Windows Spring 2009

AUSTIN PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

SPRING 2009

LOOKING OUTWARD

The President’s Preaching andSpeaking Engagements

April 16, Speaker, Partnership Lunch,Kerrville, Texas

April 19, Preacher, First PC, Canadian TexasApril 26, Preacher, Trinity PC, AtlantaMay 1, Host, Shelton Chapel Art and

Theology Tour, AustinMay 7, Speaker, Partnership Lunch, New

Braunfels, TexasMay 17, Preacher First PC Monroe,

LouisianaMay 27, Keynote Speaker, YAM JAM, AustinJune 2009, Teacher, Justo Mwale Theological

College, Lusaka, Zambia, AfricaSeptember 10, Speaker, Partnership Lunch,

Corpus Christi, TexasSeptember 15, Speaker, “Evening with the

President,” Waco, TexasSeptember 17, Speaker, “Evening with the

President,” HoustonSeptember 19-20, Preacher, First PC,

Stillwater, Oklahoma

Heirs of the Reformed wing of the Protestant Reformation—some 75 million Christians in Reformed and Presbyterian

communions worldwide—are preparing in these days to celebratethe 500th birthday of our spiritual founder. Since he has to be oneof history’s most misunderstood persons, a good way of celebratingthe life and legacy of John Calvin would be to try to get to knowhim, perhaps for the first time. This is what we are about in thisissue of Windows.

When those of us planning this issue met for our first brain-storming session, we had some fun trying to catalogue all the waysin which John Calvin has been maligned: as a killjoy, a sourpuss, adour and vengeful sort, a sadist, a narrow-minded prig, and on andon. It became ever clearer that probably no one in Western historyneeds a makeover more desperately than our man John.

Who fostered this bad rap upon him?Was it Calvin himself, or (as I suspect) certain Calvinists who

have come after him? It makes no matter, because we are interest-ed in polishing the poor guy up a bit in this, his big year. What fol-lows is a series of interesting, delightful, and inspiring pieces thatlook at one of world history’s most pivotal religious leaders from avariety of different angles. We don’t expect to answer all of yourquestions; we merely hope instead to heighten your curiosity abouthim and to usher you toward a deeper look. And if indeed we aresuccessful, you will want to examine the bibliography of booksabout Calvin that Michael Jinkins reviews in his “Dean’sBookshelf ” column inside.

By the way, there’s a Calvin Jubilee being planned in Montreatthis summer, July 8th through 11th, that is co-sponsored by AustinSeminary, the General Assembly Office of Theology and Worship,and Montreat Conference Center.

The Jubilee will offer great worship, the presentations ofnumerous Calvin scholars from all over, and a 500th birthday partydesigned to be (dare I say it?) great fun! If you want to know moreabout the schedule and speakers or want to register, go towww.pcusa.org/theologyandworship; and if you want to makereservations for lodging, go to www.montreat.org/register/09-calvin-jubilee.html.

Well, so much for these words of introduction. Before we turnthe page and delve into the rest of this issue, it’s only fitting that wepause to pray. Here is the prayer which Calvin was wont to use atthe beginning of his lectures:May the Lord grant that we may engagein contemplating the mysteries of God’s heavenly wisdom with reallyincreasing devotion, to God’s glory and to our edification. Amen.

Theodore J. WardlawPresident

CONTENTS

2-7 Calvin is 500!2 Myths and urban legends debunked

BY MICHAEL JINKINS

4 Theology, politics, and the commongoodBY DAVID H. JENSEN

7 Sacramental preachingBY THEODORE J. WARDLAW

10 Calvin on worship and musicBY DAVID GAMBRELL

12 Why Marilynne Robinson loves CalvinBY CYNTHIA RIGBY

14 Calvin: The DVDAn interview with the producer

18 Community news

25 Development news

27 Faculty news

28 Continuing education news

29 Alumni/ae news

Theological Education Fund(1% Plan)

The theological schools of thePresbyterian Church (U.S.A.) nolonger receive funding from thebasic mission budget of the GeneralAssembly. Churches are asked tocontribute 1% of their operatingbudgets to the fund, which is thendistributed to the seminaries.

Publisher & Mailing Statement

Windows is published three times each yearby Austin Presbyterian TheologicalSeminary.ISSN 2056-0556

Non-profit bulk mail permit no. 2473

Austin Seminary WindowsAustin Presbyterian Theological Seminary100 E. 27th St.Austin, TX 78705-5797

phone: 512-404-4808e-mail: [email protected]: 512-479-0738www.austinseminary.edu

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Cassandra C. Carr, Chair

Michael D. AllenKaren C. AndersonThomas L. Are Jr.Susan BeairdF. M. Bellingrath IIIDianne E. Brown (MDiv’95)Elizabeth ChristianJoseph J. CliffordJames G. CooperMarvin L. CooperElizabeth Blanton FlowersDonald R. FramptonRichard D. GillhamWalter Harris Jr.Bruce G. HerlinNorman N. Honeycutt (MDiv’65)J Carter King III (MDiv’70)Michael L. LindvallCatherine O. LowryBlair R. MonieB. W. PayneWilliam C. Powers Jr.Jeffrey Kyle RichardTeresa Chávez Sauceda (MDiv’88)Anne Vickery StevensonKarl Brian TravisJohn L. Van OsdallSallie Sampsell Watson (MDiv’87)Elizabeth Currie WilliamsHugh H. Williamson IIIJudy A. Woodward

Trustees EmeritiStephen A. MatthewsMax ShermanEdward D. VickeryLouis Zbinden

WINDOWSSPRING 2009

Volume 124 Number 2EDITOR

Randal Whittington

CONTRIBUTORSChanning BurkeShuhan ChanTodd Hansen

Elizabeth ShumakerGeorgia Smith

The illustrations on pages 3, 5, 6, and 10 first appeared in “Calvindrier 2009.”For all things Calvin, go to www.calvin09.org

2

Why everything weknow is wrongMyths and urban legends about John Calvin

Illustration

byWazem

WINDOWS / Spring 2009

Michael Jinkins is academic dean and professor of pastoraltheology at Austin Seminary.

3

BY MICHAEL JINKINS

Myth No. 1: John Calvin was a real sourpuss.Martin Luther is usually cast as the fun-loving, beer-swig-ging, warm-hearted Reformer while Calvin is caricaturedas dour, the sort of person who (as one Episcopal bishoponce notoriously described him) “sucked sour persim-mons for fun.” In fact, Calvin was the Reformation’schief apologist for fun. For example, he reminds us thatGod created food and drink “for delight and good cheer,”not simply for nourishment. Quoting the Psalms he tellsus that wine is given to us to gladden the heart, and oliveoil was made for dipping bread. Here’s a person whoknew his way around a Michelin Star restaurant (neverforget that Calvin was French!). According to Calvin,God did not create the world merely for utilitarian pur-poses, but for beauty and pleasure.

Myth No. 2: Calvin was a tyrant.Recently this myth got some highly visible air time inThe New York Times Magazine in an article titled: “WhoWould Jesus Smack Down?” The article profiled apreacher who justifies his refusal to listen to the criticismof lay leaders by citing Calvin. When a member of hiscongregation complained, for example, the pastor sus-pended the complainer’s membership, explaining, “Theywere sinning through questioning.” The author of thearticle commented, “John Calvin couldn’t have said itbetter himself.”1 In fact, Calvin could and often did say itmuch better than that. Calvin distrusted the vesting ofpower in any individual (himself included), and abidedwith decisions made by the ordered bodies of his churchand city even when he did not agree with them. Calvinbelieved that God makes God’s will known throughgroups more reliably than through the will of individuals,and there’s no better guarantee against the abuse of aleader’s power than a vigilant group in which authority isshared.

Myth No. 3: Calvin and Calvinism are identical.This one’s tricky! There’s an assumption that everythingwe call “Calvinism” actually came from Calvin. A col-league recently mentioned that he was sitting on a planereading a book about Calvin. The flight attendant sawwhat he was reading and said, “I know about Calvin. He’sthe TULIP guy.” In fact, the well-known “five points ofCalvinism,” memorialized in the acronym TULIP (Total

depravity; Unconditional election; Limited atonement;Irresistible grace; Perseverance of the saints) dates fromthe century after Calvin (the Synod of Dort, 1618-1619), and represents the high water mark of “CalvinistScholasticism” in which the warm personal evangelicalmovement that Calvin led was distorted by a calcifiedreactionism. Calvin scholars like James Torrance andT. F.Torrance, R. T. Kendall and Holmes Rolston III, havehelped us differentiate between Calvin and his latter-daydisciples. For example, while Calvin believed in predesti-nation, he was very hesitant to say too much on the sub-ject and largely avoided the implications of double-pre-destination. His followers were not so cautious!

Myth No. 4: Calvin was a religious fanatic.There certainly is a popular perception of Calvin as a sortof religious fanatic or zealot. After all, there are someChristian Fundamentalists to this day who claim him astheir spiritual father, and let’s not forget the variousheresy prosecutions that have followed in the wake of“Calvinism,” especially in Scotland and the UnitedStates. In fact, Calvin himself deserves to be rememberedboth as a “Renaissance man” and a “humanist.” Calvinwas part of that remarkable Renaissance movement thatincluded Thomas More (the brilliant Catholic “Man forall Seasons” and martyr under Henry VIII of England)and Desiderius Erasmus (the Dutch scholar whose criti-cal studies and satire paved the way for the Reformation).The humanist movement swept away the cobwebs ofsuperstition and obscurantism and placed the Biblefreshly translated in the hands of ordinary Christians.Calvin, like other humanists, was also a critical scholar ofthe Bible who believed that knowledge and wisdom,scholarship and science are not enemies of the faith.

Myth No. 5: Calvin was sadistic.Obviously this myth is supported by the burning ofMichael Servetus (a person who had the distinction ofbeing considered a heretic by both the Protestants andthe Roman Catholics and of being a physician who dis-covered how blood circulates in the human body).Calvin actively opposed Servetus’s teachings. Calvindenounced him to the Roman Catholic Inquisition. Hebelieved that Servetus’s heresies were dangerous to thefuture of the church, and he wanted him silenced. Infact, however, what is less well known is that Calvinargued that Servetus not be burned at the stake. The con-ventional picture of Calvin cruelly twirling his mous-tache like Snidely Whiplash while Servetus burned is

Continued on page 17

Calvin is 500!

4

David Jensen is associate professor of constructive theology atAustin Seminary.

BY DAVID H. JENSEN

If you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can oftenmake an informed judgment about a book based onhow it ends. This is certainly the case with the

Institutes, Calvin’s masterpiece that has had a greaterimpact on Reformed Christianity than any book besidesthe Bible.

This guide to Christian faith ends on a peculiar note:reflections on civil government. A theology that endswith politics, of all things!

For Calvin, Christian faith and civil government arerelated to each other because Christian faith is lived, notmerely stated or believed. Faith is not simply cognitiveknowledge, not saying “yes” to every line in the creeds,but (as every student at Austin Seminary learns) a “firmand certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us… sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Faithorients the entire human life in God’s goodness, theextension of grace to the world in Jesus Christ. In faith,we don’t simply know this goodness to be true, we live itout as truth; because faith affects every aspect of our liv-ing, we can expect it to be reflected in how we organizeourselves in society. Politics concerns how we relate toone another, and Calvin believed that our political lifecould be a reflection—however dim—of the kinds ofrelationships that God gives us in Christ’s covenant ofgrace.

Calvin believed, in short, that government couldreflect Christian faith and promote the common good.His view was inherently hopeful, contrasting with moresobering assessments of government in his time and ours.In an earlier generation, Machiavelli argued that princesneeded to act in swift and ruthless ways to consolidatepower and ensure public safety. A generation afterCalvin, Thomas Hobbes argued that persons cede rightsto government in order to restrain their selfish and wildimpulses. Without government’s restraining function, lifebecame “nasty, brutish, and short.” For Hobbes andMachiavelli, government is a necessary evil that prevents

us from grabbing each others’ throats. Their reflectionshave had a tremendous impact on subsequent politicalhistory, and are even reflected in jaded contemporaryattitudes about politics. In our age of red states and bluestates, we invariably count some as winners and others aslosers: polarizing areas of interest are pitted against eachother, and we wind up voting (if we vote at all) for thecandidate who seems least repulsive and most able tomaintain order in the midst of chaos. Even the word“politician” has become something of an epithet. In con-temporary America, we accustom ourselves to the pecca-dilloes and the purpose of government. In our day, theidea of a “public servant” almost seems laughable.

For Calvin, however, government could serve thecommon good through public service. He possessed theaudacious idea that government did not merely serve arestraining function, but could benefit society and actu-ally make life better for all (not just the winners or thepowerful). Civil government, in his words, could “recon-cile us with one another, and … promote general peaceand tranquility.”

Government works best not when it leaves us aloneor consolidates power in the name of safety, but when itfosters the collaborative efforts of people seeking thecommon good. For Calvin, we are better off togetherthan we are by ourselves. Civil magistrates were chargedwith the task of finding ways in which civic life mightactually improve as governments listened to the voicesand concerns of the people. In words that may soundshocking to pastors, Calvin wrote: “Civil authority is acalling, not only holy and lawful before God, but also themost sacred and by far the most honorable of all callingsin the whole life of mortal men.” These are hopefulwords for times that have given up on political leaders.

How does government foster the common good?One way, Calvin thinks, is through taxation. As I writethese words, I am beginning to file my own taxes: a taskI begrudge and procrastinate every year. Calvin, to besure, was aware of the abuses of medieval tax systems:they were often used to fatten the coffers of the wealthywhile draining resources from the poor. In our day, too,we are familiar with projects funneled to powerful politi-cians that benefit less society as a whole and more a few

Calvin and HobbesTheology, politics, and the common good

WINDOWS / Spring 2009 5

Illustration

byAdrienn

eBarman

Calvin is 500!

contractors in a particular congressional district. ButCalvin felt that these abuses could be remedied if leaderswould remember that “revenues are not so much theirprivate chests as the treasuries of the entire people.”Leaders administer the people’s wealth by combiningresources so that they might do things together that theycouldn’t do on their own. Magistrates in Calvin’s home-town of Geneva undertook a remarkable series of projectsthat required taxes and the pooling of communityresources: schools that opened their doors to those out-side the wealthiest classes; charity hospitals that fosteredpublic health. Given this heritage, it is no coincidencethat humanitarian organizations such as the Red Crossand the World Health Organization have headquarters inGeneva today. Together we are better off than we are sep-arated from one another.

Lest we conclude that Calvin only had an optimisticoutlook on government, he concludes the Institutes on anote of caution: in the wrong hands, civil governmentcan rapidly degenerate into brutality. The slide frommonarchy to tyranny is swift when appropriate checks onthe power of civil government are absent. Calvin believedin relative safety in numbers, that the concentration ofpower in one set of hands was more susceptible to tyran-ny than other forms of government. Though he allowedfor regional variation in the kinds of government permis-sible, he clearly sees advantage in systems that offer col-laboration and multiple voices. In his age as well as ours,we are often tempted to seek one efficient leader who canaccomplish everything for everybody, through quickmeasures that don’t require messy deliberation and com-promise. Yet if magistrates allow such measures to occur,Calvin says they “betray the freedom of the people.”Heeding Calvin’s warning today, public servants, andgovernment in general, should continually subject them-selves to self-critique: Where are the voices that aren’tbeing heard? Is government reflecting the common goodor the interests of the wealthy? Who benefits from gov-ernmental actions and policies and who does not? If weask these questions, and expect our leaders to ask them ofthemselves, government can be a reflection of the com-mon life to which we are called.

In the end, Calvin’s thoughts on civil government areless rose-tinted glasses on the realities of political life thanthey are expressions of hope in the providence and graceof God. God calls us into relationship with one anotherand intends those relationships for human flourishing.

The days that we have been given—even and per-haps especially in politics—can reflect in some small waythe reign of God that has already come in Jesus Christ. �

6

CCaallvviinn JJuubbiilleeeeaatt MMoonnttrreeaatt

July 8-11, 2009Be part of the worldwide celebrationof John Calvin in the beautiful settingof the Montreat Conference Center.We will gather to worship, hear fromtop Calvin scholars on the enduringsignificance of his theology, and other-wise celebrate the legacy of this greatReformer. The Jubilee will feature ajoyous “birthday celebration” dinnerhonoring the 500th anniversary ofCalvin’s birth on July 10. Don’t missThe Event of the half-Millennium!

To register for the conferencehttp://www.pcusa.org/theologyandworship

To reserve lodging & meals:http://www.montreat.org/register/09-calvin-

jubilee.html

BY THEODORE J. WARDLAW

Among a number of Presbyterians and other main-line Protestants, there is often a culture of sacra-mental indifference—a kind of “whatever” atti-

tude as to the way and the frequency with which the sacra-ments are done, and, for that matter, preached about. Tobe fair, the roots of this culture of indifference are deep,some going all the way back to the time of our theologi-cal ancestor John Calvin himself. The Catholic Church bythe late Middle Ages had developed a sacramental systemthat resulted in virtually every important milepost on thehuman journey being ministered to with an appropriatesacrament. One’s birth invited the sacrament of Baptism.One’s ongoing desire for the means of grace invited one tothe sacrament of the Eucharist. One’s growth to an impor-tant moment of responsibility invited the sacrament of

Confirmation. One’s desire for forgiveness invited thesacrament of Penance. The commitment made by a manand a woman to one another invited the sacrament ofMarriage. The vocational decision to serve the church as apriest invited the sacrament of Ordination. One’s vulner-ability in a moment of sickness or at one’s end invited thesacrament of Extreme Unction. A kind of ecology devel-oped around this sacramental system by which the churchmarked the passage moments of life and administered var-ious forms of pastoral care through its keeping of timethroughout the life cycle.

And, for its own generally understandable reasons,the Protestant Reformation threw out this sacramentalsystem. Luther and Calvin opposed any sacrament thatwas not explicitly mandated in scripture. Two net effectsof the Reformation’s influence were that the sacramentsin the Protestant churches were reduced from seven totwo (Baptism and the Eucharist) and that the sacramen-tal system of tracking the natural progress of the human


Theodore J. Wardlaw is president and professor of homileticsat Austin Seminary.

Sacramental preaching:did John Calvin approve?

Illustration by Guillaum

e Dénervaud

Calvin is 500!

8

journey was shattered.I believe that one practical result of the collapse of this

sacramental system has been the attendant collapse of areason to think sacramentally in any broad sense. We the-ological heirs of the Reformed wing of the Reformationhave instead placed our primary confidence in thinkingdoctrinally. Through centuries of resulting arguments oversuch doctrinal thinking, by the way, we have bequeathedto the world the most schismatic of all of the Protestanttraditions to come out of the Reformation.

So it is that historically, sacramental preaching in atleast the American expression of the Reformed traditionwas limited to Communion Sundays and BaptismalSundays (and, with hats off to Calvin, it was didacticpreaching—the preaching of “teaching sermons” carefullyexegeted from a handful of biblical texts that refer direct-ly to Baptism or the Lord’s Supper). The tone of both thesermon and the liturgy of the table tended to emphasizethe role of the Supper as a memorial or a remembrancemore than as an eschatological glimpse of the gloriousMessianic Banquet. Thus it was more penitential than cel-ebrative. In practice, sermons focused upon one or theother sacrament occurring on a specific occasion came asclose as Presbyterian preachers tended to get—until veryrecently—to the idea of preaching through the lens ofsacramental consciousness.

Two things have changed, though, which I believeprovide preachers in the Presbyterian-Reformed traditionwith new opportunities to cultivate such a consciousness.

Preaching to the disestablishedThe first is the essential disestablishment of mainlineProtestantism in North America. From the colonial peri-od on through the first half of the twentieth century, thePresbyterian, Episcopal, and Congregational churcheswere the senior religious stakeholders in the culture, andwere given, because of their status, a singular measure ofvalidation and protection. This was, of course, inexchange for the ways in which those churches—and inlater waves, others such as the Methodist and Lutheranchurches—blessed the culture’s dominant values andrefrained, by and large, from strong prophetic critiques ofthese paradigms. For lots of reasons, though—chiefamong them the impact that such turmoil aroundVietnam, Civil Rights, and Watergate had upon our cul-ture’s trust in institutions and authority figures—this so-called Culture Protestantism began to break down.

Quite apart from an alarmist reading of these devel-opments, there are many redemptive consequences thatflow from the disestablishment of Culture Protestantism.One of them is that, at virtually the same moment that

mainline Protestant churches have become uncoupledfrom a co-dependency with what we refer to biblically as“the principalities and powers,” these churches havebegun to rediscover the formational importance of sacra-mental theology, specifically the depth and profundity ofbaptismal theology. At virtually the same moment thatprayer in school and prayer at City Council meetings allbegan to disappear as artifacts of Protestant entitlement,mainline churches began recovering a deep sense of bap-tismal identity. In great measure, this recovery was thenatural flowering of the liturgical renewal movement—fueled, for sure, by the then-vigorous ecumenical move-ment (itself owing its vitality to the Catholic Church’sSecond Vatican Council). But I also believe that it repre-sents the church’s developing understanding of its essen-tially counter-cultural character. More and more I see thecontours of a faith that doesn’t seek to accommodateitself to the world’s rhythms and values, but seeks ratherto stick out as the holy, disruptive, bizarre thing that it is.

Preaching in a postmodern worldAttendant to these changes is a second development, theimpact of postmodernism, which gives preachers in ourtradition a new opportunity to cultivate a sacramentalconsciousness. Our tradition’s deep affinity forEnlightenment rationalism bred a deep distrust of any-thing that smacked of mystery. Historically, we engagedinstead in doctrinal exercises that sought to explain every-thing—even Baptism, even the Eucharist. We distrustedmystery so much that we gravitated toward sacred spacesdominated by nothing quite so much as bright lightstreaming through clear-glass windows—light brightenough to bathe every corner of our rectilinear buildingswhich, if too dark, might otherwise allow mystery togrow like mold. Presbyterian pastors formed by this deepsuspicion of mystery were loathe to lift up a loaf of breadat the Table and say “This is the Body of Christ” (howcould they really be sure?), and so they said instead, withfar more certainty, “This represents the Body of Christ.”

Then came the twentieth century. With its two worldwars, its social movements, its new manifestations of“man’s inhumanity to man,” and the upending of con-ventions at the hands of such notables as Charles Darwinand Sigmund Freud and Karl Jung, the pristine certaintyof rationalism—Presbyterian or otherwise—was ultimate-ly undermined. Here in the early days of the twenty-firstcentury, postmodernism, with its distrust of reason and itselevation of the power of experience, is unseating a greatmeasure of our trust in reason. It is coaxing from us agreater exploration of art, music, beauty, and dream, andgiving us, as a new mantra, the distinction between “right-

expected to see—trees, children playing, dogs barking,whatever. But because you knew there were hidden pic-tures within this larger picture, you took another look.You looked and looked until, gradually, the other pic-tures—of a duck or a fountain pen or a pirate—appearedone by one. Barbara Brown Taylor, in meditating uponher own experience with such a book, wrote in ThePreaching Life: “It was for me a source of unendingdelight—to find the hidden figures, to confront the ordi-nary in full confidence that it would yield the extraordi-nary if only I looked hard enough, if only I kept at it anddid not give up. As best I can say it,” she says, “that is thesame impulse that fires my faith in God even now. Dayafter day I look at my life, the lives of my neighbors, theworld in which we all live, and I hunt the hidden figure,the presence that still moves just beneath the surface ofevery created thing.” To cultivate a way of life thatassumes that God is present in every moment, in everypicture—even, or maybe especially, the tragic ones—is tolive into a way of seeing, says Taylor, “that requires a cer-tain loosening of the grip, a willingness to be surprised,confused, amazed by the undreamt-of ways that Godchooses to be revealed to us. To find the extraordinaryhidden in the ordinary, we are called to participate inGod’s own imagination—to see ourselves, our neighbors,and our world through God’s eyes, full of possibility, fullof promise, ready to be transformed.”

I love the image she is working on here: that God isthe hidden figure moving just beneath the surface ofevery created thing, which includes every text of scriptureand every context, from Sunday to Sunday, in which thatscripture is read. And to search for the extraordinary sur-prise lurking beneath what at first appears merely ordi-nary is to roam into that space where the world of thetext and the realm of the sacramental intersect. Preach ofwhat you see at that intersection, and you will be doingsomething far richer than just leaping from the text forthe day to explain to the congregation what’s happeningthis morning to little Edith at the font. You will be put-ting to words an appreciation for the fundamental sacra-mentality of life, and it will not matter one bit that theword “baptism” never appears in the text.

Preaching to the Lord’s TableA decade or so ago, while I was pastor of the CentralPresbyterian Church in Atlanta, the congregation com-pleted an extensive capital improvement project, the cen-terpiece of which was the complete restoration of itsVictorian-era sanctuary building. While we were gettingready for the year-long construction phase during which

brain thinking” and “left-brain thinking.”With a disestablished mainline Protestant Church

exploring once again the wellsprings of its identity andarticulating a reinvigorated baptismal ethic, and with itsmembers more open not just to rationalism but also toexperience, this is an opportune time for pastors andtheir people to cultivate a fuller sense of the sacramental-ity of life. It should start with preaching.

Preaching illuminated by the SpiritCuriously, John Calvin may have been suggesting this verything with a distinctively (but much overlooked)Reformed creation that he brought to worship, the Prayerfor Illumination. Harold M. Daniels, in To God Alone BeGlory: The Story and Sources of the Book of CommonWorship, observed that, in the order of worship thatCalvin developed in Geneva, “following confession, par-don and the singing of the Ten Commandments, it wasCalvin’s custom to leave the Communion table, enter thepulpit, and offer such a prayer.” This prayer called uponGod to send the Holy Spirit to strengthen the hearts of thehearers of the sermon.

I have heard the suggestion made that in this Prayerfor Illumination, Calvin was intentionally shifting the epi-clesis portion of the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving said atthe Eucharist (“pour out your Holy Spirit upon us andupon these gifts of bread and wine”) to this location beforethe reading and preaching of the Word (“open our heartsand minds by the power of your Holy Spirit”). Was thisstrategic innovation intended to suggest that there wasalso something fundamentally sacramental about preach-ing itself? After all, the placement of a Prayer forIllumination to summon the Holy Spirit before preachingindicates a strong sense—right there at the inception ofthe Reformed tradition—that preaching was to be elevat-ed to a new level of importance.

What difference would it make in our preaching ifwe behaved as if preaching were downright sacramental?It would surely call upon us to preach not just from thesheer exegetical specificity of the text before us for a givenSunday, but also with the imagination that—whateverthe text—it has the potential to point us toward thesacramentality at the root of all of life.

Preaching the hidden picturesWhen I was a kid, I can remember a children’s monthlymagazine that featured a page called “Hidden Pictures.”Each month, the whole page would be covered in a dif-ferent drawing—something seemingly typical, such as astreet scene or a school building or a fire station. To takean initial look at the drawing was to see the things you



Calvin is 500!

BY DAVID GAMBRELL

In 1540 John Calvin is believed to have completed thefirst draft of The Form of Church Prayers and Hymnswith the Manner of Administering the Sacraments and

Consecrating Marriage According to the Custom of theAncient Church. (Composing the title alone was a taskthat may have occupied the better part of that year; for-tunately Calvin was able to borrow much from Martin

10

Bucer in assembling the contents.) Sadly, the first editionof this cornerstone of Reformed worship is lost; howev-er, nearly five hundred years later Calvin’s liturgical lega-cy is very much with us. Through the second and thirdeditions of The Form of Church Prayers, published inGeneva (1542) and Strasbourg (1545), we can glimpsehis enduring influence upon the liturgical life ofReformed churches.

“Our help is in the name of the Lord, who madeheaven and earth.” This call to worship from Psalm124:8—still the first option provided in the PresbyterianBook of Common Worship—sets the tone for Calvin’sorder of worship and establishes the theological frame-work upon which it stands. The Lord, the maker of heav-

Calvin’s influence on worship and music

… or The Reform of Church Prayers and Hymns with the Manner ofAdministering the Sacraments According to the Custom of the Ancient John Calvin

David Gambrell (MDiv’98) is associate for worship in the Office of Theology and Worship for the Presbyterian Church(U.S.A.) and a PhD candidate in liturgics at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Illustration

by Zep


en and earth, is sovereign; our only hope is to call uponGod’s name. This opening sentence also foregrounds theassertion that Reformed worship begins with God’s ini-tiative—the initiative of the creator, redeemer, and sus-tainer of the cosmos. What else can we do but respondwith gratitude and praise?

A second aspect of Reformed worship revealed inCalvin’s Strasbourg and Geneva liturgies is the priority ofthe confession of sin. Immediately following the call toworship “we confess and acknowledge unfeignedly beforethy holy majesty that we are poor sinners, conceived andborn in iniquity and corruption, prone to do evil, inca-pable of any good, and that in our depravity we trans-gress thy holy commandments without end or ceasing.”Strong words—but they are answered by a strong decla-ration of God’s grace. The Strasbourg edition of TheForm of Church Prayers includes a bold and unequivocalassurance of forgiveness in the name of the Triune God:“To all those that repent in this wise, and look to JesusChrist for their salvation, I declare that the absolution ofsins is effected, in the name of the Father, and of the Son,and of the Holy Spirit.” This edition continues with theDecalogue or Ten Commandments, illustrating Calvin’snotion of the “third and principal use” of the law: toteach God’s will to the faithful. Calvin’s profound senseof human weakness is often emphasized to the point ofcaricature by admirers and detractors alike; we often for-get that, in Calvin’s view, even the monstrosity of humandepravity was easily eclipsed by God’s unsurpassablegrace. Nevertheless, a healthy respect for the differenceand distance between divinity and humanity, along witha consistent concern for the corrupting power of sin,remains a hallmark of Reformed worship.

The centrality of scripture is, appropriately enough,evident at the heart of Calvin’s order of worship. Theminister approaches the pulpit with a prayer for illumi-nation, calling upon the Holy Spirit to guide us “into thetrue understanding of [God’s] holy doctrine, making itproductive in us of all the fruits of righteousness.” Owingto this conviction that the Spirit makes the preaching ofthe Word efficacious, Calvin had a high view of theproclamation of the gospel; he maintained that Godappointed pastors and teachers in the church to do noth-ing less than speak the Word of God with authority(Institutes 4.1.1), so that people might hear and believethe good news of salvation. Beyond the sermon, Calvintaught that the whole practice of Christian worshipshould adhere faithfully to the norms and patterns pro-vided in the Old and New Testaments (with someallowance for the contributions of the early church, as thefull title of his Form of Church Prayers suggests). This

“regulative principle” continues to be influential in shap-ing worship that is “reformed and always being reformed”according to the Word of God.

Calvin believed firmly in the integrity of Word andsacrament. In the Institutes of the Christian Religion hewrote, “Therefore, let it be regarded as a settled principlethat the sacraments have the same office as the Word ofGod: to offer and set forth Christ to us, and in him thetreasures of heavenly grace” (Institutes 4.14.17). Thesacraments are signs and seals of God’s promises, con-firming the faith we have received through the Word; inturn, the Word always accompanies the sacrament, allow-ing worshipers to participate in the sacrament with faithand understanding. Unfortunately, churches of theReformed tradition (from Calvin’s time to ours) havebeen reticent to embrace the full implications of Calvin’sconviction. In the first edition of the Institutes (1536)Calvin made a case for the weekly celebration of theLord’s Supper. The Genevan authorities compelled himto compromise on this position; Calvin agreed to month-ly celebrations of the sacrament, but for a brief time wasable to arrange a system of rotation by which the Supperwas celebrated in at one of the Geneva churches eachweek. Calvin’s Form of Church Prayers reflects this com-promise, providing for both patterns of worship—theLord’s Day Service of the Word as well as the Lord’s DayService with the Lord’s Supper. We might honor Calvin’svision of the church by reclaiming this integral relation-ship between Word and sacrament—particularly byincreasing the frequency of celebration of the Lord’sSupper, but also by recovering the role of Baptism asentry into the covenant community, the body of Christ.Word, Bath, and Meal belong together. As Calvin insist-ed in his famous “marks of the church”: “Wherever we seethe Word of God purely preached and heard, and thesacraments administered according to Christ’s institution,there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists”(Institutes 4.1.9).

At the conclusion of worship, the congregation typi-cally sang a psalm or the canticle of Simeon (Luke 2:29-32). The Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:24-26) fol-lowed—words that are still familiar in Reformed worship:“The Lord bless you and keep you.” Elsie Anne McKeehas suggested that (at least in Strasbourg) on Sundayswhen the Lord’s Supper was celebrated, worshipers madea special offering for the poor as they departed from thesanctuary. This clear sense of connection between beingnourished at the Lord’s Table and providing sustenancefor the poor is an idea worth recovering. As Calvin wrote,


Calvin is 500!

12

I offer this article as tribute to my late father-in-law,William Greenway Sr, who left this world that he so loved

on March 22, 2009. —C. Rigby

BY CYNTHIA RIGBY

Oh, how I will miss the world!” exclaims theReverend John Ames, protagonist of MarilynneRobinson’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel, Gilead

(115). An elderly man dying of heart disease, he says thisin the context of confessing that he enjoys waltzing(though he doesn’t really know how) and plans to domore of it (but only in the privacy of his study). He addsthat he had thought of keeping a book nearby that hecould hold in his hands if he felt himself dying of a heartattack as a result of his exertion. One of the books hethought he might publicize in this unorthodox way wasthe second volume of Calvin’s Institutes. “Which is by nomeans to slight Volume I,” he insists (Gilead, 115).

Most people don’t associate Calvin with waltzing,regardless of which volume of the Institutes they’re hold-ing. But Ames does, because Robinson does. It is possi-ble, in fact, that the work of Robinson holds more toredeem the dour Calvin of stereotypes than does thework of any other contemporary writer. Her pursuit andcelebration of the “real Calvin” is evident not only in hervery well known works of fiction but also, and even moreexplicitly, in her lesser-known works of nonfiction.

In her introduction to The Death of Adam, for exam-ple, Robinson warns her reader that she discusses Calvinin several of the essays in her book, identifying him as “afigure of the greatest historical consequence, especiallyfor our culture, who is more or less entirely unread”(Death, 12). She marvels at the fact that our society pres-sures us not to read Calvin. “The prohibition is moreabsolute than it ever was against Marx,” and is so strictlyadhered to that even “learned-looking books on subjectsto which he is entirely germane typically do not includea single work of his immense corpus in their bibliogra-phies” (Death, 12). Robinson minces no words in con-demning us for buying into the “folklore” about Calvinrather than “looking into” who he really was and what hewas really about (Death, 12).

Waltzing with CalvinAuthor Marilynne Robinson on Calvin and the love of this world

Cynthia Rigby is the W. C. Brown Professor of Theology atAustin Seminary. She is co-chair of the “Calvin Jubliee atMontreat” celebration, July 8-11, 2009.


And Robinson does look into it. While the Calvin offolklore supported the Empire, insisting that governingauthorities be obeyed even if they wielded power abusive-ly, the Calvin who wrote the Institutes took pains todescribe circumstances in which the revolt of the peopleis entirely justified (Death, 14-19). While the Calvin offolklore holds we must “crush all considerations ofhumanity” in our service to a “ruthless” God, the Calvinwho wrote a commentary on Psalm 139 insists “we are toseek the good of all” and that sinners are “to be reclaimedby kindness and good offices” (Death, 21-22). While theCalvin of folklore perpetuates orthodoxy, the Calvin who“is compelled and enthralled by an overwhelming aware-ness of the grandeur of God” is deeply heterodox, com-mitted to reform (Death, 188). While the Calvin of folk-lore is a Bible thumper, the Calvin who authored com-mentaries on almost every biblical book “creates a body ofinterpretation that is not allegorical, not analogical, andnot offered by him as certainly true” (Death, 191).

Robinson goes much further than correcting miscon-ceptions about Calvin and offering a “more balanced”picture. Her work cuts to the very center of who he is andwhat he thought and why it matters to who we are asmodern western people. In her Preface to John Calvin:Steward of God’s Covenant, the Thornton/Varenne anthol-ogy of his writings, for example, Robinson asserts that“nothing in Calvin’s thought is more striking than hisevocation of perception, which has the potency and thesplendor of a true apprehension of God” (Steward, xii).“His theology is compelled and enthralled by an over-whelming awareness of the grandeur of God” (Death,188); his “undeviating discipline … suggests … visionaryintensity” (Steward, xv).

Robinson emphasizes that what is so compellingabout Calvin’s vision is his “paradoxical” conviction thatthe God of glory is known not only in the expanse of thecosmos but also in the particularities of our day-to-daylives. Calvin’s radical conviction (influenced, in part, bythe humanism of his day) is that “the glory of God ‘shinesforth’ from human nature” and is “at the very center ofindividual experience and presence” (Steward, xv). Thesinfulness underscored by the Calvin of folklore certainlydoes characterize the fallen human condition, accordingto the actual Calvin. What is almost always missed, how-ever, is that Calvin understood sin to be an aberrationutterly inconsistent with our creation in God’s gloriousimage and our redemption in Jesus Christ. God’s plan forus is not that we, dulled by sinfulness, wait passively forGod to act. Rather, God desires to show forth God’s gloryin our acts of “creative freedom and ingenuity” (Steward,xxiii).

In Living By Fiction (HarperPerennial, 1988), AnnieDillard asks a question Robinson would answer emphati-cally with: “Calvin!” The question Dillard asks is: “Whointerprets the raw universe directly?” She asks this ques-tion as a way of bemoaning the fact that we westerners, oflate, seem to have given up on the search for meaning. Westudy only “human events and human artifacts,” saysDillard, but not “all we experience.” While theologiansshould be able to engage such interpretive work, Dillardobserves, they generally fail to offer fresh insight, insteadspeaking “the same hard words” (Living, 145-146). Herhope is in artists, whom she believes are uniquely suitedto the task (Living, 147).

One cannot read Robinson without being convincedthat Calvin is a theologian—and an artist—who interpretsthe raw world directly. He offers us, as Robinson shows, “aclear and wondrous and complex articulation of the “con-ceptual problem” that “lies at the center of all meaning”(Steward, xvi). And the problem is this: that “the Creator is,by his reckoning, utterly greater than any conception wecan form of his creation, and at the same time free, present,just, loving, and intimately attentive to fallen humankind,collectively and one by one … It is as if we were to pro-pose,” Robinson adds, reveling in Calvin’s insight, “thatthat great energy only exists to make possible our miracu-lously delicate participation in it” (Steward, xvi).

Robinson celebrates our miraculously delicate partic-ipation in this created world with every word she writes,with every character she creates. Astoundingly (especiallyfor those of us whose opinions are influenced more byfolklore than by exploration) the beauty of her prose andthe genuineness of her stories are shaped in conversationwith a 16th-century religious reformer whose contribu-tion she extols to the point of embarrassment. ButRobinson doesn’t really care if those who aren’t curiousidentify her as foolish, and she certainly isn’t readingCalvin because she thinks it will get her extra credit.Simply put: she immerses herself in his work, as one wholoves this world, in order to love it more deeply. Shewaltzes, in her study (and in Gilead, and in her Home),the Institutes ready at hand. And she insists, with Calvin,that we continue to see all things as meaningful, becausethere is meaning in it all. �

Selected Works of Marilynne RobinsonGilead, New York: Picador, 2004; Home, New York:Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008; The Death of Adam:Essays on Modern Thought. New York: Picador, 2005;Preface to John Calvin: Steward of God’s Covenant (SelectedWritings), eds. John F. Thornton and Susan B. Varenne,New York: Vintage Books, 2006.

Calvin is 500!

14

“John Calvin: His Life and Legacy”An interview with video producer Blake Richter (MDiv’82)

Austin Seminary alumnus Blake Richter(MDiv’82) took some time from his day job as pas-tor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in DeKalb, Illinois, to produce the video, “John Calvin:His Life and Legacy.” Available from the Office ofTheology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church(U.S.A.), the video includes a five-week, 20-pageprintable study guide and a 51-page PowerPointsupplement. To order, call 800-524-2612.

Richter, who has also produced a video forOTW on The Trinity, spoke with Windows aboutthe making of the new film on John Calvin.

What are the challenges of making a video about afigure who lived five centuries ago?I think he had a reputation for being kind of a sourpuss,a killjoy in some way. To revisit that time and to see himthrough fresh eyes was the biggest challenge. He reallyproved to be such a fertile figure for study. One of thebiggest challenges was thinning out what turned out tobe a great wealth of material about a truly remarkableman. He was someone who made deep and lastingfriendships, and that showed up again and again as weworked through his life. He just had a great capacity forcorrespondence and also truly the heart of a pastor as hewould reach out to people who had faced loss in variouskinds of ways. That was very unexpected, but it was cer-tainly part of what renewed our interest in him as weheard about his life and work.

©Leat, 2009


What was your familiarity with Calvin before begin-ning the project?I think I just knew him from what I’d read in seminary.I’ve returned a little bit to the Institutes and theCommentaries over the course of my ministry.

What was the nature of your research?I tried to read several of the most familiar biographies.And then articles and books by the people we had sched-uled to interview to better understand their interest andtheir expertise.

How did your understanding of Calvin evolve over thecourse of this project?The part that I was so surprised at was his practicalgrounding and saying something useful for the church.He’d expound a doctrine and then he’d say, This is how itmatters. This is how it makes a difference to theChristian life. That was unexpected and I think showedthat my own reading of Calvin had been a little shallowto begin with.

What would you say are the central themes of thevideo?I think understanding the character of God in Calvin’stheology, recognizing that loving parent who is so inti-mately present to us in the reality of Jesus Christ andmade real by the Spirit’s work in our heart. From thatfoundation it’s possible then to think about the work inthe church, realizing we’re always working among fallenand redeemed people who therefore should exercisepower amidst community with checks on that power.And then to understand how we can impact the world. Itall starts with understanding of the Triune God but fromthere we move to the church and the world. Those are, Ithink the key themes of the video and what I really hopecomes out through the work.

What do you consider to be Calvin’s greatest contri-bution?I think this conviction that theological reflection shouldmatter. That it should have a consequence for the personin the pew. That because of what we understand aboutthe Doctrine of God, or the nature of the church, or eventhe church in relation to the world, all those things havepractical implications for how the life of faith is lived out.I think that legacy is a great one for wherever we findourselves in the church. It should be the theme of ourtheological reflection in many respects, that this mattersto the church and to the world.

Talk about the decision to tackle some of Calvin’smore challenging issues: predestination, total deprav-ity, the execution of Servetus?We knew they would be part of our discussion from thestart. If people know one thing about Calvin it was theDoctrine of Predestination and if they knew two thingsabout Calvin, it was the burning of Servetus. To under-stand what he actually meant in the case of predestina-tion and to try to reflect on the historical circumstancesabout the execution of Servetus, and what Calvin’s actu-al role was. That doesn’t in any way excuse the city ofGeneva or even Calvin for his role, but to just make surewe knew the history. That was always the goal. We felt ifwe didn’t address those topics in some way we’d miss themark.

Talk about the locations you visited.We went to France to the John Calvin Museum, toGeneva to the museum there. We went up to Rotterdamjust to shoot the statue of Erasmus: a twelve-hour drivefor 14 seconds’ worth of video—plus we nearly killedourselves cutting in front of a trolley car! We shot a num-ber of locations around France to get a feel for what pietywould have been like in the time of Calvin. So we triedto shoot number of churches and cathedrals that wouldhave embodied what that era would have felt like. In theU.S. we did an east coast swing, Union, Princeton, Yale,and a west coast swing. There was a lot of travelinvolved—from Geneva to Southern California.

Describe the role of the producer?The classic understanding is the producer produces thecontent for the director to direct. In my case, content asit related to location and interviews, those scripted piecesthat show up in the work. In the case of the documen-tary, the script becomes that verbal story line made up ofeach of those clips. So my primary task is to put one clipnext to another in a way that told a story and makessense.

Some of the most striking things don’t relate to whatis said, and those are the fruit of my partner’s imagina-tion. I can say we need to go to Chartres and shoot somestuff but he’s the one that makes it worth watching.

How does ‘film producer’ fit into your role as pastorof Westminster PC?There isn’t a direct connection. This is mostly somethingthat happens on vacation. The church was very support-ive and granted me a month’s sabbatical. They havefound my work is enriched by my exposure to the greatthemes and great figures of the Christian faith.

15

Calvin is 500!

we would be unable to worship in that space, I preacheda five-part sermon series entitled “The Furnishings of theFaith.” It was an attempt not just to acquaint the congre-gation with the theological and liturgical assumptionsgoverning the changes that were coming in the sanctuary,but also to focus upon what I suggested were the fivemost important furnishings in that or any church—thepulpit, the font, the table, the Bible, and the pew. My textfor the sermon on the table was the Parable of theProdigal Son. Taking my cue from the hospitality provid-ed by the father in that parable, I wanted the church toimagine how big the eucharistic table would need to be inorder to provide such hospitality.

“I want that table to be hard for us to miss,” I said inthat sermon. “I want that table to be so prominent in thischurch that, in our approaching it and going from it, wecannot help but catch a glimpse of that joyful and hum-ble host who regularly prepares at the table an extravagantfeast, and not because of who we are but because of whoHe is. He is the One who sets at the table a magnificentbanquet which we’re not always sure we want, or need,but which, over time, warms us up in spite of ourselvesuntil old grudges are forgiven and new pleasures are expe-rienced and we start to notice a sense of reconciliationand joy that we have never known before. He is the Onewho celebrates our presence here, and who at the sametime steps out into the cold to scan the horizon for theone who isn’t here yet. He is the One who sends us outinto the world with the hope that, at each one of thenumerous tables at which we sit, we might strive to be aswelcoming at our tables as he is at his. I want a table inthis church that is prominent and visible enough to serveas a lively symbol of persistent Christian hospitality andto remind us of the One who is present Himself in thebreaking of the bread. Because, after all, we’re not achurch without a table!”

Preaching SacramentallyIndeed. We are not a church without a table. Moreover, weare not a church without a font. Here in the first chapterof the twenty-first century, we know that now—far better,perhaps, than ever. The power of the Gospel is diminishedby any assumption that table and font somehow play less-er roles in the proclamation than we have traditionallyexpected of the pulpit. Or, to put it positively, the powerof the Gospel is in fact enhanced by an approach to theministry of preaching that remembers—day in and dayout—that, as Fred Craddock once put it, “there is not one

16

Do you think this will have an impact on your min-istry?It has had enormous impact on my ministry already. Toreturn to the roots and remember how much Calvinbelieved lay people were capable of. And how much hewas ready to put the governing of the church and thehealth of the church into the hands of the people we nowidentify as lay. I think that was just an extraordinaryinsight. His persistence in educating everyone in the wayof the faith. Those were unexpected joys to encounteralong the way.

He had a remarkable insight about the role of chil-dren and a unique understanding of baptism. He sort ofdiffered from the traditional view that this is all aboutcleansing of sin. He wanted to add, No, it’s their right toreceive this benefit of the Spirit.

The intimacy of his own personal relationship withGod was another unexpected encounter. While he waseager to affirm God’s ultimate sovereignty over historyand creation, he also spoke in such intimate terms aboutGod as that loving parent who looks with favor on eventhe broken and incomplete gifts that children offer backto their loving parents.

Has your congregation noticed any difference?Well, I’m sure it seems like I can’t preach now withouttalking about Calvin. I hope that great sense of intimacy,the thanksgiving that poured out of his work, I hope thathas become more and more reflected in the work in I do.Right now we’re doing a Lenten study on Calvin. We’vegotten to class two and so far the folks are hanging inthere pretty well.

How do you expect the video to be used?It’s already being used in classroom settings. A lot of peo-ple are using the 5-part study guide—you teach five class-es, you watch a little bit of the video, and then have a dis-cussion. Our hope also is that people will watch the filmall the way through a couple of times because it’s intend-ed to flow that way. We worked hard to make it an hours’worth of material.

Anything final thoughts?I have a strong sense of gratitude to Joe Small [of theOffice of Theology and Worship] for his vision for theproject and my partner Vernon Leat for his great creativeability and to each one of those scholars who took thetime to talk to two guys on camera. Everyone was so gra-cious to us—it speaks volumes that people were wiling togive us so much time and to treat us so kindly all alongthe way. �

Sacramental preachingContinued from page 9


“For as often as we partake of the symbol of the Lord’sbody, as a token given and received, we reciprocally bindourselves to all the duties of love in order that none of usmay permit anything that can harm our brother, or over-look anything that can help him, where necessitydemands and ability suffices” (Institutes 4.17.44).

There are other elements of our Reformed liturgicalinheritance that must be mentioned—features not imme-diately apparent in Calvin’s Form of Church Prayers, but noless significant. The “full, conscious, and active participa-tion” (to borrow anachronistically from the language ofVatican II) of the assembly was a paramount concern forCalvin. One important implication, of course, was procla-mation and prayer in the language of the people—a tenetCalvin held in common with fellow Reformers.Congregational service books, first introduced inReformed worship, were an outgrowth of that desire forfull participation on the part of the people of God.

Another ramification of this principle was thesinging of psalms: a primary means of popular participa-tion in public worship. It is well known that Calvin lim-ited music in worship to the singing of psalms and otherbiblical canticles. This injunction might seem less restric-tive, however, were we to recall that Calvin consideredthe Psalter to be “An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul”(a phrase from the preface to his 1557 commentary onPsalms). Calvin encouraged and relished the singing ofpsalms—to the extent that, in 1539, he penned the firstdraft of the book that would become the 1562 GenevanPsalter—the source of a number of beloved, contempo-rary hymn tunes. Though we certainly wouldn’t want tojettison the treasury of modern hymnody, we would dowell to embrace the expansive emotional range and theo-logical depth and breadth of the psalms, following theexample of our Reformed forebears.

Yet another signature of Reformed worship is its sim-plicity (some would say austerity) of form, eschewal ofostentatious ceremony, and wariness of idolatry. Calvinreserved the full wrath of his sometimes-poisonous prose

17

Worship and musicContinued from page 11

The mythology of CalvinContinued from page 3

baseless. Calvin urged the courts to spare Servetus fromburning, which Calvin considered a barbarous method ofexecution—and to behead Servetus instead. Okay, this onesounds like cold comfort even to me, and even if Calvinthought Servetus “had it coming” (to quote ClintEastwood). The fact that Calvin believed the church waslocked in a life and death struggle with Servetus and thatthe magistrates had no other responsible alternative thanto execute him does not necessarily mean that Calvin wassadistic, though he does appear to have been a pretty typ-ical product of a cruel age on this score. The burning ofServetus ignited a firestorm of controversy amongProtestants as to whether such measures are ever justified.Incidentally, Servetus was opposed to the use of force topromote religion long before he was sentenced to death. �

NOTE1. Molly Worthen, “Who Would Jesus Smack Down?”

The New York Times Magazine, January 11, 2009, 23.

Calvin is 500!

square-inch in all creation in which, if one looks hardenough, one cannot find carved the initials of God.”Often hidden beneath the surface of things, those initialsare nonetheless there, and ready to be unearthed for theglory of God and the edification of the church. The peo-ple in the pew are betting their lives on it, and I believethat Calvin was, too. It would be a shame for those of uswho claim him as an ancestor not to notice. �

for the excesses of the medieval mass. He warned thathuman nature is a “perpetual factory of idols” (Institutes1.11.8), an admonition that still rings true in a societyenthralled by celebrity and commerce. Here, however, aword of caution is in order. Calvin and his progeny werewont to substitute dry didacticism for the subtlety andsplendor of liturgical symbolism and action, throwingout the proverbial baby with the baptismal bathwater.The children of the Reformation still have a tendency totalk the liturgy to death. (Confession of sin: I believe Ihave just exceeded the proposed word limit for this arti-cle.) I think we can retain Calvin’s appropriate regard forsimplicity and concern about idolatry without sacrificingthe mystery and meaning of Christian worship.

In the spirit of our theological ancestor John Calvin,I could no doubt devote four books to the topic of hiscontributions to Reformed worship. This brief essay willhave to suffice. God be praised! �

For Further ReflectionFor accessible and engaging introductions to Calvin’s liturgicallegacy see Bard Thompson’s Liturgies of the Western Church(Fortress Press, 1980) and Elsie Anne McKee’s John Calvin:Writings on Pastoral Piety (Paulist Press, 2001). I have relied onboth sources for this article; all quotations from Calvin’s Formof Church Prayers are from the former. See also B. A. Gerrish’sGrace and Gratitude (Fortress Press, 1993); Gerrish makes acompelling case that Calvin’s whole theological project mightbe understood as a eucharistic theology, in the sense that ithinges on God’s abundant grace and our grateful response.

Austin Seminary welcomed morethan 200 guests from 22 states

to MidWinters, February 2-4.Through lectures, conversation, andworship services, Thomas G. Long,Mary Louise Bringle, PaulWestermeyer, and Scott BlackJohnston provided thought-provok-ing experiences in a variety of areas.For those unable to attend, all of thelectures are available for streamingon our web site(www.austinseminary.edu; go to the“media gallery” and scroll down themenu under “Select a channel” to“Sermons and Lectures.”)

Members of the Classes of 1959and 1969 enjoyed conversation overreunion lunches, and more recentgraduates shared special fellowshipopportunities. On Tuesday after-noon, Carroll Pickett (MDiv’57),author of Within These Walls, hosteda screening of “At the Death HouseDoor,” the award-winning docu-mentary based on his ministry in theTexas prison system. Pickett alsodelivered the keynote address at theAustin Seminary Association (ASA)Annual Meeting and Banquet.

Outgoing President FrankYates (MDiv’75) presided over theASA meeting introducing 2009ASA President Patty Herndon(MDiv’93) and President-ElectBelinda Windham (MDiv’91). Thefollowing alumni/ae were elected toserve on the board: Richard Culp(MDiv’93), Gerald Goodridge(MDiv’02), David Green(MDiv’95), Nancy Mossman(MDiv’88), and Sabelyn Pussman(MDiv’05).

Honored during the meetingwere the Seminary’s 2009

Distinguished Service recipientsMarvin Griffin (DMin’90) andBob Lively (MDiv’73).

Rodney Swisher (MDiv’98)introduced the first award winnerwith these words: “Even from thetime of his call to the ministry thatbegan some sixty-nine years ago,until the present moment, Dr.Griffin has never been one to dwellvery long in the realm of the theo-retical and overly cautious delibera-tion. He has always been a ‘Just DoIt’ kind of preacher.”

He went on to note that Griffinhas been involved in numerous reli-gious and civic affiliations whichfurther the mission of the church.Griffin has been pastor for fifty-eight years in Waco and at theEbenezer Baptist Church in Austin

18

COMMUNITY NEWS

MidWinters draws enthusiastic crowd; ASA banquet honors graduates and alumni

where he still serves. He is corre-sponding secretary of theMissionary Baptist GeneralConvention of Texas, president ofSt. John District Congress, and acertified deacon trainer for theSouthern Baptist Convention.Griffin served on the AustinSeminary Board of Trustees from1993-2001. He has been a force foreconomic change in his communityand helped guide the formation ofthe East Austin EconomicDevelopment Corporation and thecompletion of a 12–unit seniorhousing complex. “As a teacher andauthor,” concluded Swisher, “he hasbeen an exemplary pastor, preacher,counselor, and friend to all.”

Mike Murray (MDiv’61) intro-duced recipient Bob Lively by say-

The highlight of the 2009 MidWinters were the lectures and worship servicesled by, from left, Thomas G. Long, Scott Black Johnston, Mary Louise Bringle,and Paul Westermeyer.


ney. The Janie Maxwell MorrisFellowship was established in 1953by a bequest from Mrs. MiltonMorris of Austin.

This year’s $3000 W. P. NewellMemorial Fellowship winner wasJoseph Moore. Moore is a memberof Central Presbyterian Church,Austin, where he also completed hisstudent internship. He received aBA (communication) from TrinityUniversity. Prior to entering semi-nary Moore worked as a hiking andmountain biking guide in Arizona.Moore is a Jean Brown Scholar. In1946 an endowment was establishedby Mrs. W. P. Newell of Albany,Texas, as a memorial to her late hus-band, W. P. (Dick) Newell. Theincome from this fund to be used fora graduate study fellowship or other

ing “To cover his life and work inthe brief amount of time allotted, Ithought it might be appropriate tojust hold up his books.” He furthernoted some of Lively’s accomplish-ments: outstanding alumni awardfrom Austin College; founder of theStewpot ministry at FirstPresbyterian Church in Dallaswhich, to this day, feeds 400 home-less people every noon; director ofthe Samaritan Counseling Center inAustin for several years; theologian-in-residence and a wonderfully pop-ular adult church school teacher atRiverbend Church, St Matthew’sEpiscopal Church, and FirstPresbyterian Church, all in Austin;and for over twenty years has writtenmore than 500 widely read columnsin the Austin American Statesman. A

consummate storyteller, Lively thenstepped to the podium and regaledthe audience with moments fromhis Austin Seminary experience.

At the conclusion of the meet-ing, five senior students received thehighest honors given by AustinSeminary and a combined $27,000in grant monies for further study.

The Maxwell MorrisFellowship, with a stipend of $2000,was given to Traci Truly to pursueadditional graduate-level study.Truly is a member of FirstPresbyterian Church, Garland,Texas, and completed an internshipat Westminster Presbyterian Churchin Dallas. She received a BBA fromBaylor University and a JD fromBaylor Law School. Prior to enteringseminary, she was a practicing attor-

Distinguished awardwinners MarvinGriffin, far left, andBob Lively, far right,were introduced byRodney Swisher,near left, and MikeMurray, near right.

Winners of the senior awards include: Laura Hudson, The Stitt Fellowship;Megan Dosher, The Pile-Morgan Fellowship; Cody Sandhal, The Alsup-FriersonFellowship; Joseph Moore, The W. P. Newell Fellowship; and Traci Truly, TheJanie Maxwell Morris Fellowship.

Between the lec-tures and worshipthere was a timefor conversationwith the speakersand book signingsby the faculty.

20

vehicle to enrich the life of a persontraining for the Christian ministry.

The $4000 Alsup-FriersonFellowship, given “to enable thehonoree to pursue further study inthe biblical field toward the end offostering the ongoing dialogue withscripture in preaching and teaching,within the context of an ecclesiasti-cal calling,” was awarded to CodySandahl. A native of Austin,Sandahl is a member of CommunityPresbyterian Church in PortAransas. He completed his student

COMMUNITY NEWS

internship at Shepherd of the HillsPresbyterian Church and alsoworked with youth at CovenantPresbyterian Church, both inAustin. He received a BA (computerscience) from The University ofTexas at Austin. Before enteringseminary, Cody was a software engi-neer. Sandahl was a Jean BrownScholar and has accepted a call asassociate pastor of discipleship atFirst Presbyterian Church,Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. TheAlsup-Frierson Fellowship for

Excellence in Biblical Studies andHermeneutics was established in2005 by the families of ProfessorJohn and Carole Alsup ofGeorgetown, Texas, and formerTrustee Clarence and BettyFrierson of Shreveport, Louisiana.

The winner of the $8000 Pile-Morgan Fellowship for 2009 isMegan Dosher. Selection of thisgrantee is made on the basis ofChristian character, scholarship, andpersonal ability. Dosher is a mem-ber of University Presbyterian

And there was plenty of time forfellowship! Special events wereheld for members of the Class of1959, 1969, 2006-2008, andthe chalk-throwing former stu-dents of Professor Scott BlackJohnston.

Class of 1959

Class of 1969


Church, Seattle, Washington, whocompleted an internship at St.Andrews in Marble Falls. Shereceived a BS (chemistry) from theUniversity of Washington. Whilepreparing to seek a call as a pastorDosher plans to pursue an intensivecourse in Arabic and work in theMiddle East. The Pile-MorganFellowship, established in 1984 inhonor of Leo V. Pile and HelenPorter Pile of Harlingen, andEdmond Holland Morgan andEstella Martin Morgan of Dallas, isawarded to a senior for the purposeof post-MDiv advanced studies.

The 2009 David L. StittFellowship recipient is LauraHudson, who will receive a grant of$10,000. Hudson is a member ofFirst Presbyterian Church of Sitka,Alaska, and is completing a year-long internship at First PresbyterianChurch, Monroe, Louisiana. Shereceived a BA (sociology andanthropology) from Lewis & ClarkCollege in Portland, Oregon. Priorto entering seminary, Hudsonserved as a Peace Corps volunteer inBangladesh and as a PC(USA)Young Adult Volunteer inGuatemala and Tucson, Arizona.She is a Jean Brown Fellow. TheAlumni/ae Association of AustinSeminary established the David L.Stitt Fellowship for continued studyin 1971 in honor of the Seminary’sfourth president. The Board of theAustin Seminary Association grantsthe award to one member of the sen-ior class on the basis of scholarship,Christian character, personality, andability.

Make plans now for AustinSeminary’s 2010 MidWinters onFebruary 1-3, when RodgerNishioka, Brian Blount, BarbaraWheeler, and Thomas Currie(MDiv’73) will participate.

Ann Fields retires as VP

The Reverend Dr. AnnFields (MDiv’98) retires

in April from her position asvice president for studentaffairs and vocation.

“We will certainly missAnn as she moves into retire-ment. She has been a superbadministrator of student serv-ices, a caring pastor, a faithfulsteward of the Seminary’strust, an officer of theSeminary, and a delightfulcolleague,” says PresidentTheodore Wardlaw. “It hasbeen a special privilege toknow and work with Ann,and to count her as a trusted friend. She has steadfastly represented the con-cerns and needs of students in all of our Cabinet deliberations.”

Fields began her eight-year tenure in the Seminary’s administration asinterim director of admissions. She was promoted to vice president for stu-dent affairs in 2001 and since September 2008 has also presided over theOffice of Vocation, handling matters related to vocation and the placement ofgraduating students. Ordained in the United Methodist Church, Fields is theauthor of A Time to Speak: A History in Celebration of Clergywomen of theSouthwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. She holds graduatedegrees from Austin Seminary, Southwest Texas State University (now TexasState), and the University of Texas.

Fields has long been a sponsor and participant in Austin Seminary’s“Faithful Flyers” bicycle team which raises money for AIDS services. An avidoutdoorswoman, she has retained her membership in the Girls Scouts ofAmerica for fifty-nine years; serving for twenty years as chair of the regionalScholarship Committee. In 2007 she received the Thanks Badge, the highestaward given to an adult in scouting. In retirement, Fields is looking forwardto working for the Yellowstone Association in the national park during thesummers and doing short-term interim ministry work for the UnitedMethodist Church the remainder of the year.

Nestled amongsome TexasBluebonnets arethe communi-ties’ seven newestmembers: Liam,Nathanial,Paul, Naomi,Joseph, Ella,and Selah.Welcome spring arrivals!

Ann receives a hug from one of the hundreds ofstudents she’s shepherded through seminary.

22

COMMUNITY NEWS

Jackie Saxon named vice president forstudent affairs and vocation

Austin Seminary has promoted The Reverend Jackie Saxon (MDiv’00),currently admissions counselor at Austin Seminary, to the position of vice

president for student affairs and vocation, effective May 1. An alumna of theSeminary, Saxon comes to the new position with demonstrated gifts foradministration, personal accessibility, and pastoral leadership. She succeedsThe Reverend Dr. Ann Fields who retires in April.

Student life and vocational and placement services are critical to students’success during their time on campus, as well as when they seek to servechurches and other ministries upon graduation. Says Austin SeminaryPresident Theodore J. Wardlaw, “Jackie is particularly well-suited to managethe multiple demands of this position. She will do so with efficiency, care,compassion, humor, and faithfulness to this school and its mission.”

Prior to Saxon’s current position, she was the associate pastor ofUniversity Baptist Church, Austin, from 1998 to 2006. Jackie earned a BBAwith an emphasis in finance and banking from Howard University inWashington, D.C., in 1984 and an MDiv from Austin Seminary in 2000.Before attending seminary, she was a financial analyst with IBM in both NewYork State and Austin. She was ordained in the American Baptist Church in2001 and is currently a member of Church of the Savior, an A.B.C. church inCedar Park, Texas. She continues to serve in various leadership roles on anational level within the American Baptist Churches, U.S.A. program boardsand committees. She is also a member of the Austin Seminary AssociationAlumni/ae Board and other local councils and committees. Originally fromRochester, New York, Saxon made Austin her home in 1990.

Dearman to leaveAustin Seminary

The Reverend Dr. J. AndrewDearman, professor of Old

Testament for more than twenty-seven years, has accepted a post atFuller Theological Seminary. Effec-tive July 1, 2009, Dearman willbecome Fuller’s associate dean ofthe School of Theology, professor ofOld Testament, and director of theFuller Texas regional campus inHouston.

“Andy Dearman has been asuperb Old Testament scholar, ahighly respected archeologist, aneffective dean, and—most signifi-cantly—a caring teacher,” says Pres-ident Theodore J. Wardlaw. “He hasnot simply taught Old Testament;more profoundly, he has taught andmodeled the meaning of ministryand vocation. Students across sever-al generations are indebted to himand gratefully recall his influence.”

Dearman joined the faculty ofAustin Seminary in 1982 andserved as academic dean from 1997-2003. He is a graduate of the Uni-versity of North Carolina, PrincetonTheological Seminary, and EmoryUniversity. An experienced archaeo-logical researcher in the MiddleEast, he is the author of six booksincluding Jeremiah and Lamenta-tions (Zondervan, 2002) and Hosea(Eerdmans, in press), as well asmore than forty entries in theHarper Collins Bible Dictionary,Revised Edition. Dearman is pasteditor of Horizons in Biblical Theol-ogy and has served on the editorialboard of the Journal of Biblical Lit-erature for the Society of BiblicalLiterature.

Starting in the fall, Dr. W.Eugene March (MDiv’60) willshare in the teaching of Old Testa-ment courses.

Grant to assist indiversity educationprogram

Austin Seminary has beenawarded a grant in the amount

of $20,000 from the Wabash Cen-ter for Teaching and Learning inTheology and Religion to enhancediversity in its work of theologicaleducation. The grant will help funda project to make Austin Seminary’sstudents, faculty, and administra-tors aware of racial/ethnic differ-ences; understand sources, dynam-ics, and outcomes of racial/ethnicidentity and racism; attain skills toresist racial/ethnic biases; learn tolive and work in solidarity withthose who are different; and acquireskills to mobilize congregations forthis work.

David F. White, The C. Ellisand Nancy Gribble Nelson Associ-ate Professor of Christian Educa-tion, who authored the grant pro-posal, says, “Austin Seminary, likemuch of the United States, exists atthe intersection of multiple ethniccultures where congregations mustnavigate in light of Christian faith.We believe the promise of welcomeand inclusion of earliest Christiani-ty has not yet been realized. If thewalls of separation are to comedown, there is work to be done intheological education concerninghow we train students who willprovide leadership in churches andcommunities. We are pleased to beamong organizations participatingin the advancement of this impor-tant work.”

Beginning this fall, AustinSeminary plans to inaugurate itsdiversity in theological educationprogram, which will include facultydiscussions, campus workshops androundtable discussions, and consul-tations in course development.


COMMUNITY NEWS

Seminary responds to global economic conditions withchanges in staff, financial aid, and benefits

Austin Seminary has made necessary adjustments as a direct result of thenation’s economic recession and reduced capital available to it from its

endowment. Almost 70% of the Seminary’s funding comes from its endow-ment, which has declined approximately 32% over the past eighteen months.

Cassandra Carr, chair of Austin Seminary’s Board of Trustees comment-ed, “The Austin Seminary Board’s reaction to the current economic situationwas to take action now, so that we can confidently move toward the future,continuing to equip servant leaders for the church and community.”

After months of deliberations, the board of trustees and Austin Seminary’scabinet implemented Seminary-wide changes including the following: reduc-tions in departmental budgets; a hiring freeze for faculty and staff, subject topresidential review, except for certain searches already underway such as theLouis H. and Katherine S. Zbinden Chair of Pastoral Ministry andLeadership; a freeze on salaries and changes in employee benefits; a reductionof the maximum need-based student financial aid from 90% to 85%; a reduc-tion in the pension benefit for all employees on the TIAA/CREF retirementplan from 12% to 6%, effective July 1, 2009; reductions of some positionsfrom full-time to half-time; the combination of some positions; and the elim-ination of nine staff positions.

Seminary President Theodore J. Wardlaw says, “All of these reductions willhave an immediate impact upon this Seminary community, none so much asthe loss of persons who have ably served our community, alums, churches,guests, and each other. Each of these persons made this Seminary betterthrough their presence here, and we will miss each one of them mightily.”

Austin Seminary, like many institutions, is currently facing serious finan-cial constraints due to the global economic recession. At its February meeting,the Seminary Board of Trustees instructed the administration to significantlyreduce its annual budget; these changes are in response to that directive.

About two dozen students visited the Holy Land during the January term,led by Professor Andy Dearman, top row, center.

24

COMMUNITY NEWSThe Reverend Jackie Saxon (MDiv’00) was the Martin Luther King Com-memorative Preacher, February 10. Also participating in the service was thechoir from Huston Tillotson University in Austin.

On February 17-19 the joint team from the Association of TheologicalSchools (ATS) and The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Associationof Colleges and Schools (SACS) visited campus conducting their on-siteaccreditation visit, a process the Seminary goes through every ten years. Thefinal report from the team is due in December.

The Reverend Dr. William Storrar, director of the Center of TheologicalInquiry, presented the 2009 Settles Lectures on Mission and Evangelism,March 24-25. He delivered two lectures on mission and public theology, “TheCommon Ground” and “The Creative Tension.”

Austin Seminary Trustee Elizabeth Christian is being honored by the GirlScouts of Central Texas. Named a Woman of Distinction, Christian will berecognized at an awards luncheon on April 16. The president of ElizabethChristian and Associates Public Relations, she has served on Austin Seminary’sBoard since 2007.

Austin Seminary’s Houston Extension program will sponsor a Spring Forumon “The Fundamentals of Fundamentalism” April 26 at Memorial DrivePresbyterian Church in Houston. The guest speaker will be Jill Carroll, exec-utive director of the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement ofReligious Tolerance at Rice University.

Trustee Emeritus Max Sherman will be honored for his community service atSeton Cove of Austin’s “Celebrating the Creative Spirit” Arts and Music Eventon May 13, 2009. Explains the organization: “honoring the creative spirit inone another we reflect wisdom, integrity, faith, hope, and love. Seton Cove ispleased to honor Max Sherman for exemplifying such a well-lived life.”

Students celebrate with Professor John Ahn, center top, at the conclusion of theirintroduction to Hebrew class in January. Thanks to the curriculum changes, thisis the last year that Hebrew will be taught in January; beginning in 2010 itwill be offered during the regular spring term.

Planning begins fornext campaign

In the midst of economic hard-ships, the Seminary has formed acommittee to study the feasibility ofthe next capital campaign. “Somemight wonder how the Seminary’sBoard of Trustees, in the midst of aglobal recession and very real exter-nal pressures to reduce our budget,would be looking toward our nextcomprehensive campaign,” saysSeminary President Ted Wardlaw.“It is our strong conviction that thecurrent economic woes do not pre-vent us from thinking faithfullyabout the contours of our future, forthese tough times will not last forev-er. The story of this Seminary, justlike the story of our faith, is filledwith instances in which thoughtfulpeople dreamed big dreams even inthe midst of tough times—dreamswhich in due course became reality.This is why we’re still dreamingtoward a future that is itself runningtoward us!”

Members of the committeeinclude: Trustee Thomas Are,Prairie Village, Kansas; Ruben P.Armendariz (MDiv’61), SanAntonio; Board Chair Cassandra C.Carr, Austin; G. Archer Frierson,Shreveport; Trustee Richard D.Gillham, Dallas; Rev. Lynn S.Hargrove (MDiv’01), Bellaire,Texas; Committee Chair JohnHartman, Houston; Patricia Lee(MDiv’05), Metairie, Louisiana;John McCoy (MDiv’63), Dallas;Asante Todd (MDiv’06), Nashville;Trustee John Van Osdall, Houston;Melinda Veatch (MDiv’96), FortWorth, Texas; Trustee Elizabeth C.Williams, Dallas; Trustee HughWilliamson, Denver; Frank Yates(MDiv’75), Albuquerque, NewMexico; and Trustee Emeritus LouisH. Zbinden, San Antonio.


Nearly every month,several good friends

gather for a birthday lunchand then take up a free-will collection to send toAustin Seminary.

Years ago all of theseladies belonged to thesame church in Odessa,Texas. After several yearsof struggling, the churchfinally closed in 1993. Thepresbytery sold the proper-ty and, at the request ofSession, sent a portion ofthe proceeds to AustinSeminary to establish TheSt. Paul PresbyterianChurch Scholarship Fund.

The women of the church drifted apart, eventually joining other church-es in town. “We were lost for a while,” remembers Betty Sue Dale. “We wentfor a few years and did not try to get together. Then one of us turned 70 andI thought it’d be great if we’d all get together for lunch to celebrate her birth-day. We called the ladies who were with the church when it closed and we gotthe initial sixteen members of the group from that. We never intended tomake it an ongoing thing, but we were together for about two hours and justrealized how much we’d missed each other. We realized we had really grownup in the church together—as young women we’d watched our children grow,we’d gone through trials and tribulations and sadnesses—and we just didn’twant to let that go again.”

Soon, Mary Taylor, suggested that instead of buying and bringing birth-day cards they use the money to build up the scholarship fund at theSeminary. From the initial funding of $33,500, they have grown the fund toalmost $46,000. Citing a goal of $50,000, they made a covenant with eachother that if the goal is not yet reached, “the last one standing would fund it,”laughs Betty. “I think some of the younger women are holding their breath!”

Over the years they have exchanged a lively correspondence with studentswho have benefited from the scholarship and even attended one’s graduation.These relationships have reinforced their enthusiasm for giving: “Some of usthat are older,” says Betty Sue, “we just think education is the secret to thegrowth of our church and our faith.”

The Session hoped that the scholarship fund would perpetuate the nameof St. Paul; something positive to come from the closing of the church. “Wehave grown to realize that we had clung to the church for too many years,”says Betty Sue. “We could have been working for the Lord in other waysrather than trying to prop up the church in a building. We’ve all matured. Wemiss our old church, but we have this in common. We are working towardthis scholarship for a church that we dearly love.”

Seminary employeestouch the future

You may remember this bumpersticker: “I touch the future. I

teach.”Not all of us employees of

Austin Seminary teach. Some do,but some of us shelve books, somekeep the buildings sparkling, someanswer phones, some maintain data-bases, some recruit new students.But all of us do touch the future.

We do this through the workwe do every day in the classroom,the library, the administrativeoffices, the residence halls.Everything we do touches thefuture because everything we do

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Austin Seminary Part-ners are a special group ofdonors who make a sig nificantcommitment of their financialresources in support of the ongo -ing work of the Seminary. Part-nership luncheons, held in citiesthroughout the Synod of the Sunand in neighboring states, givepotential donors an opportunityto learn about Austin Seminary’smission. Partners pledge to sup-port the Annual Fund at a level of$1,000-$5,000 per year for threeyears. The remaining Partner-ship events for 2009 are:

April 16: Kerrville

May 7: Central Texas

Sept. 10: Corpus Christi

Oct. 1: Midland

Oct. 29: Kansas City

Nov. 12: Shreveport

Contact Sandy Wilder, at 512-404-4806, for more information.

Long-time friends invest time, faith, and gifts tobenefit Austin Seminary students


The “Lost Tribe of St. Paul” include (top row):Betty Sue Dale, Helen Beal, Jo Lynne Harwell, JoPerry, Frances Shintani, and Mary Taylor; (seated)Gloria Augesen and Evelyn McIntyre. Not pic-tured are Marivonne Brumbelow and BettyLangston.

Charitable Gift Annuity

Giving is a wonderful expression of faith, but financialrestraints often hinder the ability to contribute. If you want tomake a gift to Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary butalso need income, a charitable gift annuity can be an answer.

A charitable gift annuity isan irrevocable gift thatprovides you (or someoneyou name) a stable, setamount every year for life.The annual payment isbased on age and whenpayments start and couldyield more than yourcurrent investments (seetable at right). At the endof your life, you make aspecial and enduring gift to strengthen Austin PresbyterianTheological Seminary.

For more information contact: Elizabeth Shumaker, Director ofDevelopment, 800-777-6127, ext. 4803 [email protected]

26

FACULTY NOTES

John Alsup, the D. ThomasonFirst Presbyterian Church,Shreveport, Professor of NewTestament Studies, and his wife,Carole, attended their 50th highschool reunion in NorthHollywood, California.

Whit Bodman, associate professorof comparative religion, met withPCUSA college chaplains and host-ed a group of seven Turkish imamshere on a State Department visit.He and a group of students aremeeting with a group of Muslimsevery two weeks in a Bible-Qur'anstudy. He gave a paper “Which ofthe Lord's blessings shall we deny?”at a conference in Baton Rouge.

Allan H. Cole, the Nancy TaylorWilliamson Associate Professor ofPastoral Care has written a chapteron bereavement in The ChurchLeader’s Guide to Mental Heath andSocial Problems, Cynthia Franklinand Rowena Fong, eds. (OxfordUniversity Press, forthcoming) andwrote studies on suicide, congrega-tional loss, hospital visitation, andconflict prevention and resolutionfor “The Thoughtful Christian”and “The Presbyterian Leader.”

In January Associate Professor ofHomiletics Jennifer Lord present-ed “Images for Preaching from theRevised Common Lectionary” atthe North American Academy ofLiturgy in Baltimore where she alsoconvened the Liturgical Languageseminar group. She preached andlectured at Covenant PresbyterianChurch, Oklahoma City. Her essay“Preaching: Some Affirmations andAdmonitions” is included in theWJK volume Best Advice: Wisdomon Ministry from 30 Pastors andPreachers, William J. Carl, ed.

ONE LIFEAge Rate55 4.8%60 5.0%65 5.3%70 5.7%75 6.3%80 7.1%85 8.1%90+ 9.5%

TWO LIVES

Age Rate

50/55 3.9%

60/65 4.8%

65/70 5.0%

70/75 5.3%

75/80 5.8%

80/85 6.5%

helps “to educate and equip indi-viduals for the ordained Christianministry and other forms ofChristian service and leadership”(from the Austin Seminary MissionStatement).

We also touch the futurethrough our payroll contributionstoward the Seminary’s AnnualFund, which provides tuition assis-tance, housing, computer equip-ment, library materials, and more.Forty-two percent of us give to theAnnual Fund, including nine of uswho contribute at the multi-yearPartner level.

How do you touch the futureof Austin Seminary?

—Sandy WilderDevelopment Coordinator

Employee givingContinued from page 21

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Goin’ greener!

Stotts Hall is offering another kindof “green” to its dining customers.Among the initiatives implementedrecently are: • transportation from the manufac-turer to our local distributor that isCO2 neutral;• paper coffee cups made from sus-tainable paper and lined with arenewable corn-polymer;• hot food to-go boxes made frombagasse, a sustainable product madefrom spent sugar cane stalks;• clear cups and boxes made fromcorn and disposable utensils madefrom plant starch material.

Did you know you can “give” green-er, too? See how at:www.austinseminary.edu/greengiving

FACULTY NEWS


Reading CalvinPeople often ask, “If I could read only one book on this subject, whatshould it be?” I confess I’m usually frustrated when that happens.

If a subject is worth one book, it’s probably worth several. Then it’sa matter of choosing among relative strengths and weaknesses.Sometimes, of course, there are bad books on a subject, and the questionallows me to say, “Whatever you do, don’t waste your money or yourtime on that book!” But usually it’s just frustrating. So, I was enormous-ly relieved recently when Don Frampton, senior minister of St. CharlesAvenue Presbyterian Church in New Orleans and a member of ourboard of trustees, asked me to recommend a few books on John Calvin.Here are the books I suggested to Don.

My favorite is still T. H. L. Parker, John Calvin: A Biography, pub-lished by Westminster Press in 1975. It’s accessible and inspiring. I alsolove François Wendel, Calvin: The Origins and Development of HisReligious Thought, translated by Philip Mairet (Harper & Row, 1950).When it comes to understanding Calvin in a broader Reformed contextno one has done a better job than John T. McNeill, The History andCharacter of Calvinism (Oxford, 1954), though more recent authors havetried. I also enjoy Karl Barth’s The Theology of John Calvin, translated byGeoffrey Bromiley (Eerdmans, 1995). There’s nothing like reading thelectures by the greatest modern Reformed theologian about the originalReformed theologian. I would also recommend R. T. Kendall’s Calvinand English Calvinism to 1649 (Oxford, 1979), a fascinating study thathelps us understand the differences between Calvin and his successors.It’s not as lively as Holmes Rolston III, John Calvin Versus the WestminsterConfession, but it is more broadly focused.

For my money there’s still no substitute for reading Calvin himself.Anyone who’s curious about Calvin should get a copy of J. K. S. Reid’sexcellent collection, Calvin: Theological Treatises, in the greatWestminster Press series “Library of Christian Classics.” Elsie AnneMcKee also edited a fine volume, John Calvin: Writings on Pastoral Piety(Paulist, 2001) which any pastor would find illuminating. And JohnLeith edited a beautiful little volume, The Christian Life: John Calvin(Harper & Row, 1984) that remains one of my favorite books.

A serious reader of Calvin will eventually want to read his Institutesof the Christian Religion (1559), the best edition of which was edited byJohn T. McNeill and translated by Ford Lewis Battles, but I think itmakes the most sense to start with the Parker biography, then to read agood edited collection (such as Reid’s), and then to read one of Calvin’scommentaries, perhaps his Commentary on Galatians, Ephesians,Philippians and Colossians, before getting into the Institutes. Calvin wasfirst and foremost a preacher, and he really shines most brightly whenwriting about the Bible.

Michael Jinkins (DMin’83)Academic Dean

The Dean’s Bookshelf

Professor Dietrich Ritschel (center)and his wife, Rosemary, visited cam-pus this spring. Ritschel, who taughttheology from 1958-1963, lives inSwitzerland. While here they visitedwith Professor John Alsup, left, andRitschel’s former student Joe Turner(MDiv’61) and Joe’s wife, Patricia.

Cole’s latest book: prayer

A new book by Allan H. ColeJr., The Life of Prayer: Mind,Body, and Soul is just out fromWestminster John Knox Press.Here’s what Publishers Weekly(March 9) had to say aboutit, in part: “Books aboutprayer tend to champion

one modus operandi. Pastor andseminary professor Cole (GoodMourning: Getting Through YourGrief) invites readers to try severalmethods, offering a variety of aidsfor those who regularly struggle withprayer … Readers will find a thor-ough body of Scripture-based, litur-gical methods as well as posturesand settings to improve attentive-ness, memory, and ability. Eachchapter ends with a prayer andincludes comforting verses for theprayer-wary reader.”

28

Seminar: “The Life of Prayer:Mind, Body, and Soul”On April 24, 2009, a one-dayseminar will look at prayer as thechief exercise of faith for theChristian life. The group willconsider why we pray, what hap-pens in prayer, how we may pray(individually and corporately),and how to establish a prayer lifeand keep with it.

The presenter: Allan Hugh ColeJr. is Austin Seminary’s NancyTaylor Williamson AssociateProfessor of Pastoral Care.

Who should come? Provided forpastors and other church leaders,emphasis will be given to makingprayer a more central faith prac-tice in congregational life. Pastorsand church leaders are encour-aged to attend together.

�

Seminar: “Conflict Preventionand Resolution in the Church”On May 15, 2009, we will take alook at persistent conflict in con-gregations, one of the leadingcauses of clergy burnout and con-gregational struggles. This day-long workshop will teach meth-ods of conflict prevention andresolution to use with a congrega-tion. Spend the day gaininginsight and learning new theoriesand techniques for ministry.

The presenter: Allan Hugh ColeJr.

Who should come? Pastors andlay leaders

Cost for each event: $55 (includeslunch)

Registration: go online towww.austinseminary.edu (chooseContinuing Education and thenChristian Leadership Education)

CONTINUING EDUCATION NEWS

College of Pastoral Leaders awardsgrants for 2009

The College of Pastoral Leaders has awarded grants to seventy-eight clergyto pursue renewal projects during 2009-2011. A partial list appears

below; the remainder will appear in the Summer issue of Windows. The nextapplication deadline is October 31, 2009.

Art and the Pastoral ImaginationThe Rev. Dr. James M. Burns, Jr., Memorial Presbyterian Church, Norman, OKThe Rev. Mr. Daniel G. Conklin, Epiphany Episcopal Parish, Seattle, WAThe Rev. Dr. Robert S. Rice, First Presbyterian Church, Norman, OKThe Rev. Dr. Thomas R. Shaw, Wooster Church of the Cross UMC, Wooster, OH

Artistic PlayersThe Rev. Ms. Gail C. Doering, Clayton Valley Presbyterian Church, Clayton, CAThe Rev. Ms. Jeannie Kim, Pine United Methodist Church, San Francisco, CAThe Rev. Ms. Wendy Komori Stager, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Pleasant Hills, CAThe Rev. Ms. Debbie Whaley, First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Cross Cutters 2The Rev. Mr. Kevin Arensman, First Christian Church, Pittsburg, KSThe Rev. Mr. Tracy R. Bair, Royal Heights United Methodist Church, Joplin, MOThe Rev. Mr. Gary D. Bell, First Christian Church of Newton, Newton, KSThe Rev. Mr. Joshua Bel, Fairview Christian Church, Lynchburg, VA

Fearless Friends of the SacredThe Rev. Mr. Elias D. Burgos, Hospice of St. John, Lakewood, COThe Rev. Mr. Thomas D. deBree, University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora, COThe Rev. Dr. Larry A. Grimm, Hospice of St. John/Capitol Heights PC, Lakewood, COThe Rev. Dr. Blaine Clarke Vestal, First Avenue Presbyterian Church, Denver, CO

Hope Springs 2The Rev. Mr. Steven R. Blackstock, First Presbyterian Church, Belen, NMThe Rev. Mr. Michael Foster, First Presbyterian Church, Phoenix, ORThe Rev. Ms. Margaret H. Jorgensen, Buntyn Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TNThe Rev. Mr. William McGarvey, Community Presbyterian Church, Pittsburg, CAThe Rev. Mr. Terry L. McLellan, Covenant Presbyterian Church, Carrollton, TX

Living TraditionThe Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Carter, Jr., Providence United Methodist Church, Charlotte, NCThe Rev. Mr. Randy Cooper, First United Methodist Church, Ripley, TNThe Rev. Dr. James L. Haddix, All Souls Church, United Church of Christ, Bangor, METhe Rev. Mr. David C. Hockett, Milford Hills United Methodist Church, Salisbury, NCThe Rev. Mr. Jonathan D. Marlowe, Shiloh United Methodist Church, Granite Quarry, NCThe Rev. Dr. Wilbur Rush Otey, III, Selwyn Avenue Presbyterian Church Charlotte, NC

Los Companeros en CristoThe Rev. Mr. James Bouzard, Christ Chapel Lutheran, Texas State University, San Marcos, TXThe Rev. Mr. Gregory H. Gaskamp, Living Water Lutheran Church, Leander, TXThe Rev. Mr. Stephen C. Kanouse, ELCA Mission Director, Texas-Louisiana, Dallas, TXThe Rev. Mr. Michael M. Robinson, Asst. to Bishop, S’western Texas Synod, ELCA, Seguin, The Rev. Mr. Jeffrey Thompson, St. John Lutheran Church, Robstown, TXThe Rev. Dr. Ray Tiemann, Bishop, Southwestern Texas Synod, ELCA, Seguin, TXThe Rev. Dr. Lynn Schudy Ziese, Asst. to Bishop, S’western Texas Synod, ELCA, Seguin, TXThe Rev. Dr. Paul R. Ziese, MacArthur Park Lutheran Church, San Antonio, TX

The Balancing Act: Moms in MinistryThe Rev. Ms. Jennifer Butler, Faith in Public Life - PCUSA, Washington, DCThe Rev. Ms. Martha A. Dimmers, Children's Hospital and Regional Med. Center, SeattleThe Rev. Ms. Mary D. Lindquist, The Episcopal Church on West Kauai, Eleele, HIThe Rev. Ms. Tamara J. Seidel, First PC of Highland and Marlboro, Marlboro, NY

Multicultural Urban Leadership EmergingThe Rev. Mr. James Hickson Lee, New Covenant Fellowship, Austin, TXThe Rev. Mr. Thomas J. Heger, Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church, San Antonio, TXThe Rev. Mr. Samuel P. Riccobene, First Presbyterian Church, Austin, TXThe Rev. Mr. Hector M. Rivera-Velez, Christus VNA Hospice and Palliative Care, SanAntonio, TX

ORDINATIONSMarta T. Pena (MDiv’06) to serve Morningside Ministries in SanAntonio, Texas

Cameron T. Allen (MDiv’07) to serve Hospice Austin in Austin, Texas

Deborah E. Hollifield (MDiv’07) to serve First Presbyterian Church,Guymon, Oklahoma.

Melissa J. Russell (MDiv’07) to serve Highland Park Baptist Church,Austin, Texas.

Derek Forbes (MDiv’08) to serve Arvada Presbyterian Church, Arvada,Colorado.

Victoria B. Griffin (MDiv’08) to serve First Presbyterian Church,Jacksonville, Texas.

Ryan T. Jensen (MDiv’08) to serve Government Street PresbyterianChurch, Mobile, Alabama.

Mark R. Renn (MDiv’08) to serve Providence Presbyterian Church,Mobile, Alabama.

Cody M. Sandahl (MDiv’08) to serve First Presbyterian Church,Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

WELCOME…to Preston Raymond Smith, sonof Stuart R. Smith (MDiv ’00)and Debra Smith, born August11, 2007.

to Suzanna Grace “Zanna” Allen,daughter of Sarah DemerestAllen (MDiv’07) and CameronAllen (MDiv’07), born onFebruary 27, 2009

ALUMNI/AE NEWS

NECROLOGYStephen L. Cook (MDiv’45) Georgetown, Texas, February 9, 2009.

John F. Anderson Jr. (ThM’53) Dallas, Texas, January 31, 2009.

Linington D. Crossman Jr. (MDiv’53) Houston, Texas, October 28,2008.

G. Taft Lyon Jr. (MDiv’54) Fredericksburg, Texas, November 13, 2008.

Donald M. Megahan (MDiv’64) St. Louis, Missouri, July 4, 2008.

Frank J. Ambuhl (DMin’80) Canyon Lake, Texas, July 25, 2008.

Thomas Jenkins (DMin’05) Rockwall, Texas, February 18, 2009.

1970sFrederick B. (Rick) Elliott III(MDiv’73) published his first book,Faith Journeys of the Heart (TatePublishing, 2009), a collection ofbiblically based short stories.

1980sKaren Vannoy (MDiv’81) and herhusband, John Flowers, have writtena book, Not Just a One-Night Stand:Ministry with the Homeless, availablethrough Discipleship Resources.

H. Clayton (Clay) Brantley III(MDiv’86) is adjunct professor oftheology at Austin College.

Robert B. Fortney (MDiv’89) mar-ried Kelly Kelene Reeves October 3,2008.

2000sDan Cross (MATS’08) has beenappointed a classification case man-ager at the Ellis Unit of the TexasDepartment of Criminal Justice, amaximum security facility nearHuntsville, Texas. In this capacity,he is responsible for the monitoringof the rehabilitative progress withregard to institutional adjustment.

Steven Spidell (MDiv’78,DMin’78), executive director ofPresbyterian Outreach to Patients,received the Outstanding LocalLeadership Award from the Associa-tion of Professional Chaplains onFebruary 1.

Connect with Austin Seminary alumni/ae over lunchwhile you learn from a dynamic speaker and from oneanother. Future events include:

May 14, Jackson Woods Presbyterian Church, Corpus Christi, Texas, WhitBodman leading a discussion on “The Holy Land in America”

October 22, 2009, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Marble Falls, Texas,Janet Maykus on “The Importance of Clergy Peer Groups”

November 10, 2009, Grace Presbyterian Church, Round Rock, Texas,David W. Johnson on “Reformed Spirituality”

Thinking Outside the Box

WINDOWSAustin Presbyterian Theological Seminary100 East 27th Street, Austin, Texas 78705-5797

Non Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDAustin, Texas

Permit No. 2473

Spring 2009

Call for ApplicationsAustin Presbyterian Theological Seminary’s

Holy Land Pastoral Renewal ProgramFunded through the CF Foundation

Summer 2009

Austin Seminary’s Holy Land Pastoral Renewal Program is nowaccepting applications for its August Holy Land Pilgrimage. The pilgrimage will provide an oppor-tunity for twenty pastors to engage in the spiritual discipline of pilgrimage. Our hope is that a timeof focused travel, prayer, and discovery in Jesus’ homeland will shed new light on the personalfaith of the pilgrims and inspire them in their leadership of others. Those chosen to participate inthe pilgrimage will have travel expenses and lodging paid for through a generous grant from theCF Foundation Inc. Pilgrims will attend a two-day orientation session prior to travel, then leavefor 14 days in Israel. The first week will be spent in Galilee, the second in Jerusalem. Pilgrims willjoin together ninety days after the pilgrimage to reflect on their experiences. Pastors accepted inthe program must commit to the entire program. The program is intended for mid-career pastors(5+ years) who have not recently been to the Holy Land and who are not already participating ina clergy renewal program.

Application deadline: May 1, 2009(a $300 application fee will be returned if you are not chosen to participate in the pilgrimage)

Travel dates: Orientation and Pilgrimage, July 31-August 17, Washington D.C.

Reflection gathering, November 9-11, Austin, Texas

For more information and to request an application:

www.austinseminary.edu/holylandpilgrimage

JoinAustin Seminary

for the dedication ofAnderson House on

Saturday, May 23, 2009,12:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Amber Reber

Windows Spring 2009

Documents

Transcript of Windows Spring 2009