: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 16:47:44 -0600 (Mountain Daylight Time)
On Thu, 12 Jun 1997 01:06:23 -0400 (EDT) "DGrooth133@aol.com" <AR-talk@xc.org> wrote:
> In "New Religions as Global Cultures" (Harper, 1997) Irving Hexam and Karla
> Poewe slam numerous evangelical authors in their first chapter, including
> Doug Groothuis, Walter Martin, Elliot Miller, Norm Geisler, David Clark, and
> other people who really deserve it more, such as Dave Hunt.
> > Somebody needs to take them to task for all this. They make some very
> irresponsible claims.
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with this book, although I have heard of Hexham and Poewe. Could you be a little more specific?
I would hate to use irresponsible material.
Thanks for your help.
Doug
----------------------
Douglas Edward Cowan
decowan@acs.ucalgary.ca
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