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| Dr. Emir Caner |
Index: What is the first thing you would like to accomplish as president of TMC?
Caner: George W. Truett, for whom the institution is partly named, articulated well my hope in coming to Truett-McConnell: “To know the will of God is the greatest knowledge! To do the will of God is the greatest achievement.”
My desire, after just a few short weeks, is that I will exemplify for the students what it is to stand firm on the foundational doctrines of our faith. Students need to see – and Georgia Baptists should demand to see – a president who is fully committed to the inerrancy and infallibility of the Scriptures, the exclusivity of salvation in our virgin born Savior, and the soon and literal return of our Lord.
Index: What is your vision for the school for the next five years?
Caner: Truett-McConnell College, I pray, will become a nationally-recognized Baptist school that expands its offerings in liberal arts while developing a Bible minor which would be required in every major. The student should be given the opportunity to excel in the areas in which God has called them while immersing himself/herself in the great doctrines of the faith.
Additionally, I hope to begin a World Missions Center on campus within a very short time. As Baptists, it is our first job to carry forth the gospel to the entire world.
Our new motto broadcasts who we are: “Biblically Centered. Distinctively Baptist.”
Index: What is your worldview and how would you like for this view to be expressed in the classrooms and among the faculty and communicated to the students?
Caner: My worldview closely aligns with our forefathers, the Anabaptists of the sixteenth century. These men, perhaps best represented by one of my heroes, Balthasar Hubmaier, represent the best in what it is to have a fully-orbed Christian worldview.
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| Director of Vocal Music Greg Woodward leads Truett-McConnell’s college choir in rehearsal. |
They stood for non-negotiable Baptist tenets including a voluntary, free, regenerate church (Matt. 18:15-20; John 3:5) initiated through believer’s baptism in a local church (Acts 2:41), a believer’s Lord’s Supper united through Christian love and accountability (1 Cor. 5:1-9), and religious liberty (Matt. 13:24-30). They firmly stood for doctrines including the atonement of Christ for the entire world (1 John 2:2) and lived that out through missionary activity throughout Europe and beyond (Matt. 28:18-20), a belief that many times cost them their lives (Rom. 12:14-15). At TMC, students will see that we cherish our biblical, Baptist worldview. We are Baptists by conviction, not by convenience, and it influences every aspect of our life and will be embodied and proclaimed in our classrooms.
Index: What is your view of absolute truth? Can the belief in absolute truth be successfully communicated to college students in the postmodern era? How?
Caner: The only way to argue that there is no absolute truth is to deny the existence of a higher being. Ancient philosophers such as Socrates pleaded with his students to search and find truth and Plato codified absolute truth within the realm of Forms. For Christians, who recognize that eternity is in the balance for those who either choose or reject the Truth and the Way, truth is central to all that we hold.
Salvation, discipleship, and ethics all vanish without the adherence to truth. Christ becomes a false prophet (John 14:6) and the Bible a dangerous piece of perverted literature (2 Tim. 3:15-17).
At college, one’s view of truth is most clearly seen within the classroom setting. Here at TMC, the student deserves to hear all major sides of an issue. For example, we have no fear to discuss and debate evolution and creation. But a devotion to truth requires that our teachers come down on the side of Scripture, the ultimate plumb line of truth.
On a side note, postmodernism is a philosophy already with both feet in the grave. A system of thought cannot be built on what it is not – it has to explicate what it is. Thus, this system, which asserts that there is no such thing as absolute truth and we are absolutely sure about that fact, fails to meet any measure of reason. Much of the younger generation has already rejected its impious tenets.
Index: What are your views of evolution vs. intelligent design? Will intelligent design be taught in biology and science classes?
Caner: I am an unabashed creationist who believes in a young earth and young man. Additionally, I have gained an appreciation of many in the Intelligent Design community. Men such as Bill Dembski, Phillip Johnson, and Michael Behe have brilliantly engaged evolutionists in a philosophical, legal, and scientific way through research and sharp wit. Their efforts must be praised and will go a long way in slaying the irrational dragon of evolution.
Although attempts have been made in order to explain a random and unintelligent evolution, it is fairly simple to understand that a design needs a designer, creation needs a Creator. Dr. Dembski, himself a Baptist, would be welcomed with open arms at TMC. Indeed, the gauge for any professor should be their complete and unequivocal adherence to the Baptist Faith and Message (2000). Our confession of faith, accepted by Georgia Baptist churches, should be the minimum requirement for any and all of our college professors.
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| Associate professor of Biology Vicki Steele helps Tim Johnson during lab. TMC president Emir Caner says classrooms must be “open, safe, and challenging environments.” |
Index: What will you do to build relationships with Georgia Baptist churches and pastors?
Caner: I am a churchman, through and through, and believe God will honor His Word and work explicitly through the local churches. Therefore, it is not the job of the churches to serve the colleges; it is the job of the colleges to serve the churches.
For trust to be garnered and maintained, our colleges must reach out to our churches in very specific ways and provide them with the resources they need to follow the will of God.
Our majors should emphasize and encourage the work of the local body of believers and equip students to engage culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
For that to happen, our classrooms must be open, safe, and challenging environments where thoughts are expressed freely and Scripture is maintained faithfully. A. T. Robertson was right when he said, “Give a man an open Bible, an open mind, a conscience in good working order, and he will have a hard time to keep from being a Baptist.”
Index: If you had a message to share with Georgia Baptists what would it be?
Caner: Let us remember the words of George W. Truett: “The bringing of a soul to Jesus is the highest achievement possible in human life.”
Index: I know you are a prolific writer and your books are widely read. What books are you presently working on and what books do you expect to be published in the next few months?
Caner: “Unveiling Islam,” 2nd edition (Kregel Publications, Spring 2009). Co-authored with Ergun Caner.
“The Truth About Islam and Women” (Harvest House, Spring 2009). Co-authored with John Ankerberg.
“The Truth About Islam and Jihad” (Harvest House, Spring 2009). Co-authored with John Ankerberg.
“The Truth About Islam and Jesus” (Harvest House, Fall 2009). Co-authored with John Ankerberg.
