2 of 3

We face a lot of ethical issues, and that is my area of expertise. There are significant bioethics issues and continual issues in sexuality, such as homosexuality. We continually need to face the racial issues. I think the Obama campaign has certainly demonstrated that we have a lot of unfinished business in that area. Part of the task in theological education is to help people navigate their way amidst the complexities and do so in a way that isn't politicized. That's one of the dangers we have when we jump into these issues. We're known more for our political stance than we are for our principled orientation and our theological undergirding.

There is significant diversity within the broader seminary community. How would you describe Gordon-Conwell's unique contributions?

Outsiders often overlook our three campuses, which do rather unique things. The South Hamilton campus is a fairly classical approach to theological education. The center for urban ministries in Boston is focused on urban contextual education. The Charlotte campus follows the adult-education model with weekend classes and short-term intensives. We'll be focusing on more online models, particularly hybrid models that combine online education with classroom experience. So my sense is that Gordon-Conwell is well poised for the future to cover the spectrum of delivery systems and address a broad spectrum of issues, because we have multiple campuses.

One of the keys that Gordon-Conwell will be working on is how we maintain the integrity of those three orientations while utilizing the unique resources for the other campuses. We want that urban fervor to come up to South Hamilton and some of the classical to go down to Boston. That's one of the challenges: that we not end up with three seminaries, but be able to really draw the strengths of each and enrich the other campuses.

Inerrancy is a perpetual concern for seminaries, as we've seen with Westminster Theological Seminary and the revised statement of faith for the Evangelical Free Church of America, which is affiliated with Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. How does this ongoing concern about inerrancy affect Gordon-Conwell?

Gordon-Conwell has always had a strong commitment to the inerrancy of Scripture while recognizing the broad genre of Scripture — that is, that God did not reveal himself to us in just one way. When we talk about the truthfulness of Scripture, we also have to recognize that his richness speaks to us in multiple ways through Scripture. Sometimes we have allowed our views of inerrancy to lead to very monolithic interpretations of Scripture. We need to be careful about that. When we're studying a poetic genre we have to understand that as poetry, which is not the same as an historic rendition or an apocalyptic rendition or a prophetic utterance. Gordon-Conwell has a strong history of trying to emphasize those things. Certainly the Gordon Fee and [GCTS Old Testament professor] Douglas Stuart book How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth, which is used in so many colleges, reflects that.

Another controversial issue is gender roles. How do you anticipate managing the ever-present complementarian/egalitarian debate at Gordon-Conwell?

I haven't been there yet to get all of the nuances. I can simply tell you that one of the criteria that they had for president was a person who would be supportive of men and women in their preparation of ministry. That doesn't mean that everyone at Gordon-Conwell is, but it was significant enough institutionally that that was one of the criteria established in terms of presidential characteristics.

next page... |  2 of 3

share this page

July (Web-Only) 2008, Vol. 52