Colgate’s reputation as a "party school" is getting more play. The Princeton Review has ranked Colgate as the number 9 party school in the country. U.S. News and World Report’scurrent guide to "America’s Best Colleges" has an article about alcohol on campus. Major attention is given to Colgate. The article, complete with a picture of a Colgate fraternity, begins with a description of a keg party and a girl vomiting. A Colgate student is quoted: "If you don’t like to party, you won’t like Colgate."

To be fair, many have pointed out that Colgate is probably not unusual in this regard. Binge drinking is common on most college campuses.

During our Bicentennial Celebration, someone asked me what I thought Colgate’s founders would have thought of all this? No answer was needed.

In his book, Further Along the Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck refers to addiction as "the sacred disease." He points out that it occurred to the psychiatrist, Carl Jung, "that it was perhaps no accident that we traditionally referred to alcoholic drinks as spirits, and that perhaps alcoholics were people who had a greater thirst for the spirit than others, and that perhaps alcoholism was a spiritual disorder, or better yet, a spiritual condition."

Peck writes: "[Addicts] are people who want, who yearn, to go back to Eden--who want to reach Paradise, reach Heaven, reach home--more than most. They are desperate to regain that lost warm, fuzzy sense of oneness with the rest of nature we used to have in the Garden of Eden..."

Could it be that so many of our young are having a problem with alcohol because we (parents and churches) have neglected their spiritual needs?


©1996 C. David Hess

Our Bicentennial Celebration was wonderful! I think we all were rather awed as Dr. James Dunn, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairspointed out that our church--due to its influence on education, missions and theology--has been probably one of the 100 most influential churches in American history.

Dr. Dunn also highlighted one of the most important Baptist distinctives--soul freedom. Baptists have always emphasized that an individual’s most basic responsibility is to God. It is, therefore, a most serious event whenever any individual, government, or church seeks to prohibit someone from following the dictates of their own conscience. As Dunn said, if there is a Baptist creed it is: "Ain’t nobody but Jesus going to tell me what to believe."

Admittedly, there have been those who have wanted a more specific creed. Dunn closed his speech with these words:

...Browning Ware of Austin, Texas put it well.

Knowing answers seduces us into making pronouncements on homosexuality, AIDS, marriage problems, teen-age pregnancies, abortion, sex education or whatever is coming down the pike. But when we get shoved into our valley of the shadow, a pronouncement is the last thing we need.

A friend wrote recently, "I too, get Maalox moments from all who know." I’m discovering that wisdom and adversity replace cocksure ignorance with thoughtful uncertainty.

More important and satisfying than answers is the Answer. "Thou are with me"--that’s what we crave. There may or may not be answers, but the Eternal One would like very much to be our companion. Creed enough.

©1996  C. David Hess

I recently attended a convocation at the Divinity School in Rochester. It was a great convocation. While there I ran across a list of course offerings at the Divinity School. I thought you might be interested in some of them:

• Abraham & Sarah: The Dysfunctional Family in Antiquity A study of Biblical models of psychological integration and mental health.
• Reincarnation Vs. Resurrection A stunning new look at the Elvis Controversy. Refreshments provided.
• Termites, Hittites, & Edomites: Keeping the Church Pest-free A continuation of Biblical Entomology I
• Golf for Pastors Models of contemporary Church Mission & Administration Models of contemporary Church Mission & Administration. (I believe I am going to sign up for this one).
• Evil and Aggression A closer look at the 1992 Republican National Convention. Featured readings by R. Limbaugh and P. Buchanan.
• The Creation of Humanarchy A study of the theological problems of the oppression of felines, canines, and other ines by Homo sapiens. Examines the historic development of pet "ownership," "obedience training," and the commoditization of "domesticated animals." Challenges the Church to radical evangelization and liberation of our partners in Creation. Text: Bovine Praxis and Cleanup.
• Confession and Automation Reconsidering the Sacrament of Reconciliation in light of new technologies, such as 1-900 numbers and automated phone systems. (For Sins of the Omission, press 1 NOW; for Sins of the Flesh, press 2 NOW...)
• Songs White People Sing An introduction to the Euro-American Spirituals. Requires no sense of rhythm at all. Featured readings by Pat Boone & Connie Francis.
• Preaching the Word-Perfect Explores the personal computer applications for sermon preparation.
• The Forgotten Perspective in New Testament Studies An Eskimo examines the writings of the apostle Paul. (Parkas and snowshoes required).
• Dealing with Theologies and Physiologies in Transition Among the varied topics, course will consider "What to do when your paradigm shifts - with practical advise from a local chiropractor.
• More Views from the Bottom Re-examing the ancient food chain of Biblical times in light of new scientific evidence - were amoeba among "the least of these"?
• Cults Sects, and Hospitality: Loving the Witness at Your Doorstep The professor offers details of her own personal faith journey with members of the Watchtower Society.
• A Whiter Shade of Pale: The History of Dead White Men in the Church A continuation of Exhuming the Patriarchs.
• Creative Television Ministries A "hands-on approach" to televised appliance healing, Faith Healing of Troublesome Cellulite Areas, and Hair Regeneration Lifetime Prayer Partnerhips. Free Gift and genuine Corinthian leatherette carrying case for first 10 respondents! ACT NOW!
• Development of Modern Heresy: The History of Colgate Rochester Divinity School Formerly offered as "All You Know Is Wrong"

In case you haven’t figured it out, this list of course offerings is a spoof written by a Divinity School student or students.


©C. David Hess

People constantly ask me about what movies I have seen lately. The latest movie I attended was Clint Eastwood’s new film, Unforgiven. I liked it. It is a very violent anti-violence film (figure that one out). The dialogue was very sparse, but pregnant with meaning. I found myself always looking forward to the next line (sometimes you had to wait a while).

One line I’ve pondered a lot. One of Eastwood’s gunfighter colleagues feels some regret after he kills his first man. He tries to comfort and justify himself by saying, "I guess he had it coming."

Eastwood replies, "We’ve all got it coming."

Now what did he mean by those words? Did he mean we are all going to die someday? Or did he mean that we all deserve to die? Or both?

There are definite echoes here of scripture. Scripture proclaims, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), and "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

When you think about it, this pairing of sin and death makes sense. The thing they both have in common is that they both cause separation. If one doubts that "sin, when it is finished, brings death" (James 1:15), all they need do is read their newspapers and look at their television screens. The ongoing events in Yugoslavia and Somalia should be proof enough.

The witness of scripture is that this is true for all of us. "We’ve all got it coming."

Fortunately, scripture goes on to say, "Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3). He died our death for us. Through his death and resurrection sin and death were conquered. In Him we need not fear even though "we’ve all got it coming."

©C. David Hess