Disruptions in Higher Education and a Historic Campus Move
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DMy boat has struck something in the depths, somethingS big. Yet nothing happens! Nothing . only stillness and waves. RUPNothing has changed—or has everything changed, and here we are, in the middle of our new life? TIONISSUE #12 | FULLER MAGAZINE 2 3 + Slender Mariposa, photograph by John Thompson, Professor of Historical Theology and Gaylen and Susan Byker Professor of Re- formed Theology, 2018. Growing abundantly in the burn zone after Southern California’s 2017 La Tuna Fire, this flower conveys hope and growth in the midst of destruction. “Mariposas commonly explode in numbers after a fire,” says Dr. Thompson. “On the day I photo- graphed this, I saw perhaps 400 mariposas in bloom in the charred Verdugo Mountains; this was just one of them.” See more of Dr. Thompson’s photography on p. 99. 4 5 FULLER magazine STORY 10 This section provides the full public communication from Fuller’s president concerning the future of Fuller amidst disruptions in higher education and a historic campus move. The letters, originally posted online (see fuller.edu/future) and distributed widely, are accompanied by other notable historical disruptions that show Fuller’s resilience and theological stability in the face of shifting financial and educational landscapes. THEOLOGY 27 Introduction 30 “Your Dead Shall Live”: Disruption and Resurrection in the Life of God’s People Christopher B. Hays In memory of 32 Shaken to Remain: Fuller Moves beloved colleague Tommy Givens David Kiefer because there is nothing 38 After 70 Years—Exile or Exodus? A Theological Reflection on Fuller’s Move to Pomona so disruptive as death, Hak Joon Lee and no time when 42 Disruptions Meet Practical Theology the promise of resurrection Mark Lau Branson is more precious. 50 Healing Where There Is No Cure: The Disruption of Illness Miyoung Yoon Hammer 54 Spirituality: A Facet of Resilience Anne A. Turk Nolty, Jared K. Rensberger, Donald S. Bosch, Natalie Hennig, J. Galen Buckwalter 58 The Blessed Disruption of Hospitality Alexia Salvatierra VOICE 64 Members of the Fuller community—trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends—reflect from sometimes conflicting points of view on aspects of disruption, accompanied by a “tickertape” sampling of social media responses to the announcement of our move. DEPARTMENTS 6 From Mark Labberton, President 94 New Faculty Recent Faculty Books and Publications + Our illustrator, Denise Klitsie, recently kept vigil for her dying mother while working on illustrations for this magazine’s theology section. On the wall was a 95 About Fuller tapestry depicting a sparrow flying through an idealized landscape. When Connie Sherman died, we added a grace note to one of the illustrations in her honor in the form of a sparrow. Just as we were going to press, the Fuller community suffered the sudden death of registrar and Greek professor David Kiefer, whom we 97 From the Editor were privileged to work alongside for over 40 years. Now, throughout this magazine (which has been disrupted even in its design), the sparrow can be found: a small bird that often symbolizes hard work, community, and joy and is characterized by its ubiquity—the thought that it is always with us. For more, see p. 97. 6 7 Among my teenage instincts about the Chris- truthfulness, but I assumed it would explain to something like a new kingdom. In oth- ruptive call for people to live as his disciples. like a defense against both Jesus and the sur- tian faith was the sense that it was an elabo- the domestication I had observed. er words, Jesus seemed to be the opposite of This threatened my independence. Life in the rounding culture. By contrast, Jesus’ teaching rate religious scheme for social control. At many Christians I had known. kingdom of God was becoming one of the most seemed to crack open the whole universe. that point, I was an outsider to the faith that What shocked me was that Jesus was first and disruptive things I could imagine. Jesus was felt to me like a form of social domestication foremost a disrupter. His words and his ac- I was not at all sure this was necessarily good not a quieting influence. He was an unsettling When I eventually took the step to trust and with little appeal. Bland and tedious. I don’t re- tions clearly disturbed the social and religious news, but in any case it was not the news I had disturber of the peace, of my peace. follow Jesus, I believed it was to be a journey member being skeptical of the earnestness of norms of his day, and the people he attracted expected. That Jesus was awkward, bold, dis- of disruption. It has been. Christians I knew, but I did have the general to him did not seem to fit the mainstream, but orienting to officials and leaders made him My childhood impressions of the Christian sense that Christianity was primarily about rather were outsiders for whom Jesus was an far more interesting and curious to me. Tak- faith came in part from exposure to a few A further discovery early in my life as a fol- quieting life’s personal and social turbulence. unexpected and surprising host, healer, and ing the words and actions of Jesus simply at pastors and pastors’ children. What they con- lower of Jesus was that becoming a disciple is friend. This was not what I expected. Though face value, this was anything but quieting to veyed to me was a fastidious attention to the not about the disruption of me getting God to Out of intellectual curiosity, I began to read I knew next to nothing about the Gospels, the me. I would not have said at that time that I ordering of small things: doing certain things join my story. The great drama of Jesus Christ the Gospels the fall I entered college. I did so narrative led to me think that Jesus was not was searching for God, nor that I had any in- in certain ways, and avoiding certain other does not turn on God becoming a small-time with a sense that the New Testament was an playing games nor seeking some kind of reli- terest in anyone or anything else but me tak- things while doing so. This conveyed to me a mechanic who continuously cleans and tin- important cultural text, that I knew very little gious domestication. Instead, what struck me ing or exercising control of my life. After all, black and white world, a tunnel with hard edg- kers with my engine for the sake of better ef- about it, and that, as one on the road to becom- as a first-time reader of the New Testament I was just entering college! As I found myself es, and little life. If what Jesus said was true, ficiency, speed, and mileage. The cross is not ing better educated, I should at least read it. I was that Jesus was waking people up from a drawn again and again to reading the Gospels, and if he was who the Gospels presented him about the tinkering God needs to do to remake had no particular prejudice for or against its social or religious slumber and calling them I was continuously surprised by Jesus’ dis- to be, then the tunnel I was seeing struck me our lives. The disruption that Jesus invites us Entre mis instintos de adolescente sobre la fe Lo que me sorprendió fue que Jesús fue ante Jesús fuera difícil, audaz, desorientador para pastores e hijos/as de pastor. Lo que ellas me convirtiéndose en un mecánico de poca monta cristiana estaba la sensación de que ésta era un todo un disruptor. Sus palabras y sus acciones los funcionarios y líderes lo hizo mucho más transmitieron fue una atención meticulosa al que continuamente limpia y remienda mi mo- esquema religioso complejo con el fin del con- claramente perturbaron las normas sociales y interesante y curioso para mí. Tomar las pal- orden de cosas pequeñas: hacer ciertas cosas tor para mejor eficiencia, velocidad y kilometra- trol social. En ese momento, yo era un extraño religiosas de su época, y las personas que él at- abras y acciones de Jesús simplemente al pie de de cierta manera y evitar otras cosas al hacer- je. La cruz no se trata de los retoques que Dios para la fe, la cual me resultaba como una forma raía no parecían encajar en la corriente princi- la letra fue todo menos tranquilizante para mí. las. Esto me transmitió un mundo en blanco y necesita hacer para rehacer nuestras vidas. La de domesticación social poco atractiva. Aburri- pal, sino que eran extrañas, para quienes Jesús En ese momento no hubiera dicho que estaba negro, un túnel con bordes duros y poca vida. disrupción a la que Jesús nos invita, necesari- do y tedioso. No recuerdo haber sido escéptico era un inesperado y sorprendente anfitrión, buscando a Dios, ni que tenía algún interés en Si lo que Jesús dijo era verdad, y si él era quien amente implicará cambios personales profun- sobre la seriedad de los cristianos que conocía, sanador y amigo. Esto no era lo que esperaba. alguien o en algo más que yo mismo tomando o los evangelios presentaban sobre él, entonces el dos, pero la gran trayectoria de perturbación pero sí tenía la sensación general de que el cris- Aunque no sabía casi nada sobre los evangelios, ejerciendo el control de mi vida. Al fin de todo, túnel que estaba viendo me pareció una defen- como discípulos se trata de la consecuencia de tianismo consistía principalmente en suavizar la narrativa me hizo pensar que Jesús no esta- ¡recién estaba ingresando a la universidad! A sa contra Jesús y la cultura circundante.