Eschatology Today

Inaugurated Eschatology: (n.) The wonderful already-but-not-yet tension and reality of redemption. Read the theological reflections of Pastor Jay and others around him below. This is a great place to dialog about the beauties of the Gospel!

Whither Wheaton? Reflections Part 1

I have thought long and hard about putting a dog into this hunt. I may regret this later. But, while not so much provoked, I feel inspired to respond to what has come to be quite a discussed article written by a classmate of mine from Wheaton College, Dr. Andrew Chignell entitled Whither Wheaton?, which now has its own website if you are curious to read it. It is an articulate, thoughtful, yet overtly critical analysis of the last chapter of Wheaton under the current and outgoing president, Dr. Duane Litfin. Andrew and I never met, but I remember him. He was known as one of the more intellectualy gifted students Wheaton had seen in some time, along with another classmate, yet another faculty child. I remember respecting his intellect and I recall some pieces written during our students days already reflecting the disquiet in his recent article.

Let me begin with an important disclaimer: Dr. Litfin is my father in law. "Wow, hold on!", you say. Well, this of course puts me at a bias, doesn't it? But, isn't everyone? Isn't Andrew at a bias? The profs he interviewed? The sympathetic alumni who have commented on the blog (some of whom are good friends)? Look, apart from well reasoned, researched, longstanding, and important thinking by Chignell and others who represented his concern in his article, you better believe there is a lot, a lot, of viscera in all of this. There is a lot of emotion, and that comes out in this article. It is not even tucked away well. But, as a proponent of attempted objectivity and belief in sufficient objectivity, let me offset my relationship to Dr. Litfin and all the emotion I too bring a bit with some other important data points that my help my voice, given my perspective. I grew up in a post-Christian Marin County, CA. I am bi-racial. I transferred to Wheaton from UC Berkeley, having never attended a Christian private school until Wheaton. I am a curious bystander, in many respects. Put another way, I don't really have a lot of the experience of the "evangelical bubble" and that "frustrated evangelical/post-evangelical-but-still-orthodox" thing going on in the voice of Chignell and the many grads who have affirmed his article (a probably minority, though)and from which the theo-ideology that is the basis of its interpretations and conclusions stem from, at least in part. Yes, there is an objective debate over pedagogy, educational philosophy, community feel, institutional mission, etc, and yet all of those still stem from the deeper root system of theo-ideology and the ever deeper issue of the human heart. I am not immune, and yet nor am I a wealthy, white, male, who grew up in Grand Rapids and blindly ticks of the R section on a voting ballet (no offence GR! Love you, too!).

So, let me just begin by saying that I want to reflect on several points of this situation - and to draw attention to that fact - there are several points. There is involved in all of this: theo-ideology, community dynamics, leadership, integrity, sociology, and the human heart - indeed that may be the most imporant reflection, while the most subjective and seemingly off point to Chignell et al. But, I am a pastor and it is my lovingly subversive and apocalyptic mission to keep things coming back to the heart.

In all of this I want to ask these questions (and ones that still apply to Wheaton and are not delimited to the church): How could the gospel have been lived out better in Wheaton's history and in the community voice of Chignell's piece? What of love? What is the most important part of Wheaton's mission that is so worth it, that it is worth looking cheesy, lame, and vilified if it were to defend it, even from among its own, even if done with great love and forbearance? So, we begin a series of reflections...