Grace Theological Seminary - Xapis / Grace Yearbook (Winona Lake, IN)

Page 26 text:

PAGE 20 Prof. Melvin A. Stuckey: depart- ment of Homiletics and Practical The- ology, with an adjunct in Church His- tory. Prof. Kenneth M. Monroe: depart- ment of the Old Testament and He- brew, with an adjunct in Archeology (sys In delivering his address as the moderator of the General Conference of the Brethren Church, August 26, 1930, Professor McClain said, ‘This fall for the first time in the history of the Brethren Church we shall be able to offer our young men a regular 3 years’ seminary course for college graduates. .. . It seems to me, there- fore, that this General Conference should take cognizance of the situa- tion and recommend to the various districts and congregations a whole- hearted support of the seminary pro- gram’ (16). In response to this rec- ommendation by the moderator, the Conference by formal action recom- mended to the churches the new sem- inary program (17). The seminary opened in Septem- ber, and Dean J. Allen Miller, writing of the need of advanced training for the ministry, in the Brethren Evan- gelist of September 20, said, ‘Such a school we have opened for the first time this week at Ashland College... a graduate school of theology of such rank as the highest type of evangel- ical faith and life joined with a ripened and broad scholarship can offer... . We are making this begin- ning now. We must have time to justify this advanced step. . . . May God bless the task to which we now anew consecrate ourselves” (p. 2). VI. Progress of the Seminary in an Unfavorable Environment (1930-35 ). The new arrangement began with the enthusiastic support of all the ' evangelical pastors and churches which had been praying and working for such a school. Most of the newly adopted program for the Seminary was quickly placed in operation un- der the direction of the associate dean, Prof. Alva J. McClain, who pre- pared the first catalog and wrote much of its material which embodied the educational objectives and ideals now being perpetuated in Grace The- ological Seminary. From the begin- ning at Ashland, the original cata- log carried as a statement of Chris- tian faith the document adopted by the Brethren National Ministerial As- sociation in 1921 under the title, ‘““The Message of the Brethren Ministry.” The seminary began in the fall of 1930. Two years later the number of regular students had grown to 18, and a steady stream of preseminary stu- dents were moving up through the college. However, even this early the seminary program was meeting a cool reception on the campus, and occasionally open hostility. In cer- tain college classrooms teachers were expressing critical attitudes toward some areas of Christian truth. The seminary faculty, in counseling with its preseminary students in the col- lege, felt it their duty to help these students to maintain their Christian convictions. Thus it was inevitable that tensions would arise. In the gen- eral chapel exercises, with speakers from both college and seminary fac- ulties, opposing religious viewpoints were often expressed. Students were quick to sense these conflicting views

Page 25 text:

tration, but came from outside sources interested in the cause of advanced theological education for Brethren ministers. Its location fi- nally at Ashland College was in re- sponse to the urgent overtures of offi- cials of the college board, and to the offer of this board to meet the condi- tions of the program laid down for the new school. Also, it should be said, quite a few supporters of the proposed seminary felt that the loca- tion in Ohio would make it more easily available to all the churches of the denomination. Furthermore, al- though some pastors felt that a mis- take was being made in accepting the Ashland location, still others felt just as strongly that the establishment of the seminary there would help to make the college what the churches wanted it to be. This proved to be an unduly optimistic view, in the light of the subsequent history of their relationship. V. The Beginning of the Seminary as a Graduate School of Ashland College in 1930. In the Brethren Evangelist, issue of May 3, 1930, President Jacobs pub- licly announced certain actions which had been taken at the recent college board meeting. Among others things, he wrote, “With the seminary here along with the arts college, our inter- ests will not be divided. There will be no question about the granting of suitable degrees, and everything points to the wisdom of such a choice. More will be said about the situation at length later through these col- umns” (p. 14). In the Educational Day issue of the Brethren Evangelist, May 31, 1930, Rev. George T. Ronk, president of the college board, announced formally that “At the recent meeting of the board of trustees arrangements were made for establishment of a post- graduate seminary with power to grant graduate degrees in three- and four-year courses in theological train- ing... . Beginning with the first of next September, all new students for the seminary in full-course work must enter the college of liberal arts and graduate therefrom before ad- mittance into the seminary”’ (p. 2). In the same issue of the above church publication, Prof. Alva J. Mc- Clain in an extended article outlined the recently adopted “NEW SEMI- NARY PROGRAM” under which “The present seminary department of the college will be enlarged and ad- vanced to the rank of a standard the- ological seminary for college gradu- ates. ... All the seminary courses are to be revised and raised to the level of graduate work. . . . The emphasis of the school will be fourfold: orthodox belief, spiritual living, thorough scholarship, and practical applica- tion.” As the executive head of the new school, Professor McClain an- nounced that the departments and teachers would be arranged as fol- lows: Dr. J. Allen Miller, dean: depart- ment of the New Testament and Greek, with an adjunct in Philoso- phy. Prof. Alva J. McClain, associate dean: department of Theology and Christian Evidences, with an adjunct in English Bible. PAGE 19

Page 27 text:

and to take sides according to their inclinations. Professor McClain, making his an- nual report for the seminary to the board of trustees, April 25, 1933, re- ferred to this unhappy situation in part as follows: “Since the church commits its ministerial students to the college for a period of 4 years, a very grave responsibility rests upon the college teachers. Upon their per- sonal attitudes will depend largely whether or not the student comes to the seminary with his life purpose in- tact or seriously damaged. .. .I think the board should give some serious consideration to this matter. I have tried to present it as generally as pos- sible’ (18). This report was accept- ed by the board without any dissent- ing votes or any challenge from the administration. Upon several occasions Professor McClain protested to both the presi- dent and dean of the college, pointing out that the continuation of these conditions would be certain to bring the entire school under serious criti- cism. Meeting no favorable response, an appeal was made to the board rec- ommending the adoption of an official statement of faith as a standard by which the fitness of teachers could be determined. Although strongly op- posed by the college administration, the board appointed a committee to formulate such a statement. This committee brought in a statement, prepared in its original form by Pro- fessor McClain, covering the funda- mental Christian doctrines held in common by most evangelical believ- ers, but omitting the distinctive doc- trines of the Brethren denomination because at least half the college fac- A familiar scene in Winona Lake. ulty were members of other denom- inations. The adoption of the “‘state- ment” was bitterly fought by the col- lege officials, but when it became evi- dent that it would pass, the president agreed to accept it and guarantee its adoption by the college faculty if the board would not require each teacher to sign it. The hour was late, the members were tired, and the compro- mise was accepted. At the time it seemed a great victory, for at last the college had a definite standard of faith. But that proved only the be- ginning of the battle. The seminary faculty adopted the new statement at once and published it prominently in the Seminary catalog (19). Later the college faculty, in an atmosphere of restrained hostility, passed a mo- tion to adopt it with a few scattered “ayes.” The majority did not vote, very evidently to permit the fulfill- ment of the administration’s pledge to the board. The president had copies made and mailed to the minis- ters of the church, but refused to pub- lish the statement in the college cat- alog, and never made any serious effort to apply these standards of faith to any individual member of the col- lege faculty. At the same board meeting of 1933, the late Dr. J. Allen Miller became PAGE 21