Wisdom from D.A. Carson

This past weekend Melissa and I found ourselves on a road-trip to Chicago in search of wisdom as we consider attending seminary in the near future.  The purpose, although not the highlight, was to explore Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL.  As we mingled with current and prospective students, heard from the admissions office, toured the campus, attended a class, ate deep dish pizza with the professors, and scoured the bookstore we grew in understanding of self and seminary.  Trinity is an academically rigorous and theologically diverse seminary.  With it's Evangelical Free background, there is freedom for professors and students to agree to disagree.  It is also one of the most academically demanding seminaries in the country, with a nationally recognized masters in Mental Health Counseling.  This masters program was my point of interest in the seminary.

Perhaps the most memorable and insightful experience was when Melissa and I shared in the excitement and the privilege of sitting down with New Testament scholar, D.A. Carson.  We left the Admissions Office presentation to seek input from Dr. Carson, a professor whom we have already learned to greatly respect through his preaching and writing.  The question that we posed to Dr. Carson aimed at the core of our seminary selection process.  Why would Dr. Carson, a Reformed New Testament scholar, president of The Gospel Coalition, choose to teach at Trinity, an Evangelical Free and theologically diverse seminary?  And how should two young women, who align with Carson's theological stance, make an informed decision about attending such a seminary?

Dr. Carson was wise to remind us that every church, seminary, and ministry has its imperfections.  There are aspects of Trinity that Dr. Carson does not fully agree with, yet he continues to stand by his decision to teach at Trinity.  It's Evangelical Free background has guarded him, as well as others, from crudely characterizing other theologies.  At Trinity, you'll think twice before stereotyping or ridiculing a Lutheran, Armenian, etc because you can be sure there is one just down the hall.  What a blessing for humility and unity!  Furthermore, Dr. Carson noted that students at Trinity tend to respond to the theologically diverse teachings in one of two ways.  Some students, upon observing that Professor A and Professor B can not agree on a particular topic, decide that they can not possibly reach their own conclusion on the matter, and give-up all together.  Other students will obverse that Professor A and Professor B do not agree, be challenged in their faith, fight to discover truth, and be better off for having gone through the challenge.  Students must be willing to face these questions and challenges in order to thrive at Trinity.

However, Dr. Carson encouraged me that if I have confidence that reformed theology most glorifies God (as he similarly does), it is not prideful to seek a seminary which teaches from that specific and unified theological stance as long as I have been exposed to other teachings.  Westminster and other reformed seminaries might be best for me, and I need not be afraid of that.  Trinity is not the right fit for everyone, and Dr. Carson wisely warned me not to be a 'loving post-modern lass who is afraid to tell anyone they are wrong'.  Ouch.

I'm excited to continue to gain wisdom from Dr. Carson as I read The Cross and Christian Ministry, a book that Melissa and I picked-up from Trinity's bookstore.

It couldn't have been a better weekend.

"People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated." - D.A. Carson