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His emphasis on the tragic, along with his refusal to settle for easy solutions, also got him into trouble at times with the evangelical constituency. Actually, on some issues it got me into more trouble than it did him: when I became Fuller's president, it fell to me to answer the letters from folks who were worried about his refusal to give the standard evangelical answers on moral issues. But even when I thought he was pushing a bit too far—which on my count he did in only about seven of the thousands of pages of eloquent prose that he published—I always willingly defended him as a person who modeled both ethical integrity and pastoral sensitivity.
Smedes did many things with great style. Many people claimed him as their favorite writer. Some folks also said he was the best preacher they had ever heard. His students at Fuller typically describe his class lectures as memorable—although they often added that it was worth showing up just to hear him pray at the beginning of each session.
I found him a good debating partner. A few weeks before he died, we had a leisurely breakfast together. As was typical in these meetings, we—two Dutch Calvinists sitting in a California coffee shop—spent most of the time arguing about God. I always liked arguing with him about that subject. We did not settle our differences. But now he at least is able to take the argument to a new level.
Richard J. Mouw is president of Fuller Theological Seminary.
Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Books & Culture magazine.
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