The Canaan controversy of 1994 was provoked by the discovery and exposure of racist statements made by Louis Talbot in 1938. Dr. Talbot had taught that the curse of Canaan (Genesis 9:25) was something which fell upon "the Negro race" and rendered them dark-skinned as well as destined to servitude.

Dr. Talbot's statements were found his 1938 book Bible Questions Explained, which was in turn based on remarks he had made on his Saturday radio show on radio station KMPC in Beverly Hills, California.

In 1994, a student at Talbot School of Theology found these statements and brought them to the attention of the leaders at the School of Theology. Under the leadership of dean Dennis Dirks, the School of Theology and subsequently the Council of Instruction Deans took official action. They repudiated Dr. Talbot's errant teachings on this subject, apologized for the offense, established the right interpretation, planned a conference on race relations in the church, and inserted educational stickers into the library copies of the Louis Talbot book containing the offending teachings.

Talbot School of Theology held numerous internal conversations and made several public statements as early as August 1994. But the most comprehensive one was the September 1995 press release issued by Dennis Dirks. Later that same month (Sept. 25-29), Biola held its conference entitled "Repairing the Breach: Healing the Wounds that Divide," with Tony Campolo and John McReynolds as keynote speakers.

September 5, 1995 Press Release

Prior to the first meeting of the Talbot School of Theology faculty in the fall of 1994, Dr. Dennis Dirks, Dean of Talbot School of Theology, informed the faculty that a number of African-American students were deeply concerned about published comments made by Dr. Louis T. Talbot regarding "the Negro race." The remarks were made by Dr. Talbot in radio broadcasts in the 1930's and subsequently published in a book titled, Bible Questions Explained (1938). The Dean copied and distributed the relevant pages of the book to the faculty for examination before the Septembe 19th meeting.

Among some of the biblically inaccurate and offensive comments made by Dr. Talbot were (1) his interpretation that the curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:25: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be unto his brethren") fell upon "the Negro race," (2) his view that the blackness of the skin of "Negroes" is a direct result of their coming under the curse of Canaan, and (3) his personal conviction that God intended "Negroes" to stay with people of their own race and especially not to intermarry with non-"Negroes".

The faculty then devoted a substantial part of its September 1994 meeting to discussing the remarks and deciding on the most appropriate response. Given the fact that Dr. Louis T. Talbot is the namesake of our seminary, the offense and confusion created by Dr. Talbot's statements, and the seminary's desire to mdoel sound grammatical-historical exegesis of the Scriptures, the faculty agreed to pass the following two resolutions:

1. Resolved, although we as the faculty of Talbot School of Theology acknowledge the valuable contributions of our forebears, we do not necessarily agree with or endorse all that they have spoken or written. Some of their beliefs, in matters not related to the doctrinal statement or the teaching position of Biola University, are now recognized to be based upon inaccurate interpretation of particular portions of the Scriptures.

2. Resolved, the faculty of Talbot School of Theology hereby disavows the above-mentioned views of Dr. Louis T. Talbot regarding Blacks as wholly inaccurate. Furthermore, we apologize to our African and African-American constituency who have been offended by these particular views of the founder and namesake of our seminary.

The resolutions were sent to the Provost's Council of Instructional Deans which unanimously affirmed these resolutions at a November 1994 meeting.

Subsequently, Dr. Sherwood Lingenfelter, Provost, and Dr. Dennis Dirks met during the school year with various African-American student groups on campus to discuss the matter and plan appropriate campus-wide strategies to address the issue. Notices including the above resolutions were given to the University Library to be placed in copies of the above book by Dr. Louis T. Talbot. Students developed plans for a week-long chapel series and a conference in September 1995 to deal with matters of race relations in the Body of Christ from a biblical perspective. A student-led task force is being formed to identify areas of concern on campus and develop plans to deal with the concerns.

It should be noted that biblical scholars are joined by anthropologists in recognizing that the Black race is not included among the descendants of Canaan, who fell under the curse of God (Gen. 9). The curse was intended to be fulfilled during the period of the Israelites conquest of the Promised Land. History itself demonstrates that the curse was long ago fulfilled since no descendants of the Canaanites remain today. Since the curse on Canaan did not involve the Black race, and since it has already been fulfilled in other peoples, Dr. Louis T. Talbot's remaining arguments likewise fall.

It is our desire to continue efforts toward developing unity in the campus community and in the body of Christ through appropriate responses to matters that threaten or harm our oneness in Christ, whatever our race or ethnic background.

Sources

"Biola University Response to Biblically Inaccurate Statements by Dr. Louis T. Talbot Concerning the African-American Race and Race Relations" (September 1995) (The text of this is almost the same as the Sept. 5 1995 press release)

"Biola Plans Conference to Study Race Relations," September 23, 1995. Two-column story from unidentified newspaper's religion section.

"Body of Christ Needs to Fight for the Cause of Unity," by William Brown, The Chimes, September 15, 1995.

"Biola Obligated to Respond to Ignorance of Past," Dion Evans, The Chimes, September 1, 1995, p. 5.