Gordon-Conwell Contact Magazine Spring '11

1www.gordonconwell .edu /contactmagazine

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

SPRING ’11 | VOL.39 NO.1

why theology matters

2 SPRING ’11 3www.gordonconwell .edu /contactmagazine

ON THE FRONT LINESDomestic Violence in the ChurchAnne B. Doll

What Is Theology?Peter D. Anders

Theology and Spiritual FormationGwenfair Walters Adams

The Bible and TheologySean M. McDonough

The Role of Theology in the Life of the ChurchJohn Jefferson Davis

The Wisdom of the Gospel in the Partisan Public SquareRichard Lints

Trustee Profile: John HuffmanRuth E. Hawk

Seminary News

Focus on Alumni

Opening the WordDonna Petter

Inquiries regarding CONTACT may be addressed to:Editor, CONTACT Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary130 Essex Street, S. Hamilton, MA 01982 Tel: 978.468.7111 or email: [email protected]

GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF RACE, GENDER, NATIONAL OR ETHNIC ORIGIN, AGE, HANDICAP OR VETERAN STATUS.

ContentsThe Ministry Magazine of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

4

8

11

14

18

22

24

26

32

37

SPRING ’11 VOL.39 NO.1

BOARD OF TRUSTEESMr. Joel B. AarsvoldDr. Claude R. Alexander, Jr. Mrs. Linda Schultz AndersonDr. George F. BennettRev. Dr. Garth T. BolinderRev. Dr. Richard P. Camp, Jr.Mr. Thomas J. Colatosti, ChairMr. Charles W. ColsonDr. Stan D. GaedeMrs. Joyce A. GodwinDr. William F. GrahamRev. Dr. Michael E. HaynesMr. Herbert P. Hess, TreasurerMr. Ivan C. HinrichsRev. Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr.Mr. Caleb Loring IIIRev. Dr. Christopher A. LyonsMrs. Joanna S. MocklerFred L. Potter, Esq.Shirley A. Redd, M.D.Mr. Timothy B. RobertsonRev. Samuel Rodriguez, Jr. Mr. John SchoenherrMrs. Virginia M. SnoddyJoseph W. Viola, M.D., SecretaryJ. Christy Wilson III, Esq.Rev. Dr. John H. WomackWilliam C. Wood, M.D.

EMERITI MEMBERSDr. Richard A. Armstrong Rev. Dr. Leighton FordMr. Roland S. HinzRev. Dr. Robert J. LamontMr. Richard D. PhippenJohn G. Talcott, Jr.Rev. Dr. Paul E. Toms

President and Trustee EmeritusDr. Robert E. Cooley,

President EmeritusDr. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.

PresidentDr. Dennis P. Hollinger

Vice President of AdvancementMr. Kurt W. Drescher

Director of Communications and MarketingMr. Michael L. Colaneri

Senior Communications Advisor and Editor of Contact Mrs. Anne B. Doll

Art Director of Contact Ms. Nicole S. Rim

Assistant Editor of ContactMrs. Ruth Hawk

Design InternMs. Emily Gries

PhotographyMr. Tom KatesMs. Nicole S. Rim

Carol Kaminski & David Palmer

June 10-11, 2011 South Hamilton, MA

t h e m a rs h a l l h u d s o n s u m m e r c o n f e r e n c e

www.gordonconwell.edu/summer_conference


anne b. doll

on thefront lines

“the spiritual wilderness in which some victims and their

children must wander before finding the sanctuary they

so richly deserve would daunt even the most devout of

believers. if dv [domestic violence] is not stopped, it may

eventually separate a victim from god. it can interfere with

the victim’s faith, the victim’s belief, the victim’s worship

and the victim’s prayer life.” 1

domestic Approximately one in four women worldwide has suffered physical abuse by an intimate male partner, such as a husband or ex-husband. 2

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the U.S., an estimated 1300 women die each year as a result of domestic violence, nearly 5.3 million incidents of interpersonal violence occur and approximately 2 million women are injured.3

For churches, the statistics are equally sobering. Domestic violence “happens within and beyond communities of faith in approximately the same prevalence rates,” says Nancy Nason-Clark, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada.

Dr. Nason-Clark is also creator of the RAVE Project, a web-based series of resources that provides information and training for families of faith impacted by abuse. She has studied contemporary Christianity and violence for 20 years. “The numbers tell us there’s a significant problem that we need to be positioned in the churches to do something about,” she notes. “But if one woman in one church is having this problem, then we need to be a safe refuge for her…

“…There continues to be a holy hush that permeates many churches, and it only takes a few people to shatter that silence.”

In October of 2008, Pastor Timothy P. Philabaum, D.Min. (cand. ’12), awakened to the gravity of domestic violence when Nancy addressed his Gordon-Conwell D.Min. residency. Returning to Zoar Lutheran Church in Perrysburg, OH, a congregation of some 650 worshippers that he has served for 31 years, he resolved to shine the light on domestic violence and enlist his members to help address it.

“I know there are abuse problems in my church,” the senior pastor says. “I have met with families experiencing domestic abuse. But what really galvanized me was when Nancy Nason-Clark came to the residency. Her web page (theraveproject.org) has a wonderful collection of resources for clergy and for women who are abused. I thought, ‘Here’s one way to put my faith and care into action.’”

To counter the “holy hush” surrounding domestic abuse, he has addressed this issue in sermons and the Sunday School throughout the year, when appropriate.

“I really try to verbalize the word ‘abuse’ because it is such a hidden word, an unwanted word,” he says. His intent is to raise the consciousness of church members about domestic violence, and about resources that are available locally.

Behind the scenes, Pastor Tim maintains connections with leaders of domestic violence shelters in the Greater Toledo area, and has invited representatives from several shelters to his church to “share their issues—their people with our people.”

This year, his church hosted an Unveiling Ceremony, during which officials from a local abuse shelter displayed full-size plywood silhouettes of women in Wood County who had died from domestic abuse. “We had a worship service, unveiled the silhouettes and read the names and stories of each of these women with all their families there. We have also had people from the Cocoon Shelter come to our place on an annual basis. They bring…their silhouettes, tell their story, raise money and keep connection.”

Members of his congregation have also stepped up to the plate to help the local shelters with material support, including money, food and clothing. One member has

on thefront lines

alison snow jones, ph.d., associate professor, department of social sciences & health policy, wake forest university school of medicine

in the church


served on a shelter board. “There are people in our church who know about problems of abused women, and people who have family members [with abuse issues],” Pastor Tim explains. “Some already knew about the shelters and had some contact with them. I think our church has made a very caring response to this ministry.”

In addition, Zoar Church has instituted a practical alert system for women suffering abuse. Behind the doors in each stall in the women’s restrooms are small pieces of paper designed to be unobtrusively inserted into a woman’s shoe. Entitled “Do You Feel Safe?” the papers contain the name and phone number of a shelter, phone numbers of Pastor Tim and the church’s female pastor, the RAVE Project website and other resources.

“What my staff and I still find intriguing is that I always put six papers behind each stall, and they disappear. None show up in the trash cans or are thrown around… We’ve come to the conclusion that they’re being taken, which is valuable…what I hope for. They’re obviously meeting a need. I have no idea who takes them. They’re designed to be anonymous.”

Dr. Nason-Clark says that it’s wonderful when pastors “shatter the silence” about domestic violence, because this gives immediate credibility to DV as an important issue, and also gives women permission to come forward. Moreover, “It says to those who would be violent that this will not be tolerated. It gives incredible support to those who are helping other victims, and it really changes the world of survivors because it says the church is walking with you.”

She notes that many women and men are very frightened to talk about domestic violence “because it challenges the notion that families of faith have it together… Somehow, people can cope with the notion that cancer can eat away at the body of a believer, but they have a lot of trouble understanding mental health issues and…issues of abuse. I think there is a resistance, and when I say that in Christian seminars and conferences, it gives a challenge to religious leaders to speak clearly and unequivocally that God does not support this kind of behavior.”

Nancy’s research has shown that women of faith often stay much longer in abusive relationships than those who are not. She encourages pastors to address this issue with women, because often they will say, “Until he touches the children, until he hurts the children, I will not leave.”

“When women are enduring abuse themselves, it is hurting the children. You cannot be a victim of domestic violence living in a household with your children and not have it impact them… If women are encouraged to see that the children are already being impacted, they’re more likely to believe that they should seek safety for themselves and the kids.”

Regarding the practice of some church leaders who insist, on scriptural grounds, that a woman must remain with an abusive husband, Nancy quotes her colleague and Gordon-Conwell professor, the late Dr. Catherine Clark Kroeger, with whom she collaborated on several books. “I can tell you how Cathy would handle that. I have been with her many times

when she would say, ‘What do you do with the body bags?’ That would be her response.”

According to Pastor Tim, “Women [who are abused] feel powerless and unable to make a change. Or they are fearful of what might happen… In counseling women, my biggest issue is to trust the woman who has been abused. I need to listen carefully to her story and provide mercy. Safety for the woman and the kids is paramount.

“A pastor also needs to know what kind of resources are in the community, to know who to call when someone calls you and says, ‘I’m having problems with my husband. Where are the contacts for the shelter or the YWCA or the safe houses?’”

Dr. Nason-Clark says that “when pastors listen to women, they can respond to the questions that women are asking: ‘Why has God abandoned me?’ ‘I promised forever ‘til death do us part. Why is this taking place?’ ‘How can I be a better Christian?’ …Pastors need to be in a position to listen to what the heart cry is and respond with the toolkit that is available to them as a result of their training and knowledge of Scripture.

“Sometimes it’s as simple as praying with the victim without placing blame... Sometimes it’s giving them a selection of five or six passages to look over and think about… When pastors have an awareness of some of the dynamics of abuse, they are able to listen with ears that are attuned. And then they’re able to harness their repertoire of spiritual helps to offer a woman spiritual counsel. Some pastors do that. And when they do, it augments a survivor’s journey towards healing.”

Pastor Tim says that most of his counseling about domestic violence occurs with non-abusive, soon-to-be married couples during pre-marital conversations. And while he has experience in counseling congregants, the RAVE website gave him helpful resources on how he could better help a woman who is in trouble. He advises pastors to check out this website, and take some of its online training courses. “Of course, most pastors are not skilled in abuse counseling, so knowing what your referral possibilities are is vitally important.”

Can change and reconciliation occur when each individual in an abusive situation receives professional domestic violence counseling? “It takes a lot of work,” he contends, “but we’re gospel people. There’s always hope.

“And, for me, I would say clearly to my people, ‘God never takes delight in abuse of women, of children, of anyone…God never takes delight in abuse.’”

(Endnotes)1 Alison Snow Jones, “Ask a Researcher,” n.d., http://www.theraveproject.com/index.php/faqs/what_is_abuse/C11/ (Accessed March 2011).

2 “How common is abuse in intimate relationships?” n.d., http://www.theraveproject.com/index.php/faqs/q2/how_common_is_abuse/ (Accessed March 2011)

3 www.cdc.gov 2008

aMost pastors have never visited the transition house in or near their local area

aMost pastors do not know by name any of the workers

in the local shelter

aMost pastors have never preached a message that explicitly condemns wife abuse and/or child abuse

aClergy are reluctant to refer [those who come to them for help] to outside com-munity resources

aReferrals are least likely from clergy reporting little knowledge or training in domestic violence

Evidences of a “Holy Hush”

Chosen by victims

Sought by perpetrators when the victim leaves the home

Invested with moral authority

Access to lives at the point of crisis

Provide educational resources to all age groups

Held as experts on “marriage” and the family

Able to offer spiritual comfort and guidance

Often in regular contact with those who are marginalized

Able to provide ongoing support after the crisis

Skilled in talking about hope

FAQs about Domestic Violence from the RAVE WebsiteDuring the past 15 years, RAVE researchers have interviewed 500 church leaders and 500

church women about domestic violence. They found that:

Pastors believe that

1 in 5church couples

is violent

9% of pastors have counseled 5+ abused women per year

83% of pastors have counseled one abused woman per year

31% of pastors say they have preached a message against abuse from the pulpit

40% of pastors say they discuss domestic violence in their premarital counseling

95% of church women have never heard a message on abuse preached from the pulpit

58% of church women have helped another abused woman at her point of need

70% of church women have sought the help of another woman for a family-related problem

Many church women who have been violated by an intimate partner do not feel that the term “abused woman” applies to them

10 Reasons to Include Pastors Around the Collaborative Table on Domestic Violence

on thefront lines

on thefront lines

For more information, visit www.theraveproject.org/

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10


Defining what theology actually is may not be as simple as it

first seems. The complex of attendant issues includes everything

from questioning the possibility of theology at all, to accounting for

the multitude of “theologies” now competing in the marketplace of

ideas. In this short essay, we will seek to define theology through a

close reflection on the term itself. We will develop our definition with

three key points that follow from this reflection, and then use this

definition as a context for making two further points that take into

account theology’s task. By the end, we will have established a very

brief, but at least properly theological, definition of theology.

Peter D. Anders, D.Phil. (cand.)

what is theology?

Taking John’s use of logos in its historical and cultural context, we might expand this basic reflection to a rational discourse concerning God. By “rational” we don’t mean according to pre-established norms of human reason; but rather we mean intelligible, cogent on its own terms, and able to be communicated in our language.

Moreover, by “discourse” we don’t mean strictly cognitive, because this Word of God is personal, living and active. Far from being a mere communication of information, this rational discourse concerning God is a personal self-communication, wherein God speaks and acts to make himself a “Thou” to our “I.” This grounds our definition of theology in the miraculous: through the Word that is, with and from himself, the incomprehensible and holy living God is cognitively comprehended and personally apprehended by finite and sinful people.

This discourse brings commands and promises, but because it judges us, heals us and opens us to a future of new possibilities, it is also profoundly life defining—our lives make no sense apart from Jesus Christ. Theology, then, is the discourse personally encountered in Jesus Christ, who is this Word of God with us and for us. And therefore, on this basic reflection, “theology” is simply a synonym for “Christianity.”

Let’s develop this basic reflection into three defining points. First, because theology comes from God, we can identify its source as God’s own infinite and perfect self-knowledge, which must be the archetype of all our theology and the ground for even the possibility of our theology. In love, God does not keep this knowledge to himself, but rather sends it forth as a discourse of speech and acts—as his own Theology. In grace, God accommodates his Theology to our capacity to receive

it. Thus, our theology is not founded on our freedom and capacity to know God, but on God’s freedom and capacity to make himself known to us. God’s Theology always precedes our theology. For this reason, our theology should always be understood as response—before we can have anything true to say concerning God, God must have had already said something concerning himself to us: “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7).

Second, God has made theology a holistic possibility for us, as the life, words and work of Christ, the incarnate Word, come to us from God as an objective discourse of divine self-definition. By the speech and redemptive acts of this objectively revealed Word, we come to know the truth that we are sinners and that God is gracious to the sinner. We know this because Jesus Christ tells us so, and because we sense it by his personal, reconciling presence (Luke 5:1–11, 24:25–32; 2 Cor. 4:6). The Holy Spirit continues to make the objectively revealed Word present to us in and through his verbally inspired testimony of Holy Scripture (John 16:13–15; 1 Tim. 3:16).

The Spirit makes the risen Christ present to us also by establishing the subjective dimension of theology as the newly created capacity to apprehend this objectively revealed Word—the newly created capacity to be the knower of God that is called faith (John 14:17; Eph. 2:8–10). Theology should not be understood as a possibility we naturally possess. Rather, it is only through this quickening activity of the Holy Spirit that our sinful and distorted concepts of God are broken (Is. 55:10–11; Heb. 4:12). No longer blinded and enslaved by our sin and by the lies for which we have exchanged God’s truth (Rom. 1:25); we are made free by the Spirit to cry “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). Thus, in the wholeness of

“Theology,” or Theos/Logos, refers in its strictest sense to the God/Word, or the Word that is, with and from God (John 1:1–2).


both the objective and subjective aspects of our theology, we are enabled to discourse concerning God in truth and in spirit. Theology should always be understood as a new possibility created for us in the single prior divine activity of the Triune God’s holistic work of grace: God’s downward condescension makes possible our upward apprehension. Objectively we come to know the Truth, and subjectively this Truth makes us free (John 8:32; cf. John 5:24–26; 2 Cor. 3:17).

Third, this sure twofold foundation of our theology as the Spirit’s work of inspiration and illumination is a reality for all Christians. In this way, the risen Christ, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, encounters us personally and tells us who he is and what he has done for us. And in this way, the possibility of theology as response is established and sustained from generation to generation. God’s people have been freed to engage in the activity of theology (Eph. 1:4–23). We each have been given the astonishing

possibility and privilege of discoursing concerning God in spirit and truth. Following her Lord, in love the Church does not keep knowledge of God to herself, but rather sends it forth as a discourse of words and deeds (1 Cor. 2:10–13). To know God is to be engaged in theology. Whether we are intentional about it or not, everything we say and do as Christians forms our theological discourse. Thus, in the broader sense, there is no such thing as a Christian who is not also a theologian.

So theology is our individual and corporate discourse concerning God that is made possible by God himself. As such, it should be characterized by humility, thankfulness, praise and especially wonder. In this context, we can now develop our definition further by looking at theology’s task as both science and relationship.

As a science, theology uses appropriate methodology to articulate the absolutely authoritative content of Holy Scripture, for the instruction and edification of the Church and in critical response to, and compassionate engagement with, contemporary culture. All the theological disciplines (biblical, systematic, historical, philosophical/ethical and practical) work together for a comprehensive understanding of God’s self-revelation—an understanding that embraces the integrity of the biblical facts and enacts their meaning in obedient witness to Jesus Christ. Here, theology’s basic content is understood as the Word of God in the Bible, and is concerned with the great thematic declaration “that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:19). Although our theology can be and indeed is true, it is nevertheless always an ectype: a finite reflection of what may be known perfectly only by

the ultimately incomprehensible and inexhaustible God himself. Thus, it will always be a theologia viatorum: a theology “on the way,” or a theology “of the pilgrim.”

As relationship, theology responds to the Triune God who has graciously made himself both present and known to us as Father, in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Theology is holy—our God-ordained task of faith seeking understanding. All the theological disciplines proceed on the humble assumption that true understanding is found in Scripture alone, and only within the sanctifying work of the Spirit and in the reality of faith; for “man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them” (1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Thess. 2:13). By the Spirit, we are free relationally to seek understanding with our whole selves and full attention, really present both to God and to one another in Christian community of love and grace. Here we gain an insight from

Jesus himself: theology is incarnational (“the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” [John 1:14]); and theology is communal (“there I am with them” [Matt. 18:20; 28:20]). Thus, in this way, theology is spiritual formation. It begins in worship of the God who stands behind and reveals himself in Scripture. It continues in the prayerful seeking of biblical understanding by the illumination of the Spirit and the communion of saints. And it ends in praise for what God has done in Christ as proclaimed in Scripture, and in grateful obedience to what God has given the Church to say and do in Scripture, both in witness and mission to the world.

Our definition of theology has now taken shape: theology is every Christian’s faithful discourse concerning God, made possible by God himself. Theology is cognitive and ethical, scientific and relational, and profoundly life-defining. It is a holy and prayerful endeavor of our whole person and community in the presence of the living God—marked by humility, praise, amazement and joyful expectation.

PETER ANDERS, D.PHIL. (CAND.), INSTRUCTOR OF

THEOLOGY, HAS HELPED TRANSCRIBE AND EDIT ORIGINAL

18TH-CENTURY SERMON MANUSCRIPTS BY JONATHAN

EDWARDS WHILE AT YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL; HAS

SERVED IN INNER-CITY OUTREACH AND COMPASSION

MINISTRY IN CALIFORNIA; AND WAS A MISSIONARY WITH

EASTERN EUROPEAN BIBLE MISSION, WORKING WITH

AND SUPPORTING PERSECUTED CHRISTIAN CHURCHES

AND SEMINARIES IN EASTERN EUROPE AND THE FORMER

USSR. HE HAS PUBLISHED A NUMBER OF ARTICLES;

HAS PRESENTED PAPERS, LECTURES AND TALKS IN ACADEMIC SETTINGS AND

CHURCHES; AND IS A CONTRIBUTING SCHOLAR TO MODERN REFORMATION. HE IS

CURRENTLY PURSUING HIS DOCTORAL DEGREE AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY.

“Theology is holy—our God-ordained task of faith seeking understanding.” Theology

Spiritual Formation&Gwenfair Walters Adams, Ph.D.


“When things get complex, when intellectual problems and ethical conundrums and psychological challenges collide, it can be helpful to have a strong theological grid integrated into the core of one’s thinking.”

George Despinis, the director of the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, had an instant reaction to the beautiful, seven-foot marble statue of a young Greek man standing in front of him. He immediately knew it was a fake. The heads of the Archaeological Society and the Benaki Museum

of Athens had the same response. The Getty Museum, on the other hand, after months of research by scientists and lawyers, had decided that the $10 million statue was an original, 6th century BC sculpture. Who was right? The painstaking research of the Getty Museum turned out to be wrong; the gut reactions of the art experts turned out to be right. How could this be?

Malcolm Gladwell, hearing this story, became intrigued about those first two seconds in the brains of the art curators as they first viewed the statue. What was it that made their immediate responses so accurate? He set out to explore this question in his bestseller, Blink1. Gladwell discovered a number of fascinating things which suggest that intuition, when it is most powerful and accurate, is not as intuitive as it appears. And as I read the book, I found myself asking what the implications of his findings might be for theology and spiritual formation. Here are my musings on several of the stories that Gladwell explores.

For purposes of this essay, I’ll be referring to theology as the formal discipline of the study of God and his interaction with his world, as revealed in Scripture. And for spiritual formation, we’ll be focusing on the role of the pastor, spiritual director, discipler, counselor or wise friend in walking with someone in the midst of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work of drawing that person into a deeper relationship with the Triune God and conforming that person into the image of Christ.

I want to look particularly at the role of theology in the discernment that is required in spiritual formation. Matters

of the spirit can, by definition, be hard to pin down. And discernment requires making judgment calls. Sometimes those have to be made very quickly. So, how can we make the best ones in those fleeting moments? The questions can come fast and furious. Is God angry at me? Will the child that I aborted go to heaven? Have I committed the unpardonable sin? Where was God when I was being abused? Why does God seem so hidden? Is God leading me to marry this particular person? Do I need to follow the Ten Commandments? Are the spiritual disciplines required, suggested, efficacious? Are there means of grace? What are they? What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of my life? How do I get closer to God? Should that be a goal? All of these queries and many others can come up in the process of spiritual formation.

Gladwell describes the abilities of professional taste testers. Their ability to identify ingredients in any mouthful is extraordinary. If chewing on a prepackaged cookie, they can tell not only the exact factory where it was made, but what leftover ingredients from a previous batch have been incorporated into this batch. Is this purely a natural gifting on their part? No, says Gladwell. Rather, they have been trained in a highly technical discipline with a clear and precise set of terms, criteria and scales.

In an analogous way, theology allows one’s biblical taste buds to become highly trained. It takes the principles and truths of the Scriptures and develops them into a disciplined set of vocabulary and a helpful set of grids. Knowing these terms and concepts gives one the categories to look out for when listening to someone’s struggles. And in giving counsel, the vocabulary helps one communicate truths that can overcome deeply embedded falsehoods.

Did you know that if you are either a Coke or a Pepsi lover, if you are asked to do a blind taste test between the two of them, you might have a good chance of identifying which was which? But if you were given three cups, two of which had one of the colas, and the third of which had the other, you would have a very difficult time telling which two were the same brand. Gladwell says that in a test of a thousand people, only a few more than a third were able to pass the test, which is about as good as randomly guessing. It’s because the two colas are quite similar in their flavors, and so only experts can keep track of the first versus the second cup as they move to the third. And that is because the taste-testing professionals are able to analyze with precision the exact ingredients, their relative amounts and the intensity of the flavors, and they have the vocabulary

with which to describe what they are perceiving. Hence, they are, in effect, able to code what they are tasting, and this helps them to make objective statements about which cola is which. And this allows them to speak with greater certainty about their judgments. They can defend their choices with clear explanations. And their taste pronouncements can be accepted with greater trust by the companies that hire them for their expertise.

When things get complex, when intellectual problems and ethical conundrums and psychological challenges collide, it can be helpful to have a strong theological grid integrated into the core of one’s thinking. It can help to sort out the intricacies. The more complicated the problems, the more helpful it is if one’s theology is clearly developed. For example, knowing the names and characteristics of the various heresies from the past can help safeguard one from making the same errors today. And knowing what the larger theological picture is and how the parts fit together provides context that can make sense out of intricately knotted questions.

One final Gladwell story piqued my interest. He described John Gottman’s work on marriage. Gottman, a psychologist, set out to discover the factors that lead to divorce. He set up a “love lab” where he and his assistants observed couples over the course of 24 hours, recording their heart rates, perspiration and so on. They videoed the couples’ facial expressions, then they analyzed all the data. They identified, second by second, every expression that flashed across the couples’ faces, analyzing them according to a set of 20 or so emotional categories and measuring their intensity. Their findings have put Gottman in a position where he can now, after watching a 15-minute videotape of a couple, predict with 95 percent accuracy whether they will be divorced within 15 years. He has found that if he has a couple discuss something on which they disagree, he can tell, from the way they are arguing, whether their marriage will survive.

Even if Gottman were to tell you all the criteria he and his assistants used to measure various indices, however, you would not be able to watch the same video and come to the same conclusions as he does, for it is impossible to keep track of all the variables for 15 minutes. How, then, is he able to come to such clear conclusions so easily? Well, it turns out that he no longer has to watch for dozens of

variables. He’s looking for only four. His comprehensive research has revealed that there are four things that predict divorce: stonewalling, criticism, defensiveness and, above all, contempt. So, when he observes a couple, he’s not watching for everything. He’s watching for the signals that matter most. He has boiled the findings of years of research down to their core. And that’s what allows him to hone in on what is crucial.

With Scripture itself as the preeminent and authoritative text for theology, there is, perhaps, a sense in which church history has served as a “lab” for testing many of the theological theories that have emerged over the course of the past 2,000 years. The events of church history have taken the human constructs within theology and tested them in real-life settings. Theology takes into account the findings of the hard work done by thousands of biblical scholars and theologians and lived out by the Church in a wide diversity of contexts. All these “lab results” together, boiled down to their essentials, can help inform our understanding of the Scriptures and give us a biblical framework for discernment. (Acquiring and integrating this kind of theological grid is an important part of seminary education, incidentally.)

Theology matters to spiritual formation. For when we are in those spiritual formation contexts where discernment matters, the more deeply integrated and the more accurate our theology is, the wiser our judgments may be during those two-second blinks.

(Endnotes)1 Malcolm Gladwell. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005).

DR. GWENFAIR WALTERS ADAMS IS ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

OF CHURCH HISTORY AND FACULTY MENTOR FOR WOMEN’S

SPIRITUALITY AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT. IN THE LATTER

CAPACITY, SHE WORKS WITH THE GORDON-CONWELL WOMEN’S

RESOURCE NETWORK TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

TO DEEPEN THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST. HER

TEACHING SPECIALTIES INCLUDE MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION

STUDIES, WITH ADDITIONAL INTERESTS IN THE HISTORY OF

WORSHIP, SPIRITUALITY, MEDIA AND THE ARTS IN THE CHURCH.

DR. ADAMS IS THE DESIGNER OF BIBLICAL NARRATIVE (STORY) SPIRITUALITY, A

SPIRITUALITY MODEL THAT CAN BE USED IN SPIRITUAL FORMATION, DIRECTION,

DISCIPLESHIP AND COUNSELING. SHE IS ALSO THE AUTHOR OF VISIONS IN LATE

MEDIEVAL ENGLAND: LAY SPIRITUALITY AND SACRED GLIMPSES OF THE HIDDEN

WORLDS OF FAITH (E.J. BRILL, 2007).


Bible&

theologyA few years ago, I had to file a special tax form for self-

employed workers. When it came time to list my occupation, I searched in

vain for “New Testament Professor” or “Biblical Studies Professor.” The only

one that was remotely close was “Theologian,” so I dutifully put it down. But

the IRS may be the only ones who consider a New Testament scholar a theo-

logian. In the world of theological education, there is often a yawning divide

between biblical studies and theology. Tertullian framed the tension between

philosophy and religion by asking, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”

We might ask ourselves, “What has the Bible to do with theology?”

Sean M. McDonough, Ph.D. the


“And an exegete with no theological sense at all will at best

be a kind of fleshy database with no real insight to share.”

Theology is equally in play while reading the text. Consider John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It is, of course, crucial to note, in good exegetical fashion, that John depends

on Genesis 1 here, and equally crucial to note that the word logos shows up precisely 40 times in John’s gospel as a whole (lest we imagine that we need to wander the ancient philosophical terrain in search of the meaning of logos, rather than looking in the rest of the gospel itself). But if that is all we can talk about, can we really claim to have heard John 1:1? If we can give no account of how it is that the Word can be with God, and at the same time be God, are we offering anything of real value? In this case, at least, a theologically informed reading of the text is the only reading that can do it anything like justice.

Theology, then, is essential both before reading a biblical text, and while reading a biblical text. Its value in actually doing something in response to the text is even more evident. Most contemporary evangelical women don’t wear head coverings, even though Paul told the women in Corinth to do so. What is the rationale for taking “Do not murder” literally, and Paul’s exhortations about head coverings in some other way? The text itself does not give us an answer to this question, nor can it ever do so. Theological work is necessary if we are to bridge the gap from then to now.

If exegetes need theology, however, it is equally true that theologians need exegesis. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17), and this is as true for theologians as it is of anyone else. God spoke in the beginning, and his speech remains prior to ours in every respect. While the primal hearing of God’s message is different from the detailed textual analysis that characterizes biblical studies, theologians must always be willing to submit their theories to the scrutinizing light of Scripture.

We may use an analogy from the workplace. Theologians—and I am thinking broadly here of dogmaticians, homiliticians and practical theologians of all stripes—manufacture all sorts of useful “thought gadgets” to assist people in reasoning out their Christian faith. But these gadgets all need product testing, which is (one place) where biblical studies comes in. It must be difficult for automobile designers to watch

their prototypes bounced and scratched and smashed to test their roadworthiness; but it has to be done. In the same way, even the most treasured theological formulations must be thoroughly poked and prodded by Scripture to ensure they meet God’s exacting standards.

Of course, if we want an image for a relationship that is as intimate, interdependent, and, indeed, symbiotic as that of Bible and theology, we can do no better than that of marriage. Our common goal as exegetes and theologians is to hear and obey God’s Word. God has uniquely gifted each discipline to contribute to this common goal. It is something like the commission given to Adam and Eve: be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Not, of course, that we subdue the Word itself. We are meant rather to be subdued by the Word. But it takes tremendous work to manage our understanding of the Word, and the two disciplines must work hand in hand to that end.

Now, the course of true love never did run smooth, and we ought not to imagine that the marriage of Bible and theology will be an endless dewy-eyed love affair: “I fixed that exegesis of 1 Corinthians 15 you’d been

worried about, dear!” “Thanks so much! I just baked up a fresh batch of that realized eschatology you love so much!” Would that things worked that way! In reality, the relationship will undoubtedly encounter the same clashing of ideas, “spirited discussions” and occasional mutual incomprehension that characterize even the best marriages. But with patient endurance, we will find it to be a fruitful union, one that enables God’s people to hear his voice more clearly.

DR. SEAN M. MCDONOUGH, PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT,

JOINED THE SEMINARY IN 2000 AFTER SERVING AS CHAIR OF

THE BIBLICAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT AND LECTURER IN NEW

TESTAMENT AT PACIFIC THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE IN SUVA, FIJI.

HE IS ACTIVE IN MINISTRY AS A SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER

AND OCCASIONAL PREACHER AT FIRST CONGREGATIONAL

CHURCH IN HAMILTON, MA, AND AS A SPEAKER FOR MEDAIR, A

CHRISTIAN RELIEF ORGANIZATION IN SWITZERLAND. HE HAS

WRITTEN SEVERAL BOOKS AND A VARIETY OF ARTICLES FOR

SCHOLARLY AND PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS.

“Theology, then, is essential both before reading a biblical text, and

while reading a biblical text.”

1 Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ (London: SCM, 1990), p.69.2 A Child’s Christmas in Wales (NY: New Directions, 1995), p.29.

There are certainly reasons to distinguish the two. Biblical studies typically addresses historical or grammatical issues and is governed by the verb “was.” What was Paul thinking when he wrote of baptism for the

dead? What was James referring to when he talked about the “law of liberty?” Why was John on the island of Patmos?

Theology, meanwhile, is primarily concerned with the question of what is the case about X, and thus typically operates with the verb “is.” What is sin? What is righteousness? What is the proper use, if any, of genetic engineering? Even the most ardent postmodernist can’t escape this fundamental task of theology—note the operative verb in the sentence “There is no metanarrative.”

To put it another way: While it is not a particularly good idea to generalize, we might say that biblical studies focuses on particulars, and theology on generalities.

There are stylistic differences between the two as well. The field of biblical studies tends to be more prosaic; theology more poetic. The data-crunching propensities of biblical commentary put a bit of a damper on artistic expression; the exegete (someone who studies the biblical text at the technical level) can wax only so lyrical. Theologians have the luxury of polishing lovely little gems of insight. Let us say, for example, that an exegete and a theologian are discussing the healings of Jesus. Whereas the exegete must dutifully slog his way through healings in the Old Testament, and sort through the various quacks and butchers littering the Greco-Roman medical world, a theologian like Jürgen Moltmann can cut to the heart of the matter: “Jesus’ healings are not supernatural miracles in a natural world. They are the only truly ‘natural’ thing in a world that is unnatural, demonized, and wounded.”1

This is not to unduly exalt theological discourse. Bad prose is bad, but bad poetry is awful…and the same holds true for Bible and theology. Unless an exegete is a complete hack, she is at least going to grind out some useful bits of information which others can use to their advantage. But poor theologians impoverish everyone they touch. They are chatterers, obfuscators, stealing sense with the sleight of hand of half-understood jargon and monstrously contorted sentences. We may borrow an analogy from music: a good theologian is Izhtak Perlman playing Beethoven; a bad one

is a six-year-old scratching and squeaking his way through “Three Blind Mice.”

But this is at best half the story. Moltmann was only able to find the perfect words to capture Jesus’ healing ministry because he is a patient reader of Scripture himself. The 20th century’s greatest theologian, Karl Barth, began his career as a New Testament scholar. (We leave aside whether the previous sentence might read, “Despite having started as a New Testament scholar, Barth was the 20th century’s greatest theologian;” or the undoubtedly more accurate, “Because he started as a New Testament scholar, Barth was the 20th century’s greatest theologian”). And an exegete with no theological sense at all will at best be a kind of fleshy database with no real insight to share. (One thinks of Dylan Thomas remembering his childhood Christmas presents, which included “books that told me everything about the wasp, except why.”)2

How, then, do the two relate? One familiar model puts them in a strict sequential order. First, biblical studies folks carefully unpack the relevant data of a given text, which data are then handed over to the theologians for

analysis. This relationship can be parsed to favor one side or the other. One might view the biblical scholars as farmers who cultivate what is essential to life—meat, grains, fruits, vegetables—while the theologians are chefs who make it taste a bit better or prettify it on the plate. By contrast, one could envision exegetical miners laboring blindly underground, hauling up raw materials which only become useful after theological processing and manufacturing. The dull, lumpy iron of exegesis is refined into the sleek steel of theology.

But such a sequential model simply won’t do. Theological insight is needed long before the biblical scholar even approaches a text. What sort of approach is she to take? What does she think about the authority of the text? Why is she even interested in a document thousands of years old? The answers to these questions do not emerge ex nihilo (out of nothing). They are the product of personal and communal theological reflection. (Or at least they ought to be: often enough exegetes do blunder into texts all unawares, and unthinkingly read their own opinions into the Scriptures.)


JOHN JEFFERSON DAVIS, PH.D

THEO

LOGY

THE ROLE OF

in thel

ife

of

th

e

ch

ur

ch

“WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THEOLOGY IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH?” SOME BUSY

PASTORS IN AMERICAN CHURCHES TODAY MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO ANSWER,

“HONESTLY, NOT MUCH. I HAVEN’T THOUGHT MUCH ABOUT ‘THEOLOGY’

SINCE I LEFT SEMINARY. I’M TOO BUSY PREPARING SERMONS, ATTENDING

COMMITTEE MEETINGS AND DEALING WITH CONFLICTS AND PROBLEMS IN

MY CHURCH TO GIVE MUCH ATTENTION TO THEOLOGY.”

However, I would like to suggest that for even such busy pastors, a more accurate image of the role of theology in the life of the parish would not be that of a neglected textbook on the pastor’s shelf, but rather that of a backbone in a healthy body. The backbones in our bodies, like the foundations and electrical and plumbing systems in our homes, are usually taken for granted–until something goes wrong. Like a healthy backbone in a healthy human body, sound biblical theology can provide support, shape and stability to the Body of Christ.

Catechesis, Apologetics,

Polemics and Homiletics

In the early church, the development of Christian theology was shaped by four important functions it served in the life of the church: the catechetical, the apologetical, the polemical and the homiletical.1 All four of these functions of theology in the early

church are still vital for the ministry of the church today. In its catechetical function, theological instruction prepared converts for church membership and participation in the Eucharist, instructing them in basic Christian doctrine. This process of catechesis is often referred to as “discipleship” or

“discipling” today. Converts were instructed in the “rule of faith,” a summary of Christian doctrine that formed the basis of the later Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds.

Such early summaries of Christian belief are found in the New Testament itself, e.g., Paul’s summary of the kerygma in I Cor. 15:3-5: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve…”

Augustine’s Enchiridion, or On Faith, Hope, and Love (c.421), was prepared as such a catechetical manual, following the outline of the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the two “Great Commandments.” In the preface to his 1560 French edition of the Institutes, John Calvin stated that it was his intention to provide a summary of Christian doctrine that would help Christians in their reading of the Old and New Testaments. Today, new converts and new church members still need to be catechized and instructed in the fundamentals of the faith. Books like John Stott’s Basic Christianity or R.C. Sproul’s Essential Truths of the Christian Faith can assist the pastor in this historic task.2

The apologetic task of theology in the early church was to defend and explain the faith to outsiders (cf. I Pet. 3:15, “Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that is in you”). Early Christian


teachers in the exposition and teaching of Scripture (cf. I Tim. 4:13: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and teaching”). The church leader is to “hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (Tit. 1:9).

Knowledge of sound doctrine aids in preaching and teaching not only by the avoidance of heresy, but also by enabling the preacher to place the particular text in the larger context of redemptive history: creation, fall, redemption and new creation. This was precisely what the Gnostics in the early church failed to do, wrenching the biblical texts out of their biblical contexts and placing them in the context of an alien system of thought.

Heterodox religious movements today such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons can distort the biblical teachings in the same way. Sound teachers in the early church such as Irenaeus, and effective preachers today such as John Stott, John Piper, John MacArthur, Haddon Robinson, Timothy Keller, Gordon Hugenberger, Mark Dever and others have robust theologies that enable them to place the biblical text in its wider redemptive-historical context, and so preserve the distinctive Christian identity of the message.

Vitality, Vision and

Assessment

In addition to these historically recognized functions of theology in the life of the church, a sound biblical theology can provide vitality, vision and standards for assessment in the local congregation. Church history shows that a robust biblical theology can contribute

to church growth and vitality. The opposite is also the case. Churches and denominations that tolerate doctrinal erosion tend to have tepid worship and declining memberships. During the decades between 1965 and 1999, for example, the PC(USA), the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church and the United Methodist Church lost, respectively, 40 percent, 29 percent, 26 percent and 24 percent of their total memberships. Growing churches were generally those committed to an orthodox and biblical theology.

As the leader of the flock, the pastor is responsible for casting a vision for the church. The biblical metanarrative of creation, fall, redemption and new creation provides the theological framework and context for such a vision. Salvation itself is not only forgiveness of sins and hope of heaven in the future, but also an experience beginning now of entering into the life of the Triune God.3 Because of Jesus’ incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension to the right hand of the Father and sending of the Holy Spirit, we—as adopted sons and daughters in Christ—can begin to experience the love of Jesus’ Father for his beloved Son, in the communion of the Holy Spirit, looking forward to its culmination and never-ending deepening in the presence of

God in a gloriously beautiful New Creation (Rev.21, 22). Such a theological vision can energize and unify a congregation, just as John F. Kennedy’s famous vision casting of May 1961, to a joint session of Congress—“A man on the moon by the end of this decade”— energized NASA and the nation for the Apollo space mission.

Finally, sound theology provides a standard for congregational assessment, a basis for asking and answering the question, “How are we doing as a church?” For example, the biblical doctrine of the church, that specifies worship, discipleship and mission as the three God-ordained purposes of the church, then provides the basis for asking questions such as “How well are we worshipping God?” “Are we as a people growing deeper and more mature in our relationships with Christ and one another?” “How effective are we in reaching out to others—in service and proclamation?” “Are we growing as a church that is ‘deep, thick and different’—deep in our worship and knowledge of the Triune God, ‘thickly’ committed in love and service to one another and distinctive from the secular culture in our beliefs, lifestyle, values and hopes?” “Are we growing both in our obedience to the ‘Great Commandments,’ and in our fulfillment of the Great Commission?”

And so it is that theology now, as in the New Testament and subsequent centuries of church history, can play a vital role in the life of a healthy church. As pastors, teachers and lay leaders, may we continue to “teach and admonish with all wisdom, so as to present everyone mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28), and so be able to say with the Apostle Paul at the end of our ministries, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (II Tim. 4:8), in the expectation of that crown of righteousness to be awarded by the Lord to his beloved church.

1 John Jefferson Davis, Foundations of Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), pp.50-51; see also James Leo Garrett, Jr., Systematic Theology: Biblical, Historical, and Evangelical, v.I (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), pp. 12-15, and Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds., Christian Dogmatics, v.I (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), pp. 20-23.

2 Excellent resources for the catechetical ministry of the church include the book by my colleagues Gary Parrett and S. Steve Kang, Teaching the Faith, Forming the Faithful: A Biblical Vision for Education in the Church (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009), and Thomas F. Torrance, The School of Faith: The Catechisms of the Reformed Church (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1996; 1959).

3 A Trinitarian vision of Christian life and salvation has been very helpfully articulated by my colleague Donald Fairbairn in Life in the Trinity: An Introduction to Theology with the Help of the Church Fathers (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009).

JOHN JEFFERSON DAVIS, PH.D., A MEMBER OF THE FACULTY

AT GORDON-CONWELL SINCE 1975, IS PROFESSOR OF

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY AND CHRISTIAN ETHICS, AND SERVES

AS CHAIR OF THE DIVISION OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT. HIS

MOST RECENT BOOK IS WORSHIP AND THE REALITY OF

GOD: AN EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY OF REAL PRESENCE (IVP

ACADEMIC, 2010).

“KNOWLEDGE OF SOUND DOCTRINE AIDS IN PREACHING AND TEACHING, NOT ONLY BY HELPING CHRISTIANS

AVOID HERESY, BUT ALSO BY ENABLING THE PREACHER TO PLACE THE PARTICULAR TEXT IN THE LARGER

CONTEXT OF REDEMPTIVE HISTORY: CREATION, FALL, REDEMPTION AND NEW CREATION.”

apologists such as Aristides, Diognetus and Tertullian responded to misunderstandings and accusations from the pagans, and Justin Martyr responded to criticisms from the Jews of his day. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa contra Gentiles defended the Christian faith in the face of Muslim criticisms. In today’s religious climate of religious pluralism and the “new atheism,” the need for informed Christian apologetics remains as relevant as ever. Several generations of Christians have been helped by classics such as C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity and Miracles. Tim Keller’s The Reason for God provides cogent responses to many of the criticisms of the faith in our own day.

In its polemical function, Christian theologians defended and expounded the biblical faith against heretical threats from within the church. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, in his massive Against Heresies (c. 185), defended the biblical faith against the threat of Gnosticism, which denied the goodness of the physical creation and placed the biblical story into an alien context of Gnostic cosmological speculation.

In the face of the Arian threat, Athanasius vigorously and tenaciously defended the full deity of Christ, and together with the Cappadocian fathers of the 4th century, laid the basic foundations of Christology and Trinitarian theology that have guided the church ever since. In the modern period, orthodox theologians have labored to preserve the historic Christian faith from the attacks of Enlightenment biblical criticism, deistic denials of miracles and Unitarian denials of the Trinity, original sin and substitutionary atonement.

More recently, revisionist readings of biblical sexual ethics, Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, feminist criticisms of the “patriarchal” language of the Trinity and “Open Theism” have questioned or rejected historic orthodox belief. The Pauline admonitions to “watch your life and doctrine closely” (I Tim. 4:16), and for believers not to be “blown about by every wind of teaching” (Eph. 4:14) but to grow mature in the faith, are just as relevant as ever.

The fourth function of theology in the life of the early church was the homiletical one: assisting preachers and


PA

RTI

SA

N P

UBLIC

SQUARE

Rich

ard Lin

ts, Ph.D

.

in t

he

TH

EW

ISD

OM

OF T

HE

G

OSPEL

The sheer complexity of technology compounds the diversity which surrounds us. Consider how many diverse individuals fill our email address books or how many “friends” one has on Facebook. Consider how many television channels fill diverse niches of interest today.

The emergence of these deep diversities in our lives has the inevitable consequence of privileging diversity over unity in our public life together.

These differences exert enormous pressures towards fragmentation in our society as well. It seems more and more difficult to speak of a “common good,” when only “my good” and the need to protect it from the intrusion of outside forces prevail. A great irony of modern life is the ever-growing disparity between the diversity of contemporary culture and the actual homogeneity of the communities in which we experience day-to-day life. We have all become partisans in one way or another—of political parties, different sports teams, educational establishments, musical styles, radio talking heads and just about anything else that one can imagine. How do we as Christians relate not only to the overwhelming diversity in the public square but also to its increasingly partisan nature?

Our experience of diversity sometimes lends itself to thinking of differences as always large and irreconcilable. We frame our differences as “core disagreements” about which it is only possible to be a “winner” or a “loser” in a conflict. Families go through this dynamic frequently in our modern democratic culture. Different opinions within a family are too often interpreted as expressing core disagreements.

Whether the matter is child-rearing, family budgets or time management, family disagreements quickly get interpreted as requiring a “winner” and a “loser.” The stalemates which emerge are especially difficult since harmony appears possible only when one side loses.

Wisdom, by contrast, understands that there are different kinds of differences and different differences which differences make. Wisdom sees through the complexity of circumstances not by virtue

of a universal law, but by the simple nature of complexity. An example may help illustrate the point. Is it right or wrong to answer a fool? The writer of Proverbs supposes that sometimes it is important to answer fools (Proverbs 26:5) and sometimes it is important not to answer fools (Proverbs 26:4). Knowing when to answer and when not to answer is a matter of wisdom. If we are tempted by the foolishness of the fool, then wisdom suggests we refrain from answering. If, on the other hand, we discern that fools may understand the folly of their ways, wisdom suggests we provide a genuine response to them.

The loss of wisdom as a theological category in the public square has too often meant that our differences are always interpreted as fundamental conflicts, rather than as tactical differences that might be sorted out, or a disagreement about which reconciliation is actually possible. Historically, the public square in western democracies was guided by a common morality about virtue and vice. It may have been as simple as the need for virtue in our public leaders and a concern for justice among the citizenry. That common morality is what the Bible often refers to as wisdom. Thinking theologically about the public square requires this very sort of wisdom.

Wisdom as a category eroded under the pressure of mass consumer culture in the 20th century. The highly commercialized public square now seems

driven by individual greed, largely kept in check, if at all, only by the intrinsic conflicts of diverse desires. Greed is too often rewarded and integrity too often ignored. All goods

It is not an exaggeration to say that

diversity is part of the air we breathe

today. Every time we step out our front

doors, we feel the winds of diversity

blowing. We are conscious of it in the

political realms, in the worlds of art

and education, in our sports loyalties, in

our social and economic structures and

surely not least in our religious habits.

24 SPRING ’11

Trustee Profile

Dr. John HuffmanRuth E. Hawk

Dr. John Huffman’s association with Gordon- Conwell began in

the 1960s, as family friends Billy Graham and Harold John Ockenga discussed with him their vision for a new evangelical seminary. After four decades as Gordon-Conwell’s trustee, he rejoices to see that vision still being expanded and fulfilled.

“I love the influence Gordon-Conwell has on New England and now the whole world,” he says. “When I first began to travel the world in the 1960s, many of the people I met were graduates from Princeton Theological Seminary. The next decade, graduates from Fuller joined them, and now Gordon-Conwell grads have been added to that number. Gordon-Conwell graduates are where it’s happening.”

As a trustee, Dr. Huffman has helped equip students for their global ministries. His accomplishments include helping hire leaders like President Dennis Hollinger, Provost Frank James and beloved former missions professor Dr. J Christy Wilson, Jr., leaders who have significantly impacted students’ lives and ministries.

Now, he has also begun equipping students even more directly as Gordon-Conwell’s new minister-in-residence. In a role he describes as “generative,” he meets with students one week each semester to provide advice and counseling. It’s the kind of work with which he’s familiar, having spent 47 years in active parish ministry.

“I was trying to go into politics [while at Princeton],” he says. “Sam Shoemaker [a prominent Episcopal clergyman] challenged me to give up my whole life to parish ministry, and to pray for five people going into politics and impact them and accomplish more than if I had gone into politics.”

As a result, Dr. Huffman devoted himself to pastoral work, turning down presidencies of schools, seminaries and even World Vision to do so. He was ordained in the PC(USA), earned a D.Min. from Princeton Theological Seminary and pastored churches in Oklahoma, Florida, Pennsylvania and California.

Throughout those 47 years, he also maintained an active writing and speaking ministry. Each week, he mailed several thousand of his printed sermons to all 50 states and more than 30 foreign countries. He also wrote nine books and spoke extensively on radio and television.

The majority of his ministry (1978-2009), however, was spent pastoring the 4,000-member St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA. During his tenure there, he saw the church grow in numbers, giving and support for missions; and he oversaw the complete rebuilding and expansion of the church campus. In recognition of his long and faithful service, the church in 2009 elected him Pastor Emeritus.

Although he is now retired from parish ministry, Dr. Huffman remains active as a Minister at Large. In this role, he is heavily involved in a number of boards, including those of World Vision and Christianity Today International. He guest preaches frequently and serves as the chaplain of Fuller Theological Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry program. He also travels frequently, often for World Vision, and has made 80 trips worldwide.

He has been married to Anne for 46 years, and they have three children: Suzanne (deceased), Carla and Janet, and three grandchildren.

Throughout his work, both past and present, Dr. Huffman has embraced the lesson Sam Shoemaker taught him. He calls it “leveraging ministry” and credits Gordon-Conwell’s existence to this kind of strategic planning. “Students need to see the possibility of leveraging their ministry in a greater way,” he says. “It’s important to have a strategy for one’s life and ministry that God opens one’s mind to. Gordon-Conwell would not exist today if Ockenga and Graham had not strategized.”

His desire is that Gordon-Conwell continue to effectively impact the world, as he has helped it to do over the past 40 years. “I hope,” he says, “that Gordon-Conwell will maintain its biblical and theological integrity, but boldly face the problems of the future creatively.”

have become private and personal. Differences must then be about getting or not getting what we want. You can see why differences become very partisan very quickly in this context.

The Christian conviction that God creates all humans with an “inalienable human dignity” compels Christians to enter the public square and urge a wider cultural conversation about the common good. How Christians bring this deeply theological conviction to bear in a pluralistic society is a matter for discernment and wisdom. Wisdom is required to address the breadth of public issues in such a fashion that we hold in tension our differences as well as our convictions about the common good, without sacrificing the very public

discourse required to talk about the common good. In the last half century, we have surely erred in holding too tightly to our differences, and too superficially to our convictions about inalienable human dignity—especially as it pertains to our opponents in the public square.

Dealing with diversity requires humility and wisdom. It requires vigilance against resentment and cynicism. Dealing with diversity also requires faith, hope and charity. Christians must learn to engage the social world of diversity on its own God-given terms rather than on the terms being dictated by our cultural elites or by the partisan voices of our social media. The mission of God as manifest in Christ did not seek the subversion of the public square, but rather the opportunity to speak into the public square honestly, prophetically and humbly.

The Gospel asks us to embrace the radically counter-intuitive claim that showing hospitality to those with whom we have deep disagreements is the best option in dealing with entrenched differences. We

engage our disagreements neither by seeking to dominate nor by being merely tolerant. We invite the outsider into the common wisdom of our tradition. We take their ideas seriously, not primarily to overthrow their ideas, but rather with the expectation that wisdom is found in the strangest of places—even among those who disagree with us.

In our time, many cultural elites look askance at evangelicals in the public square, because evangelicals actually believe that some differences do make a difference. But evangelicals have also too often been guilty of partisan abuses in the public square. Changing this ethos with respect to evangelism may well require that we think of evangelism in the public square less in terms of defeating an enemy and

more in terms of showing hospitality to the stranger. It also requires thinking not only of ideological disagreements, but of the people whose inalienable dignity is not to be impugned simply because we disagree with them.

Wise persons seek the well-being of others in the ordinary affairs of life. Their character is kind and gracious and honest. These are the sort of persons Christians are called to be as citizens of this world. It is a wisdom applied to the ordinary spaces and places of our lives. It is the recognition that life is to be marked by a deep and abiding meaningfulness, anchored in beliefs and habits that promote reconciliation as a reflection of the Gospel. And like the Gospel, this theological wisdom takes corruption seriously,

and, in fact, privileges the recognition of corruption in our own hearts before we see it in the hearts of our opponents.

Peculiar to the Gospel is the embrace of diverse tribes, races and cultures, all because Christ is our peace who has “broken down the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2). A distinctive dimension of the Gospel ought to be manifest in

the reconciliation of those who are in conflict with each other. The Gospel is reflected not in the abolishing of diversity, but in the reconciliation of disagreements. Reconciliation is the goal because it reflects the work of God towards broken and sinful humanity. Christians in the public square engage in the work of reconciliation not as a substitute for the Gospel but as a reflection of it in all of life. This is to say, the Gospel itself contains a sacred wisdom in dealing with diversity. It is theological precisely in the sense that it arises from the reconciling work of God in the Gospel. By it, Christians express the conviction that human corruption is not as powerful as divine grace.

DR. RICHARD LINTS, ANDREW MUTCH DISTINGUISHED

PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY, JOINED THE GORDON-

CONWELL FACULTY IN 1986 AFTER SERVING AS LECTURER

IN PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY AT TRINITY COLLEGE,

BRISTOL, UK. HE HAS ALSO TAUGHT AT SEVERAL OTHER

COLLEGES AND THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS, INCLUDING YALE

DIVINITY SCHOOL, THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME AND

WESTMINSTER AND REFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES.

AN ORDAINED MINISTER IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

IN AMERICA, DR. LINTS IS AN ACCOMPLISHED CHURCH

PLANTER (REDEEMER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CONCORD,

MA), HAS SERVED IN A VARIETY OF OTHER PASTORAL POSITIONS AND IS A FREQUENT

PREACHER AND CONFERENCE SPEAKER. HE IS ON THE BOARD OF THE GOSPEL

CULTURE CENTER AND IS ITS THEOLOGIAN IN RESIDENCE.

Wisdom is required to address the breadth of public issues in

such a fashion that we hold in tension our differences as well as

our convictions about the common good, without sacrificing the

very public discourse required to talk about the common good.


26 SPRING ’11

The Gordon-Conwell Board of Trustees welcomed Dr. Stan D. Gaede, president

of the Christian College Consortium (CCC), as its newest member in October 2010.

Since 2008, Dr. Gaede has been president of the CCC, a group of 13 Christian colleges and universities that support each

other through scholarships and other programs. He is also scholar-in-residence at the Center for Christian Studies at Gordon College.

A trained sociologist, Dr. Gaede has spent his career in higher education. From 1974 to 1996, he taught sociology at Gordon College and served in a number of administrative roles, including as provost. Dr. Gaede has also served as provost, academic dean and president of Westmont College. He has written seven books and many articles and has spoken across the country. He is a member of the American Sociological Association and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Dr. Gaede is married to Judy, and they have three grown children and two grandchildren. They live in Wenham, MA.

Board Names New Trustee Dr. Kaminski Named Hamilton Campus Dean of Faculty

Dr. Carol M. Kaminski, Associate Professor of Old Testament, was appointed Dean

of Faculty for the Hamilton campus, effective July 2010. She began serving as interim dean in April 2009, replacing Dr. Alice Mathews. As dean, she is responsible for the oversight and nurture of the Hamilton faculty.

Dr. Kaminski has taught Old Testament and Hebrew language courses at the Boston and Hamilton campuses of Gordon-Conwell since joining the seminary faculty in 2002.

Her CASKET EMPTY Bible series, which explores the metanarrative of the Old Testament and its culmination in the person of Jesus, is a favorite with students, pastors and laity alike.

“Dr. Carol Kaminski is a natural as Dean of Faculty,” says Provost Frank James. “When she assumed the role, it was obvious to all that she would be a great leader and colleague. She has not disappointed. She assumed her new role with creativity and verve, and Gordon-Conwell is a better place because of her efforts.”

Her research interests include Genesis and Old Testament covenants. Originally from Australia, she holds an M.A. in Old Testament and an M.A. in Religion from Gordon-Conwell, as well as a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. She lives in Salem, MA, with her husband and two sons.

Neely Gaston has been named Chief Advancement Officer for the

seminary’s Charlotte campus. In this role, he will oversee advancement efforts in Charlotte, work closely with Charlotte Dean Dr. Tim Laniak and serve as a liaison to the institutional advancement team.

Neely joins Gordon-Conwell—Charlotte after six years on the Board of Trustees for Erskine Theological Seminary in Due West, SC, and then eight years as Executive Vice President. He was also a pastor for 14 years in Associate Reformed Presbyterian churches in North and South Carolina. His pastoral ministry included serving in various roles on the First Presbytery and General Synod. He holds an M.Div. from Erskine.

Neely and his wife, Lyn, have two grown children.

Gordon-Conwell—Charlotte Appoints New Advancement Officer

Gordon-Conwell—Charlotte Hires New Associate Dean for Hybrid Learning

Cindy Wheatley, Ph.D., has been named Associate Dean for Hybrid Learning at

Gordon-Conwell. In that role, she will be responsible for the design and operation of hybrid programs at the Charlotte campus, including the new MAR in Christian Ministry.

Cindy has more than 10 years of experience in distance education, working with a variety of higher education institutions to develop, launch and manage online degree programs. She has served as a faculty member with Florida State University, the University of Alabama, Rollins College and the University of Maryland University College. She earned her Ph.D. from Florida State.

The daughter of missionaries, Cindy is active in the United Methodist Church and has a passion for both education and missions. She is excited about the opportunity to make Gordon-Conwell’s quality education available to a broader audience, both national and international.

Seminary News

Why Would Anyone Support a Theological Seminary?Kurt Drescher

If we are to do our jobs well in Advancement at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, we need to ask ourselves regularly why anyone would support a theological seminary.

A few answers are obvious. Some donors feel they have benefited from the ministry of our graduates. Others share our vision “to advance Christ’s Kingdom in every sphere of life by equipping Church leaders to think theologically, engage globally and live biblically.” Both are excellent reasons to support a theological seminary.

Other answers are less obvious, but immensely encouraging. Emanating from real stories like those that follow, they shine light on the passion of our donors to see the Gospel taught…and advanced.

The first story is about a donor couple whose son enrolled at Gordon-Conwell—South Hamilton. When they subsequently met with President and Mrs. Hollinger, they learned about some of the seminary’s pressing needs and agreed to pray for God’s direction. Soon after, they called to share their joy and desire to fund a brand new “Pastors for Africa Scholarship.” This scholarship provides financial assistance to worthy students from the African continent. Qualified applicants are those who pursue a Master of Divinity degree, are natives and current residents of Africa, and agree to return to minister and spread the Gospel in their homeland. Today, two grateful scholarship recipients are preparing for ministry because a praying and generous couple sought God’s direction and responded to His answer.

The second story is about a gift that took us completely by surprise. At Gordon-Conwell, we seldom receive large unsolicited gifts, and even fewer that come with a passionate and profound cry to do more of what we do best. Last December, we received a large check from a couple with whom we had not been in contact. With the check was a small, handwritten note that read, “We have been very concerned about the lack

of biblical teaching in our churches today—too much talk and joking. Please use this gift to encourage future pastors to teach the Word of God.” That gift came at just the right time and with just the right sentiment. At Gordon-Conwell, our call is to train pastors, as well as teachers, missionaries, counselors and church leaders, to preach and teach the Word of God. It is an unswerving fundamental of our mission. The couple’s generosity and message from their hearts encouraged us indeed to do more of what we do best.

The third story relates to a foundation grant we did not receive. Last summer we applied for funds to launch a new Hispanic Ministries Program. This initiative is part of both our strategic plan and ethos, and answers a crying need in the Church. Hispanics are now the largest and fastest growing ethnic group in the U.S., and the evangelical Hispanic Church is also escalating rapidly. Yet, Hispanics constitute less than five percent of seminary students. Leaders in the evangelical Hispanic community have asked Gordon-Conwell to address the need for theological education to strengthen and deepen the Hispanic church by preparing its leaders to reach out with the Gospel to millions who need Christ’s transformation. However, we were turned down for grant funding largely because alumni giving to our Education Fund for operations was so low. Foundation officials felt that a school like Gordon-Conwell should have alumni giving in the 20 percent-plus range, not in single digits. They also advised that participation matters, not the gift amount. The moral of the story: Regular alumni giving to the Education Fund can make a big difference.

At Gordon-Conwell, we are deeply grateful for the hundreds of faithful, generous partners who give their time, talent and treasure to our educational ministry. Perhaps the most obvious answer to “Why would anyone support a theological seminary” might be, frankly, because someone asked them to. If you are not already one of our faithful partners, would you prayerfully consider supporting Gordon-Conwell? Consider yourself asked.

KURT W. DRESCHER IS THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVANCEMENT

AT GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. HE IS AN ACTIVE

MEMBER OF GRACE CHAPEL, AND LIVES WITH HIS WIFE AND TWO

DAUGHTERS IN READING, MASSACHUSETTS.

Seminary News


A group of 27 from the Gordon-Conwell community, plus more than 100 alumni, had the privilege of attending the

historic Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa, in October. They joined more than 4,000 people from 198 countries to worship, fellowship and talk about the future of world evangelization.

“You had this sense that it probably was the nearest thing to heaven,” says Dr. Mary Ann Hollinger, who attended with her husband, President Dennis Hollinger. “As far as my eyes could scan, I was seeing people from every tribe and every nation… Seeing that sense of unity as they exalted the name of the Lord together was incredible.”

This global context was also a valuable source of information regarding the worldwide church. In many countries, data on churches is difficult to obtain. LouAnn Stropoli (’10, M.Div.), a member of the research team from Gordon-Conwell’s Center for the Study of Global Christianity, was able to overcome some of these difficulties at Cape Town.

“My role at Lausanne allowed me to talk to a lot of people and hear their stories,” Stropoli says. She left the Congress with 300 global contacts who can help her understand what is happening with the local church all over the world.

Other Gordon-Conwell participants served as some of the 300 stewards doing the legwork for the Congress.

“We just did whatever needed to be done,” says Shawn Woo, a steward and current M.Div. student, describing days when he worked from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. “We felt like the global church was there, and it was a privilege to serve.”

Amy Donovan, Chief Information Officer at Gordon-Conwell, volunteered as the senior manager of Cape Town’s tech squad, running a help desk that oversaw 200 office computers, computers for the Internet cafes, attendees’ personal laptops and the rest of the technology infrastructure.

She still keeps in touch with many on her team: 25 volunteers and stewards from all over the world, most of them young people in their 20s.

“Just seeing the energy and passion of Generation Y, I was encouraged and impressed,” Donovan says.

For some of the attendees from Gordon-Conwell, an additional blessing was seeing the global nature not only of the church, but also of the more than 100 alumni who attended a Gordon-Conwell reception.

“Our alumni are everywhere,” Donovan says. “It’s good to realize the seminary is a launching point, that graduates are serving God all over the world.”

Gordon-Conwell Staff, Students Share Their Lausanne ExperiencesApril Seipp and Ruth Hawk

Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way (Baker, 2010),

authored by Dr. Gary A. Parrett, Professor of Educational Ministries and Worship, and J.I. Packer, received an Award of Merit in Christianity Today’s 2011 book awards. Their book argues for renewing the practice of catechesis in evangelical churches.

Dr. Parrett, who was severely injured in a bus accident in South Korea last July, is now at home. Though still receiving physical therapy, he has been able to visit the seminary twice since January and has been sitting in on a Romans class this semester. On January 18, he ate lunch with students, faculty and staff and participated in the Biblical Worship Doctor of Ministry Program. On February 8, he attended and spoke at a campus-wide day of prayer. His talks have focused on God’s faithfulness in difficult times, and particularly God’s presence with him through this period of recovery.

“Gary Parrett is a visible reminder that God is still in the miracle business,” says Provost Frank James. “The doctors are stunned, and those who saw him just a couple of months ago would be astounded to hear him speak in chapel and observe him participating in a D.Min. class. We are all amazed at what God has done and is doing in the life of our dear brother.”

Dr. John Jefferson Davis, Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian

Ethics, recently published Worship and the Reality of God: An Evangelical Theology of Real Presence (InterVarsity Press, 2010). Inspired by observations from dozens of different services, this theological exploration of worship contends that a

renewed understanding of the real presence of Christ in worship is essential for the church today.

Going beyond details such as musical style or presentation, Dr. Davis explores cultural mindsets and philosophies that hinder worship; and he offers practical solutions for putting the focus of worship back on the risen Christ, who, he says, “is really present in the midst of his gathered people by Word, Spirit and table fellowship.” Davis argues that the church must first be powerfully transformed by a renewed sense of the presence of God before the church can effectively transform the culture.

Dr. Gary Parrett Wins Book Award, Visits Campus

Dr. Davis Publishes New Book on Worship

Seminary News

Gordon-Conwell students will be studying in Greece and Turkey this summer, thanks to a new Global Education program designed to offer classes in context.

With this initiative, Gordon-Conwell joins an increasing number of undergraduate and graduate schools offering an internationalized curriculum. Such courses help students cultivate a global lens for future ministry, discover new global needs and opportunities, strengthen their cultural knowledge and sensitivity, develop a stronger appreciation for the global Church, and solidify their identity as world Christians.

“Gordon-Conwell believes study abroad opportunities are integral to our mission, and essential preparation for effective ministry in the multi-cultural and global world in which our students will ultimately minister,” says Dr. Mary Ann Hollinger, Special Assistant to the Provost for Global Education.

The first course will be offered this summer. Dr. Gordon L. Isaac, Berkshire Assistant Professor of Advent Christian Studies, will be teaching “History of the Reformation” in Germany, allowing students to relive the events of the Protestant Reformation by exploring the sites where they occurred. Dr. Sean McDonough, Professor of New Testament, will offer “Paul and His Letters” while taking students through Greece and Turkey, following the footsteps of Paul to Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi and Thessaloniki.

More courses will be offered in the future, typically as three-week intensives during the January or summer sessions. Courses will be taught by Gordon-Conwell faculty, but delivered in global contexts with direct application and relevance to course content.

Master’s level courses will be available in Biblical Studies, Christian Thought and Ministry of the Church. Various Doctor of Ministry tracks also include global residency components. For more information, visit www.gordonconwell.edu/global_education.

New Global Education Program Launching This Summer

Gordon-Conwell to Offer Online MAR Program

Beginning in January 2012, Gordon-Conwell—Charlotte will be offering a new online Master of Arts in Religion program for church leaders,

administrators, educators and lay workers, along with others serving in parachurch ministries.

The program will consist of core classes in Bible and theology with concentrations in specific focus areas of ministry. The 40-month program will deliver these courses through a combination of online classes and intensive on-campus residencies several times a year.

Robust, web-based engagement will support student learning throughout the year. The goal will be to extend a Gordon-Conwell education to students preparing for or involved in Christian ministry who cannot travel to campus more than two weeks per year. Cindy Wheatley, Ph.D., is the Associate Dean for Hybrid Learning at Gordon-Conwell and will oversee the design and operation of this program.

“We are thrilled to deepen our relationship with students who live at a distance,” says Charlotte Dean Dr. Tim Laniak. “It is a natural extension of the Charlotte model’s commitment to equip leaders in their current context of ministry. We are now able to reach beyond our region to a national and international student body.”

Seminary News



Dr. Haddon W. Robinson, Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching, was recently named one

of the 25 most influential preachers of the past 25 years by Preaching magazine.

“Haddon Robinson has used the classroom and printed page to exert a profound influence on the American pulpit,” the article said, citing his focus on

teaching the next generation of preachers to develop a “Big Idea” in sermons.

Dr. Robinson taught at Dallas Theological Seminary and was president of Denver Seminary before coming to Gordon-Conwell in 1991. He also served as interim president of the seminary from July 2007 to August 2008.

“I feel a bit like Groucho Marx, who commented on his election to a country club: ‘I don’t want to belong to any club that would have me for a member!’” says Dr. Robinson. “I am honored by Preaching magazine for even allowing me

to associate with some of the others on the list. I am mixing with some high-flying people. Of course, what really matters is what my Lord thinks of me on ‘that day.’”

Dr. Robinson was seventh on the list. Trustee Dr. Billy Graham and alumnus Dr. Tim Keller (‘75 M.Div.) were also named.

In a separate article, the magazine cited Dr. Robinson’s book, Biblical Preaching, as the most influential preaching book of the past 25 years.

More than 120 seminaries and Bible colleges throughout the world use it as a text for preaching.

Haddon Robinson Honored by Preaching Magazine

When Dr. Karen Mason, Associate Professor of Counseling and Psy-chology at Gordon-Conwell, was

meeting with clients early in her career as a psychologist, she had a realization.

“It struck me that suicide is preventable,” she says. “It isn’t a big scary thing we can’t do anything about.”

So began an interest in suicide prevention that recently earned her a grant from the Association of Theological Schools and the Lilly Endowment to research the involvement of clergy in suicide intervention and aftercare.

The National Strategy for Suicide Prevention name members of the clergy as “key gatekeepers” who are in a position to intervene with individuals at risk for suicide, and studies show that suicidal people are just as likely to seek help from clergy as from mental health professionals.

The ATS Lilly Theological Research Grant will support a one-year project designed by Dr. Mason and her collaborator, Dr. James D. Wines, a psychiatrist with Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital and an expert in the field of suicide prevention.

They hope to gain an understanding of the ways Catholic, Jewish and Protestant clergy • Interact with suicidal help-seekers • Identify someone at risk for suicide

• Refer people to mental health professionals • Engage with a community in the aftermath of a suicide

The final stage of the project will use the results of the study to create a webinar for clergy.

“We are studying the issues to be able to target the training,” said Dr. Mason. “My interest is understanding the role of clergy in preventing suicide in a community,”

Dr. Mason has worked in the mental health field since 1990, including two years as a manager in the Office of Suicide Prevention at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. When she came to Gordon-Conwell in 2006, she started thinking about the ways clergy were involved in prevention and aftercare.

This new study will build on a 2008 survey conducted by Dr. Mason in collaboration with Dr. Pablo Polischuk and Dr. Ray Pendleton, both professors of counseling at Gordon-Conwell. Their project, also funded by a Lilly Theological Research Grant, surveyed Protestant clergy in the Boston area on their procedures of referring suicidal people to mental health professionals. Their findings will be published in an article currently in press with the Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling.

Karen Mason Receives Lilly Research Grant

Seminary News Seminary News

Mockler Center Hosts Seminar on Christians in the Workplace

Paul Aganski, (‘84 MATS, ‘03 D. Min.)

“Salting Today’s Workplace: How?” a seminar exploring the relationship between Christian faith and everyday work, was hosted April 19 by Gordon-Conwell’s Mockler Center for Faith and Ethics in the Workplace.

Led by David W. Gill, Ph.D., Mockler-Phillips Professor of Workplace Theology and Business Ethics, this seminar brought together more than 100 academics, clergy and people from the marketplace to take a closer look at work as God created it and the ways in which Christians can be faithful disciples in the workplace.

Keynote speaker was William Pollard, former CEO of Fortune 500 company ServiceMaster, an extraordinary business success praised by the Wall Street Journal, Financial Time, and colleagues, commentators

and business analysts worldwide. Drawing from his extensive business leadership experience and years of biblical study, Mr. Pollard spoke of the need for redemptive leadership in today’s marketplace and illustrated the challenges and joys that come with being such a leader.

Dr. Gill spoke on “Nine Biblical Insights You Can Take Straight into the Workplace.”

Director of the Mockler Center at Gordon-Conwell, he has authored seven books, including, It’s About Excellence: Building Ethically Healthy Organizations.

The seminar also featured a distinguished panel of speakers from a variety of workplace backgrounds who

spoke about how their faith has shaped and enlivened their working lives. Their testimonies about living the Christian faith in the marketplace enforced the idea that faith and work were never meant to be separate. The panel included:

Dr. Jewel Hyun (‘01 MA, ‘05 D.Min.), Board chair of Matthew 28 Ministries, an organiza-tion that equips women in Africa for ministry and discipleship. She has more than 15 years experience ministering to second-generation Korean American congregations

John Truschel, MBA, Chief Investment Officer for the Boston Company.

Virginia Viola (’02 M.Div.), a former campus minister and author of the popular study book, Living in Two Economies: Following Christ into the Marketplace. She has worked with college students at Boston’s Park Street Church, served for 15 years in the health care industry as an office manager, and was a board member and volunteer organizer, study leader and mentor with Network, Inc.

Larry Ward, M.Ed., pastor of Abundant Life Church, Cambridge, MA. A graduate of the Harvard Divinity School Summer Leadership Institute, he is a certified trainer for the Na-tional Foundation of Teaching Entrepreneur-ship and the Financial Education Associates, and trains people in financial literacy and home ownership.

Andy Wasynczuk, MBA, Harvard Business School faculty member and former consul-tant at Bain & Company, Boston. From 1989 to 2005, he was Chief Operating Officer for the New England Patriots and Foxboro/Gil-lette Stadium.

In sponsoring this event, Gordon-Conwell continues its ef-forts to reclaim a biblical understanding of work, ethics and profitability. In his remarks to attendees, President Hollinger affirmed the seminary’s commitment to fulfilling the grow-ing desire for marketplace Christians to have a rich resource from which to draw for their workplace lives.

PAUL AGANSKI, D. MIN., HAS BEEN A QUALITY ENGINEER IN THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

FOR OVER 30 YEARS AND HAS BEEN CALLED BY GOD TO HELP OTHERS LEARN HOW TO

DO “GOOD WORK” AND LIVE GODLY LIVES IN THE MARKETPLACE.

Dr. David Gill, Mockler Center Director

William Pollard, former ServiceMaster CEO



Alumni Events

Cape Town 2010

In October 2010, 4,000 Christian leaders from around the world converged in Cape Town, South Africa, for the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, Cape Town 2010. These delegates gathered to engage and pray for some of the most challenging issues facing the global Church today. Gordon-Conwell alumni participated in this historic event on many levels. During the Congress, more than 100 alumni from around the world also gathered for a special reception hosted by President Hollinger.

Annual Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Gordon-Conwell Alumni Breakfast Nearly 70 alumni and friends gathered November 21 at the SBL GCTS alumni breakfast, hosted by President Hollinger at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, GA. Alumni reconnected, received updates on Gordon-Conwell, interacted with faculty and worshiped together.

Visit connect.gordonconwell.edu for the latest alumni news and upcoming events.

To receive InCommunity, the monthly alumni e-newsletter, contact [email protected].

In Memoriam

Upcoming Alumni Events

June 7-10 – Virginia Beach, VA – PCA General AssemblyJuly 25-28 – Cleveland, OH – CCCC Annual ConferenceOctober – Washington, DC – Date & Location TBANovember 19-22 – San Francisco, CA – SBL Annual Meeting

http://connect.gordonconwell.edu

Lausanne attendees in alphabetical order: Claude Al-

exander, Ramez Atallah, Peter Barnes, Laurie Barnes,

Gary Becker, Doug Birdsall, Jeannie Birdsall, Paul

Borthwick, Bobby Bose, Margie Bose, Mike Chadwell,

Dan Cho, Robert Coleman, Brad Coons, Barry Corey,

Paula Corey, Wendy Der, Amy Donovan, Stan Gaede,

Anatole Glukhovsky, Ed Green, Richard Haney, John

Hanford, David Henderson, Bert Hickman, Mary Ann

Hollinger, Dennis Hollinger, David Horn, Bill Houston,

John Huffman, Peter James, Todd Johnson, Andrew

Kaiser, Tim Keller, Kathy Keller, Ben Kim, Barbara

Kohl, Peter Kuzmic, Ralph Leo, Rajan Mathews, Grace

Mathews, Jason McKnight, Kosta Milkov, Nada Milkov,

Daewon Moon, Bill Murdoch, Tanya Pitre, Brannin Pitre,

Geoff Quinn, David Ro, Jacqueline Ro, Seppo Rissanen,

Bobby Ryu, Michelle Sanchez, Mickey Sanchez, Jack

Sara, Richard Showalter, Sara Singleton, Brad Smith,

LouAnn Stropoli, Scott Sunquist, Ken Swetland, Jim

Tebbe, Tim Tennent, Julie Tennent, Yusuf Turaki, Nick

Valadez, Mathews Varghese, Carson Weitnauer, David

Wells, Jane Wells, Shawn Woo, Allen Yeh, Maria Zheng

Editor’s Note: Certain faces were blacked out and names ommitted to protect them from possible perse-cution in the counties where they live and work

Three alumni gatherings in October and November brought together graduates from around the world.

Pittsburgh

Gordon-Conwell continued its efforts to host alumni events in major cities with a gathering of alumni in the Pittsburgh area for dinner on November 12. Alumnus Rev. Tim Janiszewski (‘86 M.Div.) opened his church, Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, for the event, which was hosted by President Hollinger.

Dr. Catherine Clark Kroeger

Dr. Catherine Clark Kroeger, Ranked Adjunct Professor of

Classical and Ministry Studies, passed away February 14 at the age of 85, after a brief illness.

“We are all saddened to learn of Dr. Kroeger’s unexpected death,” says Provost Dr. Frank James. “It was just a few short weeks ago that she was

reminding me, with a twinkle in her eye, that we needed to devote a chapel service to encouraging women. She will be greatly missed by our community, but we are confident she will brighten the halls of heaven.”

Dr. Kroeger had taught at Gordon-Conwell since 1990 and was beloved for her passion, generosity and wit.

“Dr. Kroeger made substantial and abiding contributions over the years to Gordon-Conwell,” says Dr. John Jefferson Davis, Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics. “She leaves a rich and valued legacy, and she will be sorely missed.”

“I was deeply touched as a student by her generosity to me,” says Dr. Donna Petter, Assistant Professor of Old Testament. “She was generous in providing resources to travel abroad with her and to utilize her home and her home library. Her life was an open book.”

Dr. Kroeger dedicated much of her life to fighting for the equality of women and against domestic abuse. She founded and was president emerita of Christians for Biblical Equality, a coalition of Christians united around the belief that Scripture supports the equality of men and women. She was also founder and president of Peace and Safety in the Christian Home, an organization committed to providing resources and education to eliminate domestic violence in the Christian home.

Her writings on these topics include the books Refuge From Abuse: Hope and Healing for the Abused Christian Woman and I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in Light of Ancient Evidence. Most recently, she traveled to England to speak at a conference about domestic abuse. She had also served on the editorial board of the Journal of Religion and Abuse.

Dr. Kroeger was active in the academic realm, held many professional memberships and was an involved layperson in the Presbyterian Church USA. She held an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and an honorary doctorate from Houghton College.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Rev. Dr. Richard Clark Kroeger, Jr. and is survived by five children, 10 grandchildren and numerous foster children. She will be missed by all whose lives she touched.

In Memoriam Gordon-Conwell mourns the recent deaths of two very special individuals whose lives were spent in service to God.

Dr. Roger R. Nicole

Professor Emeritus Dr. Roger R. Nicole, widely-known theologian

and faithful friend of the seminary, passed away December 11 in Longwood, FL, at the age of 95.

Dr. Nicole began his long association with Gordon-Conwell while the seminary was still Gordon Divinity School, earning degrees

there in 1939, 1940 and 1943. He later taught theology at the seminary for 41 years, and continued supporting the school after joining Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Orlando, FL. He was Professor Emeritus of Theology at RTS at his death.

Dr. Nicole was deeply respected for his gracious spirit. It was this spirit that stood out to Gordon-Conwell Provost, Dr. Frank James, who served with Dr. Nicole at RTS.

“I think of Roger as the truest of ecumenical theologians,” he says. “He held strong positions on inerrancy, on penal substitution, the ordination of women, but he always managed to treat his fellow Christians, even those with whom he disagreed, as a “bro-zur.”

Distinguished Senior Research Professor Dr. David Wells, a former Gordon-Conwell colleague of Dr. Nicole’s, agrees.

“Roger was always an island of calm in the midst of any storm,” he says. “He was always gracious, always generous, always cordial, while nevertheless having a very clearly defined theological position.”

In addition to teaching, Dr. Nicole helped found the Evangelical Theological Society, the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy and Christians for Biblical Equality. He also contributed to 50 books and reference works, and wrote many articles, reviews and essays.

A Swiss native, Dr. Nicole earned an M.A. from the Sorbonne in Paris. He also earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University and was awarded a D.D. from Wheaton College.

Dr. Nicole and his late wife, Annette, were married more than 61 years and were known for their hospitality. He collected both books and stamps, and many of his 26,000 books now comprise the Roger Nicole collection at RTS.

Dr. Nicole is survived by all the friends, colleagues, students and “adopted” children who were deeply impacted by his wisdom, generosity and teaching. As Dr. Garth Rosell, Professor of Church History, comments, “his real legacy can be found not so much on the written page as in the lives of those into whom he poured his time and energy.”

Focus on Alumni

32 SPRING ’11

34 SPRING ’11

Alumni Notes

“I will point out two things about infant baptism in the Bible: When the Bible talks of infants, there is no baptism; and when the Bible talks of baptism, there are no infants.”

HOW DID YOUR PASTORAL MINISTRY EXPERIENCE AFFECT WHAT YOU DO TODAY?

Well, after I went to Durham…I came back and pastored four United Methodist Churches in rural North Carolina. I never applied to a seminary [to teach]. I would have been completely happy being a scholarly pastor. Several people recommended me to [teach at] Ashland Seminary in Ohio. This clearly was a call from God…In the classroom, I’m able to relate to seminary students going into pastoral ministry, able to anticipate and address what they will be learning. Anyone teaching in a seminary should have some pastoral experience.

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO WRITE YOUR MOST RECENT BOOK, WORK: A KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE ON LABOR?

I want to deal with the theology of ordinary Christian life. It’s important for Christians to understand theology in ordinary practices. It is astounding how few books are available about this subject. Most Christians, for example, take retirement for granted. Haddon Robinson is the one who got me thinking more about this area. He called me about six years ago and asked me to become involved with the Theology of Work project [that he was spearheading]. I couldn’t do it at the time, but I knew I wanted to research more about it.

WHAT CHALLENGES DO STUDENTS FACE AS THEY PLAN FOR

MINISTRY OUTSIDE OF SEMINARY?

If you are talking about seminary and theological education mainly in the West, increasingly we live in a post-Christian and post-modern culture. The way people look at religion in general is far more Gnostic and far less Christian. I think that there is going to have to be a revamping of theological education. We need more apologetics. The culture is where it is, and we have to face that fact. We will have to help ministers tool up and retool to meet the culture where it is. We need to address and correct [the culture] with a winsome message, then we will be doing better at equipping students for ministry.

Kevin DeYoung (’02 M.Div.)Kevin DeYoung has been the Senior Pastor at University Reformed Church (URC), East Lansing, Michigan, since August 2004. His main responsibilities include preaching, leadership, and administration. Kevin’s most recent book is titled, Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day (Crossway Books, 2011). He attended Hope College

and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Prior to serving at URC, he was the Associate Pastor at First Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa. Kevin and his lovely wife, Trisha, have four children: Ian, Jacob, Elizabeth and Paul. Read more at Kevin’s blog:http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung.

A list of his books is available at http://connect.gordonconwell.edu/?page=AlumniBooks.

WHAT FROM YOUR SEMINARY EXPERIENCE HAD THE GREATEST IMPACT ON YOUR VOCATION?

There are a number of things I could mention…[including] my involvement in the local church. I attended First Presbyterian Church in Ipswich…and had an opportunity to preach and sing in the choir and teach children’s catechism…I would also say the relationships I made. I did and still do have a…great group of friends from Gordon-Conwell…We met each week and just walked through life together…And then, obviously, just the classes: the things that I learned, and the resources and the tools, and being able to spend three years of concerted effort and think through theology and biblical interpretation, have served me well as a pastor.

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO WRITE YOUR MOST RECENT BOOK DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK?

Really, [there are] two reasons for that book… One was to reassert the theological nature of evangelicalism…[We] really wanted to write [about] some of the basic doctrines of evangelicalism and reassert what an evangelical is. We’re not trying to be the new gatekeepers, but it’s such a loose term now that we want to say, “Here are traditionally some of the things on Scripture and justification and conversion that evangelicals have believed. You can be young and hopefully vibrant and engaged in ministry and still believe these same things that our evangelical forbearers believed”…The second reason, very practically–to be a discipleship tool. And that’s really the more important reason. It’s so common that Christians don’t know what they believe or why they believe it, [and] may not be able to articulate it. That was certainly some of my experience in college. I would love it if high school youth groups or college ministry [groups] or a new members’ class or a one-on-one disciple[ing relationship] would use this book to walk through the basics of our faith…and how we’re supposed to live as Christians.

HOW CAN LAYPEOPLE BEST SUPPORT THEIR PASTOR?

Obviously the first thing that comes to mind is simply to pray and probably to let your pastor know that you’re praying…I think if laypeople try to understand that pastoral ministry is more demanding than they might think…That’s not at all to say it’s the hardest job…That would be totally untrue. But, so much of what people see is “Sunday”—your preaching or leading in some way…The pastor’s pulled in a lot of different directions so if people can understand that, that’s helpful…I have lots of encouragement, but I know there are many pastors out there who go a long time without people thanking them or writing them a note…The last thing that comes to mind is just realizing that there are a number of things that happen in the church that people in the pews may not fully understand…Sometimes you can’t tell the congregation everything…If laypeople keep that in mind, it would help them from being too quick to make a judgment.

Woodrow Kroll (‘70 M.Div.) Woodrow Kroll is President and Senior Bible Teacher for the international me-dia ministry Back to the Bible. The Back to the Bible radio broadcast can be heard daily in one of 14 languages by more than 50 percent of the world’s population. Woodrow is the author of more than 50 books. His passion to increase Bible liter-acy in America by engaging people in the

Bible and connecting them with the Author, and his clear, inci-sive teaching of the Word keep him in demand as a speaker all over the world. He and his wife, Linda, reside in Ashland, Ne-braska. Read more at http://www.backtothebible.org/index.php/About-Woodrow-Kroll.html. A list of his books is available at: http://connect.gordonconwell.edu/?page=AlumniBooks.

WHAT FROM YOUR SEMINARY EXPERIENCE HAD THE GREATEST IMPACT ON YOUR VOCATION?

I don’t think there’s any question but that my professors had the greatest impact on me and on what God called me to do in ministry. I remember dearly Roger Nicole…He’s the one who really gave me an understanding of how important systematic theology is as a platform for ministry, to make sure everything else that you say squares with what is evangelical and what is biblical…[and] Gwyn Walters–I loved to hear that man pray. He taught me more about worship, I think, by listening to him pray, than I learned anywhere else. [Editor’s note: Woodrow served as pastor for part of his time in seminary at First Baptist Church North Middleboro in Middleboro, MA, and indicated it also had a great impact on his life and ministry.]

WHAT SEMINARY EVENTS STAND OUT FROM YOUR DAYS AT

GORDON-CONWELL?

I remember Gordon-Conwell sponsored some students to go to the 1969 Billy Graham Crusade in New York City. I was one of those students. It gave us a backstage pass to see what went on. I think that occasion helped me understand how much work it takes before an event to make [it] successful… Of all the things that I did while I was [in seminary] ...observing what [the Billy Graham Team] did taught me a lot about how one makes an event successful by preplanning...

WHERE DID YOU MOST ENJOY SPENDING TIME OUTSIDE OF

CLASS OR MINISTRY WHEN YOU WERE AT GORDON-CONWELL? …I didn’t have a chance to participate—because of my schedule—in all the events at the seminary, but I do

remember being Roger Nicole’s bowling partner. It was just a scream because he was a great theologian, not so much a bowler…I have an older brother who is a pastor and he was two years ahead of me at Gordon [Divinity School, now Gordon-Conwell]. He and I actually formed an evangelistic team while we were there…I learned early on that education is not just [the classroom]. It’s a whole seminary experience, so I tried to get in as much as I could.

WHAT CAN PASTORS DO TO ENCOURAGE BIBLICAL LITERACY?

I think what pastors can do…is just keep preaching the Word, but don’t lose balance in preaching the Word. We’re in a society today [where] we want to get right to the end of things…in preaching that often means getting right to application, and application is so very important, but...you have to know what the Bible says—that’s instruction—[and] you have to know what it means—that’s interpretation—before you can get to application. And, don’t assume that Bible illiteracy is not a problem in your church…I think we have to realize that pastors only have people maybe an hour, perhaps two hours a week…so [they] need to find a way to help people learn to feed themselves…If I am spiritually immature, it is not my pastor’s fault…I have to learn to feed myself, and the unfortunate thing is most Christians, statistically, have not learned much about how to get into the Word and to engage God in his Word for themselves.

Ben Witherington (‘77 M.Div.)Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is

married to Ann Elizabeth Sears Witherington. Read more at Dr. Witherington’s blog: http://www.patheos.com/community/bibleandculture/. A list of his books is available at: http://connect.gordonconwell.edu/?page=AlumniBooks

WHAT SEMINARY EVENTS STAND OUT FROM YOUR DAYS AT GORDON-CONWELL?

Visits from Billy Graham [a Gordon-Conwell founder]. I grew up just down the road from him [in North Carolina]. It was nice to have someone around who shared that same southern accent! Gerald Ford spoke at graduation. [His son] Mike and I were supposed to be roommates, but he married his wife just before starting seminary. I recall thinking how different my life at seminary would have been having Secret Service personnel following me in those days…Meredith Kline taught me so much about Old Testament theology. I took [Lloyd] Kalland’s Bonhoeffer class and read all of Bonhoeffer’s books. I remember Roger Nicole’s humor! I remember him saying,

Editor’s NoteGordon-Conwell alumni are engaged in manifold ministries around the globe,

teaching and preaching the Word of God and advancing Christ’s Kingdom.

In Focus on Alumni, a new section in Contact, Rhonda Gibson, Director of

Alumni Services, will highlight the lives and ministries of several graduates.

Learn how they have been serving our Lord in the years since commencement.



David Helm (‘88 M.Div.), lead pastor of South Side Congregation of the Holy Trinity in Chicago, IL, was a main speaker at the 2010 Princeton Regional Conference on Reformed Theology. The conference theme was “These Speak of Me: The Glory of Christ in All of Scripture.”

Phil Meher (‘88 MATS), an army chaplain, has been deployed from the New Hampshire National Guard to Kuwait and will be serving in Iraq.

Stephen K. Moroney (‘88 MATS) has written a new book, God of Love and God of Judgment (Wipf & Stock, 2009).

Christopher Smith (‘88 MATS) is writing a series of study guides, entitled Understanding the Books of the Bible (Biblica Publishing), for young adults who have little or no Scriptural background. Guides on Genesis, the wisdom literature, the apocalyptic literature and John have been published so far.

Rich Schoenert (‘89 D.Min.; ‘69 M.Div.) will retire from pastoral ministry at Calvary Church in Minnesota on June 30, 2012, after 44 years in pastoral ministry. He spent these years in Saline Baptist Church, Saline, MI (7 years); North Shore Community Baptist Church, Beverly Farms, MA (12 years); and Calvary Church (25 years).

Joel Stoddert (‘89 M.Div.) has been living in his native Vermont since 1992. Ordained with the C&MA since 1995, he presently works with the Visiting Nurse Association, is active in his local church and provides regular pulpit supply for a small congregation. He is married to Aprile.

Daniel Young (‘89 MATS) and his wife, Shelly, celebrated their first Christmas in La Paz, Mexico, with family and friends. They are ministering in La Paz as part of their work with Latin America Mission. They have served with LAM for 20 years. They have five children: twins Benjamin and Stephen, who are at Simpson University in California; high school senior Ana Christina; Michael (5th grade) and Rebecca (6th grade).

1990sRonald Huggler (‘91 MATS; ‘83 M.Div.) retired in 2011 after 30 years of service as a chaplain (colonel) in the U.S. Army. He and his wife, Sue, have moved to San Antonio, TX, where he continues to serve as a Department of the Army civilian.

Tobias Nyatsambo (‘91 MAR) was installed February 9, 2011, as rector at St. James Episcopal Church in Laconia, NH.

Douglas LaPointe (‘93 M.Div.) is the new pastor at Cold Spring Presbyterian Church in Bristol, TN.

Alex Kish (‘94 Th.M.; ‘93 M.Div.) successfully defended his dissertation in November and was granted his Ph.D. in Church History at the Free University of Amsterdam. His dissertation was “The Origins of the Baptist Movement among the Hungarians: A History of the Baptists in the Kingdom of Hungary from 1846 to 1893.” A revised version of the dissertation is forthcoming in 2011 in the Brill’s Series in Church History.

John Lee (‘94 M.Div.) is serving at Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) in Indonesia as vice president for university development and external relations. UPH is the largest Christian university in Indonesia.

Stanley Schultz (‘95 M.Div.) and his wife, Rhonda, were featured in an article on www.WickedLocal.com/stoughton. He has served as the pastor of First Baptist Church in Stoughton, MA, since 1995.

Peter Sprigg (‘97 M.Div.) appeared on MSNBC March 10 to discuss the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). He makes frequent media appearances, often to discuss issues of human sexuality.

Dale Tadlock (‘98 M.Div.) continues to serve as the associate pastor and minister to young adults and students at First Baptist Church, Waynesboro, VA. In addition, Dale has been a featured speaker and workshop leader teaching technology and youth ministry and contributes to Youthworker Journal. He also served on the writing team for Becoming Like Christ: Grounding Youth in Jesus, a youth evangelism/discipleship resource recently released by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

2000sLennel Anderson (‘00 M.Div.) was ordained at St. Francis-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Somerset, PA, September 25, 2010.

Juan Hernández (‘00 Th.M.; ‘98 M.Div.), Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN, was invited to the Kirchliche Hochschule in Wuppertal, Germany, to share his research on the textual history of John’s Apocalypse. On this trip, he presented the results of one of his studies to scholars and lectured university students at the school.

Michael Lee (‘00 MACH) was featured in the student newspaper of Eastern University. Dr. Lee is the new assistant professor of history at Eastern.

Foley Beach (‘02 D.Min.) was consecrated as the first bishop of the newly formed Anglican Diocese of the South. Beach is the rector of Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville, GA.

Wendy Davis (‘02 M.Div.) was commissioned December 19 as associate pastor of North Shore Bridge Church, which is currently meeting in Ipswich, MA. Wendy has been in leadership at The Bridge since its founding in 2005.

Brian LoPiccolo (‘02 M.Div.) serves as associate pastor at Severna Park Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Pasadena, MD. In March 2010, he also released a CD of his music, entitled The Angry Sea.

Paul Hoffman (‘03 M.Div.) joined a nationwide campaign against pornography and delivered the message, “Confronting the Elephant in the Pew” on Super Bowl Sunday, February 6. His church’s service was featured on the front page of the Newport Daily News.

William Reese (‘03 D.Min.) was recently appointed chair of the Religious Studies and Philosophy Department at Viterbo, a Franciscan liberal arts university in La Crosse, WI. He was also named Viterbo’s 2010 Teacher of the Year.

Ron Ruthruff (‘03 D.Min.) recently released his first book, The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Street (New Hope, 2010). The Least of These is the story of 25 years of ministry to street kids around the world. Ruthruff argues that “these kids are not a problem to be solved but can be our greatest teachers, and, if we let them, will give us new eyes to see the biblical story.”

Bart Stevens (‘03 M.Div.) was ordained a Catholic priest at St. Patrick’s Co-Cathedral in Billings, MT, December 9, 2010.

Kevin Wilson (‘03 M.Div.) is planting an Evangelical Presbyterian church called Confluence in Champaign-Urbana, IL. He and his wife, Esther, have three children, Kael (6), Emma (4) and Seth (1).

Roger Nicole (‘43 Th.D., ‘40 S.T.M., ‘39 B.D.), 85, passed away in Long-wood, FL, December 11, 2010. An accomplished theologian, he had taught at Gordon-Conwell and Reformed Theological Seminary. He also helped found the Evangelical Theological Society and the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy.

Lloyd C. Ellis (‘47 M.Div.), 90, passed away February 5, 2011, at his home in Elyria, OH. Rev. Ellis was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and ministered in Rhode Island, Michigan and New York. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Esther Boone Ellis; three daughters, Carol, Nancy and Janet; seven grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; a brother, Harold; and nieces and nephews.

Ehrmann Bennett (‘51 MDIV), 89, died Jan. 16, 2011, at Poet’s Seat Health Care Center in Greenfield, MA, following a long illness. He was ordained to the gospel ministry at Calvary Baptist Church in Springfield, Vt., Sept. 7,1951, and served at various churches in Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts for many years. He is survived by his wife Fay and three daughters.

Kenneth McCowan (‘52 B.D.), 88, passed away November 8, 2010, in Salina, KS. His 58 years of ministry included pastoring churches in Massachusetts and Maine and helping plant Grace Community Church in Maine. He also spent nearly two decades teaching at Lexington Christian Academy in Lexington, MA. A memorial service was held January 2 at First Congregational Church in Wiscasset, ME.

Lee J. Betts (‘60 M.Div.), 76, passed away November 23, 2010, at Quarryville Presbyterian Retirement Community in Pennsylvania. He was an honorably retired minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and President Emeritus at Frederick Community College in Maryland. He volunteered as a program associate with Little Children of the World and Little Children of the Philippines. He was also director of the Student Development Action Center in Kansas and held leadership positions in a number of community colleges. He enjoyed traveling, biking, the arts and community, and world service. He and his wife, Marjorie, were married for 33 years.

Ken Curtis (‘64 M.Div.), a legendary Christian filmmaker who founded Vision Video, Gateway Films and the Christian History Institute, passed away after a long battle with cancer. A memorial service was held January 15 at Souderton Mennonite Church, Souderton, PA.

Stan Hibbins (‘71 M.Div.) passed away unexpectedly March 29, 2010, in Orillia, ON, Canada. Stan was credentialed with the Baptist Convention of Ontario & Quebec, pastored three churches and served as an area minister for 10 years. He is survived by his wife, Win; daughter, Nancy; and son, Scott.

Claude “Sonny” DeWayne Manning (‘94 MA) passed away March 2 due to a heart attack that occurred February 26. He is survived by his wife, Margaret (‘96 M.Div.). A memorial service was held March 12 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Seattle, WA.

1950sMorris A. Inch (’51 M.Div.) recently published two books, Thumbs Up for the Family (Eloquent Books, 2010) and The Enigma of Justice (Wipf & Stock, 2010).

1960sWayne Greenawalt (‘64 B.D.) retired after 27 years as executive director of Wayside Cross Ministries, an organization in Aurora, IL, that focuses on serving and discipling the powerless and afflicted.

George O’Carroll (‘66 M.Div.), his wife, Ruth, and their longstanding Christian book and health store, Body and Soul, were featured on www.mycentralJersey.com.

Donald Long (‘69 M.Div.) and his wife, Donna, have been pastoring Faith Christian Church, in Fitchburg, MA, for the last eight years. Don is also the Massachusetts Director for Christians United for Is-rael and is active in CUFI’s annual Washington D.C. summit meet-ing. The Longs also lead a yearly trip to Israel to support a number of youth and pro-life organizations there. They have nine children.

1970sRollin Karnehm (‘71 M.Div.) has been called to pastor First Baptist Church in Mansfield, MA.

John Werley (‘71 M.Div.) retired in April 2010 after 37 years of pastoral ministry. He had spent the last 19 years as senior pastor of the First Congregational Church (United Church of Christ) in Malone, NY. He and his wife, Cathie, remain in Malone.

Elward Ellis (‘74 M.Div.) recently hosted Dr. Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary, at Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Stone Mountain, GA. On November 21, Dr. Mouw preached there on “The Authority of the Resurrected Christ.”

James Tony (‘74 M.Div.) was featured in an article on www.South-TownStar.com about his pastoral service at churches in Kansas, Mis-souri and Illinois.

1980sKent Yinger (‘80 M.Div.) has spent 10 years as Professor of New Testament at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, OR. His most recent publication is The New Perspective on Paul: An Introduction (Wipf & Stock, 2010). He is also a grandparent, with one granddaughter and another grandchild on the way.

Phil Corr (‘81 M.Div.) is the new pastor of First Congregational Church of Escondido, CA.

Peter Scazzero (‘85 M.Div.) was featured in January at the 2011 Westerdahl lectures, which occurred at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. He is a best-selling author whose works include The Emotionally Healthy Church (Zondervan, 2003) and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Nelson, 2006). He is also the founder and senior pastor of New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, New York City, a multi-racial, international congregation.

Michael Littlefield (‘86 M.Div.), with his wife, LeMei, was commissioned as the national director of OMF International (U.S.) on January 15 at Colorado Community Church in Denver.

In Memoriam

Alumni NotesAlumni Notes



Opening theWord Donna Petter, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Old Testament

Isaiah 40:27-31

The Waiting Room: This devotion is dedicated to the Gary Parrett family.

On the heels of Isaiah’s pre-exilic announcement concerning impending destruction (Isa.1-39), Chapter 40 offers a message of hope. Beyond Zion’s destruction, a new Zion will emerge with the restoration of Yahweh’s presence and glory (Isa. 40-66). Isaiah writes of this hope to weary people; hence, the exhortation, “but they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength (Isa. 40:31). The hope applies to Isaiah’s generation, but also to those during the exilic and post-exilic periods, since the presence and glory did not reappear in Ezra’s time (Ezra 6:14-18). Then with John the Baptist’s announcement and the incarnation, the hope of restoration was tangible when the disciples beheld the glory in flesh and blood (Mark 1:1-8; John 1:14).

Looking forward, we await a full manifestation of these things when he returns (Col. 1:27; Titus 2:11-12; 2 Pet. 3:12-14). In this interim age of tension, however, God’s presence resides in us through the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, we should expect a revelation of his glory along with divine action and attentiveness in life’s difficult circumstances (2 Cor. 3:18). Instead, God’s covenantal people, then and now, tend to feel and express a sense of divine abandonment while waiting: “My way is hid from the Lord” (40:27). Therefore, Isaiah’s exhortation about waiting remains a timeless solution for weary souls in the waiting room of life.

Why wait, then? Waiting is crucial because Isaiah promises that God will come into our desperate circumstances: “Behold the Lord God comes” (Isa. 40:9-10). His coming means he will act and reveal himself. More specifically, says Isaiah, our God is going to shepherd us in our struggles and father us in the midst of our frustrations: “… He will gather the lambs in his arms, and he will carry them in his bosom …” (Isa. 40:11). Isaiah makes no guarantee of an instant fix. He actually speaks of something better. The living God will nurture us and respond as he sees fit. Waiting from Isaiah’s perspective means a staunch dependence, not independence. The results: a weary soul gets relief and action.

Furthermore, as if this promised visitation were not enough, Isaiah’s rhetorical tongue-in-cheek question lauding God’s nature remind us that we are not waiting for just

anybody: “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable” (Isa. 40:28). If we truly apprehend this fact, we should be on the edge of our seats anticipating what our inexhaustible, omnipotent, creator God will do. The futility of looking elsewhere for help seems evident. Indeed, waiting for the incomparable God is worthwhile (Isa. 40:12-28)! The question then becomes, why not wait?

The outcome of waiting is transformational! The tireless God imparts his strength to us when our natural reserve reads empty: “He gives power to the faint” (Isa. 40:29). A divine deposit of strength will permeate every fiber of our being. The weak obtain vigor and ability to function regardless of physical limitations. The frail can soar above life’s struggles with sudden ease (Isa. 40:29-30). God supernaturally transforms us in the waiting room of life.

Since Isaiah teaches that waiting for the inexhaustible God is worthwhile and transformational, we should reconsider our demeanor when seated in life’s waiting room. Rather than dread the wait, as one typically does for a dentist appointment, we should welcome it as one welcomes a restaurant reservation. In addition, we need to carry on in confidence, which requires alertness and awareness. He will call our name and declare it is time for relief. All we have to do is to trust in his arrival (Isa. 40:5, 8). “From of old no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him” (Isa. 64:4).

DR. DONNA L. PETTER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF OLD

TESTAMENT, HAS FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS TAUGHT

BIBLICAL STUDIES ON FOUR CONTINENTS. SHE HAS

ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO VARIOUS OLD TESTAMENT

PUBLICATIONS, INCLUDING VETUS TESTAMENTUM AND THE

DICTIONARY OF THE O.T. HISTORICAL BOOKS (IVP). HER

RESEARCH INTERESTS INCLUDE BIBLICAL HEBREW GRAMMAR

AND SYNTAX, HEBREW EXEGESIS, WOMEN IN THE BIBLE

AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN RELIGIONS. SHE RECEIVED

MAR AND MA DEGREES FROM GORDON-CONWELL, AND AN

MA AND PH.D. FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO.

Alumni Notes

Mark Allen (‘04 D.Min.) was welcomed as the new pastor at Plymouth’s Sunrise Chapel in Plymouth, IN, on February 27.

Felix Orji (‘04 D.Min.), pastor of St. Francis on the Hill in El Paso, TX, was elected bishop for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).

Maurice Greaves (‘05 M.Div.) recently began full-time pastoral ministry at the Massachusetts Avenue Baptist Church in Cambridge, MA. The church ordained Pastor Greaves July 11, 2010, and he had been serving as the interim pastor since then. He and his wife, Karen, a native of Trinidad and Tobego, have two daughters.

Jason Paul Haas (‘05 M.Div.) was featured at www.Charlotteobserver.com as the new pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Monroe, NC.

Mike McGarry (‘05 M.Div.) and his wife, Tracy, welcomed their second child, Hannah Paige, into the world November 8, 2010. They also have a 3-year-old son named Matthew. Mike also wrote an article for the July/August issue of YouthWorker Journal and has enrolled in Gordon-Conwell’s D.Min. program, Ministry to Emerging Generations.

Clinton Tolbert (‘05 M.Div.) has been named the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Maumee, OH.

Holgie Choi (‘06 Th.M.) was ordained and installed November 7, 2010, at Acton Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in Acton, MA.

Michal Beth Dinkler (‘06 M.Div.), a Th.D. candidate at Harvard Divinity School, has been named the 2010-2011 winner of the annual Word & World Essay Prize for Doctoral Candidates. Word & World: Theology for Christian Ministry is the quarterly journal published by the faculty of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN.

Kevin Hanly (‘06 M.Div.) is the new senior pastor at the River Vale Community Evangelical Free Church, in River Vale, NJ.

Ian Noyes (‘06 M.Div.) is minister at the Church in the Tetons, a Presbyterian church that meets in Driggs, ID, serves four towns in the Teton Valley, ID, and is located 30 minutes from Jackson Hole, WY. The church was planted a year ago with about 20 attending Sunday worship services. “We had 180 for Christmas, with almost 300 who stay in touch and come when they are in town,” Ian says. “It is a seasonal community of sorts, so while we average about 90 people each Sunday, it is never the same 90.”

William R. Robinson (‘06 M.Div.) began a new position October 3 at First Christian Church in Kittery Point, ME.

John Sowers (‘06 D.Min.) was featured in an article on www.ChristianityToday.com about reaching the fatherless. He is involved with The Mentoring Project (TMP), which seeks to provide mentors for fatherless children. Sowers spoke at the White House’s 2009 Father’s Day event.

Charles Tieszen (‘06 Th.M.; ‘05 M.Div.) published “Re-planting Christianity in New Soil: Arabized Christian Religious Identity in Twelfth Century Iberia” in the January 2011 issue of Islam & Christian-Muslim Relations.

Jeff Bost (‘07 D.Min.; ‘97 M.Div.) was installed as the new pastor at Young Memorial Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Anderson, SC, on February 20, 2011.

Marc Gauthier (‘07 D.Min.; ‘91 M.Div.) is serving as the only chaplain to a NATO Command represented by militaries from more than 27 nations in a camp of almost 4,000 personnel.

Karen Munn (Potter) (‘07 M.Div.) is the new associate pastor at the United Church of Christ in Medfield, MA. She comes to UCC Medfield from Grace Chapel in Lexington, MA, where she served as director of elementary education. Previously, she served as associate pastor at a UCC church in St. Joseph, MI.

Sarai Rivera (’07 D.Min.) delivered the benediction at the inauguration of Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick on January 6, 2011.

Ajay Thomas (‘07 M.Div.), pastor of Seven Mile Road Church in Philadelphia, was featured in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Michael Alix (‘08 M.Div.) married Erica Weigelt December 18, 2010.

Jonathan Chechile (‘08 M.Div.) was featured in an article on www.WickedLocal.com. He is currently serving as pastor of First Baptist Church in Medfield, MA.

Roxanne Booth (‘10 D.Min.) was featured in an article on www.TheDailyMail.net for hosting, along with her husband, Antonio, a gospel concert at Riverview Missionary Baptist Church in Coeymans, NY, where they minister.

Lillian Buckley (‘10 D.Min.) recently participated in a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday concert to benefit The Seacoast Family Food Pantry. Accompanied by Kent Allyn, she performed gospel music and civil rights music. The Voices of New Hope Choir shared selections, and the concert took place at Middle Street Baptist Church in Portsmouth, NH.

Nathan Creitz (‘10 M.Div.) and his wife, Kim, were featured in an article on www.WickedLocal.com. He is the founding pastor of Red Rock Community Church in Swampscott, MA. The church recently threw a Preview Party to reach people in the area who might be interested in joining the church community.

Leah Easley (‘10 MACH) appeared in an episode of Catholic Focus on “Remembering Brother André.” She and her husband, Jordan, along with other pilgrims, shared how Br. André continues to touch the hearts of all today. Jordan is expected to graduate with an M.Div. in 2011.

Matthew Gladd (‘10 M.Div.) recently accepted an offer to pastor First Baptist Church of Kittery Point, ME, and will be moving there March 14. He also hopes to eventually write about his pastoral experiences for Leadership, a magazine of Christianity Today.

Kerry Luddy (‘10 MACO) is writing on relationships for www.Examiner.com. She is also working as Director of Community Relations and Discipleship at Brighton Presbyterian Church in Rochester, NY.

Daryl Malden (‘10 M.Div.) was featured in an article on www.WickedLocal.com. He was recently named the pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fall River, MA.

Ho-Ming Tsui (‘10 D.Min.) was ordained October 2, 2010, at his home church, Richmond Hill Christian Community Church, in Toronto, Canada. He blogs regularly at http://doxa.rhccc.ca.

38 SPRING ’11

40 SPRING ’11

130 Essex Street, South Hamilton, MA 01982

Address Service Requested

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDS. Hamilton, MA 01982

Permit No. 16

THE GORDON-CONWELL ALUMNI AT MY HOME CHURCH LOVED THE

LORD AND LOVED PEOPLE; THEY HAD OUTSTANDING CHARACTER AND

THEY KNEW THEIR BIBLE. TO ME, GORDON-CONWELL’S BIGGEST

SELLING POINT WAS ITS GRADUATES.” John Meinen, M.Div. ’11

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

“

GORDON-CONWELL www.gordonconwell.edu

JOHN MEINENwww.gordonconwell.edu/jmeinen

DEGREE PROGRAMSwww.gordonconwell.edu/degrees

John is in the final year

of his Master of Divinity at

Gordon-Conwell.

HAMILTON | BOSTON | CHARLOTTE | JACKSONVILLE

Gordon-Conwell Contact Magazine Spring '11

Documents

Transcript of Gordon-Conwell Contact Magazine Spring '11