Transcript
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 1: The person who's at the helm of this institution and may have one of the most challenging jobs in Christendom right now is the president of this institution. I would like, on behalf of the alumni of Princeton, to thank you for the tremendous work that you're doing. We look forward to hearing from you now. Our president, Tom Gillespie.
GILLESPIE: I thank you very much. John Galloway is absolutely right. This is an exciting place to live and move and have your being. Our children used to say that "Dad gets wired," and you can get overloaded in a place like this. There's so much stimuli floating of various kinds. I want to say, first off, that I am
exceedingly hopeful for the future of the Church. I believe that the Church has a future because it's God's Church. And God has not given up on the Church, and God has not given up on the Presbyterian Church or any of the mainline churches. And the Church will be finished when God is finished with it. And Barbara and I have preached all over this country
in the last nine years. We're both Californians, both born and raised there, and Californians are very, very provincial people. It's a long way from California to anything else. Our children grew up thinking that Reno was back East. But then you come here, and you find that people are equally provincial. When folks in New Jersey
say "out West," they mean Pittsburgh. So it's a great privilege to be about the church in every part of this land -- churches with tall steeples and some with medium-size steeples and some with no steeples at all -- in every conceivable demographic situation, some where you would expect the church to be alive and well and others where you're surprised to find
it alive and well, given the situation in which it is. And I tell you in all seriousness: if our sampling of the church was truly typical of the church, we would be the most alive and well denomination in the world. So I'm sure it is not scientific. But I want you to know, there are congregations of every size and shape that are
exceedingly full of energy and spirit and commitment and faith that are out there. And we have been there. You can -- you who are preachers know you can stand in a pulpit and sense the energy of a congregation. I wish I could say that these churches were all alike in some respect. I wish I could say, "Well, they're all alike theologically." Then we would know what the answer was -- everybody should buy into that particular theology. I can't say
that. Or that they all have the same program. But I can't say that. What I can say is that in every instance of life and health in the church that we have experienced, there has been strong pastoral leadership. That's the common denominator. There is a pastor -- or maybe more than one -- number one, who is a believer,
and who has good news to proclaim and cares about the congregation and leads it into mission and ministry in its own community and beyond. And that brings me, then, full circle, back to Princeton Theological Seminary, because this is the place where that kind of leadership can and could and will be trained. Now the seminary always takes the rap for its graduates.
And I keep telling the church that if it wants better graduates, it ought to send better students. We deal with what the church raises up -- or what God raises up through the Church. As John said yesterday, we deal not only with those who have it all together, but people like us, who come with our weaknesses and our shortcomings and all the rest. And we do the very best we can, that we know
how to do, with the people who are the leadership of the Church of tomorrow. If you want to know what the church is going to be like 20, 30 years from now, you need to look carefully at who's in seminary today, because this is where the issues are being fought out. For many, the issues of faith itself. Some students come to seminary, and they are here only to jump through hoops. They already have their theology. They
already know all they need to know. They just got to satisfy some Presbyterian standards or some Methodist requirements and then go on and get on with it. Others come into the seminary, you know, hanging on by their fingertips to the faith, struggling to know what it means to be a believer in Jesus Christ and a member of His Church. And you put the self-assured with the anxious together, and that creates an incredible community mix.
You know what it's like to be struggling with the issue of whether God has called you to ministry when you're surrounded by people who are absolutely certain God has called them. They are insufferable! And so the seminary, I want to say, is not Camp [Winona?]. I mean, if people are coming here, looking for a mountaintop experience, they're in the wrong place.
This is the -- these are the trenches. This is where issues of life and faith and morality and ethics and vision are slugged out, day in and day out, not only in the classrooms but in the dormitories and over the luncheons and the meals, where people challenge each other and are challenged by each other. Seminary's a very painful place. It's a laboratory. It's an experiment. We have to
endure a great deal of nonsense in order to give people the freedom to find out who they are and who God would have them be. One young man, who's now wearing a three-piece suit and carrying an attaché case, said to us just in January, he said, "You know, Dr. Gillespie," he said, "I was absolutely terrible in seminary, and I know that. The rings in my ear and in my nose and every other conceivable place..."
He said, "But I'm grateful for Princeton Seminary because you gave me the freedom to do that. I had to do that. I would be useless to the church now if I hadn't gone through that." And so out of all of this craziness come forth people who mature while they're here, [get?] life, faith, focused, while they're here. And I have great confidence because of the people who are here.
Well, I've said all the things I hadn't even planned to say, and I'm told we're going to be out of here by 10:30, so let me just move to say several things that might be of interest to you. We continue to have an incredible opportunity to develop the faculty of Princeton Seminary. Just listen to the parade of names in this year, this academic year that now concludes, 1991-92. We added to the faculty Dr. Charles Bartow, professor of speech, who came
to us from San Francisco Theological Seminary; Dr. Wentzel van Huyssteen, who came to us in the -- as the first occupant of the McCord Chair in Theology and Science, from Port Elizabeth University in South Africa. Dr. Bruce McCormack came to us in systematic theology from New College, Edinburgh. Dr. Elsie Anne McKee joined our faculty in a new chair devoted to the history of worship, from
Andover Newton Theological School. Dr. Abigail Rian Evans joined the faculty in the fall as associate professor of practical theology, coming out of an incredibly rich experience which includes frontier mission work in Brazil, graduate studies in Basel under Karl Barth, campus ministry at Columbia University, pastoral ministry in Manhattan and in South Dakota -- and that's the
long and the short of it -- a Senate executive responsible for the ministry to the poor in Appalachia, in the senate of the Virginias; then decided to get her doctorate, which she did, at Georgetown University in medical ethics; and then led the Presbytery of National Capital into a whole program of ministry to -- healthcare ministries -- and out of that rich experience has come to join the faculty now as professor of practical
theology and director of field education. This coming year, Dr. Romney Moseley joined the faculty as the Egner Professor of Pastoral Theology, coming to us from St. John's College in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Beverly Gaventa will come to us as associate professor of New Testament from Columbia Theological Seminary. Dr. John Stewart will come to us out of many years as a pastor as well as an academic, as the professor of ministry
and evangelism. Dr. Julie Duncan will come from Union Seminary in New York as an assistant professor in Old Testament. Dr. Brian Blount will come to us fresh out of graduate studies at Emory University in New Testament. Dr. Carol Hess will return to Princeton Seminary, her alma mater, to succeed Freda Gardner in Christian education. I mention Dr. Gardner. We've had three retirements this year. We -- the board made a strategic
mistake -- it offered early retirement plan, and three of the wrong people took it, and so the board withdrew the plan. But Freda Ann Gardner retires this semester, Karlfried Froehlich, and James Lapsley, three truly -- excuse me -- stalwart members of this faculty, whose combined years of service to this institution
number 87. So it is a changing of the guard. Let me briefly mention, also, the death of three faculty emeriti: George [Swayze?], former moderator of the general assembly, former professor of homiletics, died this past year; James Hastings Nichols, the dean of the seminary for many years, also passed; and Dr. Hugh Thomson Kerr, who was a friend to so many of us during
our student days and beyond, and who continued to have a close connection with the seminary because he remained as editor of Theology Today long after his retirement. And so the faculty of the Seminary is in a constant state of change. And it occurred to me that you might like to know how faculty are selected at Princeton Seminary. There is a rumor on the campus among the students that the president makes the selections. This is one of the student rumors that I wish were true. Unfortunately,
it is not. No, actually, fortunately, it is not, because the process by which faculty are selected is far superior to what any one person could do. When a position becomes open, either by retirement or someone moving to another school -- or by death -- the department in which that position is located thinks about that position in the light of
all the other positions in the department -- whether it's biblical studies, history, theology, or practical theology. This is the time, then, to reshape -- redefine -- that position if it requires to be redefined in terms of the total mix of the department. What areas are not being covered presently that need to be covered? So it is not simply assumed that the position will be refilled according to the same configuration
of the previous occupant. When the department comes up with a position description, it goes to a faculty committee called the Faculty Development Committee, which has representatives of all the departments. And they view it not only in terms of the department's needs but in terms of the faculty's overall needs; and they may suggest -- and often do -- revisions in the position
description, either enlargements or greater focus or some such. Then it goes back to the department, and so they can argue back and forth with each other until they finally have it where everybody's agreed. Then it goes to the curriculum committee. And finally it goes to the faculty itself. And the faculty as a whole votes on the position description as presented. Then it's advertised, and people are free from across the land -- indeed, across the world --
to apply for a particular position, whether it be at an assistant professor level or an associate professor level or a full professor level. Then we appoint a committee. If it is for an assistant professor, then the department itself -- the department chair -- will appoint a search committee out of the department. If it is for a tenured position, the president appoints a committee out of the faculty senate. And then the committee
uses the position description to look for the person who best meets the needs as described in that position. The committee also goes looking. You never simply lay back and see who turns up. You actually become aggressive. You write to leaders in the field. You ask for suggestions. You ask for nominees. You even ask certain people you know you would like to consider whether they're willing to be considered. You
become proactive in the search. And after months of this, it -- finally it narrows down to maybe four or five people. And out of that number, maybe two or three will be invited to the campus for a personal interview with the committee. And then out of that round of personal conversations over a two-day period, a particular candidate will be presented -- either to the department or to the senate -- for an invitation for a full
formal review. And if the senate votes to extend an invitation to Professor X to come, that person is invited, and we engage, then, in two full days of serious conversations. The faculty has at least two opportunities to engage this person in conversation. Graduate students have a time with this faculty member. MDiv students have a time with this proposed faculty member. The administration has time with this
faculty member. That's when I sit 'em down in my office and look 'em right in the eye and say, "Are you a believer in Jesus Christ and a member of His Church?" And if anybody waffles on that, that's the end of that conversation. Now, this is not a graduate school of religion -- this is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church, it is a confessional institution, and no fudging on our commitment to Christ and the Church. And finally, if it all goes well, then it will either go to the total faculty to vote on an
assistant professorship, or to the faculty senate -- that's all the tenured faculty -- to vote on a tenured position. And then it goes to the board of trustees. That is, the faculty merely nominates to the board, and the president makes an independent recommendation of the faculty, and the board gets both of these recommendations. Now that's a very intense process. And the dean and I have been engaged in about 11 of these for the last two or three years.
We are both eating ourselves into oblivion with these dinners that we have to attend. But I want you to know that it is a very strenuous process by which we seek to discern the mind of the Spirit of God in who God would bring to this place at this time to be a member of our faculty. This fall there will also be a new MDiv curriculum introduced. Major changes in the MDiv
curriculum will include additional number of hours to obtain the degree. For the first time now, ever, the field education program has been brought into the curriculum and will be given academic credit. Dr. Evans has been brought to the campus to lead us in that process, and has spent this entire year putting a new field education program together -- which I think's going to give Princeton Seminary
the best field education program anywhere in the country. And one of the interesting wrinkles is that students at Princeton Seminary will once again be required to have a full year of systematic theology, from prolegomena to eschatology. All the great theological themes will be a requirement. That's two semesters of systematic theology. And we think that's a great improvement as
well. I want to say a word about the scholarship program at the seminary. Dr. Cassell made an eloquent appeal yesterday for scholarship support. The Association of Theological Schools has, for many years, recommended to all of its member institutions that scholarship aid -- or financial aid, as it's called -- be need-based and limited according to the institution's resources -- that is to say, there would be a maximum
amount that an institution would or could give to a student with genuine, documented financial need. Last several years, we have noted that a number of students that we have admitted to our MDiv program have chosen to go to other Presbyterian seminaries. And come to find out that these seminaries have broken ranks and have been offering merit-based scholarships,
many of them in the amount of $15,000 a year. Now that's room, board, tuition, fees, books, and spending money. And most students, being good Scots, you know, know a deal when they see one. And so they have forsaken a superior education here for a great scholarship elsewhere. Well, we decided that people should not get into that kind of a contest with Princeton Seminary.
So we are implementing this year, on a trial basis, a new merit-based/need-based scholarship program. There'll be 10 presidential fellowships given to students who bring rather extraordinary academic records and demonstrated commitment and service to the life of the Church. Both of those are equally important. And we already
have nine of these that have accepted, including people with 4.0 grade point averages, Rhodes Scholars, many Phi Beta Kappas -- and it's been very, very encouraging. Secondly, there will be seminary fellowships -- let me back up. The presidential fellowships will include room -- I mean, tuition, fees, room, board, and a bookstore allowance. It'll be well under the $15,000 that other seminaries
are offering, but it will be close to $11,000. We think that really is maximum. Then there will be seminary fellowships for people who are outstanding in their academic achievement but might not have the same kind of track record to show with regard to their life and service to the Church. And these folks will receive full tuition and fees and a bookstore allowance, so
that that scholarship will be worth about $7,390. We have 30 of these, and 28 have already been offered and accepted for next year. Then there will be the need-based scholarship -- which, until now, at Princeton has been limited to tuition plus $500, or for racial/ethnic minorities, an additional $600. That has now been seriously questioned by the Department of Education, and we are not going to
give special consideration to racial/ethnic minorities; but rather than decrease everybody, we've decided to increase everybody. And so, beginning this coming fall, students may qualify for need-based scholarship up to tuition, fees, and a $900 bookstore line of credit, for a total of about $7390 also -- on a need-based. That is increasing
our budget for this coming year by $800,000. So Dr. Cassell was really firing a warning shot across everybody's bough yesterday, because he and I are going to have to go out and raise another million dollars this coming year in order to meet the needs of our students. We think that's justified because this last year, our financial aid officer has informed us that 178 of our students borrowed just,
just under $700,000 to stay in school. Now, when you consider the educational debt load they bring with them into seminary, and then when you add to that significant amounts of debt each year for three years, you're sending people out into modest -- at best -- entering salaries in the life of the church, with a debt load that would have -- well, my wife and I bought our first home for $13,000, and we wouldn't have known what to
do if we'd have had a 25 or a $30,000 educational debt load to service. And the church is concerned about this; the general assembly wrings its hands about this. And we can't meet the need totally ourselves, but we're trying to help by increasing the amount of financial aid that students can be eligible for here at the seminary. So when Dr. Cassell says that we have need for scholarship aid, he is not fooling -- we really do. We're trying to be responsible
to the students and responsible to the Church in sending out ministers who are not saddled with the debt load that so many of them are. Finally, I just want to say one word. It's been a -- in many ways, a very contentious spring. Students here suddenly, for some reason, awoke to the fact that this was a Presbyterian seminary and not just a grand, interdenominational, ecumenical experience, and became restless over faculty appointments, there being so many
it was inevitable that they would take interest in this. And they were offended to find out, for example, that we require everybody who teaches in our theology department to be Reformed in their ecclesiology and in their theological orientation. And so we had some fun in the spring. But in the midst of all this, the LA riots began. And on that Thursday morning,
I staggered into our sitting room, as is my wont, and turned on the Today Show to find Bryant Gumbel announcing the decision of the jury in the Rodney King trial, and immediately knew that it had serious implications for the Seminary. And so I quickly got dressed and came up here, just to be visible -- went into the dining hall, saw three of our black students, sat down with them
and said, "Talk to me." And they did. And then I was scheduled to lead chapel that day. And I knew that what I had prepared was totally irrelevant. And walking over to the office then, after having coffee in the dining hall, I ran into Michael Livingston, our campus pastor, who is an African American and, like myself, was born and raised in Los Angeles. So it was our
hometown that was burning. And I said, "Michael, when you're finished with what you're doing, stop by the office. We need to talk." Now, he came at 9:30, and the two of us put together what we would do in chapel together. And so the place was full. And we came in, gave a call to worship, sang an opening hymn -- and then the two of us stood at each end of the Communion table and talked to each other about what it was like for us to grow up in Los Angeles -- as a white man, as a
black man -- what was going on in that city; what changes had been taking place over the years; what changes had not been taking place over the years. And then we opened it up to the congregation. And many people stood to speak what was on their heart that morning. And that seemed to help a great deal. I had to charge off to New York for a budget committee meeting -- talk about living a yo-yo existence. Budgets seemed rather irrelevant at that particular moment -- and got back
at six o'clock, just in time for the prayer vigil, which the Association of Black Seminarians had called, and came over here into the chapel and found the place about half-full. And what was going on was -- by then it was clear that a lot of the anger in LA had been directed toward the Korean American community. Well, we have 55 black students in the student body this year, and we have 75 Korean students in the student body.
And they were all here -- many of them were here. And many Caucasian students sort of looking on and listening in. And they were talking to each other. And it was soul-moving to hear black students get up and tell what it's like to grow up in a racist society. And Koreans,
explaining what it's like to be immigrant people. One young woman said, "You know, I came here to do my college work," and she said, "I tried to identify with black students, but they wouldn't have me; and then I tried to identify with white students, and they wouldn't have me..." And she said, "Now I'm in seminary," and she said, "the American-born Koreans tell me that I'm too Korean to be really American, and the ones who come from Korea tell me that I'm too American to really be Korean." She said, "I don't know who I am."
And so it was a lot of honest sharing. They were talking to each other, for the first time. There's an awful lot of self-imposed segregation on this campus. And you see it every time you go into the dining hall. People love to eat with people who are like themselves. White students -- evangelicals eat only with evangelicals. Liberals eat only with liberals. Nobody
has the energy to engage in anything more serious than having their back rubbed, you know, at dinner. American blacks eat together; they ignore the African blacks. International students kind of go together because there's no place for them. Hispanic students eat together. And on and on it goes, you know? Self-imposed segregation. But since the Los Angeles riots, since that Thursday, people on this campus have been talking to each other. There was a series of worship services: one led by the Korean community, one
by the black community, one by the international student community. But the most exciting thing that happened was the day -- the Friday after the Thursday. There was a big rally over in front of the chapel at the university. And I had to leave early that morning to fly to Texas for a speaking engagement I'd had on my books for a year and a half. And I've heard this from our students; I've heard it from our faculty and townspeople who have -- who
attended that rally. Here was the rally already in progress when 200 seminarians come marching up with their banner, singing a hymn. And the university students turned around and said, you know, "Who the hell is that?" You know? And then the microphone was opened up for anybody who wanted to make a speech. And Kevin McNeir, one of our very, very articulate black PhD students, began.
And I'm told that he just moved that whole crowd by inserting, in the most gracious way, the whole faith dimension issue. And then he was followed by one of our Korean PhD students. And then by Faith Santana, who's one of our Hispanic students. And finally one of our faculty had to send a note up and say, "Knock it off,"
because about seven of our students -- "I'm so-and-so, from the seminary." "I'm so-and-so, from the seminary." Those people didn't even know there was a seminary in town. But they do now. And our students, you know, just made an incredible witness. I mean, passionate about the issues of justice. But, as Kevin said to that crowd, you know, "I know many of you aren't coming from where I'm coming from, but for me," he said, "it's not just a matter of power, it's a matter of prayer." That's a powerful
witness. And then they all marched back down Nassau Street, came back, and had a rally here. And I'll tell you, I stood tall when I heard all of that. I mean, it just made me feel so proud. So that -- yes, all those winds blow through this place, and all the cries for diversity and everybody flexing their ethnic muscles, you know, and everybody trying to prove that they're important when the gospel tells us we're all important for only one reason -- because God has chosen to love us --
all of that stuff goes on here on the campus. But I'll tell you, when the chips were down, and the real issues got focused, our students rose to the occasion. And there're going to be some changes on this campus next year. Already a group has been formed called Seminarians for Justice. And it's loosely organized, but they're going to keep this conversation going. They're going to make sure that these groups continue to talk to each other. The new president of the ABS, the
Association of Black Seminarians, said to me, he said, "Dr. Gillespie, I know it's corny, but," he said, "why don't we just have one meal a week where we have to eat with somebody other than who are like us?" He said, "How about Wednesday?" And I said, "Well, wouldn't that be great?" I said, "Yeah, you're right, it's corny. But if every Wednesday you couldn't be found talking or eating with somebody who was like you or who thought like you," I said, "who knows? We might discover that we could really like each other. And we might find ourselves
eating together on other occasions." So the leadership of the future of the Church is on this campus now. A third of them will march out the door on Monday, and they'll be with you. And a new third'll be marching in. But I'm very encouraged by them. Some of them give me fits, but it's all right. My kids gave us fits too. Our kids gave us fits, and we're so proud of them now. And it's the same way with our students. They give us fits, but
God, they're gifted. And they're committed. And they will make a difference. So I don't know about the denomination. But I want to tell you, in all sincerity, Princeton Seminary is alive, fighting, fussing, feuding, and well, with the leadership of the Church of tomorrow. Pray for us. And I'm serious about that. Unless the Spirit of God be among us, nothing good will happen. But with the Spirit of God moving among
the kind of people we have here, incredible things can happen in the seminary experience that will make a difference in the life of the church. Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 1: Why don't you stay up? Just stay up. We're going to meet at eleven o'clock in room six. I take your standing to be an "aye" vote to the motion I'm sure I heard that we adjourn, and let's adjourn with a benediction. Now go forth in peace, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit go with you all. Amen.