Columbia Theological Seminary Inform, 65, number 1, January 1971

VOL. 65, NO. 1 / JANUARY 1971

NEWS BULLETIN FROM COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

DECATUR, GEORGIA

FUND TO HONOR PRESIDENT RICHARDS ANNOUNCED

Faculty And Board Set Pace

Pace-setting pledges totaling over $63,-
000 have been made by members of
Columbia's Faculty and Board of Di-
rectors to the J. McDowell Richards
Fund for Graduate and Continuing Edu-
cation. The fund, launched by the Board
at their November meeting, seeks to
honor Dr. Richards for his nearly 40
years of service as President of Co-
lumbia and to provide endowment for
new programs that he has helped estab-
lish.

Dr. J. Davison Philips, Chairman of
Columbia's Board, announced that the
campaign to establish the fund will also
include plans for personal gifts and op-
portunities to pay tribute to Dr. Richards
at the time of his retirement. The Board's
Committee on the President reported
progress in their efforts to secure a suc-
cessor for President Richards, but were
unable to give a firm time-table for the
completion of their work.

Plans for the Richards Fund include
a first stage $500,000 campaign to be
increased in two later stages to $1 mil-
lion. Solicitation will be conducted
among alumni and friends throughout
the seminary's constituency and the Pres-
byterian Church, U.S. Special emphasis
will be placed on solicitation in the
Synod of Georgia where Dr. Richards
has served during his entire ministry.

Graduate and continuing education
was chosen for support through the
Richards Fund because of Dr. Richards
interest in this expanding portion of
Columbia's program. Early in his Presi-
dency the Master of Theology program
was established and in the last two years
Dr. Richards has led Columbia into a

doctoral degree program. The doctoral
program is offered in cooperation with
the other Atlanta area seminaries
through the Atlanta Theological Associa-
tion in which Dr. Richards has played
a leading role.

Pastoral concerns are prominent in
Columbia's present graduate and con-
tinuing education programs. This pattern
will be followed in the expanded program
envisioned in the Richards Fund. Each
program seeks to help the pastor further
develop his professional competency in
the pastoral role.

During January a special film strip
highlighting Dr. Richards leadership at
Columbia and the goals of the Richards
Fund will be released. Copies will be
available through the Seminary's De-
velopment Office.

Innovative Visiting Faculty Program Begins

Miss Lena Clausell, Associate to the
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church,
Lake Charles, Louisiana, will be Co-
lumbia's first Visiting Instructor in Pro-
fessional Ministry.

The innovative VI PM program is a
first for Presbyterians. The aim of the
program is to help bring together aca-
demic excellence and professional com-
petence within the seminary setting.

Each quarter a visiting instructor with
demonstrated competence in one of these

three areas: a staff specialist from one
of the denominational boards or agencies;
a person engaged in some specialized
and/ or experimental ministry; or a
person engaged in some office of min-
istry in a traditional typical congrega-
tional setting, will be invited to live on
the campus. Selection of persons invited
to participate in the program was made
by the pastoral area faculty members
and approved by the entire faculty.
(Continued on page 3)

Grad-Continuing Ed. Focus

Academic Dean Ben Kline envisions
new avenues of service for Columbia in
the years ahead. Many of the new pro-
grams will be in graduate and continu-
ing education. They will be carefully co-
ordinated with the Seminary's first pro-
fessional degree programs.

"As we seriously consider, and plan
for. the Doctor of Ministries degree as a
first degree option," Dr. Kline said, "we
are finding certain specific needs of
pastors that can best be met with a care-
fully planned program of graduate and
continuing education."

Some of the educational needs of
ministers will be met through degree
granting graduate programs. Many others
will be met with both short and extended
continuing education programs. Among
the specific needs defined by Columbia's
planning committee and included in cur-

(Continued on page 2)

Varied Program For
February Ministers' Week

Dr. Martin E. Marty, Associate Dean
of the Divinity School and Professor of
Modern Church History at the University
of Chicago and Associate Editor of The
Christian Century, will be the Smyth
Lecturer during Ministers' Week Febru-
ary 1-3, 1971.

The annual Alumni Luncheon will be
Tuesday. February 2, during Ministers'
Week, and the program will be presented
by the Historical-Doctrinal Area faculty.

Dr. Marty's lectures will center around
"Continuing Confrontations in Amer-
ican Religion," with topics including:
"Urban versus Rural," "The South and
the Rest of the World," and "Consent
and Dissent in American Religious Life."

Several Columbia students are prepar-
ing media presentations to parallel Dr.
Marty's lectures. These will include tapes,
slides, music, and dramatic scenes. Also
after each presentation there will be some
type of audience response, in the form
of panel reactions and discussions.

A world-known teacher, lecturer and

author. Dr. Marty is the author of these

recent books: The Search for A Usable

Future, The Modern Schism and

(Continued on page 4)

SCENES AROUND COLUMBIA THIS FALL

First row (left to right): for the second time
in recent months a truck knocked down
the entrance gate;

Executive Secretairies from supporting
synods gathered for annual consultation
with CTS staff Tom Kay (E. Ala.), L. E.
Woodward (Everglades), and Bob Earnest
(Augusta-Macon) talk with Prof. Bass.

Convenant Players visit campus for
drama workshop.

Second row: students share in Dr. Richards
birthday celebration.

1970-71 Student Government Officers:
Caroline Leach, sec, Jim McNaull, treas.,
Jim Watkins, v-pres., Wayne Griffin, pres.

Third row: Columbia had display encour-
aging: ''Consider These Ministeries" next
to moon rock at Augusta, Ga. Fair.

Dr. Jorge Lara-Braud, Director of the

Hispanic-American Institute talks with stu-
dent David Swindall and Missions Prof.
Bass during campus visit.

Mrs. Joseph Patrick presides at fall meet-
ing of Mission Haven Board.

Students At Mission Board Meeting

Four Columbia students attended the
fall meeting of the Board of World
Missions of the Presbyterian Church,
U.S., in Nashville, Tenn., which prob-
ably marked the first time students have
attended such a meeting.

Tom Malone, Whitmire, S. C, Bruce
Davis, Atlanta, Ga., Ron Botsford, St.
Petersburg, Fla., Breck Castleman, New
Orleans, La., and Columbia Missions
Professor Richard Bass acted as observ-
ers at the meeting. Their trip was part
of requirements for a missions course.

Grad-Continuing Ed.

(Continued)
rent program projections arc study dis-
ciplines and educational materials over
extended periods, special interests and
areas not included adequately in first de-
gree programs, sabbatic studies and
training opportunities between pastorates.

The realization of plans now being
formed will depend on adequate financ-
ing. "So far we have been conducting
both the graduate and continuing educa-
tion with the same faculty that we use
for the basic degree program," Dean
Kline observed. "We will need to add
faculty to implement our plans so that
adequate time will be available for these
returning students," he said.

Financial support through grants and
fellowships is also needed. These needs
will be met by the support anticipated
through the recently announced Mc-
Dowell Richards Fund for Graduate and
Continuing Education.

Faculty Profile . .

J. Richard Bass

. . where is the
meaning?"

Dick Bass spent five of what he calls
"the most exciting years of my life" as
a missionary in Mexico. And although
he has been on the Columbia faculty as
an Associate Professor of Evangelism
and Missions and Director of Field Edu-
cation for three years, he still is excited
about Mexico and loves to talk about
it. The walls of his office are lined with
Mexican posters, maps, matadors, and his
bookshelf is lined with books about
Mexico.

He went to Mexico City in 1961 as
a missionary to teach at the Presby-
terian Theological Seminary of the Mex-
ican National Church after graduating
from Presbyterian College, Clinton, S. C,
and Columbia Seminary, and doing grad-
uate study at New College, University of
Edinburg, Scotland.

He started studying Spanish, and be-
fore a year had passed he was teaching
Greek in Spanish to seminary students.
"By the way, Greek is easier to learn
in Spanish," Dick says.

"Because of the seminary's lack of
money and faculty members, I found
myself doing a lot there I wasn't quali-
fied for. I taught almost everything from
Greek to preaching."

Mr. Bass stayed in Mexico City for
five years. During this time he really
got to know the Mexican people and
their culture in all parts of the country
when he travelled with students on
preaching engagements on weekends.

"When we went out on weekends, we
were never quite sure of the food we
would have, and most of the facilities
were pretty bad. A typical breakfast
would be eggs with hot peppers, tor-
tillas, beans, and coffee. I always ate
what I was served, and I earned the re-
spect of the Mexican people."

In 1966 Dick participated in a re-
treat with three Roman Catholic Priests
for worship and Bible study. This was
the first time Protestants and Roman
Catholics had gotten together for such
a meeting in Mexico. Soon thereafter he
got an invitation to speak at a Catholic
seminary, and a priest was invited to
speak at their Presbytery meeting.

"The Mexican Presbyterian Church

was upset because of the statement I
made saying I had never felt the pres-
ence of the Spirit more than at the
retreat with the Roman Catholic priests.
They felt I shouldn't be teaching at a
Presbyterian seminary with my eccu-
mcnical views, so after a close vote I was
asked to resign from the seminary."

"Teaching missions at Columbia since
my stay in Mexico has given me a greater
perspective of the complicated world and
the frustrations which we are experienc-
ing in the field of world missions."

Mr. Bass says it is difficult teaching
missions because the students, for the
most part, have not had the basic ex-
periences necessary to know what the
mission field is all about. He says he
believes with this student generation that
"If there is not involvement where is
the meaning?"

He put his involvement ideas to work
in a new course called "Para-Congrega-
tion Ministries" where the student him-
self is responsible for choosing and de-
veloping a different type of ministry. Mr.
Bass says these ministries have ranged
from high-rise apartment dwellers to
motorcycle gangs, and he terms the
course a success.

While Mr. Bass is not teaching Mis-
sions he is busy coordinating field educa-
tion activities for students outside the
classroom. All the requests for supply
preachers come through his office too.

Mr. Bass enjoys teaching at Columbia,
and is especially impressed with the sup-
port given to members of the faculty
here, from the President on down.

He and his family live near the
campus, and his four children, Dick,
Dardie, Hank, and Lois, all attend near-
by Winnoa Park School. His wife Marion
teaches creative rhythms at Decatur
Presbyterian Church's kindergarten.

The Bass family enjoys camping, fish-
ing, and all outdoor sports. Mr. Bass
played basketball in high school, but says
he just watches it now. Most any holiday
you can find him fishing for speckled
trout or heading to the beach with his
family.

Information Services Added

Mrs. Alice W. Thrasher has joined the
Columbia staff as Director of Informa-
tion Services. Her duties include sending
news releases taking pictures, producing
newsletters, and writing materials for
development programs. She works part-
time for Columbia, and is also Public
Relations Director for the Atlanta As-
sociation for Retarded Children.

Mrs. Thrasher re-
ceived a B.A. degree
in Journalism and a
M.A. degree in Spe-
cial Education for the
Mentally Retarded
from the University
of Alabama at Tus-
caloosa. She previous-
ly taught the mentally
retarded for one semester, and worked
with the Florida Legislative Service
Bureau.

She and her husband Jerry moved to
Atlanta from Tallahassee. Fla., in Au-
gust. Mr. Thrasher is a librarian at the
Woodruff Library at Emory University.

Visiting Faculty

(Continued)

Miss Clausell will be living on the
Columbia campus during the winter
quarter January through March in a
function that Dean C. Benton Kline calls
a "kind of scholar in
residence." She will
teach one course in
the Pastoral Area,
and will talk infor-
mally in groups and
seminars with stu-
dents to try to bridge
the gap between class-
room learning and
actual work with a congregation. This
new program is just another means of
helping the faculty achieve its compre-
hensive objectives according to Dean
Kline.

Miss Clausell is a native of Roscoe,
Texas. She received a B.A. degree from
Austin College, Sherman, Texas, and a
Master's degree in Religious Education
from the Assembly's Training School
(Presbyterian School of Christian Edu-
cation), Richmond, Virginia.

Among her varied duties she has
served as Director of Christian Educa-
tion for the Presbytery of Central Texas
and for the Presbytery of Western Texas.
From 1965-68 she served as Associate
Executive Secretary of the Synod of
Texas in leadership education and con-
ference programs.

In January 1969 she became asso-
ciate to the pastor in program resources
and leadership development at the Lake
Charles First Presbyterian Church.

SIX DIRECTORS FROM SOUTH CAROLINA

Seated: Mogrll and Weersing. Standing: Horton,
Jackson and Wilson.

Columbia's Board of Directors in-
cludes three laymen and three ministers
representing the Synod of South Caro-
lina. The laymen are Harold Jackson,
Cheraw; Arthur Magill, Greenville; and
Patrick C. Smith, Columbia. The min-
isters are the Rev. T. W. Horton, Jr.,
Charleston; the Rev. John A. Wilson,
Columbia; and the Rev. Marc C. Weer-
sing, Clinton.

The Board of Directors is composed of
25 men elected by the synods of Ala-
bama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and
South Carolina, the five synods which
support Columbia. The Board meets semi-
annually to set policies for Columbia,
and permanent committees work closely
with faculty and students and study
various aspects of seminary life.

Harold Jackson of Cheraw was elected
to the board in 1967, and is currently
serving on the Planning and Develop-
ment Committee. Mr. Jackson has two
sons who work with him in his business
associations with the Humble Oil Com-
pany and Hardee Hamburger franchises.
He is a member of the Cheraw First
Presbyterian Church.

Arthur Magill, a member of the Board
since 1966, is from Greenville and is
Chairman of the Board, Her Majesty
Industries, Inc., Mauldin, S. C. He is a
member of the Executive and Investment
Ccmmittees and the Investment and
Audit permanent committee. He has
served as a Deacon of the Westminster
Presbyterian Church, Greenville, and
was chairman of the Finance and Budget
Committee. Also he has served on the
Building Council, and is currently serv-
ing as an elder and a session representa-
tive on the Service Committee. Mr. Ma-
gill is very active in civic and cultural
endeavors in Greenville, and he is a
member of the Board of Visitors of
Furman University.

Patrick C. Smith of Columbia, the
state auditor for South Carolina, has
worked with state government in various
positions since 1936. He has served on
the Columbia Board since 1 965, and
is currently a member of the Investment
and Audit Committee. He has served

as a deacon and is an elder of the First
Presbyterian Church of Columbia, and
served on the Presbytery Committee on
Stewardship. His wife is active in church
work also and is secretary to the Exec-
utive Secretary of the Synod of South
Carolina.

The Rev. T. W. Horton. Jr. of Charles-
ton will complete his present term on
the board in 1971. He is Executive
Secretary of the Charleston Presbytery,
and a former pastor of Mount Pleasant
Presbyterian Church. He is a 1948 grad-
uate of Columbia Seminary, and is cur-
rently serving on the Investment and
Audit Committee of its Board of Di-
rectors.

The Rev. John A. Wilson of Columbia,
who is also a graduate of Columbia, has
been serving in the Board since 1968.
He is on the Committee on Studnt Life.
Dr. Wilson is pastor of the Arsenal Hill
Presbyterian Church, and has served as
moderator of Congree Presbytery.

The Rev. Marc C Weersing, President
of Presbyterian College, Clinton, S. C,
has been serving on the board since 1965.
He is a former pastor of the Spartan-
burg First Presbyterian Church and re-
ceived a Th. M. degree from Columbia
in 1938. He is currently serving on the
Academic Policy Committee of Colum-
bia's Board.

CFC Begins Shortened Year

Ministers' Week

(Continued)

Rightous Empire: The Protestant Exper-
ience in America. At the University of
Chicago he is to be the upcoming editor
of the Chicago Encyclopedia of Religion.
As an editor Dr. Marty holds many
ntlcs. He is author-editor of a newsletter.
Context; co-editor of the Macmillan an-
nual New Theology No. 1-7; general
editor of Harper Forum; the Lippincott
Promise of Theology Series; co-editor of

Columbia Friendship Circle began a
special shortended year on October 1st
with a new project and new staff leader-
ship. Though new the project. Continu-
ing Education for Pastors, has received
support from CFC in former years.

Mrs. Barbara Herndon, secretary in
Columbia's Development Office is now
assisting with the CFC program. Also
involved in the program is CTS Director
of Development The Rev. Alvin S. Jep-
son. Mrs. Herndon is carrying on the
work of Mrs. Walter Wood who moved
with her family to Florida this past
summer.

Ecumenical Studies in Church History;
general editor of the forthcoming Uni-
versity of Chicago History of Religion
in America series; as well as an Associate
Editor of The Christian Century, an
ecumenical weekly.

Dr. Marty has authored, edited, co-
edited or contributed to over 75 books
and has written numerous magazine
articles. He received the Ph.D. in Amer-
ican Intellectual and Religious History at
Chicago in 1956, and holds seven honor-
ary doctorates. He is a vice-president of
the American Society of Church History
and co-editor of its quarterly, Church
History. He is also vice-president of the
Lutheran Commission on Social Con-
cerns, and is a member of the Board of
Directors, National Catholic Reporter.

Outside his writing and teaching du-
ties, Dr. Marty is active in numerous
peace and social-action organizations and
makes frequent radio-television appear-
ances. He also makes frequent appear-
ances on college and seminary campuses.

In order to begin an April to April
year to coincide with the annual pilgrim-
age visit to the Columbia campus CFC
will have only six months in its current
program year. The Continuing Educa-
tion project will be emphasized during
that period.

Since 1962 the Continuing Education
program has given help to over 450
pastors throughout Columbia's consti-
tuency. Expansion of the program to as-
sist the early 1500 net yet included in
envisioned this year.

Columbia Theological Seminary's Society of Missionary Inquiry

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For. College Students
High School Seniors, Juniors and Sophomores

Rock Eagle Conference

Conference designed to present Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
and to challenge young people with His mission in the world today-
right where they are involved small town, large city, or school.

APRIL 23-25, 1971

Rock Eagle
Conference Center

Earonron, Georgia
Cost: $18.00

FEATURING

Walter Shepard

Former Missionary to

Congo, Architect

Folk-Rock Group

Ron & Bill Moare

The Lo and Behold'

(Please detach poster and post on bulletin board or give to Youth Advisor or DCE)

DEPUTATION TEAMS
Columbia Seminary students will visit your Youth Group of IS or
more persons to present a program on the Rock Eagle Conference.
We would like to have a team come to our church on one of these

dates:

Mail to: Society of Missionary Inquiry

Box 163

Columbia Theological Seminary

Decatur, Georgia 30031

1 7

Minister'* Nnmp

Please send:

Nnmp M Church

Registration Forms tf>r my yf>

AiMmm

Name

City SrntP

Address

City A Stnt* 7i p CnA* |

City A Store Zip Code

"Hope out of Chaos" is the theme for
the 1971 College Conference to be held
on the Columbia campus January 29-31.

The program of the conference will
be divided into four different segments,
Environment, Ethics, History, and the
Church. Speakers for these topics will
be four Columbia professors, C. Benton
Kline, Shirley Guthrie, Jr., Charles
Cousar. and Milton Riviere.

The College Conference is open to
any college student who would like to
visit Columbia as their guest for the
week-end. Due to the limits of space
registration will have to be limited, so
if you are interested write for an applica-
tion soon from Columbia's Director of
Admissions James T. Richardson.

ELOISE WHITE JOHNSON SCHOLARSHIP ESTABLISHED

A scholarship fund has been set up
at Columbia in memory of the late Eloise
White Johnston of Uniontown, Alabama.
Mrs. Johnston left a bequest to the sem-
inary upon her death November 1968,
and this gift was recently increased by
her son, Henry P. Johnston of Birming-
ham.

Mrs. Johnston, who had survived her
husband Charles P. Johnston, a pros-
perous farmer from Uniontown, was ac-
tive in the First Presbyterian Church
for over 68 years. She was one of the
founders of the Alabama Federation of
Music Clubs, and was elected honorary
life president of the Alabama Chapter of
the United Daughters of the Confed-
eracy.

Mr. Johnston is also an active mem-
ber of the Presbyterian Church, and has
served as a deacon and an elder of the

Mr. Johnston,
Richards.

right, presents check to President

Independent Presbyterian Church in
Birmingham. He is a former communica-
tions executive, and is presently an in-
vestment consultant.

Students Plan Annual Missions Conference

Tom Malone of Whitmire, S. C.
President of the Student Society of Mis-
sionary Inquiry, has been working hard
this fall to get the annual Rock Eagle
Conference put together.

The conference is scheduled for April
23-25. 1971, and the program will fea-
ture Walter Shepard, former Presbyterian
Missionary to the Congo and former
Board of World missions staff member
who is presently an architect and out-

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If not, please make corrections opposite your name and address below, and mail to us in

a separate envelope.

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send name and address.

standing layman in New Orleans, and a
folk-rock group. Bill and Ron Moore. All
three of these people were at last year's
conference, and were well received. Last
year the conference drew over 650 peo-
ple, so it's a good idea to send in reser-
vations early.

Officers working with Tom this year
include: Bruce Davis, Atlanta, Ga., vice-
president; Howard Shockley, Opchka,
Ala., secretary; David Swindall, Atlanta.
treasurer; and Phil Jones, Orlando, Fla.,
1st year class SMI representative.

Tom says of SMI, "This year we hope
to expand SMI's activities to include all
missions of the church, not just world
missions." SMI is hosting monthly "Meet
a Missionary" luncheons. Speakers so far
have been the Rev. Norm Cook, Far
Eastern Secretary of the Overseas Mis-
sionary Fellowship and the Rev. Bob
Armistead, a missionary to Mexico who
is studying a Columbia this fall.

Second Class

POSTAGE

Paid at

Decatur. Ga.

VOL 65, NO. 1 / JANUARY, 1971
Published 7 times a year / Jan., Feb., Apr., May, July, Oct., Nov.

COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

P. O. Box 520 * Decatur, Georgia 30031