STORY | THEOLOGY | VOICE FULLER ISSUE #2 | EVANGELICAL “I didn’t think I was Korean. I claimed a Peruvian identity because that’s where I was born and the place I call home. When I came to LA to study, I considered myself a sojourner. Now I see that whatever city I’m in is the place where God has sent me. The story of this city is my story, too.” —JOSI HWANG, ON IDENTITY IN EXILE + Weak Potential Energy by Linnea Gabriella Spransy, mixed media on paper, 2010, linneagabriella.com Linnea, a friend of Fuller, has spoken at Brehm Center gatherings and has exhibited work in Fuller Pasadena’s Payton Hall 2 FULLER MAGAZINE / FULLERMAG.COM 2015 / ISSUE #2 EVANGELICAL 3 STORY | THEOLOGY | VOICE FULLER Table of Contents ISSUE #2 | EVANGELICAL STORY 10 A Child of Exile Korean and born in Peru, Josi Hwang considers identity + There’s More to the StoryTOORY MAGAZINE PRODUCTION Mark Labberton President 14 Walking the Walk Together in Orvieto C. Douglas McConnell Provost and Senior VP There’s a too-narrow hallway outside It is our hope that this will strengthen Nate Risdon reflects on learning communally onla passeggiata Irene Neller VP Communications, Marketing, Admissions our magazine editorial office that’s just the connections within our global Lauralee Farrer Corporate Storyteller 20 Cycles long enough to hang all 84 pages of a neighborhood as we continue to learn, Randall Cole Creative Director Ryan and Suzy Weeks’s story of romance, ministry, and cycling magazine-in-process. Professor Emeritus teach, and mature in faith together. TJ Lee Managing Editor 22 To Live and Die Well Bill Pannell passed through recently, In this issue you will find we’ve added Michael Wright Associate Editor Tommy Givens’s story of the death of his father and his eye was caught by a subject he’s something new, an amber plus sign (+) Becky Still Contributing Editor Susan Carlson Wood Technical Editor championed all his life: evangelicalism. indicating there’s more to the story 28 Every Survivor Has a Story Denise Louise Klitsie Principal Illustrator Life among tsunami survivors is a long-term work and joy Reading a few lines from a writer whose we’d like to share. It might be expanded Brandon Hook Design views depart from his own, he said material online (+ see videos of Tommy Eric Tai Contributing Illustrator 32 Gilberto Lugo eagerly, “Mercy, I’ll look forward to Givens on living with death or Gilbert Jinna Jin, Miyoung Kim, Emmanuel Moon, Clara Jorge During the breaks in accounts processing work, beauty emerges reading this! See what we’re made of!” Lugo and his amazing Bic pen drawings), Ramírez-Johnson Translation Services The “we” to whom Bill refers is an a tidbit we couldn’t resist cramming in CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS THEOLOGY eclectic community of people: in defining (+ did you know that Martin Luther King Randall Cole, Mat Fretschel, Nate Harrison, Brandon our magazine’s audience, we estimated 36 Introduction: Why Evangelical? Jr. was bailed out of jail by Billy Graham Hook, Matthew J. Krabill, Olga Lah, TJ Lee, Don Milici, a whopping 54,000 people directly after civil rights marches?), or a chance to August Miller, Yoselin Montes-Castillo, Michael W. Moore, Oliver D. Crisp, Guest Theology Editor Don Nocon, James O’Keefe, Andrew Rush, Sharron connected to Fuller as alumni, trustees, credit artists whose work is a vital form Strasser, Lisa Svelmoe, Eric Tai, Jonathan Yip 37 A British Perspective on Evangelicalism staff, faculty, administrators, donors, of Fuller’s self-expression (+ President Oliver D. Crisp and friends living in 130 countries. Labberton was a champion for including THEOLOGY SECTION ADVISORY BOARD 40 How Evangelicals and Fuller Are Shaped An audience of that size means more art in the new magazine). Joel B. Green, PhD, Chair, Dean, School of Theology individual stories than we can include, There’s also more to the story of Ryan Bolger, PhD, Associate Professor of Church in by Their Traditions Contemporary Culture George M. Marsden so in developing magazine content we being evangelical, which is why we chose D. Scott Cormode, PhD, Academic Dean, School of earnestly consider what we call “the to focus on it in the theology section of Theology 44 What Does Fuller Mean by “Evangelical”? grids” of gender, ethnicity, location, this, our second issue. “Evangelical” J. Andrew Dearman, PhD, Associate Dean, Fuller Texas Charles J. Scalise nation, school, age, function, calling, and has been defined beyond recognition Kurt Fredrickson, PhD, Associate Dean of DMin and Continuing Education 48 Confessions of a Reluctant Evangelical perspective that define diversity among by some outside the community of Mark Labberton, PhD, President Erin Dufault-Hunter us. We think about the student sending a Fuller, and though there are many Evelyne Reisacher, PhD, Associate Professor of Islamic 52 African Americans and Evangelicalism magazine to a supportive family member, interpretations of the word even Studies and Intercultural Relations our president leaving it with a potential among us, engaging that conversation for Brad D. Strawn, PhD, Evelyn and Frank Freed Professor James Earl Massey of the Integration of Psychology and Theology scholarship donor, a trustee giving it to ourselves is critical. Because there’s 56 Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Charismatics Miyoung Yoon Hammer, PhD, Assistant Professor of a seatmate on the plane, or a faculty always more to the story. (+ Always.) Marital and Family Therapy Amos Yong member handing it to a prospective 60 Ways Forward for Western Evangelicals student. Inevitably there will be some + LAURALEE FULLER MAGAZINE ADMINISTRATIVE ADVISORY BOARD Mary Hubbard Given VP for Alumni and Church Relations Ryan Bolger who feel their perspectives are not fully FARRER is Todd Johnson William K. and Delores S. Brehm Associate editor-in-chief expressed, and in this we must rely Professor of Worship, Theology, and the Arts on the Spirit to unite us through the of FULLER VOICE Fred Messick Associate VP for Public Affairs transcendence of story. Still, we hope magazine, Steve Smith Director of Admissions Fuller’s corporate 64 Church Planting each will be proud to say, “this is my Marcus Sun Director of Marketing Strategy and Analytics storyteller and Fuller community.” Jon Yasuda VP for Development 68 Loss artist-in-residence Through the print and online version 74 Interfaith Dialogue for the Brehm of FULLER, people all over the world Center for can read the same stories and consider Worship, Theology, DEPARTMENTS the same theological conversations. and the Arts. 6 From Mark Labberton, President Issue #2 2015 78 Fuller Faculty + FULLER magazine is published for the global community of Fuller Theological Seminary. The editorial content of FULLER magazine reflects 82 Benediction the opinions of the various authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the views of Fuller Theological Seminary. 82 About Fuller Theological Seminary © 2015 by Fuller Theological Seminary. Produced in limited quantities. 4 FULLER MAGAZINE / FULLERMAG.COM 2015 / ISSUE #2 EVANGELICAL 5 ON BEING EVANGELICAL From Mark Labberton, President Labels may be necessary, but they sel- THEOLOGY ness. When Fuller Seminary affirms “evangelical” to include a further set of defini- has understood to be the good soil of Christian tive that describes the core of their theolog- dom seem adequate. When we use la- When we confess ourselves to be that we are “evangelical,” this is what tions and commitments related, for example, orthodoxy, in which personal and communal ical commitments, not a description of their bels, our minds and spirits easily give “evangelical,” we are making affirma- we confess, and we do so with earnest to the nature of the atonement, to the inspira- faith can flourish for us as disciples and wit- denominational affiliation or ecclesial struc- way to stereotyping and reduction- tions that point toward the centrality faith, intellectual commitment, schol- tion and authority of the Bible, to the baptism nesses who testify to and demonstrate the tures. “Evangelical” congregations can be ism. But since we can’t give up our la- of the gospel: the revelation of God arly inquiry, confessional trust, and of the Holy Spirit, and to the eschatological incarnational, transformative love, righteous- found in many different denominations, from bels, it is important from time to time in Jesus Christ through whose sav- communal hope. hope of the kingdom. Apart from debates in ness, and justice of God in Jesus Christ. All nondenominational to Baptist to Presbyterian to examine them and to make them as ing life, death, and resurrection we This essential understanding of the 1970s over the change in our Statement that we do as an institution is done in the con- to Episcopalian and more. clear as possible, to distinguish what are adopted into God’s family, given “evangelical” does not always rest eas- of Faith from “inerrancy” to “infallibility” text of this theological vision and frame. This has certainly been an aid for Fuller as we mean and what we don’t mean. God’s Spirit, and called to live togeth- ily among some of our brothers and regarding Scripture, these other definitional a multidenominational seminary that draws In what ways, then, is “evangelical” er under God’s reign. This is the “good sisters who also identify themselves debates have not been core to Fuller’s history. CHURCH people from over 100 denominations into one a key label in the identity and mission news” to which Scripture points us by this name, using, it might be said, Using “evangelical” to describe our theolog- When “evangelical” refers to a community of faculty and student body. “Evangelical” has of Fuller Theological Seminary? with supreme authority and faithful- a less lean set of descriptors. They use ical orientation keeps us rooted in what Fuller Christian believers, it is typically an adjec- been a term of welcome to people who come Usar etiquetas puede ser necesario “evangélicos” continúa siendo una mencionan las escrituras con una auto- cionados entre si, por ejemplo, la naturaleza testificamos acerca del amor transformador Ciertamente esto es real para Fuller por ser aunque pocas veces sea adecuado.