Amid controversy, the relationship between widely known Christian scholar John Warwick Montgomery and the law school he founded in 1980 ended earlier this year. Montgomery, highly regarded by many for his work in Christian apologetics, founded the Anaheim, California-based Simon Greenleaf School of Law in 1980.
In January, Montgomery signed a document ending his association with the school. This culminated a process coordinated by a Christian conciliation organization that attempted to mediate the conflict between Montgomery and the Simon Greenleaf board of directors. According to the terms of the agreement, neither Montgomery nor board members are at liberty to discuss details of the settlement.
Various published reports, however, indicate the controversy was touched off late in 1987 when former employees of the school presented the board with a long list of allegations against Montgomery.
John Stewart, a former faculty member at Simon Greenleaf and one of those who approached the board, said individuals had been unsuccessful in trying to resolve their concerns with Montgomery directly.
The Los Angeles Times reported that a letter last fall to Montgomery, written by John Wanvig, who chaired a committee appointed by the school’s board to examine the allegations, indicated that one of the charges concerned “circumstances surrounding [Montgomery’s] divorce.”
The Times report outlined court documents in which Montgomery’s ex-wife, Joyce, claimed that in 1983 her husband moved to finalize the couple’s divorce without her “knowledge and consent.” In July of 1985, a California superior court judge nullified the divorce, citing “extrinsic fraud.” Montgomery declined to speak with CT, citing the terms of the conciliation agreement.
Michael Smythe, director of the Irvine, California-based Institute for Theology and Law, a new ministry recently begun by Montgomery, is among those who have sided with Montgomery. Smythe, formerly on the faculty at Simon Greenleaf, contended that board members never confronted Montgomery personally with the charges. Smythe said Montgomery received “no adequate due process.”
Smythe claimed that Montgomery’s local pastor, as well as the district president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, in which Montgomery is ordained, exonerated Montgomery with respect to the divorce, citing “malicious desertion” on the part of Joyce Montgomery.
However, Loren Kramer, Southern California district president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, said his examination into the matter “is far from finished.” Kramer said he had met with John Montgomery on two occasions and has an appointment to meet with Joyce.
Officials at Simon Greenleaf say they are trying to put the controversy behind them and move on with the school’s unique purpose of integrating theology and law.
By Randy Frame.
