From the President’s Desk

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Yes, we can….

We have just seen a change of administration in the United States, and may anticipate what is promised to be a massively different style and outlook. That does not mean that change will be easy. I am certain it will not be. Yet I am confident that this great nation has the potential to redeem its reputation in the world and to surprise us all.

We at Princeton Seminary are also struggling with change, and are even now articulating our progress in a self-study document for our re-accreditation by ATS and Middle States Commission on Higher Education, under the guidance of Dean Nancy Lammers Gross. We have embarked upon a new academic calendar. Change isn’t easy, but this is a wonderful institution, which has the capacity to take any of us by surprise.

Here are a couple of examples. Grant Brooke is an M.Div. middler who has just been named as executive director of the Matthew 25 Network, a 30,000-member PAC and 501(c)(3) named after the passage in which Jesus says, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” The organization addresses the issues for which people of faith are often the only advocates: prison reform and the death penalty, torture, immigration reform. Grant has said, “From a practical level, people on the margins of society often have no other voice, and they’re dependent on people of faith to stand up on their behalf.” I am so proud of what he is doing. His initiative takes us by surprise. Yes, we can….

Gordon Mikoski is our assistant professor in Christian education. To celebrate the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth, Gordon has initiated “A Year with the Institutes,” a yearlong discipline whereby you are invited to read the Institutes. You can actually hear the daily passages being read aloud, and there are weekly reflections on the PTS web site. Here is the surprise. By the end of January 2009, there had been a total of 49,303 hits on the web site from 91 countries. There were 18,504 audio downloads in January. On January 5, Calvin was the 35th most downloaded religious audio podcast in iTunes. Imagine that! Calvin. What an achievement! What initiative! Who says the Reformed tradition is not alive and well? Yes, we can…. But it takes someone like Gordon Mikoski to show us, backed by a wonderful group of others, Joicy Becker-Richards, Raymond Bonwell, Barbara Chaapel, Michael Brothers, Michael Gyura, Katie Douglass, Jason Santos, Joyce McKichan Walker, and others.

Recently I was in Damascus with Morag. On our last evening, we were invited to dinner at the home of Shaykh Hussam-Eddin Farfour. Morag and I were staying in the labyrinthine old city. The Shaykh’s son came to our hotel. He said it wasn’t far and was a clear evening and suggested we walk. I was interested, as, knowing it was to be a dignified evening, I was inconspicuously dressed in the scarlet cassock of a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth. So the Shaykh’s son and I walked through the old city, a Christian and a Muslim together. We paused twice so that we could enter two historic mosques and admire their beauty. Yes, I thought, we can…. The Christian and the Muslim may walk together, very conspicuously and in warm friendship, delighting in each other’s company. When we arrived, the Shaykh put his arms around me and said: “This is your family and this is your home.” I felt like the prodigal son. It was early morning when we eventually left, cold and moonlit. As we walked to the car, the Shaykh took off the scarf he was wearing and put it around my shoulders. I reflected to myself that I had been so very privileged as to meet a figure like Abraham. Peace between the nations and a deep love for our neighbor? Yes, we can….

Truly, I believe this is what Princeton is all about. In the service of God we are constantly taken by surprise.

Yours sincerely,

Iain R. Torrance