Columbia Theological Seminary Inform, 65, number 3, April 1971

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VOL. 65 NO. 3 / APRIL 1971

NEWS BULLETIN FROM COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

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DECATUR, GEORGIA

THIRTEEN MINISTERS
PARTICIPATE IN APRIL
CONTINUING EDUCATION

Thirteen ministers are participants in
the April 20-29 Continuing Education
program on worship and preaching, ac-
cording to Director Harold Prince.

Led by Professors Huie, Taylor, and
Wardlaw of the Columbia faculty, the
men consider preaching, the meaning of
the present revolution in worship pat-
terns, and how a local church can be con-
structively involved in that revolution.

Taking part in the concentrated nine-
day study seminar are Alva M. Gregg,
Franklin, La.; Finley M. Grissett, Salis-
bury, N. C; William Ottis Moore, Jr.,
Norfolk, Va.; Sterling J. Edwards, Jr.,
Birmingham, Ala.; Charles L. Barnett,
Excelsior Springs, Mo.; Charles E. Kirk-
patrick, Fayetteville, N. C; Edward B.
Cooper, Pageland. S. C; William G.
Karnes, Hampton, S. C; George Damer-
on, Miami, Fla.; Walter S. Swetnam,
Rock Island, Tenn.; Marcus B. Prince,
III, Pineville, N. C; James F. Anderson,
North Palm Beach, Fla.; and Dwight S.
Bayley, Ormond Beach, Fla.

The May 4-12 Continuing Education
program will bring about a dozen mem-
bers of Columbia's class of 1966 to the
campus for an evaluation of their min-
istries during the period since their grad-
uation.

The Rev. Minor Powers and the Rev.
Sherwood Harvard, both of Nashville,
Tenn., talk with Columbia Librarian
Harold Prince during a Continuing Edu-
cation Conference, Jan. 12-21. Partici-
pants pursued independent study with
the assistance of Mr. Prince.

President-elect Kline and Board Chairman J. Davison Philips.

DEAN C. BENTON KLINE ELECTED
COLUMBIA'S FIFTH PRESIDENT

In education especially theological
people. In the person of C. Benton Kline
educator, administrator, loyal Presbyteria
and open, stable.

Elected by Columbia's Board of Di-
rectors on March 26 as the seminary's
fifth president, Dr. Kline faces the in-
stitution's future with a brief headshake
about human frailties and a strong, en-
thusiastic confidence in Columbia's con-
tinuing vision for the ministerial needs
of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S.

In a recent interview, the president-
elect talked about his understanding that
"it's clear that the people of the Church
want ministers who can function and
make the Church go. They are excited
about the way we are preparing men to
function with groups of people, to ad-
minister a church, to know the Bible,
to preach Biblically."

Talking about the plan for that prep-
aration, Dr. Kline mentioned the "need
to design a program of theological edu-
cation that has built into it the possibility

education a president is all things to all

that possibility exists: minister and pastor,

n, faithful presbyter and churchman, Ircsh

of change the dynamic of change and
we have a very high potential here for
doing just that."

"A seminary ought to be about pre-
paring men and women for the ministry,
irrcgardless of its form. And we have to
plan for the fact that there is something
to define as 'ministry' regardless of
whether or not it is parish-based. The
determination of the form of ministry
has got to be done by the Church, not
by the seminaries. And Columbia is con-
tinually reworking its preparation of
those men and women witness our cur-
rent study of the Doctor of Ministry
degree in its effort to meet the needs
of the Church."

He continued, "The seminary owes its
very existence to its five supporting
synods. We depend on them for students.
(Continued on Page 3)

COMMENCEMENT,
SPRING SPEAKERS
ARE ANNOUNCED

Commencement speakers and four
other visiting lecturers will bring added
interest to campus life during the re-
mainder of the academic year.

Dr. Billy O. Wireman, president of
Florida Presbyterian College in Saint
Petersburg, will deliver the commence-
ment address June 6 at Columbia Pres-
byterian Church. Baccalaureate preacher
will be the Rev. P. C. Enniss, Jr., pastor
of the First Presbyterian Church of
Tallahassee, Florida. The service will be
held at Central Presbyterian Church.

Dr. Wireman became president of
Florida Presbyterian College in 1968,
having joined its faculty in 1960. He
earned his B.A. degree at Georgetown
College (Ky.), his M.A. degree at the
University of Kentucky, and his Ed.D.
at Peabody College. He was chairman of
the Task Force on Changing Values for
Florida's 1970 Report to the White
House Conference on Children and
Youth.

Dr. Wireman has authored numerous
articles for National Observer, National
Enquirer, Vital Speeches of the Day,
College and University Journal, Academy
for Educational Development Papers.
and other publications.

Mr. Enniss, a Columbia graduate
(B.D. '58; Th.M. 70), earned his B.A.
degree at Davison College. His former
pastorates include Hillside Presbyterian
Church, Decatur, Ga., and Meadowview
Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Rev. Charlie W. Nhedd is visiting
instructor in professional ministry at
Columbia for the spring quarter. He is
teaching "Church Renewal Through
Prayer" and "Writing for the Masses."

Mr. Shedd has authored nine books
and more than 50 magazine articles. He
is director of the Christian Writers Coun-
cil and pastor of the Jekyll Island (Ga.)
Presbyterian Community Church. His
former pastorates are LaSalle. Col.; Lex-
ington. Neb.; Ponca City, Okla.; and
Houston, Tex.

A graduate of Coe College (B.A.),
Mr. Shedd received his B.D. degree from
McCormick Theological Seminary.

The Visiting Instructor in Professional
Ministry program brings to the Columbia
campus each quarter a guest instructor
from a Presbyterian board or agency, a
person engaged in a specialized or ex-

Charlie B. Shedd

VIPM

J. Sherrard Rice

Evangelism

perimental ministry, or someone from
a traditional ministry in a congregational
setting. These guests help students re-
late classroom experiences to the prac-
tical demands of church life.

The Rev. J. Sherrard Rice, an execu-
tive with the Presbyterian Church, U. S.,
is teaching "Contemporary Methods of
Evangelism" during the spring quarter at
Columbia.

Secretary of the Division of Christian
Witness of the Board of National Min-
istries, Mr. Rice has authored two study
books. Let There Be Light, and Glory in
the Church. He is a former professor of
Bible at the Presbyterian School of Chris-
tian Education, and has held pastorates
in Huntington, W. Va., Tyler, Tex., and
Columbia. S. C.

Mr. Rice received an A.B. degree from
Davidson College, a B.D. degree from
Union Theological Seminary (Rich-
mond), and a Th.M. degree from Prince-
ton Theological Seminary.

Joseph Roberts

Black Theology

The Rev. Joseph Roberts, director of
corporate social ministries for the Pres-
byterian Church, U. S., is teaching black
theology in the historical-doctrinal course
"Problems in Theology" with Prof,
Guthrie during the spring quarter.

Mr. Roberts was pastor of the Wcc-
quahic Presbyterian Church in Newark,
N. J., and of the Elmwood United Pres-
byterian Church in East Orange, N. J..
before joining the Board of National
Ministries.

He received his B.D. from Union The-
ological Seminary (New York), and his
Th.M. from Princeton Theological Semi-
nary.

The Rev. Dr. Seward Hiltner, profes-
sor of theology and personality at Prince-
ton Theological Seminary, will be a guest
lecturer on the Columbia campus April
29 and 30.

On April 29, he will address a con-
vocation, lunch with the faculty and
clinical training supervisors from the
Atlanta area, and address the Society
of Theological Inquiry. On the following
day, he will be the chapel leader and will
meet the senior course "The Work of the
Ministry".

Dr. Hiltner has authored several
books, among them Eerment in the Min-
istry, Pastoral Counseling, The Christian
Shepherd, and The Context of Pastoral
Counseling, and numerous articles. He
is a consultant with the Menninger Clinic
in Kansas, and was on the faculty of the
Chicago Divinity School before going to
Princeton in 1961.

A graduate of Lafayette College, Dr.
Hiltner earned his Ph.D. at Chicago Di-
vinily School.

ALUMNI ELECT
70-71 OFFICERS

Freeman, Smith
and Hammet

Officers for 1971 were elected at the
Feb. 2 Alumni Day luncheon attended
by 150 alumni. They are the Rev. Cook
Freeman ('52), president; the Rev. Jerry
Hammet ('57), vice president; and the
Rev. Carl Smith ('61), secretary-treas-
urer.

Mr. Freeman is associate pastor of the
North Avenue Presbyterian Church, At-
lanta; Mr. Hammett is Presbyterian min-
ister to students at the University of
South Carolina; and Mr. Smith is pastor
of the College Park, Ga., Presbyterian
Church.

Dr. Shirley C. Guthrie, professor of
systematic theology at Columbia, and a
panel of four Columbia seniors presented
the luncheon program from the histori-
cal-doctrinal department on the theme of
the development of students' theology
during their course work.

The Rev. Dr. Charles Blanton Cousar
will be installed as professor of New
Testament language, literature, and exe-
gesis at the annual Honors Day pro-
grams scheduled for Mon.. April 26
The Rev. Dr. J. Davison Philips, chair-
man of the Board of Directors, will pre-
side. Dr. Cousar's inaugural address will
be "The New Testament and the Task
of Interpretation."

Honors Day highlights scholarly work
by faculty and students. Four senior fel-
lowships and the Indiantown Church
Award are scheduled for presentation
during the dinner program.

Dr. Cousar joined the Columbia facul-
ty in 1960 as assistant professor of New
Testament and registrar. He holds an
A.B. degree from Davidson College,
B.D. degree from Columbia Seminary,
and a Ph.D. from King's College of the
University of Aberdeen.

Ordained in June of 1958, he is a
member of Congaree Presbytery. He has
been minister to youth at the Decatur
(Ga. ) Presbyterian Church, and a guest
associate professor of Bible at Agnes
Scott College.

ITC AND COLUMBIA
JOIN IN THIRD SUMMER
"CHURCH AND INDUSTRY"

Seven men and women from Columbia
and the Interdenominational Theological
Center will take part in the third Atlanta
Church and Industry Institute this sum-
mer.

The ten-week session, directed by Prof.
J. Richard Bass of the Columbia faculty,
and sponsored by The Church and In-
dustry Institute of Winstom-Salem, N. C,
opens June 15.

Participants will be involved in secular
employment and in background and re-
flection seminars with Atlanta business
executives and with Mr. Bass. A session
for management games, a method of
understanding management problems
through role-playing, is also scheduled.

Participants are nominated by Mr.
Bass, and final selection will be made
by May 1.

(Continued from page I)

pulpits for our students to fill and, cer-
tainly, financial support. We, in turn,
have to attempt to fill their needs, both
the stated ones and those that are not
verbalized.

"The seminary must be a leader tor
the Church and not just a tag-along. It
not only must be responsible lor the pro-
fessional training of ministers, and tor
helping to meet the need for lay leader-
ship training, but it can assist the Church
in coming to an understanding of what
it must do.

"Under our program of continuing
education we bring hack to the campus
each year several small groups of alumni
so that, in the academic atmosphere,
they can pursue independent study with
(he seminary's resources of library and
faculty available to them. This helps to
keep them sharp and helps us remain
sensitive to the problems and needs ol
the local parish.

"I would like to sec continuing edu-
cation not only involve ministers, but
also become a resource lor lay education

leadership education, church officer
training, equipping groups m a congre-
gation to minister in an urban situation

there arc lots of forms of leadership,
but we cannot get caught in the trap of
thinking leadership education is limited
to teacher training.

"We are fortunate that Dr. Richards
has built the kind of faculty here that
can teach this kind of education, too.
And let us not forget that this method of
educating is important to the faculty, too.
They need to do this in order to keep
touch with what life in the Church is -
and will be tomorrow so they can
know to what it is they are preparing
men and women to minister. It is helpful
for them to have been in pastoral situa-
tions before they join a faculty, but to
have that experience sometime ago is
not sufficient; it has lo be a continuing
experience through day to day contact
with the people in the churches, and
through the wisdom they gain by being
faithful presbyters."

Dr. Kline has served the Duryca Pres-
byterian Church, Brooklyn, N. Y.; De-
catur's Clairmont Presbyterian Church;
and the First Presbyterian Church of
Auburn, Ala. A member of Atlanta Pres-
bytery since January of 1952, Dr. Kline
was ordained by Monmouth Presbytery
of the United Presbyterian Church in
1948.

He is a former moderator of Atlanta
Presbytery, and has been chairman of
Campus Christian Life, chairman of the
Subcommittee on Urban and Special
Ministries of the Church Extension Com-
mittee, and a member of the Commission
on the Minister and His Work.

For the Synod of Georgia, he has been
chairman of the Presbyterian Guidance

Council and, also, of the Campus Chris-
lion Life Council.

As an educator. Dr. Kline has been
a member of the Committee on Standards
for Colleges of the Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools, and is currently
a member of the Commission on Ac-
crediting of the American Association of
Theological Schools.

He has been a member of the DeKalb
County Advisory Committee of the Fam-
ily Service Society, a vice president of
the United Nations Association of At-
lanta, and a member of the Southern
Society for Philosophy of Religion.

Holder of a Ph.D. degree from Yale
University, Dr. Kline earned his B.D.
and Th.M. degrees from Princeton Theo-
logical Seminary, and his B.A. degree
from the College of Wooster.

His formal teaching experience began
when he was a teaching fellow at Prince-
ton. He was an assistant in instruction
in the philosophy department at Yale,
and for 20 years has been an educator
in the southeast. In 1951 he became an
assistant professor of philosophy at Ag-
nes Scott College. During the next ten
years he taught philosophy in four sum-
mer sessions at Emory University, and
in 1961 became an associate professor
at Agnes Scott, and was elevated to a
full professorship in 1962. He was made
chairman of the philosophy department
and became dean of the faculty while
still an assistant professor.

Dr. Kline's affiliation with Columbia
Seminary began in 1964 when he was
asked to be a visiting professor of the-
ology. In January of 1969, he became
professor of theology and dean of Co-
lumbia's faculty.

He admits he will miss his close in-
volvement with curriculum planning and
relationships with the faculty in this
particular way, and his reduced class-
room opportunities. But Dr. Kline ac-
cepted the presidency because of his con-
viction of the importance of theological
education today, and because of the
challenge of keeping the seminary doing
its job and being related to the Church
in flux.

He finds exciting the role Columbia

has in training ministers for an urban
society as a Presbyterian, U. S., semi-
nars set in the midst of the life of a
major metropolitan community and
working with a major educational com-
plex.

Dr. Kline was born May 13. 1925, in
Pittsburgh. Pa., the son of Mr. and Mrs.
C. Benton Kline, Sr. His father is now
deceased, and his mother resides in De-
catur. On June 6, 1950, he and Mary
Christine Hicks were married. They have
two children: John is a University of
Georgia junior, and Mary Martha is a
sophomore at Decatur High School.

The Kline family's church home has
been the Decatur Presbyterian Church,
since the fall of 1961. where the Rev. Dr.
J. Davison Philips ('43) is pastor Dr.
Kline has taught adult education and
leadership classes and led youth retreats
and family schools. Mrs. Kline has
taught primary and junior level classes
in the Christian education program and
Bible studies for circles of the church.

Mrs. Kline, since 1967 head librarian
at the Oakhurst School, earned her B.A.
degree at Texas Women's University in
Denton and her Master of Religious
Education at Princeton Theological Semi-
nary. She is enrolled in the master of
library science program at Atlanta Uni-
versity.

A former assistant director of Chris-
tian education in the First Congregation-
al Church of West Hartford, Conn., she
has also been an assistant teacher at the
Decatur Presbyterian Church Kindergar-
ten. Mrs. Kline is a former president of
the Winona Park School Parent-Teacher
Association. For two years, she assisted
with leadership training in Atlanta Pres-
bytery.

The immediate and scattered seminary
community looks forward to welcoming
the Klines as its new first family this
summer alter Dr. Richards' well-earned
retirement.

No man can be all things to all people
all the time. Even when he cannot be,
Columbia Seminary will be most for-
tunate to have the wisdom, thoughtful-
ness, humanity, and integrity of C. Ben-
ton Kline in its presidential office.

Faculty Profile . . .
HUBERT V. TAYLOR

Listening to Hubert V. Taylor talk, it
would be easy to imagine he is a sociolo-
gist. This professor of speech and music
at Columbia Seminary is that and much
more. Perhaps equally well-known in re-
ligious and secular settings for his in-
cisive, creative use of video tape record-
ings and television. Dr. Taylor is a pio-
neer in the use of video tape recordings
as a teaching tool in theological educa-
tion, to Columbia's benefit.

From church musician to consultant
for business and political use of television
and video tape? "My professional life
have been a pilgrimage," he said.

After receiving his B.A. degree from
Lafayette College and his Bachelor of
Music degree from Westminster Choir
College and having two year's work in
a local church (Saint Paul's Presbyteri-
an, Philadelphia), Dr. Taylor joined the
staff at Central Presbyterian Church
with dual responsibilities in Christian
education and music. Soon after he be-
gan work on his B.D. degree at Colum-
bia, this transplanted northerner feels his
vocational change was made possible by
"a new environment and a new culture."

Dr. Taylor has found himself "fas-
cinated with the dynamics of speech, oral
communication, the strategy of change,
and other aspects of communication."
As this fascination emerged, graduate
study in his joint fields of interest
(speech and choral music) became very
attractive. Dr. Taylor received a grant
from the American Association of The-
ological Schools for graduate study that
would tie together speech and choral
music. After he had begun work in such
a doctoral program at Northwestern Uni-
versity, he found that the university's
speech and music departments were sepa-
rate, not only in administration but in
working relationships, also. Surrender-
ing the advanced work in music, he com-
pleted his doctorate in speech.

In the meantime (1947), he began his
Columbia teaching career in the fields
of preaching, worship, and pastoral care.
Since then he has done a significant
amount of work with the use of tele-
vision by business, military chaplains,
political candidates, and several denomi-
nations. He has been vice chairman (and
is currently chairman) of the Presby-
terian Commission on Television, Radio,
and Audio-Visuals, and has also been a
member of the board of trustees of the
Episcopal Radio and Television Foun-

dation. He and his wife are joint di-
rectors of music at Columbia Presbyteri-
an Church.

The latest turn in this pilgrim's journey
has taken him into the publishing world.
He and two others edited last year's
Preaching in American History, and
Sermons in American History will be
published by Abingdon Press May 10.
The first book was subtitled "Selected
Issues in the American Pulpit. 1630-
1967" and was praised as "a scholarly,
readable book that successfully bridges
the gap between preaching and speech".
Sermons is a companion and illustra-
tion for the first volume. It was designed
to show polarities of specific issues.
Dr. Taylor has contributed a study
of the preaching on slavery, which had
its roots in his dissertation. But his defini-
tive mark on this set goes back even
further to his suggestion that the history
of American preaching, long-desired by
the Speech Association of America, be
an issue-oriented study of preaching.
Thus was conceived Preaching.

The studies of Protestant, Roman
Catholic, and Jewish preaching were con-
tributed by members of the Mennonite.
Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Southern
Baptist. United Methodist, Church of
the Brethren, and Lutheran Churches.
Among the schools using Sermons as a
text is the University of Georgia.

Dr. Taylor sees the relating of our
faith to life now especially to urban
society as one of the most important
questions before the Church today. "The
plus for Columbia is that we're right
where the action is and we are beginning
to relate our theological enterprise to
this revolution.

"In the communications industry and
political structures, we must keep people
talking in communication. (Knowing
men in political leadership is of personal
value for this reason.) My work is to
help students be believable to people in
their communication."

Where will the pilgrimage touch next?
Wherever, it surely will expose yet an-
other tantalizing facet of the many of-
ferings of Hubert Vance Taylor.

BOARD, STUDENTS,
FACULTY, ALUMNI
ASSIST IN SEARCH

Richards Retirement
Activities Planned

The Columbia Board of Directors has
been deeply involved in the activities
surrounding the election of the new pres-
ident and in planning events honoring Dr.
Richards' retirement.

In May 1969 the Board elected a com-
mittee of its members to study the office
of the president at Columbia and later
this same committee was instructed to
nominate to the Board a successor to
President J. McDowell Richards. The
chairman of the Search committee was
the Rev. Dr. Wallace Alston (Ga.).
Members of the committee were C.
Charles Benz, Jr. (Fla.). Frank B. Davis
(Ala.), Arthur Magill (S.C.), Thomas
E. Rast (Ala.), Cecil A. Thompson
(Miss.), and Marc C. Weersing (S.C.).
During their first year the committee
prepared a report concerning the role of
the president and then they continued
the work to bring their nomination to
the board.

Three other groups from the seminary
community were gathered by this com-
mittee to aid their work. Student Gov-
ernment Association President Charles
Evans, named the 1969-70 student group,
and the 1970-71 president, Wayne Grif-
fin, appointed this year's group.

The faculty committee consisted of
Professors Charles Cousar, Harold Lyon
(1969-70), Will Ormond (1970-71).
Wade Huie, and Shirley Guthrie

The alumni group included Messrs.
Chilton Thorington (Ga.), Frank Har-
rington (S.C.). Harry Beverly (Fla.),

Columbia student John Larson, Vicks-
burg, Miss., discusses new book with
Miss Lena Claused, Columbia's first
visiting instructor in professional minis-
try. Miss Claused is associate pastor of
the First Presbyterian Church, Lake
Charles, La., and was on the Columbia
campus during the winter quarter. (See
p. 2 story on spring quarter's VIPM.)

John Newton (Ala.), and William Cros-
land (Miss.).

The board has designated the Rev.
James Speed, pastor of the Woodlawn
Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.
Ala., as chairman for the special events
to honor Dr. Richards. He will be as-
sisted by Dr. Alton Glasure. Dr. Charles
Cousar, the Rev. Chilton Thorington, and
the Rev. William Crosland. A dinner,
publication of his sermons and papers, a
volume of letters from alumni, former
associates, and friends of Dr. Richards,
and personal gifts are among the plans.

ATLANTA PRESBYTERY
OKs RICHARDS FUND

At its January meeting, a standing
ovation by Atlanta Presbytery paid
tribute to President Richards and en-
dorsed the J. McDowell Richards Fund
for Graduate and Continuing Education.

Pledges of SI 00.000 that have been
received towards the $1,000,000 goal of
the fund include gifts from Columbia's
faculty and board, the John and M.u\
Franklin Foundation of Atlanta, and a
limited number of other friends of Dr.
Richards and the seminar) .

A special emphasis in this campaign
will be solicitation in the Synod of
Georgia where Dr. Richards has served
his entire ministry. Plans for the Atlanta
area in this campaign are coordinated by
Mr. Howard Ector of the Trust Company
of Georgia. State director is the Rev.
William A. Adams, pastor of the First
Presbyterian Church of Athens, Ga,

Income from the fund will be used
to develop a unified program of gradu-
ate and continuing education that will
strengthen the professional competence
of ministers through both degree pro-
grams and intensive short-term programs,
according to Mr. Steve Bacon, vice presi
dent for development.

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VOL. 65, NO. 3 / APRIL, 1971
Published 7 times a year / Jan., Feb., Apr., May, July, Oct., Nov.

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