Inform Vol. 66 No. 3 April 1972 News Bulletin From Columbia Theological Seminary Decatur, Georgia INAUGURAL EVENTS APRIL 13-15 T -he three-day inaugural program for the installation of the Rev. Dr. C. Benton Kline, Jr., as president of Columbia Theological Seminary will have more than 800 friends and distinguished vistors taking part. Presbytery representatives and church and educational leaders will take part in the service of inauguration on Saturday, April 15. Dr. Kline will deliver the main address, his inaugural lecture as president and professor of theology. The preceding evening, "The Seminary and the Church: Partnership in Mission" J. DAVISON PHILIPS will be delivered by the Rev. Dr. James I. McCord before the official representatives to the inaugural. Dr. McCord has been president of Princeton Theological Semi- nary since 1959, coming to that post from the deanship of Austin Presbyterian Theo- logical Seminary. Earlier Ministers Day (Friday, April 14) the Rev. Dr. Leighton Ford will speak at the luncheon sponsored by the Alumni Association. His topic will be "Evangelism in Crisis and Change". The alumni will also elect their 1972-73 officers. Dr. Ford, associate evangelist and vice president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is a Columbia Seminary and Wheaton College graduate. His latest book is One Way to Change the World. Mr. Ford appears regularly on Insight, a daily TV program, and Hour of Decision, a radio program. Thursday, April 13, will be Columbia Friendship Circle Day when members of Q cc o LL z o (- I the CFC, primarily from the seminary's five supporting synods of South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, will gather on campus for their annual meeting. Participants will hear the Rev. Dr. J. Davison Philips, pastor of Decatur Presbyterian Church, as their major speak- er. They will also elect 1972-73 officers, adopt their 1972-73 project, and tour the campus. That same evening (Thursday) Atlanta Presbyterian leaders will be the seminary's guests for a dinner meeting. The Board of Directors' Planning Com- mittee for the inauguration is chaired by Dr. Wallace M. Alston and includes Mr. Frank B. Davis, chairman of the board. Board Member Arthur Magill, Professor Jack B. McMichael, Professor Dean G. McKee, Alumni Association President Cook Freeman, Alumnus James Daughdrill, and Students Burwell Bennett, James McLain, and Eric Swenson. JAMES I. McCORD Inform E ROM THE PRESIDENT This is an exciting time for ministry in the church and also a turbulent time. It is a time when serious and significant questions are being asked about the church and about the ministry of the church. The re-alignment of synods is beginning to take shape, though not without questions and struggles. The re-organization of General Assembly agencies will be voted on by this General Assembly, and far-reaching changes are proposed. A new confession of faith will be presented for study some time this summer, the product of three years of hard work. A group of our faculty, students, and directors were participants in the Consulta- tion on Ministry at Montreat in early March, where for three days there was searching discussion of the nature of minis- try, the deployment of ministers, and the possibility of more meaningful life and mission for the church. Our own faculty has been studying intensively a new cur- riculum to prepare men and women to minister more effectively in the church. I welcome this stirring in the church. Of course it is threatening to face so many proposals for change. But the world we must bring the Gospel to is a world in change. We must be ready with better means to minister, with a church able to minister, with a ministry better prepared. I think we are in the windy March of God's springtime for the church. C OLUMBIA SEMINARY'S FIVE PRESIDENTS When C. Benton Kline, Jr., is inaugurated president of Columbia Seminary on April 15, he will become the fifth holder of the office in the institution's history. The first mention of the term "presi- dent" occurs 83 years after the seminary's founding when Thornton C. Whaling was elected president and professor of didactic and polemic theology in 191 1. A Virginian and a Columbia graduate. Dr. Whaling had been professor of philosophy and eco- WHALING WELLS nomics at Southwestern Presbyterian Uni- versity and had held pastorates in South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, and Texas. He was a moderator of the General Assembly. He resigned the presidency in 1921, and made his home in Columbia, South Caro- lina, where he died in 1938. John Miller Wells became president and professor of pastoral theology in 1921, resigning in 1924. A Mississippian and a graduate of Union Seminary (Virginia), Dr. Wells held pastorates in Virginia, North CaroHna, and South Carolina, and was moderator of the General Assembly in 1917. He died in 1947. An early purpose to prepare for an active part in the leadership of Columbia Seminary accounted for a deep and firm loyalty in Richard Thomas Gillespie that compelled him to accept the presidency, serving Columbia from 1925 to 1930. He had held pastorates in South Carolina and Kentucky. He guided the move of the seminary from Columbia, S. C, in 1927, the erection of the new facilities, and the campaign for the necessary financial re- sources. "He literally poured out his life into the new Columbia Seminary," states Louis C. La Motte in Colored Light. Less than a month after the graduation of the first class to enter the seminary at its new location. Dr. Gillespie was dead. La Motte further states: "Almost at its founding, Columbia Seminary was blessed with a great unselfish and devoted leader in the person of Dr. George Howe. At the crisis of its existence, a great soul was raised up to be the Joshua of the removal, Richard T. Gillespie." A granddaughter, Sally Gillespie Richardson, currently resides on the campus; she is the wife of James T. Richardson, director of admissions. In 1932 James McDowell Richards was called as president of the seminary. The first year he was greeted by a deficit of over $15,000; it is not surprising to those who watched his presidency of nearly 39 years that only two years after that there was a credit of $1. When called to the seminary, Dr. Richards was in his second pastorate since finishing his course of study in 1928. During his tenure he removed the seminary's debt and expanded the facili- ties, faculty and student body by nearly four times. He was moderator of the General Assembly in 1955, and was a "founding father" of the University Center in Georgia and of the Atlanta Theological Association. Dr. Richards is now retired and living in Decatur. He was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of the University Center in Georgia. During his 20 years as a church educator in the southeast. Dr. Kline has been an active presbyter while serving first Agnes Scott College and now the seminary. A former moderator of Atlanta Presbytery, and a member of the General Assembly's Permanent Theological Committee, Dr. Kline is also a member of the Decatur Board of Education. During the inaugural ceremonies, Dr. Kline will also be installed as professor of theology. GILLESPIE RICHARDS B D. OARD TO RECEIVE MIN. PROPOSAL IN MAY The Doctor of Ministry Degree Committee and the faculty of Columbia Seminary are completing preparation of a proposal to the Board of Directors concerning the seminary's new degree programs for its action in May. Developed after an 18-month study by Inform the committee and the facuhy, the pro- posal is for a two-tracked program: one for a Master of Divinity degree, and one for a D.Min. degree. Both sections offer students intensive work in basic theological disci- plines, development of professional com- petencies, and involvement in a structured practice of ministry under supervision. It is expected that this new program will begin in the fall of 1972. The seminary is also discussing with the Candler School of Theology and the Inter- denominational Theological Center the de- velopment of a D.Min. degree through the Atlanta Theological Association for B.D. or M.Div. degree holders. This degree will recognize an individual's ministerial ex- perience and formal continuing education since receiving the basic degree. This may be initiated in the fall of 1973. XjaNEY and PHILLIPS NAMED COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS Dean James Thomas Laney of Candler School of Theology and the Rev. Dr. J. Davison Philips, pastor of the Decatur (Ga.) Presbyterian Church,will be com- mencement and baccalaureate speaker, re- spectively, at the Columbia Seminary cere- monies on June 4. Dr. Philips, the baccalaureate preacher, was chairman of the Columbia Board of Directors from 1966 to 1971. Dr. Laney, the commencement speaker, became dean of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in 1969, and is currently Chairman of the Board of the Atlanta Theological Association. The author of On Being Responsible, Dr. Laney has also published five essays, held the Beecher Lectureship (Yale Uni- versity), and delivered numerous special lectures. C CAPITAL FUNDS DRIVE HALFWAY TO $5 MILLION GOAL Columbia has passed the half-way mark toward its current $5 million capital funds goal. With the receipt in January of $50,000 claimed from one of the donors of the "Challenge Fund," gifts received total- ed $2,522,970. Pledges received in the campaign push the total well past the $3 million mark. "By claiming this part of the 'Challenge Fund' we are meeting our schedule for the Columbia Challenge Campaign," com- mented Steve Bacon, Columbia's Vice President for Development, "and we feel confident the entire goal will be reached by 1975 as planned." Three Synod campaigns will complete the program. Solicitation for the J. McDowell Richards Fund for Graduate and Continuing Education in Georgia and the Columbia Challenge Campaign in South Carolina will be completed this year. In Mississippi campaign leaders are beginrung to work now on plans for solicitation there this fall. COLUMBIA FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE 1971-72 Richards Fund Project Synod Memberships Gifts Ala. 353 $ 1,302.05 Fla. 901 3,138.88 Ga. 1,332 4,214.79 Miss. 751 1,362.85 S. C. 634 2,444.40 Other 15.00 3,971 $12,477.97 R, .OCK EAGLE SLIDE PRESENTATION READY FOR CHURCHES' USE A slide and tape presentation to tell what the Rock Eagle Missions Conference is all about has been prepared by Miss Mary Bettis, a Columbia junior who is a member of the planning committee for the con- ference. "Rock Eagle is a place; Rock Eagle is a conference; Rock Eagle is people," says Miss Bettis, so most of the slides are of people attending and leading the con- ference in previous years. The presentation is available for use prior to this year's April 28-30 conference by churches that request audio-visuals or a seminary group to talk about Rock Eagle. After graduation. Miss Bettis would like to be in the local parish ("because that's where the action is") with responsibilities for counseling and youth work. But right now she is helping Howard Shockley, president of the sponsoring Society for Missionary Inquiry, put the finishing touches on this year's Rock Eagle Con- ference, April 28-30. Requests for applica- tions must be received by April 10, and should be sent to: SMI, Columbia Seminary, Decatur, Georgia, 30031. JLaCULTY PROFILE: SAMUEL ANTOINE CARTLEDGE "Nudges" or outright pushes at certain points in his life have been responsible for the fact that Samuel Antoine Cartledge is now completing thirty-nine years on the faculty of Columbia Seminary. After his graduation from the University of Georgia (with an A. B. in 1924 and an A. M. in Greek in 1925), Mr. Cartledge joined the staff at Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Georgia, to obtain enough money to enter Princeton Semi- nary. But, during the year, Dr. Richard T. Gillespie, then Columbia's president per- suaded him it would be more appropriate to attend a seminary at home. His birth into the Columbia family, then, dates from 1926. His student days on the old (Columbia, South Carolina) campus were marked by filling coal scuttles and cutting kindling every morning, classes in the old chapel, the move to Atlanta, the 1828 General Assembly on campus (with muddy dirt roads making it "not the happiest situ- ation, but at least they came"). Entering as the largest class in the seminary's history (41 men), the group had 31 graduates three years later, many of whom had had Mr. Cartledge as their Greek instructor. Columbia's Bryan Fellowship made possible his doctoral work at the University of Chicago in New Testament, which he pursued summers during seminary and completed the year after. He had accepted a position at Davidson College, but Colum- bia's New Testament professor was return- ing to the pastorate, so he was "accident- ally forced into" joining Columbia's faculty by Dr. Gillespie. In the summer of 1930 Dr. Cartledge and his bride moved into a six-room apartment in what is now Simons-Law Hall, living right above Dr. McPheeters. During the Thirties, he recalls, the faculty was half "older wise men" (Professors McPheeters, Clark, and Kerr) and half "younger wise men" (William Childs Inform Robinson, J. McDowell Richards, and him- selO- Among his students during this period were Peter Marshall, Wallace Alston (now president of Agnes Scott College) and Cecil Thompson, who later became a Columbia faculty member. In general, he feels, "there have been good students and poor ones, but most have been pretty faithful". (The "baby Greek" class of last summer he found to be the best he has ever had.) When Dr. Cartledge published his second book, A Conservative Introduction to the Old Testament in 1942, it very nearly brought a heresy trial, amazing as that now seems. Of that experience, he says only, "There were more heresy hunt- ers in those days". Undaunted, he went on to publish another four volumes, and numerous contributions to The Interpre- ter's Dictionary of the Bible, Dictionary of Theology, and Presbyterian Outlook. For thirty-four years he has prepared the week- ly Sunday School lessons in the Christian Observer, even writing a whole year's sup- ply before he left for his sabbatical in England in 1965-66. During his forty-two years in Athens Presbytery, Dr. Cartledge has been seven times its moderator. In other church ser- vice, he has been a member of the General Assembly's former Christian Education Council, and a chairman of the Synod's Work Committee of the Synod of Georgia. He has also been a chaplain in the U. S. Penitentiary in Atlanta and with the United States Army Reserves. Agnes Scott College, Emory University, the Presby- terian School of Christian Education, and the Winona Lake Summer School of Theol- ogy have wisely made use of his abilities. Beyond his contributions to the larger Church, he has been a "repeat" interim supply at several Georgia churches: Austell, Cartersville, Central in Athens (his father's former pastorate), and First in Athens. During a year he will preach more than half the Sundays, and finds the interplay between the seminary setting and the local church most refreshing, both personally, and for his teaching. Doctoral degrees were not common when Dr. Cartledge joined the faculty, but there has been a growing emphasis on graduate study for professors. Now, he notes happily, every faculty member either holds a doctorate or is working on one. Looking back over his four decades with the seminary. Dr. Cartledge feels that the seminary's stress on keeping up to date educationally is tied very closely with the Presbyterian Church's emphasis on theol- ogy and the responsibility it feels for thorough academic preparation for its ministry. Over the years he has watched an openness to use of new educational methods and curriculum plans strengthen the preparation of the seminary and its students to minister. With satisfaction. Dr. Cartledge com- ments on the denomination's recognition of Columbia as "a good seminary worthy of its support". Even though pastorates have been very attractive, he has felt that the seminary is where he can "render the greatest service to the Church". That con- viction has not wavered, even to the point of his saying he would "do it over again but more intelligently!" President GUlespie's argument per- meated the mind of Samuel A. Cartledge, not just in 1926, but his life on through the forty-six years since then: he still firmly believes that a southern Presbyterian seminary is the best place to train for ministry in the Presbyterian Church, US, and he has spent these years giving life to that premise. E, fLLIGAN IS VIPM FOR SPRING QUARTER The Rev. Irvin Elligan, Jr., will be Colum- bia's Visiting Instructor in Pastoral Minis- try for the spring quarter. Pastor of Miami's New Covenant Presby- terian Church since 1970, Mr. Elligan has held pastorates in Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida. A native of Chattanooga, Term., he is a graduate of Knoxville College and Pittsburgh-Xenia Seminary, and was award- ed a D.D. degree by Stillman College. Mr. Elligan is secretary of the Black Presbyterian Leadership Caucus, chairman of the Greater Miami Council on Human Relations, and of Everglades Presbytery Committee on Institutions, and is a mem- ber of the boards of the Florida Christian Migrant Ministry, Stillman College, and the Miami NAACP. < COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Vol, 66, No 3 /April 1972 Elizabeth Andrews, Editor Published 7 times a year /Jan , Feb , Apr,. May, July, Oct , Nov Inform DECATUR, GEORGIA 30031 SECOND CLASS POSTAGE PAID AT DECATUR, GA