Philip Ryken: "what happens at Wheaton shapes what the evangelical church is like in the United States"

Ryken may be more conservative than the past president and do good for Wheaton. However, his past influence and model of former president Richard Chase is possibly problematic. Chase was president of Biola for twelve years. Prior to being appointed President he was made academic vice president. In 1967 an issue rose in the Biola science department. A new professor with an M.A. degree was teaching that evolution was not contrary to Biblical creation. The head of the science department was Bolton Davidheiser who had a PHD in genetics from Johns Hopkins. He was a 6 day creationist. He wanted to dismiss the professor approving of evolution. He had to meet with Chase. A meeting was held in Davidheiser’s home along with Micah Leo, who had a PHD in Physics from Rutger. Micah Leo was also a 6 day creationist. Richard Chase overruled Davidheiser and said he saw no problem with allowing alternate views. The next year both Micah Leo and Bolton Davidheiser resigned. The other professor, with but an MA from Denver University, remained. The school gave up two creationists with doctorates from name schools for an evolutionist with but an MA from a second rate university. This was all because of the lack of convictions by Richard Chase.
I was informed of this by both Davidheiser and Leo a few years later in meeting with them on another matter so this is not a rumor.

That’s called academic progress. When Chase left Biola it was said by some that Wheaton’s loss was Biola’s gain.

Wheaton also harbors John Walton, author of The Lost World of Genesis One, which argues against a literal interpretation of Genesis One’s Creation account. And Wheaton was for decades the home of Mark Noll, whose influential book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind denigrated Six-Day Creationists and Premillennial Dispensationalists. Wheaton is no friend to Fundamentalist Christians.

I do agree with a lot of what you said. Wheaton is within a sector of evangelicalism that believes fundamentalism to be bad for Christianity.

[Gary Peterson] Wheaton also harbors John Walton, author of The Lost World of Genesis One, which argues against a literal interpretation of Genesis One’s Creation account. And Wheaton was for decades the home of Mark Noll, whose influential book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind denigrated Six-Day Creationists and Premillennial Dispensationalists. Wheaton is no friend to Fundamentalist Christians.

“That is, what happens at Wheaton shapes what the evangelical church is like in the United States. And, because of that, Wheaton becomes contested ground for what the evangelical church should be.”

I think the above quote from Ryken is a bit of a stretch. I’m sure they have influence in their corner of the evangelical world, but there are plenty of schools putting out far more graduates than Wheaton is (Liberty; even Cedarville is slightly larger) and my guess is that the larger number of graduates from other schools have as much and even more influence that Wheaton’s grads do on the evangelical world.

I like Ryken. My brother attends Tenth Pres. in Philadelphia and I got a number of opportunites to hear him. My concern is that his strong conservative influence won’t hold sway at Wheaton as it did when he led Tenth Pres. It is one thing to keep a church where it needs to be, it is quite another to keep a school, which gives faculty members tenure, and which prides itself in being the “evangelical Harvard” where it needs to be.

Jonathan,

Ryken is right about Wheaton’s influence, and you’re incorrect about schools like LU and Cedarville (I went to LU as an undergrad, incidentally).

Raw numbers have almost nothing to do with it cultural influence and power. Wheaton has prestige, their students come, in general, from an upper-class background, they get a better quality education, have more access to elite networks and schools, and thus have far greater influence, in general, than do the more numerous graduates of schools like LU. Influence has a lot to do with cultural capital, which is something that Wheaton, relative to most evangelical schools, has a lot of, even if it has hardly any compared to schools like the Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Chicago, et al. (Just thinking of the Ivy league schools and their huge influence should dispell any focus on raw numbers.)

If you interested in cultural dynamics, I would recommend at least James Davison Hunter’s most recent book, To Change the World. But I would also commend his work in general, as well as that of Peter Berger, Christian Smith, and Os Guinness. All of them have a very good understanding of the role of elites in shaping culture.

“That is, what happens at Wheaton shapes what the evangelical church is like in the United States. And, because of that, Wheaton becomes contested ground for what the evangelical church should be.”

This was surely true of Wheaton 40+ years ago, but I agree that it is a stretch, or maybe wishful thinking on Ryken’s part, to make such a statement today. It may still be true of sectors of evangelicalism, such as the evangelical left, evangelical feminism, some sectors of Christian publishing, etc. — but evangelicalism as a whole? I doubt it. I have hardly heard about Wheaton in the last several years other than stories about Ryken becoming the new president.

Wheaton long ago surrendered its “cultural capital” in the spheres of Christianity that I have any relation to — which are actually fairly broad. Surely at one time it was a leading force in producing seminary students, missionaries, etc., etc., and was known for its doctrinal convictions and academic standards. Today, I think most conservatives would view it as a nominally Christian, expensive private school.

Influence is not something easily quantified. So the whole discussion is really quite philosophical, but I am not sure that there is or ever will be another school that replaces what Wheaton once symbolized in the Christian world. The face of education has changed radically. Someday perhaps even the Ivy League will no longer be “the Ivy League.”

Wheaton has steadily lost influence and prestige in Evangelicalism since the 1970s. Out here in the West Biola University makes a claim for increasing academic prestige and increasing influence. Talbot Seminary and their Rosemead graduate school of psychology along with their strong media and multi culture programs have increased prestige. They are middle of the road evangelical but also Conservative Evangelical in some respects. They have Theology and Bible faculty that affirm inerrancy and premillenialism. Most are still Dispensational. In science they have embraced an eclectic approach to creation but have a statement limiting their views. They do have at least one life science professor that is a 6 day creationist. By contrast, Wheaton has embraced Theistic evolution since Russell Mixture in the 1960s. Biola has much more Evangelical influence than Wheaton west of the Rockies.

Masters Seminary is also gaining influence in the Evangelical world of the West as most of the graduates go into a broad variety of Evangelical churches and not Fundamentalist churches. They however, often promote an elitist approach of superiority in doctrine based on militant Calvinism and the MacArthurism Lordship Gospel. They are often dispensational but incorporate Reformed soteriology and a Reformed view of the Law and Gospel.

Wheaton college and graduate school appear to have no influence west of the Rockies.

Today, I think most conservatives would view it as a nominally Christian, expensive private school.

Nominally Christian maybe an overstatement?

Statement of Faith

The doctrinal statement of Wheaton College, reaffirmed annually by its Board of Trustees, faculty, and staff, provides a summary of biblical doctrine that is consonant with evangelical Christianity. The statement accordingly reaffirms salient features of the historic Christian creeds, thereby identifying the College not only with the Scriptures but also with the reformers and the evangelical movement of recent years. The statement also defines the biblical perspective which informs a Wheaton education. These doctrines of the church cast light on the study of nature and man, as well as on man’ culture.

WE BELIEVE in one sovereign God, eternally existing in three persons: the everlasting Father, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, the giver of life; and we believe that God created the Heavens and the earth out of nothing by His spoken word, and for His own glory.

WE BELIEVE that God has revealed Himself and His truth in the created order, in the Scriptures, and supremely in Jesus Christ; and that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writing, so that they are fully trustworthy and of supreme and final authority in all they say.

WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, was true God and true man, existing in one person and without sin; and we believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into heaven, and in His present life there for us as Lord of all, High Priest, and Advocate.

WE BELIEVE that God directly created Adam and Eve, the historical parents of the entire human race; and that they were created in His own image, distinct from all other living creatures, and in a state of original righteousness.

WE BELIEVE that our first parents sinned by rebelling against God’s revealed will and thereby incurred both physical and spiritual death, and that as a result all human beings are born with a sinful nature that leads them to sin in thought, word, and deed.

WE BELIEVE in the existence of Satan, sin, and evil powers, and that all these have been defeated by God in the cross of Christ.

WE BELIEVE that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, triumphing over all evil; and that all who believe in Him are justified by His shed blood and forgiven of all their sins.

WE BELIEVE that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God and are enabled to offer spiritual worship acceptable to God.

WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit indwells and gives life to believers, enables them to understand the Scriptures, empowers them for godly living, and equips them for service and witness.

WE BELIEVE that the one, holy, universal Church is the body of Christ and is composed of the communities of Christ’s people. The task of Christ’s people in this world is to be God’s redeemed community, embodying His love by worshipping God with confession, prayer, and praise; by proclaiming the gospel of God’s redemptive love through our Lord Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth by word and deed; by caring for all of God’s creation and actively seeking the good of everyone, especially the poor and needy.

WE BELIEVE in the blessed hope that Jesus Christ will soon return to this earth, personally, visibly, and unexpectedly, in power and great glory, to gather His elect, to raise the dead, to judge the nations, and to bring His Kingdom to fulfillment.

WE BELIEVE in the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust, the everlasting punishment of the lost, and the everlasting blessedness of the saved

.

This is what the faculty, administration, and the trustees are required to affirm every year………

Our Community Covenant

The goal of campus life at Wheaton College is to live, work, serve, and worship together as an educational community centered around the Lord Jesus Christ. Our mission as an academic community is not merely the transmission of information; it is the development of whole and effective Christians who will impact the church and society worldwide “For Christ and His Kingdom.” Along with the privileges and blessings of membership in such a community come responsibilities. The members of the Wheaton College campus community take these responsibilities seriously.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
— 2 Timothy 3:16

The biblical foundation of Christian community is expressed in Jesus’ two great commandments:”Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37-40). Jesus himself perfectly demonstrated the pattern: love for God, acted out in love for others, in obedience to God’s Word. Acknowledging our dependence on the power and grace of God, the members of the Wheaton College campus community humbly covenant to live according to this ideal.
The purposes of this community covenant are as follows:

*to cultivate a campus atmosphere that encourages spiritual, moral and intellectual growth.
*to integrate our lives around Christian principles and devotion to Jesus Christ.
*to remove whatever may hinder us from our calling as a Christ-centered academic community.
*to encourage one another to see that living for Christ involves dependence on God’s Spirit and obedience to his Word, rather than a passive acceptance of prevailing practices.

Affirming Biblical Standards

We desire to build this covenant on basic biblical standards for godly Christian character and behavior. We understand that our calling includes the following:

*The call to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ over all of life and thought. This involves a wholehearted obedience to Jesus and careful stewardship in all dimensions of life: our time, our possessions, our God-given capacities, our opportunities (Deut. 6:5-6;1 Cor. 10:31; Col. 1:18; 3:17);
*The call to love God with our whole being, including our minds, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Christ-like love should be the motive in all decisions, actions, and relationships (Matt. 22:37-40; Rom. 13:8-10; 1 John 4:7-12);
*The call to pursue holiness in every aspect of our thought and behavior (2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Thess. 4:7; Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:15-16);
*The call to exercise our Christian freedom responsibly within the framework of God’s Word, humbly submitting ourselves to one another (1 Pet. 5:5; Eph. 5:21) with loving regard for the needs of others (Phil. 2:3-11; Rom. 14:1-23; 1 Thess. 4:9);
*The call to treat our own bodies, and those of others, with the honor due the very temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17-20);
*The call to participate in the worship and activities of the local church, which forms the basic biblically-mandated context for Christian living (Acts 2:42-47; Heb. 10:25; 1 Tim. 3:14-15).

Living the Christian Life

We believe these biblical standards will show themselves in a distinctly Christian way of life, an approach to living we expect of ourselves and of one another. This lifestyle involves practicing those attitudes and actions the Bible portrays as virtues and avoiding those the Bible portrays as sinful.

According to the Scriptures, followers of Jesus Christ will:

*show evidence of the Holy Spirit who lives within them, such as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23);
*”put on” compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and supremely, love (Col. 3:12-14);
*seek righteousness, mercy and justice, particularly for the helpless and oppressed (Prov. 21:3; 31:8-9; Micah 6:8; Matt. 23:23; Gal. 6:10);
*love and side with what is good in God’s eyes, and abhor what is evil in God’s eyes (Amos 5:15; Rom. 12:9, 16:19);
*uphold the God-given worth of human beings, from conception to death, as the unique image-bearers of God (Gen. 1:27; Psalm 8:3-8; 139:13-16);
*uphold chastity among the unmarried (1 Cor. 6:18) and the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman (Heb. 13:4);
*be people of integrity whose word can be fully trusted (Psalm 15:4; Matt. 5:33-37);
*give faithful witness to the Gospel (Acts 1:8; 1 Pet. 3:15), practice good works toward all (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:10; Heb. 10:24; 1 Pet. 2:11), and live lives of prayer and thanksgiving (1 Thess. 5:17-18; James 5:16; Titus 2:7-8).

By contrast, Scripture condemns the following:

*pride, dishonesty (such as stealing and lying, of which plagiarism is one form), injustice, prejudice, immodesty in dress or behavior, slander, gossip, vulgar or obscene language, blasphemy, greed and materialism (which may manifest themselves in gambling), covetousness, the taking of innocent life, and illegal activities (Prov. 16:18; 1 Cor. 6:10; Exod. 20:7; Rom. 13:9; Col. 3:8-9; James 2:1-13; Gal. 3:26-29; Rom. 13:1-2; 1 Tim. 2:8-10; Heb. 13:5-6);
*hypocrisy, self-righteousness, and legalism, understood as the imposition of extra-biblical standards of godliness by one person or group upon another (Acts 15:5-11; Matt. 16:6; 23:13-36);
*sinful attitudes and behaviors such as “impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like” (Gal. 5:19-21);
*sexual immorality, such as the use of pornography (Matt. 5:27-28), pre-marital sex, adultery, homosexual behavior and all other sexual relations outside the bounds of marriage between a man and woman (Rom. 1:21-27; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gen. 2:24; Eph. 5:31).

Exercising Responsible Freedom

Beyond these explicit biblical issues, the Wheaton College community seeks to foster the practice of responsible Christian freedom (Gal. 5:13-14; 1 Pet. 2:16-17). This requires a wise stewardship of mind, body, time, abilities and resources on the part of every member of the community. Responsible freedom also requires thoughtful, biblically-guided choices in matters of behavior, entertainment, interpersonal relationships, and observance of the Lord’s Day.

“You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
— I Corinthians 6:20

Of particular concern in a collegiate environment are those issues related to alcohol, illegal drugs, and tobacco. While the use of illegal drugs or the abuse of legal drugs is by definition illicit, and the use of tobacco in any form has been shown to be injurious to health, the situation regarding beverage alcohol is more complex. The Bible requires moderation in the use of alcohol, not abstinence. Yet the fact that alcohol is addictive to many, coupled with the biblical warnings against its dangers, also suggests the need for caution. The abuse of alcohol constitutes by far our society’s greatest substance abuse problem, not to mention the fact that many Christians avoid it as a matter of conscience. Thus the question of alcohol consumption represents a prime opportunity for Christians to exercise their freedom responsibly, carefully, and in Christ-like love. The Wheaton College community also encourages responsible freedom in matters of entertainment, including the places where members of the College community may seek it, such as television, movies, video, theater, concerts, dances and the Internet. The College assumes its members will be guided in their entertainment choices by the godly wisdom of Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”

Embracing College Standards

To foster the kind of campus atmosphere most conducive to becoming the Christian community of living, learning, and serving that Wheaton College aspires to be, the College has adopted the following institutional standards. These standards embody such foundational principles as self-control, avoidance of harmful practices, the responsible use of freedom, sensitivity to the heritage and practices of other Christians, and honoring the name of Jesus Christ in all we do.

*Wheaton College and all Wheaton College-related functions will be alcohol-free and tobacco-free. This means that the possession or consumption of alcohol or the use of tobacco in any form will be prohibited in, on, or around all campus properties, owned or leased. The same prohibition applies to all Wheaton College vehicles, whether on or off campus, and to all Wheaton College events or programs, wherever they may be held.

While enrolled in Wheaton College, undergraduate members of the community will refrain from the consumption of alcohol or the use of tobacco in all settings.

Other adult members of the College community will use careful and loving discretion in any use of alcohol. They will avoid the serving or consumption of alcohol in any situation in which undergraduate members of the Wheaton College family are or are likely to be present.

*On-campus dances will take place only with official College sponsorship. All members of the Wheaton College community will take care to avoid any entertainment or behavior, on or off campus, which may be immodest, sinfully erotic, or harmfully violent (Eph. 4:1-2, 17-24; I Tim. 5:1-2; Gal. 5:22-23).

Conclusion

We, the Wheaton College community, desire to be a covenant community of Christians marked by integrity, responsible freedom, and dynamic, Christ-like love, a place where the name of Jesus Christ is honored in all we do. This requires that each of us keeps his or her word by taking the commitment to this covenant seriously as covenant keepers, whatever pressures we may face to do otherwise.

The issue of keeping one’s word is for a Christian an important one. Being faithful to one’s word is a matter of simple integrity and godliness. “Lord, who may live on your holy hill?” asks the Psalmist. “He who keeps his oath, even when it hurts” (15:4), comes the reply. Christian integrity dictates that if we have voluntarily placed ourselves under Wheaton’s community covenant, we must make every effort to fulfill our commitment by living accordingly.

Keeping our covenant may also on occasion require that we take steps to hold one another accountable, confronting one another in love as we work together to live in faithfulness both to God’s Word and to our own word. Such loving acts of confrontation are at times difficult, but when performed in the right spirit (Gal. 6:1), they serve to build godly character for both the individuals involved and the community as a whole (Matt. 18:15-17). Only in this way, as we are willing to speak the truth in love, will we “grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:15).

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, … And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
— Colossians 3:16-17

Of course it has its problems which have been stated above by Bob, but it is far from being Nominal! Lets rejoice as some of my Wheaton College alumni friends have that they hired a conservative evangelical as their President!

I’d agree that Wheaton is influential, but to say “Wheaton is definitional for the evangelical movement” is a bit of a stretch to me. Maybe this was true a generation ago, but the evangelical movement today is so large and has so many flavors that to call any one school “definitional” is probably not true.