Jerry Walls, Evangelist of the Mind

This afternoon on Talk of the Nation, Neal Conan had Jerry Walls as his guest for a brief segment on the upcoming end of the world and our fascination with "end times." Jerry fielded a Swedenborgian and other callers, and gave a clear orthodox affirmation of his faith: "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again." Great stuff!

We knew Jerry when we were at Notre Dame. In 2005 we heard him as keynote speaker for the Wheaton Philosophy Conference: "Philosophers Think about Heaven and Hell." Jerry is an engaging speaker, and a vocal Arminian, as the clip below shows:
Jerry Walls



Jerry's Bio, from The Christian Studies Center

B.A., Houghton College
M.Div., Princeton Seminary
S.T.M., Yale Divinity School
Ph.D., Department of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame

Jerry Walls is one of the most respected Christian philosophers in America. His engaging, energetic lectures make Jerry a student favorite, and his lively debates outside the classroom help students learn to think and communicate Christianly on a variety of topics. For many years, Jerry taught at Asbury Theological Seminary and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame. He has authored and edited nearly a dozen books and has been a contributor to almost 20 others. Jerry has published a pair of books that make a philosophical defense of Christian views on the afterlife, Heaven: The Logic of Eternal Joy and Hell: The Logic of Damnation. He is also an editor of a volume in the prestigious Oxford Handbook series, The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology. Two of his other books explore the thought of C.S. Lewis, C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer (with Scott Burson) and The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy (with Gregory Bassham). Not merely a cut and dry philosopher, Jerry also won a national poetry contest in his college years, and in 2009, he published his first book of poetry Who Watch For The Morning. When he is not writing books, Jerry serves as a pastor, guest lecturer or avid sports fan.










Areas of Specialty: C.S. Lewis, Heaven and Hell, Calvinism and Arminianism

Noll on the Characteristics of American Christianity

The American tendency has been

to see authority as self-created rather than inherited;

to read the Bible for oneself rather than just to accept biblical interpretation from others;

to create organizations to meet a need rather than simply to inherit organizations;

to empower laypeople, first laymen and then laywomen, as opposed to being super-clerical;

and to use the forces of the market for the church rather than to worry about the forces of the market.

The American tendency has been populist, and sometimes democratic, rather than aristocratic."

--Mark Noll Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame

"Does Global Christianity Equal American Christianity?"
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/july/19.38.html?start=2

Tempests blowing at Notre Dame

What a mess at our alma mater!

Notre Dame has invited President Barak Obama to deliver this year's commencement address. He will be the ninth U.S president to have been awarded an honorary degree from ND, and the sixth to have been a commencement speaker.

The problem is that Father Jenkins, ND's president, apparantly forgot the 2004 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops statement, “Catholics in Political Life”:

“The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”

Several bishops have decided to press the issue. (See this article for more on the controversy.)

Meanwhile, Mary Ann Glendon, the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School , and former ambassador to the Vatican, has decided to decline the Laetare Medal which was to have been awarded her at that same ceremony. Below is Glendon's letter explaining her reasons for bowing out.

From my perspective, now that ND has invited him, it would be extremely rude to un-invite the president, as some alumni are demanding. On the other hand, commencement was probably not the best of all venues for inviting Obama to Notre Dame. Notre Dame has struggled for a long time to figure out its identity. It desperately wishes to be accepted as a major American university, and subconsciously prove today's No-Nothings to be wrong. Sadly, sometimes this need seems to overshadow its unique position as THE premiere Catholic university in America.

Ah, but therein lies the rub: What does it mean to be Catholic? Until that is understood, it will be impossible to figure out what it means to be American Catholic.

So I pray that the day described in Psalm 85 will soon come:

Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
Lovingkindness and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth springs from the earth,
And righteousness looks down from heaven.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

April 27, 2009
The Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
PresidentUniversity of Notre Dame

Dear Father Jenkins,
When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame's most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students and faculty.

Last month, when you called to tell me that the commencement speech was to be given by President Obama, I mentioned to you that I would have to rewrite my speech. Over the ensuing weeks, the task that once seemed so delightful has been complicated by a number of factors.
First, as a longtime consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, I could not help but be dismayed by the news that Notre Dame also planned to award the president an honorary degree.

This, as you must know, was in disregard of the U.S. bishops' express request of 2004 that Catholic institutions "should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles" and that such persons "should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions." That request, which in no way seeks to control or interfere with an institution's freedom to invite and engage in serious debate with whomever it wishes, seems to me so reasonable that I am at a loss to understand why a Catholic university should disrespect it.

Then I learned that "talking points" issued by Notre Dame in response to widespread criticism of its decision included two statements implying that my acceptance speech would somehow balance the event:

"President Obama won't be doing all the talking. Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, will be speaking as the recipient of the Laetare Medal."

"We think having the president come to Notre Dame, see our graduates, meet our leaders, and hear a talk from Mary Ann Glendon is a good thing for the president and for the causes we care about."

A commencement, however, is supposed to be a joyous day for the graduates and their families. It is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame's decision--in disregard of the settled position of the U.S. bishops--to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church's position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.

Finally, with recent news reports that other Catholic schools are similarly choosing to disregard the bishops' guidelines, I am concerned that Notre Dame's example could have an unfortunate ripple effect.

It is with great sadness, therefore, that I have concluded that I cannot accept the Laetare Medal or participate in the May 17 graduation ceremony.
In order to avoid the inevitable speculation about the reasons for my decision, I will release this letter to the press, but I do not plan to make any further comment on the matter at this time.

Yours Very Truly,
Mary Ann Glendon

An Artist's Journal, or Skivington so Far

My dear friend Janice has begun a blog, "Janice Skivington:
An Artist's Journal or Skivington So Far." I am so excited that she has finally begun blogging, because it means almost every day there will be some image to enjoy. It also means that she will be prompted to produce even more new images!

Jan's portfolio includes work for

InterVarsity Press
The University of Notre Dame Press
Tyndale House Publishing
SRA McGraw Hill
Highlights Magazine
National Wildlife Federation
Lady Bug Magazine
David C. Cook Publishing
Concordia Publishing
Children's Press
Scott Foresman
Quarasan
Harcourt Press
University of Chicago

If you have read The Book for Children or the original editions of F.F. Bruce's The Hard Sayings of Jesus or Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue, you have encountered her illustrations.

Jan and I go back to the days at Notre Dame, when our husbands were in the graduate philosophy program. She and Jay were the first of our circle to have a child, who is now married and is at Fordham pursuing his own academic career in philosophy.(Can it possibly be?) Jan has raised four children, two dogs, rats and a lizard, travelled with her family from the Philippines to China to central America to England, and run marathons. She is a phenomenal mother, wife, sister, and Christian woman. But most precious to me, she is my friend. So, Jan, I thank God for you, and pray that He will give you many more years to explore His world and share your art with us all.

Chicago-centric? Lessons from Baylor and Notre Dame

This is an excellent article written a decade ago by W. David Solomon for the Baylor U Alumni Magazine, (Winter, 1997).

I was reminded of it as I read Donn Johnson's October 6 blog entry, "Chicago-centric." Solomon is concerned with how religious universities respond to forces of secularization, and discusses how the differences between Protestant Baylor and Catholic Notre Dame might hasten or impede that process . As I read Donn's blog, I wondered if it might be profitable to replace "Baylor" with "Fuller" or "Bethel" and "Notre Dame" with "The Covenant."

The alternative to being "Chicago-centric" is de-centralization. In a postmodern age, decentralization is an attractive option. But could it be that being Chicago-centric actually has an upside? After discussing the similarities between Notre Dame and Baylor, Solomon writes,

"These similarities should not, however, blind us to important differences between Notre Dame and Baylor. Even in these ecumenical days, there are theologically related cultural and institutional differences that run quite deep. One difference with some relevance to the question of religious identity is the culture of governance at each institution. Baylor faculty, like all faculty members I have ever known, frequently complain about too much centralized and top-down management at the university. They push for more faculty oversight and involvement in administrative decisions. They may be right to make these demands, but to an outsider Baylor seems, if anything, to be too burdened with bottom-up committees. The same faculty members at Baylor who complain about centralized administration also complain about the burdens of committee work. However this may be, governance at Baylor is much more distributed and much less centralized than that at Notre Dame, where decision-making is more hierarchical and paternalistic.

Governance at both schools tends to mimic clerical structure. For Catholics power has traditionally radiated from Rome, bishops, and clergy. Baptist organization is a kind of constrained anarchy. Baptist preachers have to earn the authority they possess in their congregations; priests have authority conferred upon them. Both Nashville and Rome attempt to exert power over their scattered congregations, but Rome starts with a decided theological advantage in this regard over Nashville.

These differences in administrative style are relevant to questions of religious identity in a number of ways, but the most important is the relation they have to techniques of institutional control. Given the more centralized control characteristic of Catholic universities, it is easier to maintain religious identity in secularizing times in such universities. This may partially explain why Catholic universities as a group have been so much more successful at resisting secularizing influences than Protestant universities have.

A second difference between Notre Dame and Baylor – and it would be especially striking to a Catholic visitor to Baylor – is the lack of religious objects and images on the Baylor campus. A visitor who walked around the campus and looked it over would have no clue that it is a Christian – or Baptist – university. Things are quite different at Notre Dame. At the entrance to the Notre Dame campus is a statue of the founder, Father Sorin, in complete clerical regalia; at the entrance to Baylor’s campus is a statue of its namesake, a judge, in full judicial regalia.
Bells are played at Notre Dame from the tower of a French neogothic church at the center of campus; bells at Baylor are played from the tower of the administration building.At Notre Dame, the neogothic church is the architectural focus of the campus; there is no church on the Baylor campus. When alums return to Notre Dame, they frequently stroll across campus to visit (and light a candle at) a replica of the grotto at Lourdes; at Baylor, one visits the bear pit where the university mascot is housed. At Notre Dame, there is a crucifix in every classroom, a chapel in every dormitory (where Mass is said several times a week), and religious statuary distributed around campus; at Baylor there are no religious objects of this sort to be found.

A Catholic visitor to the Baylor campus would be immediately struck by the lack of sacred space on campus. Indeed, the building which houses the space with the most sacred aspect is the unrelentingly secular Armstrong Browning Library, a replica of an Italianate villa housing research materials and memorabilia of the Brownings.
The Browning Library contains much beautiful stained glass, and its central room, the Foyer of Meditation, has as its focus the altar-like bronze cast of Robert and Elizabeth Brownings’ clasped hands. But the reach of the Browning Library toward the sacred exceeds its grasp. It remains a temple to a dead Victorian poet. The stained glass celebrates the Pied Piper of Hamelin, not the events of the gospels; the statue of the innocent young woman that graces the front of the building is of Pippa and not of the Mother of God. The sign inside the front door of Armstrong Browning Library reminds the visitor that this building contains the world’s largest collection of secular stained glass. One could go on to mention the two most recognizable symbols of Notre Dame to the wider world: the statue of the Virgin Mary atop the golden dome and the ten-story-high mosaic of Jesus on the library.

One might say, of course, that these differences in the physical presence of the religious on the two campuses is the result of deep differences in the religious beliefs and practices of Baptists and Catholics. But that is to make my point.

There are a number of ways in which these differences are relevant to the larger topic of religious identity, but one is of particular importance. Secularization would be more difficult ultimately at Notre Dame than at Baylor, and this would be true just because the religious identity of Notre Dame is embodied in the physical being of the place. The faculty and students might give up any interest in things religious, but the campus would still be laid out in the shape of a cross. And it would be difficult to remove the mosaic of Jesus from the front of the library. There is an old saying at Notre Dame that "the blood is in the bricks" – meaning that the life’s work of the founders and sustainers of the university course through the yellow mud bricks from which the campus buildings are constructed. But in a deeper sense, the religious traditions of the university have left their mark on the physical structure of the place. To render Notre Dame finally and fully secular would require tearing it down and rebuilding it – and renaming it! Baylor possesses no such barriers to secularization."

What happens to a university/denomination when there isn't even a location, muchless mosaics grottoes or statues? Could it be that "distance learning" is harder for the Covenant than for Fuller or Bethel because we still aspire to be a Covenant--in the old Swedish sense of the word--that is, "forbundet?" Can you have a "forbundet" without some physical center for locating relationships?

Jews have Jerusalem; Catholics have Rome, Moslems have Mecca, and the Orthodox once had Constantinople. As Protestants are we so spiritual that we consider ourselves "beyond" the need for place? Or perhaps is it the case that we have grown (apart) so much, physically, intellectually and emotionally that "forbundet" is itself an antiquated notion, which needs to be given up for the greater good of the kingdom?

Can there be incarnation without location? Does a denomination need a physical center? If the answer is yes, then what are the conditions for best locating that center? If the answer is no, how then do we avoid an incipient gnosticism in our relationships?