Posted: 04/22/08

A Laugh a Minute: Cedarville U's Carl Ruby Dresses Up as Shane Claiborne

By Ingrid Schlueter
www.sliceoflaodicea.com/

Apparently Cedarville University's doctrinal battles that included the firing of two tenured professors and some less than flattering national attention from the nation's best read scholarly journal (the Chronicle of Higher Education) haven't dampened spirits at the school. Here is a student-taken snapshot of Vice-President for Student Life, Dr. Carl Ruby, in costume as controversial, neo-monastic emerging star and political leftist, Shane Claiborne. Ruby's surprising costume choice came at the annual campus event known as Elliv (that's ville spelled backwards for you non-academic types) last Saturday. According to students attending, the college revels included Dr. Ruby playing Claiborne in a skit where he was silenced and not allowed to speak. In real life, Claiborne was recently dis-invited to the university much to the chagrin of Ruby and his academic cohorts on campus after concerns were raised from those inside and outside of Cedarville. Contrary to the disinformation that the only concerns were raised by "angry bloggers", students, parents and alumni were concerned after Shane's upcoming appearance was publicized online by a variety of sources.

While Ruby in his Claiborne rig-out may view all of this as material for cheap laughs, the real issues remain both for the institution and for those outside who are concerned about the influence of postmodernism on Cedarville faculty and administration. On the school's website they have made a point to billboard their biblically conservative image with the words:

In a culture where truth is questioned, Cedarville is unwavering in its commitment to the inerrancy and authority of Scripture.

If the school is that zealous for truth, than Dr. Ruby should not be making excuses for Claiborne regarding this interview of Tony Campolo as Ruby did in this letter to the faculty where he lashed out at those concerned by Claiborne's teachings. The interview simply speaks for itself, yet those who quoted from it in order to demonstrate the unbiblical nature of Campolo's and Shane's remarks were accused with that old canard, "They took it out of context". (It's frankly even worse in context.) Shane Claiborne just spoke along with Brian there-is-no-substitutionary-atonement McLaren two weeks ago at McLaren's Shift conference at Willow Creek, and he met up with Brian there-is-no-hell McLaren again to speak at the Justice Revival in Columbus, Ohio this last weekend with Jim Wallis and the usual suspects from the Religious Left. Why is Shane not troubled that McLaren is actively attacking core Christian doctrine? Why is Shane willing to partner publicly at conferences with a man who rejects the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ? (See the Baptist Press report I posted earlier today on McLaren's teachings at Willow Creek.) To deny the atonement of Christ on the cross for our sins is blasphemous. To deny the atonement is to spit on the face of Christ who died in agony in our place. This attack by McLaren on the Scriptures apparently bothers Mr. Claiborne, and his acolyte, Dr. Ruby, not at all. It's all about social justice, you see. Who cares about what McLaren believes about eternity, hell, the cause for Christ's death on the cross? Everything must change! We need a shift. It's Kingdom Now, people. It's only the temporal concerns that matter. Eternity is for loser, pie-in-the-sky fundamentalists, not cool "red-letter" Christians with organic hemp clothing made by hand.

Claiborne is also a friend and co-laborer with Dr. Tony Campolo who hails from Claiborne's alma mater, Eastern College. Their new DVD, Simply Enough, has them working, shoulder to shoulder. Campolo, you will remember, is the one who suggested that Muslims and Christians may find common ground through mysticism in his book, Speaking My Mind.

"Beyond these models of reconciliation, a theology of mysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam. Both religions have within their histories examples of ecstatic union with God … I do not know what to make of the Muslim mystics, especially those who have come to be known as the Sufis. What do they experience in their mystical experiences? Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism?"

–P. 149-150, Speaking My Mind

This quote is the tip of a very large iceberg when it comes to the theological problems of Dr. Campolo, including Campolo's citing of sources like New Ager Teilhard de Chardin, for example. (See my earlier post on Campolo and Doublespeak.)

Shane Claiborne consistently keeps some very strange spiritual company. Cedarville's Dr. Ruby isn't concerned in the least. It's all good.

Cedarville's claim of staunch support for Scriptural authority and inerrancy rings hollow. If Scripture was authoritative at Cedarville, the leadership would keep postmodernism's cheerleaders out of their school realizing the spiritual error they represent. As it stands, it appears the school's leadership wants to have things both ways. They seem to want to appease those on the faculty and in their administration who are enamored with postmodernism while keeping the conservative alumni money and children flowing into their institution. They are on the very sharp horns of a dilemma.

By Ingrid Schlueter Email: vcyproducer@aol.com Click here for bio and archived articles