Some students and faculty have expressed concern for the hatemongering of non-born-again Christians and non-Christians that is expressed within the Left Behind series. While this is one of my concerns, I don’t think that the only reason students are opposed to Jenkins is because of this. On the one hand, it is argued that it’s mostly Tim LeHaye that thinks all gays and Catholics go straight to Hell. On the other, they are often associated closely. So closely associated that Jenkins’ and LeHaye’s names are plastered across the fronts of series after series of books together. Surely Jenkins knows of LeHaye’s views.
Another of my reasons for opposing Jenkins as a speaker has to do with the nature of his writing. First of all, if we quit kidding ourselves, the only thing Jenkins is well known for is the Left Behind series. Dowden has asked us to “look beyond” the fundamentalist Left Behind book series, but it’s the very first thing they touch on in the press releases. I’m almost sure that no one in the commencement audience would be able to place the title of another of Jenkins’ works, and invariably the university will become lumped together with the extreme fundamentalism inherent in Jenkins’ most prolific works.
Another reason I am opposed to Jenkins has to do with recent issues regarding academic freedom. Huntington didn’t hesitate to dismiss John Sanders, whose theology didn’t match up with the theology of the United Bretheren denomination, but they will readily extend an invitation to Jenkins to come here when he, according to Dowden, does not have a theology that agrees with the United Bretheren denomination, either. If this does not speak of inconsistency, I don’t know what does.
