Transcript
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 1: This meeting of the alumni/alumnae of Princeton Theological Seminary is now called to order. Let us begin our meeting with prayer. Let us pray. Almighty God, here we are gathered in this place to worship You, to share with old friends and conjure up fond memories, and to learn about the business and direction of this seminary. I ask that You would be with us
this morning during our meeting, that we would feel your spirit move among us and within us, and that everything that would be said and done would be for Your glory and Your glory alone, in the name of Jesus Christ, who lived for us and died for us and lives again for us, we pray. Amen. We have the minutes available from the annual meeting of last year. If there are any of you
who would like to see those minutes, they are available. Bob has them. And otherwise, if it's all right with you, I would entertain a motion that we dispense with the reading of those minutes.
M: Moved.
F: Moved? Second.
ATTENDEES: (inaudible).
F: Boy, that was the fastest I ever had -- yeah. Let me just say that these minutes are different; they're about this long. So all those in favor of the motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes, say aye.
ATTENDEES: Aye.
F: That motion is carried. At this time, I will ask the secretary to -- secretary of the Seminary to introduce to you and inform you of the new regionally-elected representatives to the Alumni/Alumnae Association Executive Council, Dean Foos.
FOOS: Many of you were at lunch yesterday and heard this same report. Region 1 and 7 and 11 elected new representatives to the council, and Region 1, Peggy [Hallon?] -- Peggy, are you here this morning? Peggy retires. Region 1 is New England and the western part of New York State, including Long Island. And that region elected Barbara [Renton?], class of
'86, as the new representative for the next four-year term, New York State. Eastern -- I'm sorry, yeah, west -- that's right. I always get confused with the east and the west sides. Region 7, which is the region of Joel Madison, Joel retiring. Elected Clarence Bo Scarborough of Tennessee. And that's a more extensive one that doesn't immediately
come to my mind. Joel, does it quickly come to your mind?
M: It was from (inaudible) Mississippi and up to as far as the (inaudible).
FOOS: Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana as well, Tennessee. It's a broad one. And Region 11, which has been represented by Lee [Kleiwert?], Lee? Stand, so that people -- there's Lee. Lee is the retiring representative from Region 11, which is Southern California and Arizona and Hawaii. I've announced to you before that there are regions, smaller regions, in terms of what
we tried to do is get a distribution of between 550 and 700 alumni in one region, and we found that our alumni are more dense in some regions than in other regions. I happen to have found that that's true here in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. You've been made aware by your worship bulletin this morning of the election of all of you of your new alumni/alumnae trustee,
and that is Helen Mayberry [Beglan?]. Helen, not that you need to stand again, but I'd just like to ask that you do stand again. Helen is our new alumni trustee. As one comment to you about something that I believe is very significant and it is a way of you recognize the talents of the man who just spoke the word of the Lord, Joel Madison, a surgeon,
worked for some years with Africa with Albert Schweitzer. And during that time, was able to take some photographs. You've had in your material a commentary on those. There is an exhibit in the library. I would strongly encourage you to take some time while you are here today to see that exhibit, it's remarkable. There are not that many pictures, photographs, of Albert Schweitzer. And Joel was privileged to have the opportunity
to take those, and has given them as a gift to the seminary and the library archives. Madam President, I have no other business of the council to report, other than to distribute among you what is called the purpose in the organization of the Alumni/Alumnae Association Executive Council. Some of them are alongside you in the pew, I'll pass a few of these others as well, that you may know of the structure of the
whole council. Thank you.
F: At this time, it's in order that we receive a motion to recommend to the board of trustees the election of the alumni/alumnae trustee, Helen Beglan. Is there a motion?
M: Moved.
F: Moved by Joel. A second?
M: I second.
F: I hear the second. All those in favor of the motion, say, "aye."
ATTENDEES: Aye.
F: All those opposed, say "no." That motion is carried. The document that Dean is handing out now will explain to you how the Alumni/Alumnae Association Executive Council is organized, and the work of the council. We have explained this for the past several years at this annual meeting, but there are so many of you who have not been here for three years in a row. So for those persons and others, I hope this document will explain
the work that we do and what we're about, and how we're organized. The floor is now open for any new business to come before the alums. Any new business? Hearing none, the floor is open for old business to come before the association. Any old business? Hearing none, I would ask that the business
meeting, business portion of this meeting be closed, and that we would hear from President Gillespie at this time. Dr. Gillespie?
GILLESPIE: First, let me express genuine appreciation, Joel, for what was the vehicle of the word of the Lord to me, and I'm sure for many others. You made the class of '54 exceedingly proud to have you among it. And Helen, I am so delighted you're going to be on the board of trustees, because now I know where to look for a program for a banquet! That storytelling of yours is
tremendous. But we do welcome you, and look forward to three great years on another exciting constituency of this institution; namely, the board of trustees. I need to begin this sort of -- this annual State of the Seminary address, of not address, at least remarks, by sharing with you and calling your attention to the fact that Dr. James Iley McCord,
for 24 years, the president of this institution and one of the great leaders of the ecumenical church, died here in Princeton on February the 19th of this year. A memorial service was conducted for him here in Miller Chapel, which he himself arranged. Ten days before he died, he called me to his hospital bed and ever the
administrator, left nothing to chance, and selected who he wanted to lead that service, and what hymns were to be sung and what scriptures were to be read. And although he did not tell me what was to be said in the memorial remarks, he did give me a text. There are tapes available of that service. It really
was a special moment. I think half the ecclesiastical world had gathered here on that Saturday morning, and it was to be at 10:00 on Saturday morning. And that was the time of Hazel McCord's memorial service. And the committal was to be first -- and this is the truth -- and Jim said to me, "And I want it to snow," as it did when we buried Hazel. And guess what?
It snowed! God would not have dared not to let it snow! I know that already I miss him personally. He was such a wonderful predecessor. He said to me early on, "I will never tell you anything you don't ask. But I will tell you anything you do ask." And
from time to time, I would telephone him and say, "It's time for us to meet at the golf club," which is across College Road which Jim McCord called the widest street in Princeton, because only the president of the seminary is a member there. He could escape to that side of the street. And I would ask him things that were mysteries to me, situations that I didn't understand. And he would
lay it all out, and it made great sense. And so he helped me on more than one occasion to not stub my own toe in situations that easily could have been difficult. So I miss him already. And I know that the church misses him, and I know that the alums miss him, especially those who went through here during the 24 years of his presidency. And we give thanks to God for the life and witness and ministry
of Dr. James Iley McCord. The seminaries, or most -- I suppose all academic institutions -- have two great treasures. One are their faculty, and the other is the library. I'm going to say a word about both of these. This has been, and will continue to be, a decade of remarkable transition in faculty composition
here at Princeton Seminary. Dr. Richard Stoll Armstrong retires this year as the Ashenfelter Professor of Evangelism and Ministry. Retirements next year include Dr. Charles C. West as the Colwell Professor of Christian Ethics, and Dr. W. J. Beaners as the Egner Professor of Speech. The seminary presently has a total faculty of 40 members, 24 professors, five associate professors,
10 assistant professors and one instructor. Of these, nine are women and five represent racial minorities. That's a total of 35 percent of our faculty. Also of interest is the fact that 47 percent of professors at various ranks have joined the faculty during the seven years of my tenure in this office; nine professors, 10 assistant professors and one instructor. During this past academic year, Dean Massa has been
working with 11 -- count them -- 11 faculty search committees seeing to fill either new positions authorized by the board of trustees, or positions vacated by retirements and resignations. At this meeting of the board of trustees, the board will be asked to vote upon four recommendations for new faculty appointments, or three faculty appointments and one promotion.
And since the board has not heard and acted upon these names as yet, I think it would be improper for me to indicate who the people are. But they are truly outstanding people. God continues to be good to Princeton Theological Seminary. During the coming academic year, the faculty will initiate or continue searches for candidates to occupy the Ashenfelter Chair in Evangelism and Ministry. The Alexander Chair which Dr. Dowey held with such
great distinction in church history, the Colwell Chair in Christian Ethics as Dr. West retires a year hence. The Weyerhaeuser Chair in Systematic Theology, that has never yet been filled on a permanent basis, and a new associate professor post in New Testament. Together with the four new colleagues who will join us in the fall, these six additional positions, when filled, will amount to 29 new faculty, or a 60 percent turnover in the
faculty during an eight-year period. Clearly, we are in the process of building the faculty that will lead the seminary through the remainder of this century and well into the twenty-first century. I think without question, this is the most crucial, the most important issue that is before us as an institution, as to who will compose the teaching leadership
of this school. And I have said before at these gatherings and continue to say that we covet your prayers. I firmly believe that God calls people to teach in theological seminaries in the same manner that God calls people to be pastors of churches, or to any other form of ministry. And it is important to me to have the confidence to know that the spirit of God is at work in the lift of our committees, and in the life of the administration
and in the life of the faculty that we may be led to those people who, at this particular time, can contribute most significantly to the life of Princeton Seminary. The library is about to undergo rather remarkable expansion. When Dr. Armstrong was appointed as our new librarian three years ago, he and I both were under the impression that we had at least
this decade, before Speer Library would be full. We made the mistake of hiring a consultant, a true professional, who came and spent three or four days here, examined our facilities, and pronounced the judgment that we were, for all practical purposes, full now. So the library does need some help. And a part of the capital fund campaign which we have been
engaged in, has raised six million dollars toward the enlargement, or the creation of a new addition to Speer Library. And at this meeting of the board of trustees, the board will be asked to authorize the administration to appoint an architect now, and to move ahead with preliminary drawings. And we hope that a year hence, we'll be able to break ground and add significantly to the library facilities that we have. You probably know,
Speer Library is truly a treasure. It is one of the great theological libraries in the Northern Hemisphere. We have scholars from abroad who come here as visiting fellows to do research, and they are utterly amazed by the collection in Speer Library. They did not know that anything like this existed in the colonies, or in North America. And also, because of Dr. Mackay's great interest
and background in Latin America and his own collection, we have the largest single collection of Latin American theological literature anyplace in the Northern Hemisphere. And is one of our projects and hopes and dreams is to begin to attract more and more doctoral students from Latin America who can make use of that library collection. It's really humorous almost -- well, you have to laugh or you're going to cry, but we've
lost touch with Latin America for some reason, and the most cogent reason seems to be that to the evangelical churches in Latin America, Princeton Seminary is simply much too liberal. And for the liberation theologians in Latin America, Princeton Seminary's must much too conservative. And I find that, in fact, across the whole church. It just tickles me pink because I am in some parts of the church, and they will, say, send a student to Princeton Seminary?
Why, of course not. They'd lose their faith in that bastion of liberalism. And then I'm in other parts of their church and they'll say, well, send a student to Princeton Seminary? Don't be silly. When are you folks going to come into the twentieth century? And it's the same institution both are talking about. And it reminds me of Dr. Mackay's great line, you know, that when you try to walk down the center of the road, you get shot at from both sides. And Dr. Mackay did not look upon the center as being a compromise,
he always called it, "Dynamic centrism." You remember? Dynamic centrism. So I suspect we're doing something right when we continue to hear both of those things. Let me say a word about finances. The seminary remains in a very strong financial position, due primarily to its endowment. And this is no secret, because it's reported to the General Assembly every year. The endowment now, the market value is in excess
of 370 million dollars. For this financial base, we are all indebted to Sr. John M. Templeton, who will be honored at the banquet tonight by the Alumni Association with the distinguished service award. It's true that previous presidents and vice presidents have raised considerable sums of money, but I think it's absolutely truthful to say that the reason we have such a large endowment as a base for the finances of this
institution is because of the special gifts of one person who devoted them to the service of God through Princeton Seminary. When John Templeton took over managing personally the seminary's portfolio, it was something like 35 million dollars. It went down to 18 million. And then John said he rolled up his sleeves, and it's now 370 million dollars,
and that's just because of his wisdom. And so when we pay tribute to him tonight, it's more than just a "thank you," this school is what it is in large measure because of a trustee like John Templeton. And I, for one, will always be grateful to him, obviously. But I read somewhere, what makes a great college different from an ordinary college? And
the answer was, leadership. And the person went on to say great colleges, Class A, double A colleges are distinguished from Class B colleges because of strong presidential leadership, and a strong trustee who will provide the financial base for that institution. And we have certainly had the strong presidential leadership in Dr. Mackay, who many of us know, and of course Dr. McCord, whom all of us knew.
And that one strong trustee, John Templeton. So believe me when I say that a trustee can, and does, make a difference. Because of this endowment, Princeton Seminary has the reputation as being a rich institution. We find that to be one of the most difficult things we face in our own fundraising efforts. And it is a rich institution, when compared with other seminaries. And yet, I've heard Robert Lynn
recently retired from the Lilly Endowment say that Princeton Seminary is the only adequately capitalized theological school in the world. Princeton Seminary is the only "adequately capitalized theological school in the world," and I think that is a fair statement. What our endowment does is provide 62 percent of our annual operating budget. That's more than any other school in the nation, of any kind. Sixty-two
percent of our annual operating budget comes from our endowment, which means that this seminary is not, and probably never will be, a tuition-driven institution. It makes possible one of the most generous, if not the most generous, scholarship aid program anywhere known to me. For example, this year, which is now concluding at the seminary, 66 percent of our students
received a full tuition grant or more. Sixty-six percent of our students this year were here on a full tuition grant, and in some cases, plus. Sixteen -- in addition, 16 percent of our students this past year received partial tuition grants, which is to say that 82 percent of the students here at Princeton Seminary received scholarship aid, significant scholarship aid year after
year. It's fun when you do the budget, because you put in tuition, expected number of students, you multiply it as a big number, then on the other side, you put in from the endowment scholarship aid, and it's just about a wash, you see. So what the endowment does is make it possible to offer most people who come here a virtually free theological education. And of course, that was the vision of the founders. If you read the plan of the seminary, it says it
was to provide free education, long before tuitions were ever even considered, but to provide free education for those who God raised up to serve the church in ministry. So we are, indeed, grateful for the gifts which God has given; I, for one, take it seriously that to whom much has been given shall much be required. And the question is not how much does Princeton Seminary have, the question is, what are we going to do with what we have been given? And that
places upon my shoulders, and the shoulders of the board and the faculty and the administration enormous responsibilities, because it creates enormous possibilities for us to be truly both faithful to our tradition and creative in its interpretation for the new world in which we live. Students are becoming increasingly a problem; I don't mean the ones we have, I mean getting them here. We always kid
and say that next Wednesday we're going to have the "Thank God They're Gone" party, but it is the students that makes this place live. And we are, as you know, in a demographic trough with regard to the numbers of young people who are alive and well and able, even to think about going to college right now. We are in a trough as far as the national population
is concerned. And we have been told that it was coming for a decade. And so the colleges are scrambling, which means that college and university enrollments are down across the land, and that graduating classes are smaller across the land, which means that fewer people are available to even consider theological education as a possibility or an option. Plus the fact that this seminary happens to belong to a denomination that increasingly is dwindling
away. This year I understand that at the General Assembly it was reported that we had a net loss again of forty-three thousand members. And so we're now well under three million members, and a church that has lost 25 percent of its national membership in the last 25 years cannot be expected to continue to produce the same number of candidates for the ministry. And of course, that's happening, too. Now when I came to the seminary seven
years ago, we had five applications for every two openings in the student body. Not many, if any, theological schools had that kind of selectivity, but Princeton Seminary had that. We're down now to less than three to two. We simply have fewer people applying at Princeton Seminary every year. Now when we say we're down, that means something different front what it means to other schools. Some of our seminaries have classes of 35, or a big entering
class of 50. Our maximum is 150. And the faculty always groans when we meet that, because it does put an enormous load on them. But we've been down now to an entering class the last two years of 120, 123. And we'll be lucky to make that this year. Now, interestingly, what's saving us from a real disaster, you know, 25 years ago, if we only had students
who were young white males, we would have had a real drop. But then the great influx of women came. Now that has plateaued. Now what's saving the seminary is the second career person. We have many, many people who are coming in out of the workforce, out of other careers. Sixty percent of the entering class the last two years, and I don't know what the figures will be this year, but 60 percent of the entering class the last two years have
come into seminary having been out of college or university at least two years, and the average is six years, so that we have in the student body next dear a now 42-year-old urban planner from Los Angeles, we have a 53-year-old heart transplant surgeon, Joel, who wants to give the rest of his life to the medical mission of the church and wants to be theologically trained before he goes. It's a wonderful story. He's called Dr. Don, and Dr. Don was taking his first Greek exam
and he is reported to have turned to the student next to him and said, "Give me a heart any day." It all depends on what you're used to. But interestingly, the quality of the student seems to be rising, at least in the mind of the Admissions Committee. This year, for example, they have had less trouble deciding who to admit and who not to admit than
they've ever had in their memory. That is to say, the quality of students who are coming to the seminary seem to be of a very, very high caliber. And I think the faculty would say that over the last three years, this has been the case. And they come with great enthusiasm and with great joy, and of course we take that out of their sails within six months. But they're an upbeat -- they're an upbeat
generation of students. That doesn't mean that they don't care about the world, they do. It just means that they have a very positive attitude towards the church. You see, the new students who are coming as second generation people are people who are coming out of the congregations. Now, that's new, because in my generation, a lot of us came out of the congregation. We were the children of the church. We were Sunday school success stories.
And then we went through a period of twenty years when that was not the case, that the people who came to seminaries were those who had dropped out of the congregations along about their junior high or early high school years, and had definitely dropped out during their college years, but then had had some kind of a conversion experience through parachurch ministries on college campuses. And these were people who were coming to seminary who did not know the church. And there's still a good deal of that among
the younger students. But these older students who are coming to seminary are people who have heard the word in the congregation, who have caught the vision in the congregation, who've had role models in the congregation. Some of them had been moderators, Presbyterian moderators of Synod, and they bring that kind of experience to the seminary. And that really is an exciting, exciting mix. So one way that the alums of this institution can help is by
directing students to Princeton Seminary. Studies have shown that most students go to the seminary recommended by their pastors. And I think that the church needs to be infinitely more intentional not only about where it sends its students to seminary, but also in raising up the next generation of ministerial leadership. It's always been interesting to me that Calvin made the distinction
between the secret call of God and the public call of God when he talked in book four of the institutes about how people are called to the ministry of the church. And the secret call of God is the one we all know about, right? It's the one you feel in your heart, it's that little voice that whispers in your ear, or it's the brick bath that hits you in the head, or whatever, that God gets your attention. And the public call of God is the voice of God, speaking through the church. And it's interesting that Calvin devoted all of two sentences
to the secret call of God and a whole paragraph to the public call of God, which tells you where His emphasis was. And in our Presbyterian church at least, we rely totally upon the public call of God to raise up our ordained elders and our ordained deacons, the constitution of the church mandates a nominating committee which is the voice of the church. But when it comes to raising up our ministers, we rely solely upon the secret call of God. And I just think that congregations need to be infinitely more intentional.
Who knows better than a congregation where the leadership is? Who knows better than a congregation who enjoys leadership qualities, and whom the people will follow? The congregations know that. And I just think it's time for us to become much more intentional about raising up our next generation of ministers. And the question of where are we going to send them in the seminary? I have never been one who'd advocate a fiat by the General Assembly
that all Presbyterian students must go to Presbyterian seminaries. I've always felt that we should be so competitive and attractive that students would come here. But I must say, I am concerned. No, I am alarmed when 40 percent of the candidates presently under the care of our Presbyteries are being allowed to attend non-Presbyterian seminaries. And I'm not talking now only about Fuller and Harvard and Yale, and Union and Gordon Conwell. Our students are going
to the most incredible places you can imagine. I met a woman here one summer who had been allowed by her Presbytery to take her first year in a Jesuit seminary. Now, that's absurd. And I'm often asked across the church, "Don't you," you know, "Don't you really think we have too many seminaries?" I mean, isn't ten too many for a dwindling church? The truth of the matter is, if every Presbyterian candidate for the ministry were today enrolled in a Presbyterian seminary, our
ten schools could not house them all. Our ten schools could not house them all. And there's the problem. The real question before the church, I think, is -- our church at least -- do we want any Presbyterian seminaries? Do we have any tradition that's worthy of transmission? And if we do, we'd better get serious. And that means the Presbyteries
had better get serious and stop knuckling under to everybody's wish to be a minister, but without sacrifice. I salute the people who, in their 30s and 40s pack up their families and move across the country, from California and other places, to Princeton Seminary for three years of theological education. That is a sacrifice on their part. They uproot their families, they sell their homes, they come back here and they devote three years of their lives to -- and then they're the ones who are ready to go wherever the call may be, as opposed to the person who says,
"I'll go where You want me to go, dear Lord, anywhere in Northern New Jersey." Or, anywhere in the San Francisco Bay area, you know, or anywhere in the Washington, DC, area, where I can still have my home and family and all the rest. That's nonsense. That's nonsense. So I'm concerned about the future of students, and we certainly need your help in this regard. We're getting
good students, but we need a larger application pool. It's time to close, and let me just say a word about where I think theology is, or where it may be going. And this is really risky. I remember when Dr. McCord came through San Francisco for an alumni luncheon one day, and told us all that theology was in shambles. And that was a great disappointment to me, because I had finally gotten it together, I thought, you know. And
to be told that it was in shambles was a tad disheartening. But this was in the '60s, you know, "God is dead" and all the fads and the trends and so forth. And that was probably true. I think today, theology is on the edge of enormous opportunity because I think our intellectual culture is in the
process of radical, deep, profound change. We have lived in a culture for 400 years now that has been dominated by that basic vision of the enlightenment. And that basic vision of the enlightenment has established what counts as knowledge, it has established what the criteria are for truth, and it has intimidated the
Christian community to the point where we have simply largely surrendered the arena of knowledge to the university, which is why in most universities today theology is no longer taught. Religion has come back in. And there are religion departments and graduate schools of religion which focus not upon the logos of Theos, but upon religion as a human
phenomena, you see? So we have allowed ourselves to be intimidated. We have lived ourselves without really pressing the question of truth. We are pragmatic in our proclamation of the gospel. This will help you. If you believe this, it will be beneficial to you. But we have not been able to say this
is true, or to know in what sense it is true. And I think that's one of the great reasons for the demise of the so-called mainline Protestant denominations. We simply have not been able to make and sustain the claim to truth. Now what's happening in our culture is that that whole enlightenment vision is being undermined and eroded. What
is going to happen now is the undermining of the modern university in the same way that the authority of the church was undermined 400 years ago. If you read Allan Bloom's book, "The Closing of the American Mind," that is what he is bemoaning. He is bemoaning the loss of that enlightenment vision, that loss of a confidence in a universal reason that is applicable at all times in all places, and among all peoples.
And it's precisely that loss of confidence in a universal reason with a capital "R" that is characteristic of the new trends and the new movements in modern philosophical understanding. We are in a place now, the enlightenment told us, you cannot believe on the basis of authority, you cannot believe on the basis of tradition, and you cannot have prejudices. And as
Hans-Georg Gadamer has shown, the great prejudice of the enlightenment was its prejudice against prejudice, and that there is no knowledge without prejudgments, period. There is no knowledge of any kind, scientific or non-scientific, without assumptions that come to expression under the form of prejudgments about things. And what makes our consciousness critical is not that we are without prejudgments, but that
we are aware of what our prejudgments are, and can put them to the test. This vision of a universal reason that is without prejudice, that does not depend upon a tradition is simply the myth of the enlightenment. And Gadamer argues that all human understanding occurs within the context of the human tradition. So tradition is making its way back into our thinking. All
of our thinking occurs within a tradition, and so now is suddenly becoming legitimate for a Methodist to say, I want to recover the Wesleyan tradition -- not simply rediscover it, but recover it and reclaim it for what it is. It's becoming permissible for a Presbyterian to say, I want to recover the reform tradition. I don't mean freeze it and idolatrize it, but I mean to recognize it, we stand and live in a tradition,
and this is our tradition. This is how we see things within this tradition. And I think this is where theology will be moving, because the old criteria of knowledge, theology is going to be able to recapture its voice again with regard to truth claims, and have as much right to be heard as any other discipline in the modern university. I don’t think I'll live to see that really come to fruition, but I think it is definitely
going to come. I think that's the wave of the future. I think that's what the twenty-first century holds. Diogenes Allen here in our campus, and you should read his new book, "Christian Belief in a Post-Modern World," that's well worth your time and energy. The sub-title is, "The Fullness of Conviction," "The Fullness of Conviction." But Diogenes Allen claims that the students who study in this seminary in this last decade of the twentieth century and in the first decade of the twenty-first century will have
an intellectual freedom to deal with the gospel and proclaim the gospel in their ministries that we have not known in over three hundred years. And I think that's exciting. So Princeton Seminary is prepared and poised to take advantage of the opportunity which God is providing. In a sense, our intellectual culture is breaking down much the same way that Eastern Europe is breaking open. We are
all astounded by what had happened in Eastern Europe. Who would have believed a year ago today that the situation would be what it is in Eastern Europe? Nobody in their right mind would have believed that, and look what's happened. Incredible new opportunities. Not assurances, but opportunities. And the same thing is now happening in our intellectual culture, and this has always been a problem for Presbyterians. We may not be sure about what constitutes sexual sin, but we're sure
confident what constitutes intellectual sin. Stupidity. And so we've spent our entire lives, you know, preaching while looking over our shoulder, to make sure the world approves. And we're going to have a new freedom in the church to proclaim the gospel in its fullness. I think that's exciting, that's what I'm hoping this seminary will respond to, and by the grace of God, we will. Thank you!
F: Thank you, Dr. Gillespie. Would someone remind me of the time of the lecture, is it 10:00 a.m.?
ATTENDEES: Eleven.
F: I mean 11:00 a.m. There's coffee now, is that correct, for those who'd like a coffee break, and then Dr. Froehlich's lecture. I thank our president for his address, and all of you for coming today for worship in this meeting. The annual meeting of the alumni/alumnae of Princeton Seminary is now adjourned.