| Editorial: Promising days ahead for the Seminary
In his interview with Chimes this week, Dr. Plantinga, president of Calvin Theological Seminary, gives us a broad look at the purpose of Calvin Seminary and the direction in which he hopes to take it.
If readers should appreciate one thing about Plantinga’s vision, it is his unapologetic approach to blending orthodoxy and academics. While many other seminaries and divinity schools have fallen prey to the pack of wolves that is modern and postmodern liberalism, Calvin has managed to stay secure in its Reformed and orthodox stance, a policy that Plantinga has a strong desire to maintain.
Even so, Plantinga speaks of a seminary that is solidly Reformed and yet open and honest enough to evaluate and discuss sticky theological issues – even heresies. This policy should sound familiar to those of us here at the college.
Plantinga is bound to take plenty of lumps in the coming years from opponents in the church who still hold on to a very conservative strain of Christian Reformed belief and are thus enormously skeptical of any changes to what they view as a ‘tried-and-true’ formula for education.
But the people who think that changes in the Seminary (and by extension, the denomination) are inherently bad are kidding themselves. The problem isn’t changes that may be taking place, but rather the lack of change that typified the CRC denomination for a bit too long.
Changes in the denomination have been unfolding gradually over the past few decades. The CRC that many people’s grandparents knew was a very conservative and ethnic denomination. The social tensions of the 1960s and 1970s were most unkind to the denomination, and an entire generation of youth actively lashed out against the church’s blue-collar conservativism. In the past 15 years, the pendulum has swung back towards the center. Through it all, Calvin Theological Seminary remained Reformed and orthodox, long after the masses at Yale and Harvard gave up caring about orthodox Christianity.
But the Seminary is not infallible, and some social and academic trends have outpaced the Seminary’s ability to keep up. Thus, Dr. Plantinga seems to be proposing some gradual “changes” that amount to a sort of modernization of Calvin Theological Seminary’s educational method.
The change can’t come soon enough – there is great confusion over where exactly the denomination stands on several hot-button issues; and there is a displeasure that the church and its leader sometimes fall short in their attempts to adequately address the pressing issues of our day.
Given this, changes at the Seminary seem like a welcome refreshment, the sort of jolting-awake that a weary denomination needs to hone its focus of remaining (as it should be) proudly Reformed.
But on the other hand, opponents of change will note quite rightly that many recent changes in Christian scholarship seem to favor evangelicalism. And indeed, evangelicalism has been creeping in at the fringes of the Christian Reformed Church, especially during the past few decades when American evangelicalism has really been taking off.
Given this, it should be extraordinarily refreshing to hear the president of the denomination’s seminary boldly and unapologetically state his dedication to orthodoxy, Scripture and the Reformed creeds. Amidst a rising tide of theological ambiguity, Plantinga has resolved to keep the central tenets of the Seminary’s education pure.
Problems will only come if we loosen up our own Reformed theology too much in the “evangelical embrace.” We ought to appreciate and learn from the “accents” (as Dr. Plantinga puts it) of Christianity that are different from ours, but we also ought to be a bit concerned if we catch the pitch of our own voice changing too much.
Calvin Theological Seminary will strengthen the CRC denomination if it is able to churn out pastors and scholars who are able to given adequate attention to this dichotomy. As much as we have seen thus far, Dr. Plantinga’s plans for the Seminary will absolutely satisfy and exceed this criterion.
To be sure, Plantinga will do so against a non-trivial amount of criticism, some of which is bound to be quite stinging. But when the dust has settled, the devotion to academically excellent Reformed education will win the day.
The CRC is no longer a withdrawn denomination. It exists – like its constituents – in the much larger world. Dr. Plantinga’s vision will equip future students with the tools and knowledge they need to take the Gospel message – with its absolute truth and foundational orthodoxy – out into the world.
Calvin Theological Seminary is prepared to do it. Let’s hope the denomination will assist in this goal by lending its full and prayerful support.
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