but the building below it is not so impressive.
The Shrinkers have always defended their unionism and attendance at Fuller Seminary by shrieking, "You went to Notre Dame!"
Alas, if I had only known that I would be the cause for so many falling into the clutches of Paul Y. Cho, C. Peter Wagner, and Donald McGavran.
There are three crucial differences.
One - I went to Notre Dame when serving in the LCA, which openly supported unionism, where the president James Crumley spent a lot of time working with the Antichrist.
WELS claimed to be against unionism. The Wisconsin clergy are trained to wrinkle their faces in disgust whenever the LCMS is mentioned, to make fun of the ELS whenever possible. WELS has spent over 30 years pretending to be against unionism while promoting Reformed doctrine after their own leaders have studied at Schwaermer schools - Olson for a DMin at Fuller, Kelm at St. Louis, Witte at Gordon Conwell, etc.
WELS has not yet confessed to its addiction to Reformed doctrine. To see where Church and Chicanery is going, look at their chosen keynote speakers and where board member Ski studies on a monthly basis.
Two - The Shrinkers of WELS have consistently lied about studying at Fuller Seminary: Valleskey before admitting it was true; and Bivens after confessing it in public.
How the CG Enthusiasts would howl if I lied about going to Notre Dame, but I never have dissembled about it. Most of my training was not Roman Catholic at all, but dealt in doctrinal comparisons. The chowderheads who think ND trains doctoral students to be Romanists are delusional. That is more likely at The Surrendered Fort in Ft. Wayne or Our Lady of Sorrows Seminary in St. Louis.
Notre Dame is only nominally Catholic, just as Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary is only nominally Lutheran.
Yale is non-denominatinal, but my master's degree there was mostly in Biblical studies: Hebrew exegesis of Genesis; Greek exegesis of the New Testament. I also studied the problems of alcoholism, which benefited me in dealing with WELS clergy.
Three - I used my background at Notre Dame to write Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, available for free. Recently I recorded a series of lectures on the doctrinal differences and posted them on the Net. They are easily located from this blog. Only an ignorant lout would say I never criticized Catholicism. But then, only an ignorant lout would defend the Church Growth Movement.
WELS has promoted two of my books in the past, and they are real theology books, not superficial gibberish promoting puppet shows and rock music. The Shrinkers hate most of all my doctrinal criticisms of CG.
