Out and About

by Phil Johnson

Theologians Wed

October 12, 1996. We arrived at the wedding at 6:25 PM. Just in time. North Park Covenant Church was full. Michelle Ann Clifton and Karl Richard Soderstrom, the bride and groom, had the heavy hitters lined up to tie the knot — Phil Anderson, John Weborg, and Burton Nelson, doctors all. As one might expect, John Weborg delivered a terse, accurate, gospel nugget arising from a profound Christian and theological depth. By the time he was done, a person was convinced that marriage was a good an right thing, absolutely and unequivocally blessed by God, but which required work, diligence, and constant building activity.

The rest of the wedding work — prayers, vows, and so forth — were distributed among the three. These fine people were chosen I'm sure, because they have been Shelly's and Karl's teacher and mentors. Both the bride and the groom have studied theology at North Park Seminary and German in Heidelberg. They are delightful young people and fine scholars. Among other things, they are an honor to the professors who mentored them and married them. A benediction in German closed the ceremony.

The music was beautiful. The string quartet of Brian Kubin, Karen Bjork, Amy Cutler, and Woni Chi set a special tone. After the wedding, guests made their way to the Evanston Women' s Club for the reception. The newlyweds agreed to kiss in response to a quotation from a philosopher or a theologian — the Pavlovian response was not to clinking glasses for this couple.

The bride and groom are tributes not only to their mentors, but to their parents as well. Pam Clifton and Michael and Linda Clifton of Minneapolis are Shelly's parents, and Mel and Joann Soderstrom of Chicago are Karl's parents.

Karl and Shelly welcomed their guests with these words: "Today we will be joined together through the sacrament of Holy Marriage. We welcome your presence, as you have been meaningful people in our lives. We would like to thank our ministers their part in our growth. They are mentors to us academically and spiritually. To our parents, we want to express our love and appreciation for who they are and how they care for us. And we would like to thank all our family and friends for being here this evening and celebrating the birth of our marriage." - PJ

United Theological Seminary Installs Wilson Yates

October 20, 1996. Dr, Wilson Yates, pioneer professor and recent Dean, was installed as the fifth President of UTS at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, This reporter and his wife attended the event. Both of us have logged considerable time, separated by about a decade, at United Seminary, and each has taken at least one course taught by Wilson Yates. This reporter's experience at UTS occurred off-and-on during the year 1967-1969 — the very beginning of Dr. Yates' career at UTS when according to what he said in his address, he was "brash and full of knowledge."

From the beginning, UTS has been committed to a fresh, broad ecumenism and has remained so. The idea was to reach out, to be inclusive, and to be in the world. With faculty like Wilson Yates, Jim Nelson, Don White, Bob Strobel, and others the classroom was as much in the world as it was in the seminary These were also the good old days when cigarette smoke provided a heady atmosphere for heavy theological conversation.

Taking the class to the world included urban field trips, development of programs on human sexuality, and opening the doors to women. The Covenant made a tremendous contribution to UTS when Henry Gustafson came to the school from North Park Seminary. Gordon Nelson, who grew up in Bethlehem Covenant Church, gave UTS the benefit of his meticulous scholarship for a couple of years as well.

In his address, Yates sounded the trumpet for theological education in the UTS tradition and vision. The job of the seminary is, he said, to teach how to love. How to love God with both mind and heart, how to love the church, and how to love the world.

I was glad to hear Yates again mention the names of James Luther Adams, the Swedish Baptist who converted to the Unitarian faith, and Reinhold Niebuhr, the author of such books asT he Irony of American History, Faith and History, and Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic.

Dr. Clyde Steckel said of his long-time colleague and friend: "He brings the grace and sensitivity of an artist, the rigorous thinking of the social scientist, the sagacity of a Missouri politician, a vision of the crucial role of theological training, and one more gift — he is not a Draconian executive and he will not lead a downsizing." A refreshing word! - PJ

"Making Sense of Life and Learning" — The First Annual Holmer Lecture

November 14, 1996. The MacLaurin Institute, A Christian Study Center at the University of Minnesota, has inaugurated the Holmer Lectures, in honor of Dr. Paul LeRoy Holmer, a teacher, writer, and scholar who is no stranger to the pages of Pietisten. Dr. Holmer, himself, gave the inaugural lecture.

In his talk, Holmer spoke about making sense of life and learning and did so by sharing some stories and reflections on his own engagement in the life or learning, the academic life, It was Plato's opinion, he told us, that if one thought hard and clearly, it would lead to the good life, a life strengthened by intellect and augmented by insight. Holmer thinks Plato is too optimistic about that. There is no guarantee that the learning leads to the good life. Though that be true, Paul has given his life to learning and continues to respond readily to frequent requests to lecture. He is grateful that he could be, and still is, engaged in academic life. He talked about Kant who thought that a "sense of humanity" gained through an understanding of the rational structure of things was the source of a good life. Holmer thinks that the sense of humanity comes from personality rather than from learning. What he learned about faith and about God from his mother, he said, is more important than knowledge gained through study.

When he began to speak about faith, his method reminded me of both Socrates and Kierkegaard. There were echoes of Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments. "What if we dared," he asked, "to think about the Christian religion which talks about God who loves and cares about us; who is our eternal contemporary; who becomes our teacher if we will let ourselves be taught by a teacher who is God and we are willing to live before God and to live before God on intimate terms?" This means there is another possibility. Here faith can take root, and a different sense of life emerges. When Paul Holmer talks, he smashes an idol or two while clarifying matters, and leads his hearers to an occasion of Christian Gospel.