Church & Ministry

Dr. Warren Vanhetloo was one of the more influential individuals in fundamentalist higher education. He was the founding dean of both Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Minneapolis, Minnesota) and Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary (Lansdale, Pennsylvania). He was taken home to his Lord in the fall of 2010.

A couple of years ago, I sent an enquiry to “Dr. Van” about a matter of historical interest. He responded with a series of letters which chronicled much of his life and career. He knew that I was a historian and he knew that he would die before long. I believe that he meant these letters to be a final summation of certain aspects of his ministry.

Dr. Van’s writing tended to be stream-of-consciousness. Some of his observations were never intended for public consumption. Nevertheless, the parts of the narrative that address his life and ministry are both interesting and instructive. They give a glimpse into a bygone era of fundamentalism and evangelicalism, preserving some of the atmosphere of those days.

I have taken the liberty of editing some of this correspondence, grouping sections of text by chronology and topic. Of course, I have tried to correct misspellings and typographical errors. In a few cases, I have inserted or deleted a few words to smooth the text. The substance, however, and almost all of the wording are Dr. Vanhetloo’s own.

One word of caution: these were informal communications. They were not proofread by Dr. Van. As you read, please remember that any of us may be thinking one thing, but writing something else. I suspect that this has happened once or twice with Dr. Van’s narrative. For example, I am not sure whether he was saved and ministered in an ethnically “Armenian” church (as he writes) or in a theologically Arminian church.

Reposted, with permission, from My Two Cents.