Remembering Glen Stassen

Early this morning, I got a message from one of the professors I work with at Fuller, informing me that Dr. Glen Stassen had passed away a few hours previously. It wasn't unexpected news. Dr. Stassen had been fighting cancer for much of the previous year, and his health had taken such a turn in recent months that a planned retirement event honoring Dr. Stassen was moved ahead to this past month to make sure that he would still be around to enjoy it. Although this naturally made for some quick scrambling for my colleagues and myself in Fuller's School of Theology Dean's Office, I can safely speak for all of us in saying that we were happy to do so.
Read more »

Save Coffee By the Books!

You may remember that, about a year and a half ago, I pleaded with my readers (many of whom have connections to Fuller Theological Seminary, where I work) to lend their support to save the Fuller Bookstore, which was threatened with closure as the seminary needed to find ways of saving money in tight economic times.

As my similar plea today (and a similar — but not identical! — image to go with it) will no doubt indicate, the bookstore was saved back then, but the struggle is by no means over, as a press release that came out Monday night has demonstrated.
Read more »

Secret Parking Space

Those of us who have been connected to Fuller for any length of time know that parking has been a perennial problem. It's not terribly uncommon to come to campus, find there isn't any space in the first lot you arrive at, and while attempting to leave to try one of the other lots, pass by at least one or two other cars about to make the same discovery.

It should therefore come as no surprise that the parking situation is an easy target for jokes and parodies. I shared one some time back that was performed at a "Fuller Follies" event, and the parody I'm sharing today was originally written at about that same time, with the help of my wife.
Read more »

Reflections on Art and Charles Dickens

Shortly before Fuller Seminary closes up for Christmas vacation each December, the staff are treated to an annual Christmas party. This year, while waiting for the munchies to be served, I had the privilege of speaking with Fuller President Richard Mouw for a bit. Among other things, he asked about what books I've been reading, and I was able to tell him that I've been working through the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. Perhaps somewhat ironically, although I've seen and heard numerous versions of this story over the years on television, at the movies, and on radio, I've never actually read through the original before, and thanks to the easy access to Public Domain works provided by the Nook, this has seemed a good time to do so.
Read more »

Pasadena's Version of a Snow Day

This past Thursday morning, when I woke up, I checked my alarm clock as I always do to see what time it was.

I couldn't, because the power was out.

Although blackouts are by no means common, I've lived through enough of them that I didn't let it bother me too much. I checked my watch to see that it was indeed time to get up, and so attempted to start my day. Since our bathroom has no windows, I could only do even the most basic of necessities by lighting a candle for minimal illumination. Not able to do much else, I decided to go ahead and drive to work early.

I went outside, and saw the first examples of the damage done by the previous night's winds. We'd been told that they'd be pretty severe. "Hurricane force," in fact. So seeing that the pots and plants immediately outside most of my neighbors' apartments had been knocked about, and that the pool was filled with leaves and similar debris, was hardly a surprise, although seeing that the "School Crossing" sign across the street had been blown completely horizontal was rather unusual.
Read more »

Scot McKnight on Junia - Part 3

As I wind down my reflections on Scot McKnight's discussion on Junia last week, I recognize that the topic of Junia is one that generates a fair bit of discussion in academic circles. Having talked about Junia's place in the early church, and how other women in Biblical history have similarly had their contributions silenced and forgotten, it's appropriate to ask "so, what do we do about it?"
Read more »

Scot McKnight on Junia - Part 2

Having established the back-and-forth of Junia's history of gender-swapping and whether or not s/he was an apostle, Scot McKnight, speaking to an audience at Fuller Theological Seminary last week, suggested that Junia has been silenced by elements of the church. As I mentioned on Monday, the title of the lecture was "Junia is Not Alone in the Church." Junia is not the only woman of significance to the church, and Junia is not alone in having been silenced.
Read more »

Scot McKnight on Junia – Part 1

Long-time readers know that I've followed Scot McKnight's blog, Jesus Creed, for several years now. So, naturally I wanted to see McKnight in person when he came to Fuller last week, sponsored by our school's continuing education department (and by the Burner Blog, which is produced by that department).

McKnight spoke on two occasions during his visit. The first was during our regularly-scheduled weekly chapel gathering, at which he spoke on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Although this was a challenging message worthy of commentary, I'm going to instead focus on the evening event, during which McKnight spoke about Romans 16, and specifically about the apostle Junia. The title of the lecture was "Junia is Not Alone in the Church."
Read more »

Attending Fuller's 2011 Faculty and Staff Welcome Event

Yesterday, Fuller celebrated its annual Faculty and Staff Welcome event, which meant that I not only got a free breakfast, but got to see what theme the administration has chosen for the seminary for the coming year. This year's theme was drawn from Philippians 3:10-14, where Christians are encouraged to "pursue the goal" that God has for us. In this vein, our tables were decorated with trophies and supplies to make medals (perhaps in keeping with the biblical illustration of running a race, found more explicitly in 1 Corinthians or maybe 2 Timothy, both also attributed to the Apostle Paul).
Read more »

Fuller Prayer Garden Update

About four years ago, I suggested that the Fuller Prayer Garden was going to go away soon. As this picture demonstrates, I was wrong. It's still here, and in fact the area around it was landscaped earlier this year to provide additional prayer space. I also commented back then, as well as when my old apartment building (which was just behind the Prayer Garden) was being taken away, that Fuller was intending to use the site for a new worship center/chapel. Those plans are, I think it's safe to say, on hold for now, having been delayed by multiple factors, not the least of which being the financial difficulty that pretty much everyone has been dealing with for years now.
Read more »

Your Future is in Front of You

This post was written for the Fuller Blogs website, where it first appeared this past weekend.

It's that time of year again, when graduation looms just around the corner. Even though I myself got my degree from Fuller several years ago, this is a season that affects everyone in the Fuller community. Whether you're a graduating student looking forward to the completion of your own degree, or a current student just looking to get through your current class and perhaps preparing to say good-bye to some of your friends, or a staff member preparing end-of-fiscal-year budgets or closing out committee work for the academic year, the rhythm of the academic cycle ensures that graduation time is an important season for all of us at Fuller.
Read more »

Post-Easter Meanderings

For many who work in churches (especially heads of staff), it is traditional to take the week immediately following Easter as a vacation time. Especially for churches that do special worship events for Lent, the reasons for this should be obvious: the church staff has just finished a prolonged period (a month and a half or more) planning more, or at least more intensive, worship events than is usual for the rest of the year, and it's time for a break.
Read more »

Save the Fuller Bookstore!

You may have heard that the Fuller Bookstore (also including the "Coffee by the Books" café) is in danger of being closed.  This rumor has probably been accompanied by other rumors and whispers of what’s going to happen.  Some of these may have truth to them.  Others are either wild speculation or out-and-out falsehoods.  I’ll try to clear some of that up.
Read more »

The "Secret Theology" of Women

I recently had the opportunity to be part of group of Fuller students and staff (specifically, those of us who serve either as "Ambassadors" for the seminary or who write for the Fuller Blogs site — now finally with new posts again after being down for two solid months due to technical problems) who were invited to have lunch with Fuller President Richard Mouw. During the hour, we were invited to offer our perspectives on the seminary and ask questions about things that interest or concern us. I took the occasion to ask Mouw about Fuller's ongoing commitment to women in ministry.
Read more »

Universalists, Gatekeepers, and Fear

Among the many blogs I read regularly, Mouw's Musings is one that I comment on with perhaps the most care. Because Richard Mouw is the president of Fuller Theological Seminary, he is someone I could easily think of as my "boss" (I suppose more accurately, he's my boss's boss's boss, but I digress).  Agree with him too readily, and it can rightly appear as though I'm brown-nosing. Disagree in the wrong way, and I could be in real trouble (Mouw has always struck me as, if nothing else, a fair and careful leader, but even saying that easily strays into the brown-nose territory, doesn't it?). My only recourse is to lay those cards all on the table, and hope that a careful analysis of any comments I make--both here and on Mouw's blog itself--will allow the careful reader to decide how seriously to take anything I have to say.
Read more »

Starting the Year Off Right

In addition to my blogging here, I have been asked to contribute a weekly entry to the official Fuller Blogs site.  Check it out, but if you just want to see only my stuff, you can do that, too.  Better yet, if you have Facebook, you can follow the site (and Transforming Seminarian, also!) via the NetworkBlogs app.  I'd really appreciate if folks would confirm that I'm one of the authors on the Fuller site (and if you know one of the other authors, let them know, too), as that will give me greater flexibility in promoting it.

The following is an entry I posted to Fuller Blogs just over a week ago.

---

Before the Festival of Beginnings. Before Fall classes start. Before new students have started to arrive on campus, Fuller kicks off the new academic year with the annual Faculty/Staff Welcome.

The event has two major components. The first is a breakfast, usually held in the breezeway of the School of Psychology building (officially called the C. Davis and Annette Weyerhaeuser building, but pretty much no one actually uses that name much). The Deans, Vice Presidents and other administrators traditionally act as servers, providing coffee and orange juice for staff while they eat, and President Mouw and his wife, Phyllis, go from table to table to personally welcome the people who work behind the scenes to make sure that Fuller does the work it is called to do.

As people eat and enjoy the fellowship of fellow staff members from all over campus, there is traditionally some kind of game or activity present to get people thinking about some aspect of Fuller that the administrators want to highlight that year. A few years ago, this involved trading cards featuring people who have figured prominently in Fuller’s history. This year, we were given small potted plants, intended to tie in with the theme chosen for the year: “Joyful, Patient, Faithful.” This is (as those who attended the Festival of Beginnings during Week 1 may remember) a reference to Romans 12:12. We were then encouraged to go to one of several tables set up in the breezeway to decorate our paper pot however we saw fit. I made mine look somewhat like a Jack-o-Lantern, considering that Fall was just about to begin.

After breakfast, everyone goes inside Travis Auditorium to enjoy the second major component of the annual welcome event: corporate worship. Again, the theme chosen for the year is highlighted, as everyone sings praise songs and hymns and President Mouw gives a brief welcome sermon discussing ways in which we find joy in the hope of God, patience in times of hardship, and show our faithfulness as a praying community. One would hope that it would go without saying that worship is at the center of everything we do at Fuller, but I find that this is only true if we are intentional about making it so. The Faculty/Staff Welcome event is just one of those intentional times. If it’s not too much of a conflict of interests for me to say so (my wife is Director of Chapel, after all), I’d suggest visiting the Fuller Chapel page on Facebook to find others.

On Qualifications and Calling

When I heard of Internet Monk founder Michael Spencer's death from cancer this past April, I thought that the Internet Monk site would no longer be updated.  I'm pleased to see that others have taken up the mantle to continue his legacy of thoughtful reflection on theological matters.  Recently, I stumbled upon this piece, written by Jeff Dunn, detailing how God often chooses people who don't seem especially qualified to do God's work.

Of course, such an observation is nothing new.  I've certainly heard comments to this effect before.  But Dunn's piece is noteworthy for the care he takes to demonstrate this point with a multitude of examples throughout the Bible and in a great variety of "leadership" positions.

Consider, for example, this reflection on the calling of King David:

“I’m really sorry I let Saul become king,” the Lord said, and sent Samuel out to anoint a new person as king. This time God did the choosing. And once again, he passed over the most qualified candidates to select a boy whose own father didn’t even consider good enough to introduce to Samuel. He was the runt of the litter, a shepherd (which was a job on the level of trash collector today). Yet God thought he would make a good king and instructed Samuel to anoint him with oil and proclaim he would be king one day over all Israel.

And Dunn doesn't shy away from the "failures" of David's tenure as king, having already been so chosen by God:

And God’s man did a good job for the most part. Oh, there was that incident with Bathsheba and the subsequent cover-up that involved knocking off her husband. And there was the census thing that resulted in a plague that wiped out 70,000 people. Hey, everyone has their bad days, right? Yet God still considered David a man after his own heart. But from our viewpoint, David’s heart seems as far away from God’s heart as it can be. What is it that God sees that we don’t?

Now, I do hasten to note that we have other "good" kings in the Old Testament accounts who don't seem to have David's rather serious problems with adultery and murder (to say nothing of that census, which although the Bible is clear enough that it was undeniably disastrous, is somewhat less clear if David did it because God told him to or if Satan did!), but that changes little.  The Bible seems to gloss over these problems when it comes to giving it's opinion of how good a king David was.  "A man after God's own heart," we're often told.  That says it all, doesn't it?

One wonders, given this mountain of evidence that God chooses people without regard to what kinds of qualifications they've received, why we even bother with seminary education, to say nothing of the other kinds of institutions (many explicitly Christian) that exist to equip men and women of faith to do what (we claim?) God calls them to do.  This is hardly limited to any particular theological or ideological leaning, either.  It's not like "liberal" Christians have such schools while "conservative" ones don't.  There are options enough for all.  Are we hypocrites?

I don't think so.  To acknowledge that God sees beyond human vision to call (and equip!) people to do things for which we may not consider them qualified is hardly the same thing as suggesting that "qualified" people should be barred from doing God's work.  Indeed, there is plenty of work for all, and the Bible shows how God uses our experience and training to do God's work, as well.  For example, while Dunn is certainly right to point out Paul's ill-suitedness to Christian ministry on the basis of his former life (as Saul) persecuting them, Paul makes more than adequate use of his Pharisaic training to craft writings to the churches of his day that have blessed Christians through all the centuries since then.

Training for God's work remains important.  Still, it's probably a good thing that God does something "off the wall" every now and then, if only to remind us that God sees things in ways we can scarcely imagine!

10 Years Working at Fuller

The new office

Today, July 28th, 2010, marks the 10th anniversary of my first day at work at Fuller Theological Seminary.  At the time I had started work here, I was almost finished with my MDiv, having only an internship left to complete.  I could have done that internship in Kentucky, but felt that I needed to stay in Southern California for just a little longer.  I expected to stick around for about a year, finish up my degree, and then move on to whatever else it was that God was calling me to do.  The position of Faculty Assistant has, historically, entailed the kind of work that students do while finishing up their studies, and having done work of a moderately-similar nature while I was in college (among many hats that I'd worn there), it seemed a natural fit.  

One year became two.  Two years became two more.  I got married, and knew that we'd need to stick around another year or two while my wife finished her degree, and so on.  I tell people that I've never been here expecting to remain here for more than another couple of years at a time, yet I've now been here for a full decade.  In that time, I've taken on additional responsibilities as my experience has become more and more valuable during times of budgetary uncertainty and staff reductions (usually, if not quite always, through attrition).  I now have responsibility not only to the faculty of Fuller's School of Theology, but also to the operations of the School's Dean's Office.  I make sure that expenses are attributed to the appropriate budgets, train new employees, distribute paychecks, and other duties in addition to the direct assistance to faculty members I've provided since I first came on board in the summer of 2000. 

I've seen numerous co-workers come and go, and few people would be more surprised that I've remained than I am myself.  The pay hasn't always been what I'd prefer, but it's kept me solvent through times when many can't even say that much, and I've certainly gotten quite a few "intangible" benefits over the years, including friendships with many fine people, both professors and other seminarians.  Just a few weeks ago, during discussions intended to make our operations even more efficient, I was asked to move from the office I've used since first starting my job here, to a larger office within the Dean's Office itself.  I still have my own space (which, as an introvert, I quite appreciate), but I am much more closely plugged-in to the rest of the School of Theology operations, and thus am better able to handle some of the increased responsibilities I've taken on over the years.  I have truly enjoyed my time here, and look forward to continuing to serve this community for some time to come.

Reflections on Predestination and Free Will

The following was originally published, in a different form, a few years ago in the Fuller student newsletter, the SEMI.

My wife’s parents are committed Christians, and would certainly describe themselves as "Evangelical," but they do not see themselves as belonging to a single denomination.  This is borne out by the fact that their three children, all fully grown, each themselves attends a church from a different denomination: one is Catholic, one has been attending a Mennonite congregation, and another (my wife) is Episcopalian (incidentally, she's being ordained as a Deacon on Saturday!).  When my wife and I first started dating, her parents had recently joined a church that identified itself (broadly) within the Presbyterian tradition.  Upon learning that I was a Presbyterian, my future in-laws immediately wanted to ask me about an issue that seemed to loom large in their new church: predestination.  To this day, the topic still comes up frequently.

I struggle with my response to such questions.  It’s not so much that I don’t have an opinion on predestination, but that despite growing up as a Presbyterian, this isn’t an issue that I care about enough to argue about.  There’s no question but that predestination has often been a contentious issue.   At Fuller, we’re bound to have people with strongly held differing opinions on it. I don’t have any desire to add fuel to the argumentative fire, but in the interests of greater understanding, perhaps I can explain how at least I, as one person from a specific tradition, view the issue.

Few people dispute that the word προοριζω appears a number of times in the New Testament text, and although the word is translated in various ways, I don’t see that anyone disputes the basic meaning of the word as “predestination.”  But while we can safely say “it’s in the Bible,” there obviously remains a considerable amount of room for discussion on what is meant by the concept of predestination in regards to God’s plan for us. Who is predestined?  What are we “predestined” for?  Is this a reference to the heavenly destiny of Christians, or just about becoming Christian itself? Does it say more about who God is than about what God is doing?  And, of course, the biggie: What is the place of human free will?  Are we puppets, and free will is only an illusion?

My in-laws are particularly interested in that free will question.  Despite being exposed to several different denominations over the years, they’d never been given reason to seriously question the idea that human beings have free will until joining the “predestination” church.  Real-life observation certainly seems to support the idea of free will. When asked about this question, I’m often reminded of the teachings of Jonathan Edwards, who argued along the lines that human beings have free will to do whatever they want, but apart from God’s grace, will never have the inclination to choose God.  This, at least, allows for the obvious reality that people choose to do “ungodly” things all the time, and does not make us “puppets.”

Unfortunately, this answer doesn’t really address the problem that, if God does “predestine” people to become Christians, God is also responsible for the fact that many people do not accept Christ (therefore, many would argue, God is responsible for sending such people to hell).  Of course, the problem of whether or not all people get to heaven is, itself, a topic of great debate among many Christians, and that's an issue that deserves a discussion all its own.  At the very least, Christians who do believe that God predestines only some people need to admit that this is an issue that makes God look bad, and stock Reformed explanations such as “all people are sinners, so God shouldn’t let anyone into heaven at all, and the fact that God does choose some is a sign of God’s grace” really don’t do much to make God look any less bad.

I said at the beginning of this article that this isn’t an issue I care all that much about.  That’s only partly true.  The fact is, this issue has been deeply engrained in my sense of call.  When I arrived at Fuller, I was already in the middle of the ordination process.  As Presbyterians seeking ordination know only too well, part of the process involves passing several ordination examinations.  I’ve passed all of my examinations except for one: theological competence.  After the fifth (and so far, final) time I took the exam, I was told that, while I could be seen to be “thinking theologically” in the Reformed tradition, I did not go deep enough into specific theologians and specific theologies to warrant a passing grade.  Although there were many factors, I suspect that one was that I could not, in good conscience, advocate a strict Calvinist theory of predestination that does not accept the possibility that human free will plays into the reception of God grace.

As an ecumenical Christian, I prefer to focus on the fundamentals that Christians agree on, rather than on specific theologies (such as predestination) that are the source of so much division between Christians.  I can only guess as to what the implications of this stance may be for my potential ordination within my own tradition, but as one who feels that God calls people of all kinds of Christian belief to live in unity, I can only respond as Martin Luther did, when bucking the trend of his tradition: “Here I stand, I can do no other.” In the midst of it all, I have faith that God will somehow get me to where God wants me to be.

Fuller Flashback 2000: Serving as Arts Concerns Chair

Back in the year 2000 (it seems amazing to realize that was a full decade ago, now!), I had the privilege of serving as the chair of what was then called the "Arts Concerns Committee" of Fuller Theological Seminary (they go by "Fuller Arts Collective" nowadays).  Although I am proud to have had that title, it has to be said that I kind of "fell into" the position, accepting the role as a favor to a friend who was experiencing a family crisis, and being the only one of the then-only-3 other people on the Arts Concerns Committee who was really in any position to take on extra responsibilities (let alone these extra responsibilities!).

It's a very different story these days.  Now that the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts is fully in place, there are quite a few people at Fuller who aren't shy about expressing artistic inclinations.  But that wasn't always the case. I think it might be fair to say that my "generation" of students fell into a kind of "donut hole" at Fuller.  The Arts Concerns Committee started perhaps a decade before my time, when there was already a considerable number of students with deep interest in expressing their artistic skills in ways that connected with their Christian faith.  But that generation of students had long since moved on, and the wave of students that would eventually come because of the Brehm Center had not yet arrived.  In many ways, it seems that I was a "caretaker," making sure that Arts stayed alive on campus during a fallow period.

Although there weren't as many of us back then, that's not to say that I had nothing to do during my tenure.  Fuller had already established the tradition of an annual Arts Festival at that time, although it did look a bit different then than it does now, with its focus on a single guest speaker and a Saturday "Chalk Walk" where families would come to draw on our sidewalks.  I also helped to edit the annual arts magazine, Offerings, drawing upon my experience doing something similar while I was in college.  I'm especially proud of a project we put together toward the end of the academic year, whereby we invited students to do oil paintings once a week for about a month in the open patio area we call "the Garth" (which actually is the legitimate term for the place, and not a reference to a person's name).  Quite a few students stopped by to participate, or perhaps just to admire the works being created.  Either way, people were being made aware of the place artistic expression held within our community.

This week is the 2010 edition of the annual Arts Festival (now called "Arts Fest") at Fuller.  In keeping with this year's theme of "The Elements," a few students have already been working to increase awareness on campus through various creative means.  A few weeks ago, some chalk drawings featuring a periodic table (Get it?  "Elements"?) have appeared on campus, with various "elements" missing from the table, only to be found isolated in other portions of the campus.  Although I'm not entirely sure, I suspect that the mass of pinwheels discovered on the grassy mall area last week were also part of this awareness project ("wind" is often considered an "element," in the classical "earth, air, fire, and water" sense).  The Arts are alive and well at Fuller!