Saturday afternoon, February 8th. 2:00 pm. Emiley took the girls to visit some former co-workers, and I ended up with an open-ended afternoon on a rare rainy-afternoon in Pasadena. So far on sabbatical I've collected, through gifts received and purchases, quite a good stack of new reading material. Unfortunately I made the tactical error of shipping them media mail back to Toledo in the morning (too many and too heavy to fit in suit cases).
So with time on my hand and none of my own reading materials I turned my attention to a complimentary book in our Fuller Guesthouse room entitled
Fuller Voices Then and Now along with the Pittsburgh vs. Syracuse game (Pitt would go on to win, btw).
The book had actually been a pleasant surprise, and throughout our stay I've picked it up from time to time to read from Fuller presidential inaugural addresses, faculty chapel presentations, and printed lectures on various topics.
The chapter that most impressed me, that I returned to on this day, was President Edward John Carnell's inaugural address from 1955. The introductory blurb to this address states that it was controversial among the faculty and (likely as a result) remained hidden and unpublished until Carnell's successor, David Allan Hubbard, had it published after Carnell passed away. But while it may have been controversial at the time, the three main points of his address are very much a part of the Fuller I know and love today, which tells me Carnell's presidency had a lasting impact on the school.
The title of the address is "The Glory of the Theological Seminary" and in it he called the Fuller faculty and student body to three ideals.
First, to be concrete in its commitment to Jesus and not rely on vague, overly-sentimentalized treatment of the gospel message.
Second, to respect academic freedom with the goal of educating rather than indoctrinating students. This means presenting students with arguments for and against the convictions of the institution in order that the student freely ascent to gospel truth claims and freely choose to follow Jesus. While this may seem to undermine the values of the institution and the gospel itself, Carnell argues that if a seminary indoctrinates rather than educates it will produce graduates that are ultimately either insecure in their faith or arrogant towards others.
Finally, he calls for an attitude of tolerance and forgiveness towards others with different convictions. He calls the church to make provisional judgement with grace and humility while leaving final judgment up to God, recognizing that we are all sinners, we all fall victim to our own vested interests, and that truth, like forgiveness, is ultimately a gift received, not a reward earned.
Taking the fuller picture of Jesus seriously, seeking to educate broadly, and fostering a spirit of charity and forgiveness amid differences are three aspects that characterized my Fuller experience from 2005-2010. It's enriching to learn where some of these seeds were sown back in the 1950s by the faithful witness and humble service of Edward John Carnell.
