J. Steven Wilkins

J. Steven Wilkins (born 27 June 1950) is a conservative American Calvinist and evangelical pastor and author known for views on American slavery.

Biography

Steve Wilkins holds degrees from the University of Alabama and the Reformed Theological Seminary of Jackson, Mississippi. He was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America in 1976, and has served as the pastor of Church of the Redeemer (formerly known as Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church) of West Monroe, Louisiana since 1989.[1]

In 2007, the Louisiana Presbytery was indicted by the PCA's Standing Judicial Commission for "failing to find a strong presumption of guilt" against Wilkins with regards to his theological views. Following this action, the congregation of Church of the Redeemer voted without dissent to withdraw from the PCA on January 27, 2008 and subsequently joined the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.[2]

Wilkins is an advocate of Federal Vision theology, and is a former board member of the League of the South.

In his pamphlet Southern Slavery, As It Was (ISBN 1-885767-17-X) (co-authored with fellow Christian minister Douglas Wilson), Wilkins argued for a view that the status of slaves had not been as bad as is currently taught in American schools. He stated for example that: "slavery produced in the South a genuine affection between the races that we believe we can say has never existed in any nation before the War or since." Historians such as Peter H. Wood, Clayborne Carson, and Bancroft Prize winner Ira Berlin have condemned the pamphlet's arguments, with Wood calling them as spurious as holocaust denial.[3]

Writings

Wilkins is the author of

  • Face to Face: Meditations on Friendship and Hospitality (ISBN 978-1591280002)
  • Call of Duty: The Sterling Nobility of Robert E. Lee (ISBN 978-1581823349)
  • All Things for Good: The Steadfast Fidelity of Stonewall Jackson (ISBN 978-1581822250)
  • The Federal Vision (ISBN 978-0975391402) (editor)

References
  1. Pastors & Elders
  2. Wilkins' rationale for leaving the PCA can be found at http://auburnavenue.org/documents/PCADepartureRationale.html.
  3. "The Late Unpleasantness in Idaho: Southern Slavery and the Culture Wars". By William L. Ramsey. History News Network. Published December 20, 2004.


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