Seminary -- Singing and More 7

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41. I would petition to get out of two of the "Pastor as" courses. One, I think, was "Pastor as Evangelist." I had taken an evangelism course at Central. The other was "Pastor as Liberator." This was, for lack of a better description, a social justice course. It would no doubt have been very good for me, but I wanted to take more Bible, and Asbury granted my petition.

Incidentally, coming from where I came, I thought of the Liberator course as somewhat liberal. We grumbled about having to take such courses. Now I view this as a major blind spot in my background. Indeed, it would seem a trick of the Devil to get God's people to mock something that was central to Jesus' earthly mission. It would seem to me at the present moment that a good deal of the church finds itself fighting God while thinking itself fighting for righteousness.

Because I already had taken theology at Central, I was able to do some slightly more advanced work at Asbury. I took a patristics course with David Bundy. I was especially happy to do an independent study with him on Aquinas. A friend named Mark Mealey also studied with him at the same time. I can't remember if he did Aquinas and then later did a study with him on George Lindbeck, the father of post-liberal theology.

It was the first time I had really used my Latin since high school. I found Aquinas' thought very stimulating, particular his distinction between being (esse) and essence (essentia). I wondered if it was only in this universe that God's being was simple, that it reduced to a point in this universe while we cannot say what it is outside this universe.

As a side note, Russ Gunsalus remembers running into me in the basement of the library looking at copies of ancient manuscripts. I guess it looked impressive, but I knew the truth. Just because I was interested in unusual things didn't mean I was really competent at them. It has always been sobering to realize that, say in the Philo group at SBL, the things that count me as brilliant in some circles are basics assumed of everyone before even getting started in others.

Bundy is of course another genius. He was head librarian at Asbury, another Free Methodist (at the time). I secretly wondered if he was too liberal to be an official professor. :-)

He was brilliant, even if he had a little trouble getting to the finish line sometimes. Rumor had it that he learned Dutch one weekend in Amsterdam. Of course I know about rumors like that because some have circulated about me. Russ Gunsalus and I had him come do an assessment of our library when Wesley Seminary was founded. I saw him a couple years ago at SBL Denver. Abson Joseph and I had breakfast with him.

42. I had at least two courses with Jerry Walls. Since I had philosophy at Central, I was able to substitute some more advanced classes for that requirement. I did philosophy of theism and apologetics. We read Swinburne for the first, as well as some from Jerry's doctor father, Tom Morris.

An argument from Swinburne that has stayed with me is that the argument from design is not just about the question of evolution, for example. It is the fact that there are laws of nature at all. Even the theory of evolution proceeds according to rules that reflect an order to creation. Of course now I would consider the fine-tuning argument to be a consummate example of order in nature. Similarly, I would put miracles as a kind of argument from design.

In my final paper, I brainstormed something that sounds a bit heretical, namely, that the Trinity reflected a kind of metaphysical modalism. God the Father referred especially to God outside of the universe. The Spirit referred especially to God inside of the universe. Christ, the Logos, was the metaphysical bridge between inside and out, the connection between God within and without.

I might add that this class was my first exposure to analytical philosophy. I am not really too fond of it although I do use simple syllogisms in my thinking. I wonder if some analytical philosophers use their syllogisms to circumvent common sense. I used to beat myself up for being stupid in reading Plantinga and such, but I wonder if some of those were examples of the arguments not working.

The apologetics class introduced me to James Sire's, The Universe Next Door. Now there's a book that had a major impact on me. His sense of the disintegration of theism over the last five centuries has remained my go-to typology when I teach philosophy, although I've made it my own.

Walls was a huge IU and Bobby Knight fan. Somehow one Christmas I got recruited to sing with him and I think Todd Thompson a song he had written to the tune of Silent Night. Must have been a talent contest or something. "Bobby Knight. Bobby Knight. He's not tall but he is bright. Round Indiana he's our man. For each game he has a plan. Thinking and D are his keys. Thinking and D are his keys."

A couple of IWU students invited Jerry to come to speak about apologetics a couple years ago. There was a Scott Burson connection too because they had co-written some stuff. His most recent work of interest is an edited text Two Dozen or So Arguments for God, which draws on the work of Alvin Plantinga.

43. I think that about exhausts the courses I took at Asbury. I did take one on theological German with Steven O'Malley. We used Jannach's German for Reading Knowledge. When Dave Ward needed to pass a German competency test for Princeton, we worked through it together.

I had taken an interest in German the summer before I went to seminary. I checked out records from the Broward County library and listened to them. Of course in those days I thought Schenck was a German name. It turned out to be Dutch. However, I can still claim a German heritage through my Dad's mother.

I did an independent study on Hebrews with Bauer. My initial interest in Hebrews was from the fact that it had been called the Leviticus of the New Testament. Leviticus had a lot to do with holiness, so I had associated Hebrews with holiness too.

I believe I tried to read through all of Hebrews in Greek for that course. Hard to believe I would have been able to do it then, but I think I basically did. 1 John was the first book I read all the way through in Greek. Then the second was Galatians. I suppose Hebrews was the third.

Dr. Bauer invited me to present a scholarly paper on Hebrews. I presented it, I think, my senior year. It was titled, "Hebrews and the Rest of God." Many who heard it misinterpreted it. By "rest" I meant the resting of God in Hebrews 4. I think Grant Graff took it to mean "here's some of God but where's the rest?"

It was pretty boring. My friends came and endured it. I think Vicky Gibson may have even come from across the street at the college. It's also possible it was my first year as teaching fellow.

I would later drive to Atlanta and present it at a regional SBL, my first SBL paper. I didn't know anyone in the room. It was a small room. I was sure to fill out the time so there was no time for questions. I got up, read it, sat down. It was over and forgotten very quickly. I threw in some German and French to sound sophisticated... and no doubt butchered it. Quite anticlimactic after a lot of work.

44. I've neglected to say much about my non-classroom life during my student years at Asbury. Stewart Fowler was my first roomate, a very nice Free Methodist from Oregon. We would go to Florida on Spring Break with him, Len Philips, and another gentleman whose name I forget. I later heard a rumor that we had been soul winning in Fort Lauderdale and that I had said great words, but I don't remember that part. We may have witnessed to one person on the beach :-)

My next roomate was Don Crowson. We would move into an apartment down near the train tracks my final year. Don is a great guy and perhaps a tad strong willed. So it was a delight to see him begin to date Mary Uible, who might also have had a tad bit of a strong will. A particularly fond memory (please forgive me) was a stand-off in front of her house in Ohio, with them in a standstill over who would drive back to Wilmore. Her parents finally just went back in the house. I won't say who won or how much conversation there was on the trip back.

I was in an accountability group for a while. I believe Jim Maness, Ross Taylor, and another gentleman were in it. I could be misremembering. I don't think Jim Dunn was in it, but I associate him with Jim Maness in those days.

45. I went on a mission trip to Bolivia with Bill Gould. We sang. Scotty/Rachel Gulledge and Mike/Cathy Rash, friends from Central, were also on the trip. That was my second trip out of the country after the Philippines--three continents down. I tried to learn Spanish from a book driving home my whole way back in May before the trip (I would look and then memorize, look and then memorize).

There had been an older gentleman from Colombia who had attended my church growing up, Carlos Gonzalez. He tried to teach me Spanish, but it didn't work because I couldn't see the words written down. My father couldn't even get "buenos dias" to save his life. He tried and failed every Sunday. [1] I had grown up with Spanish all around me, but had never learned it.

The trip was very enjoyable, except for one night on a cold bus up country. I remember Mike getting paranoid when everyone laughed after what he said was translated. He hadn't said anything funny, at least not in Southern. He said he had really enjoyed the "cheese biscuits" that morning. I guess it was a peculiar thing to try to translate.

There was another time I was trying my best to listen to an older man speak to me in Spanish. The national superintendent, noticing, said to the man, "El no habla Español." What a downer.

Another funny moment when was when someone asked what my name was. "Ken," was the response, which sounds very similar to "Quien," which means "who?" So the guy thought the conversation was, "What is his name?" "Who?" So he repeated the question. "What is his name?" "His name is who."

What? Who is Ken? Yes, Ken is who.

Somewhere in there was interaction with Albin Whitworth, a great organist at Asbury. I did a lot of singing in those years. In fact, I sang in virtually every church I was ever a part of until I came to College Wesleyan in Marion. I forgot to mention that I sang in the college choir at Central. I sang regularly at Stonewall Wesleyan Church in Lexington during the six years I was there. Those where the days of accompaniment tapes.

The best chapel of every year, as far as I was concerned, was just before Christmas when chapel was Handel's Messiah. There would be scores at the door and we would sit in four sections near the front--sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses. There would be soloists. It was wonderful. I sang bass.

I was in a quartet with Brian Matherlee (lead), Todd Thompson (alto), Ray Jones (tenor), and me as bass. We did a fair amount of singing. Todd had an interesting story that I hope he doesn't mind me sharing a little of. He was the son of a district superintendent from North Carolina. Not exactly knowing what to do with his life, he followed the path he knew best--he studied for ministry.

But after four years at Central and four years at Asbury, he found himself not sure about his vocation. I remember him struggling to find direction, reading What Color is Your Parachute? He would finally go on to study philosophy in England at Sheffield and, I believe, is teaching even now in North Carolina.

Brian and I would become roomates after Don and Mary got married, living in the same apartment in "downtown" Wilmore. We continued to sing. He learned to play the guitar. One piece we did was "More Than Words," by Extreme. We sang it at a wedding reception. The quartet also did "In the Good Old Summertime" and "Mr. Sandman."

46. I worked in the cafeteria during my three years as a student. The first year, Ed Ross and I washed dishes. The last two years I was cashier. I enjoyed it. It was a way of being social without having to go out of my way. They came to me. There weren't a lot of single girls on campus, but I saw them every day in the line. :-)

Since I get bored easily, I quickly started drawing the menu board instead of just putting the list up. The menu items might be on a plane or the menu items might be the ingredients on a cereal box. At Christmas I decided to give menu board calendars for the next year. I did drafts of all my boards on napkins, so I was able to pick what I thought were the top twelve funniest. I found the napkins as I was preparing to move to New York.

I did some improv too, following the Who's Line Is It Anyway? approach. Those were fun. I don't know that I had ever really considered myself funny, but it seems like I was getting there.

Their names escape me at the moment, but there was a Wesleyan couple from California who had been in the acting world prior to coming to Asbury. The wife had actually done an improv class with Robin Williams before he did Mork and Mindy. They decided to put on a version of Godspell. It was a lot of fun and Todd Thompson was in it too. He and I did "All for the Best" in a duet. [2]

47. I attended Stonewall Wesleyan my whole time at Asbury. This was a matter of duty. It was how I had been programmed. You're a Wesleyan. You go to a Wesleyan Church. When you visit a town on a Sunday, you find the local Wesleyan Church to attend.

When I started, almost none of the seminary professors or students attended Stonewall. I mentioned earlier the pastor who had foolishly driven the seminary professors away. It was a little bit of a drive. No offence but the services weren't particularly exciting.

The pastor was Larry Freels. Kerry Kind also attended in those days and would often lead the song service. It seemed like Freels did everything he knew to do to try to grow the church. I remember us trying neighborhood visitation once. It just kind of continued on without much growth.

We did some social action. I remember us standing on the side of the road with abortion signs once. What was funny is that I had broken the middle finger on my right hand playing softball--a fly ball that hit my finger just wrong. So it was in a splint. They gave us the finger, and because of my split, I was giving them the finger right back. :-)

I've come to think that there are three basic kinds of small to medium size pastors. First, there is the preacher. People come to hear them preach. Then there is the pastor. The preaching might be average, but this pastor really cares for the congregation. Then there is the administrator. These days, this person might think about becoming an executive pastor in a larger church with a staff.

Although I didn't take Pastor as Evangelist, but I seem to remember hearing a new concept from other students that seemed very important to me. A church needs to be structured differently as it grows. For example, if the pastor tries to do everything himself, the church will never be able to grow beyond 150-200. This resonated with me in relation to the pastors of my youth.

[1] His French from the war was horrible too. We need "boo-coo" tires for beaucoup. I'm still not sure if "sinny-finny en" was "ce n'est fi rein."

[2] That reminds me that I sang "Old Man River" in a musical at Central.