Harvard Divinity Sells Its Soul - Twice

November 11, 2002

By J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Pastor, New Hope Church, Windham ME

When I entered Harvard Divinity School in the fall of 1961, I came upon a new world for me - theological liberalism. Being brought up in a Biblical Christian home, such environs were an introduction to culture shock on the soul level.

I was fortunate to come upon G. Ernest Wright, Professor of Old Testament, who let it be known in his lectures that he was indeed a Biblical Christian. Other than that, I was hard put to come upon a genuine Biblical faculty member.

One morning I walked into the Greek prof’s office to ask: "In your opinion, who’s God?" He answered: "She’s green." He was certainly ahead of his time!

Another morning I walked into Dean Samuel Miller’s office to ask what I was to believe after three years in the Masters of Divinity program. The answer: "Well, Grant, you have to plunk yourself down somewhere." In other words, anywhere would do: agnosticism, atheism, Buddhism, Hinduism, whatever.

The theological stars at that time were Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr. When they lectured, the halls were packed—people stashed on the floors and windowsills.

One of the guest speakers in Harvard Memorial Church was an evangelist by the name of Billy Graham—in his mid-40s and not all that revered by the Harvard Community. Nevertheless, it was considered relevant to have the conservative fellow on campus where he could be poshly pelted by the theological opposition. What I recall most about that encounter was that Dr. Graham held his own quite admirably.

After a year at Harvard Divinity School, I concluded that I would end up graduating with a prestigious degree but little else when it came to Biblical faith. The so-called open-minded brains all around me were not at all that open-minded. It was the theological liberal party line or nothing. I do not recall a conservative comment from any student in any lecture hall, though I am sure that there were many other students who shared my Biblically conservative background.

My last two years were spent at a theologically conservative seminary where I was presented both liberal and conservative theological positions; the genius dimension was that the conservative scholars teaching us revealed honestly the failings of the liberal stance. That dualistic approach would never have been tolerated at Harvard Divinity School. From that day till this, I am very well aware that the liberal position is not liberal at all; it is as closed-minded as closed-minded can be—and usually quite snobbishly and stubbornly so.

However, Harvard Divinity has come a long way since the early 60s when I walked across Harvard Yard. So with much interest I read the following in the current issue of John Harvard’s Journal (Nov-Dec 2002): "Three years ago, the List Professor of Jewish studies Jon D. Levenson, Ph.D., was quoted in these pages as saying, "One once was required to believe certain theological dogmas: the incarnation of God in Jesus, the Resurrection and so on. Now the school requires that one subscribe to radical feminism, to inclusive language, to their views on homosexuality and affirmative action. Political correctness is the new orthodoxy."

Ah-hem. Harvard Divinity School, you’ve come a long way, baby - having sold out your soul twice over. Congratulations on taking the logical, tragic journey of a theologically liberal mind. At least you’ve been consistent in refusing to reverse your stance.

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