“Nourishing the Soul” ft. Wheaton College’s Philip Graham Ryken I Saturdays at Seven – Season Two, Episode One

Click here to listen to the episode on Spotify

In the first episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Philip Graham Ryken, Professor of Theology and President of Wheaton College. Ryken opens by defining how he Biblically and theologically understands evangelicalism, the global contexts in which evangelicalism exists, and the contributions that Wheaton faculty, staff, and graduates have made to evangelicalism. Although political and social polarization has impacted popular perceptions of evangelicalism in recent years, Ryken expresses his optimism for how Biblical and theological perceptions will endure and serve as a means for rethinking how Christians live and serve within political and social orders. Ream asks Ryken to talk through his calling to ordained ministry and how that calling intersects with his calling to serve as a faculty member and president at Wheaton. Ream and Ryken talk about Ryken’s habit of writing, from where the questions come that he pursues, how those questions are addressed in sermons delivered on campus in chapel and in various churches, and how those sermons often serve as the basis for chapters in books. Ream and Ryken close their conversation by discussing Ryken’s personal understanding of the academic vocation, how the academic vocation is nurtured and exercised amongst educators at Wheaton, and the ways that the relationship shared by the Church and the university are critical for the present and future health of the academic vocation.

• Philip Graham Ryken’s When Trouble Comes (Crossway, 2016)
• Philip Graham Ryken’s Christian Worldview: A Student’s Guide (Crossway, 2013)
• Philip Graham Ryken’s Art for God’s Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts (P & R Publishing, 2006)

Todd Ream: Welcome to Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. My name is Todd Ream. I have the privilege of serving as the publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review and as the host for Saturdays at Seven. I also have the privilege of serving on the faculty and the administration at Indiana Wesleyan University.

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Our guest is Philip Graham Ryken, Professor of Theology and President of Wheaton College. Thank you for joining us.

Philip Graham Ryken: Todd, it’s great to be on the show. Thank you for what you do to promote a national, maybe even an international dialogue around faith and learning. And it’s always great to talk to another Wheaton dad.

Todd Ream: Thank you. We’re very proud of the efforts that she’s made there and certainly grateful for the efforts that her faculty have made on her behalf over the course of these years. Let’s start with a simple question, if we may, then. How do you define evangelicalism?

Philip Graham Ryken: Isn’t that going to take the whole hour actually? So I like to define evangelicalism biblically and theologically. I like to start with what Paul does at the beginning of first Corinthians chapter 15, when he talks about the Gospel, the evangelion, it’s the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal resurrection life for everyone who believes in Him.

That’s what the gospel is. An evangelical is somebody, simply somebody who believes and proclaims and by proclaims, I mean they speak, but they also live out the Gospel. We, we, of course, can define, define it a little bit more precisely theologically. I like to define it both in a North American context and in a global context. If I want to know what evangelicals believe, I look to something like the Lausanne Covenant and the Cape Town Commitment. That’s a consensus of global evangelicalism. 

Of course, in the United States you know, what the National Association of Evangelicals does and its For the Health of the Nation document these are some of the reference points for me of a consensus of evangelical thought. 

Evangelical movement is something, you know, coming post-Reformation and there’s something that is a theological movement originates in the United Kingdom. And there’s a transatlantic transfer to North America that then becomes global. So we could look at it a little bit historically as well, but I like to define it biblically, theologically, and globally.

Todd Ream: If we look at it in terms of the North American context, in what ways, if any, has evangelical changed over your lifetime and over the course of your tenure as president of Wheaton College?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah, you know, I’ve been kind of working on that question my whole lifetime because I grew up at Wheaton College. So people were using the term evangelical and you’re not exactly sure what it means when you’re a little kid. I didn’t exactly know what liberal arts meant for a long time either. 

I knew it meant in some way our kind of Christians, but this has been a thought topic over my lifetime. I think the biggest single change that’s taken place is that, within American culture generally, the public is most interested in the political implications, the political denotations and connotations of the term evangelical. And I think that’s probably a less significant defining characteristic of evangelical.

I would say that I think over the course of my lifetime, but particularly if you think of my parents’ generation and my grandparents’ generation, evangelical thought and practice has become more grace-oriented and less legalistic. I think we see that on the campus of Wheaton College. 

I also think that over time, we’ve done a better job of addressing at least some challenging topics. So, you know, whether that’s a more robust thinking that’s rooted in the traditions of the Church and the Scriptures on creation care, or a deeper, better understanding of what racial reconciliation entails, or the full implications of the Gospel for human sexuality, I think those are examples of areas where evangelicals have done better thinking over time.

Now, that’s a pretty optimistic view to say that we’ve become more grace-oriented. We’ve also become much more polarized. We’ve become more co-opted and corrupted by worldly powers. So there are downsides and dark sides as well. But those are some of the changes I’ve seen in evangelical over the years.

A lot of times people want to know, should we still even use the term? I don’t know of a better term to use to describe something that’s close to the biblical Gospel. So we’re probably better off just defining it contextually and redefining it for people. But those are a few of my thoughts about changes I’ve seen.

Todd Ream: Thank you. Traditions comprising Christianity are often shaped by voices of a handful of leaders and authors. For example, Lutherans look to Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. Methodists look to the brothers Wesley, John and Charles, and Francis Asbury as well. And some Lutherans and Methodists may identify as evangelicals, but who are the leaders and authors in your estimation who shaped evangelicalism in this North American context?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah, you know, and I’d love to answer that question partly in a Wheaton College context because Wheaton College is part of that story. I think of evangelical, I, you know, know enough about 18th and 19th century Christianity to know evangelical has a deeper rootedness in our pan-European culture.

But I think of evangelicalism as something much more coming to the fore in American life after fundamentalism, maybe after World War II, Billy Graham is a key part of that story. Carl F. H. Henry is a key part of that story. Frank Gabeline is a big part of that story with his understanding of faith and learning and the impact that that had on secondary and higher education in the United States.

I think at Wheaton, we also look to people like Arthur Holmes, who had a big impact on faith and learning on Wheaton’s campus. Mark Noll, who’s done so much to help us understand with his colleagues, sort of the history of evangelicalism. Those are a few of the voices. And I, and I have to say Wheaton College presidents have been part of that discussion in a Wheaton College context.

You know, the primary author of the Lausanne Covenant, for example, is John Stott. But Billy Graham had some things to say, as did Hudson Armerding, who was president of Wheaton College at that time, so those are few of the, you know, if you look at the history of things, that those are, and of course, there are many now contemporary voices in a broader, there are women that are contributing to our understanding of evangelicalism, as well as men and people from various ethnic backgrounds and global cultures. There’s a much bigger picture now and probably a broader, better understanding of evangelicalism. But if you look at the history of it, those are some of the key shapers.

Todd Ream: Thank you. As a nondenominational or inter-denominational evangelical institution, then, how is theology practiced at Wheaton College?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah, these are big questions, not little ones. 

Todd Ream: We get them out of the way early on.

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah, mean, I start with Wheaton’s statement of faith and community covenant. The statement of faith is something that our faculty and staff are all committed to. It’s something we recommit to every year. Community covenant is much more about how we live out the Gospel, but it also entails viewpoints. It’s not just practices, but there’s a view of integrity and honesty and charity and humility that’s part of the promises that we make, covenant promises we make before God to one another in the Wheaton College community. 

So those are our standards and we have other, when we’ve got issues that we need to work on, we come up with other written documents as well. Our Christ-centered diversity commitment is a key part of that at Wheaton College, for example. But then how do you live that out? I think the most important thing is the hiring that you do. 

So the board members you choose, the president you choose, the faculty members that you hire. And Wheaton College takes theological understandings, very important in all of those in all of those processes. And then what we’re asking faculty to do in the classroom is not simply to repeat theological truths, but we are asking them to strengthen theological commitments in the lives of our students and, and ask all the questions, struggle with all of the challenges to Christian faith, but also reinforce and encourage and strengthen Christian conviction. So those are, those are a few of the ways that we live out our theological commitments. 

Another thing I’ll say from a perspective of the president, you know, every week I spend roughly three hours with my cabinet. This is the senior administration of the college. We spend time in devotional reading, prayer, and almost always, we have topics that touch on theological convictions where what we believe matters for how we live out our life as a college. So I just think theology is for all of life. It should be present in all of our discussions and decision making and pervasive, but those are a few of the key touch points that we have at Wheaton College. 

I’ll just mention one other practice, Todd, which has become more significant for us in recent years. It’s become our practice to renew our community covenant in public worship at the beginning of our academic year. Faculty, staff, and students together, reciting and as it were, confessing our promises to one another in a public gathering. That’s our understanding of what covenant making is in a biblical perspective. And so that’s another, we think, healthy practice to understand the commitments we’re making and hopefully encourage them to live them out.

Todd Ream: Thank you. I want to ask you a few biographical questions now if I may. As you mentioned, you grew up at Wheaton College. You earned a BA from Wheaton College in Literature and Philosophy, an MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a DPhil in Historical Theology from the University of Oxford.

After completing study in Oxford, you began a 15 year tenure at 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Would you please start by describing your calling to the ministry?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah, so, you know, that’s something that grew in my life from, from an early age. For sure by junior high, I was thinking about the possibility of a pastoral calling that since became a bit stronger in high school, it would have been affirmed, partly by some family members, but also by people in our church that, you know, saw some gifts that they thought could be cultivated in that direction.

It really didn’t become, you know, significantly stronger sense of calling until I got to Wheaton and I was starting to think, think things through. My understanding of calling is there’s an inward calling, calling the Holy Spirit lays on your life, but that needs to be confirmed and matched by an external calling from the Church and ultimately from people in spiritual authority. And that’s a journey. There was a process. 

I have to say personally, probably nothing’s been more significant in that journey than the strong affirmation of Lisa Ryken and her sense of my calling for ministry. And that’s been something we’ve had to talk through together at some key junctures. But it makes a difference not just believing in your own calling, but have other, having other people around you who care about you and know you, who also believe in your calling. So those are some things that have been significant for me. My sense of calling to Gospel ministry is lifelong. I think that’s my lifelong calling, to be a minister of the Gospel.

Todd Ream: What discernment process then led you to seek coordination in the Presbyterian church in America?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah, I was coming to the end of my time at Oxford. I went to Oxford fully believing that I was going for further preparation for pastoral ministry. And then I was interested in, you know, doing some teaching along the way. I love the academic life, love the research and the writing, but I was thinking daily about what are the implications of this for pastoral ministry in a local church context?

I was involved in a church plant in England, was preaching quarterly, involved in worship a little more often than that. I went to study with Dick Lucas in London on his expository lectures at the Cornhill Institute. So I was trying to do things that would fuel that sense of pastoral calling and not drift away from it, but actually have a hunger for it. And so coming to the end of our time in England, we realized if I’m going to be a pastor, I need a place to live out that calling. 

So I was looking for possible callings in theologically conservative Presbyterian denominations, primarily the Presbyterian Church in America and the church I was raised in, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, candidated at several churches and actually had more than one opportunity, but had such a crystal clear sense of calling to 10th Church in Philadelphia, was more so a calling to the church than the denomination. But I love the PCA for all of its weaknesses and flaws. And it’s been a good home for me theologically and pastorally.

Todd Ream: Thank you. In 2010, then you were appointed the eighth president of Wheaton College. Would you please describe the process that led you to accept that appointment and the relationship that it shares with your calling to the ministry?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah. So again, there are a lot more that could be said on these topics, Todd, then I’ll probably have time to get into it, but I will say Lisa and I were prayerfully open to the possibility of coming to Wheaton in this role for a period of a couple years. I was aware that Duane Litfin was coming to the end of his time, was thinking about, you know, a transition in his life in ministry as the profile developed for the position. It seemed like it could be something that connected to my gifts. 

However I have a sort of view of calling particularly for ministerial calling. You stay where you are until God pulls you out to a new place. And I have this partly from some of the writings of Francis Schaeffer that have been influential on how I think about calling. So I did not apply for the position at Wheaton, even though I was praying into it. And so at a certain point in their process, they said, look, you know, people are nominating you. Are you open to being part of this process? And I said, okay, that’s a signal for me. There is this sense of outward calling.

Boy, that was that was a very significant time in our lives and a lot of twists and turns in that, but what was important to me at the end of it all was partly a strong sense of calling to Wheaton, but also a release and freedom to lay down the calling from 10th Church, which, we were willing to be there for a lifetime, absolutely. And Wheaton was really the only other position or calling I was willing to pray about, even honestly. We just had such a strong sense of belonging there. 

So there were a lot of twists and turns in the process, but ultimately a confirmation that God was calling us to Wheaton. And the key part of that was being able to say to the trustees, look, I would view this as a form of Gospel ministry. It’s in a higher ed context. I understand that. And if that’s not good, if you don’t think that’s a good fit for Wheaton, then I’m not a good fit for Wheaton. I’m not a good fit for you, but if you do, then we can continue to talk about this conversation, you know, talk about this possibility. 

I think most college and university presidents, not just on Christ-centered campuses, but most college and university presidents that I know would even use the word pastoral to describe an aspect of their care for a campus community. And I think there’s an aspect of that, of certainly caring for the well-being of students and faculty and staff. That’s an important part of the role.

So it can be a fit. I’m a bit of a dinosaur. I mean, there aren’t that many ordained ministers anymore at all that are in these roles. But for me, it’s been a place of meaningful calling with a sense of calling.

Todd Ream: Thank you. In what ways, if any, have those two, you know, sort of threads or expressions of your calling perhaps been in tension with one another?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah, you know, when you ask that question, the first thing I think of is I have a couple of natural habitats. One of those natural habitats is within a denomination like the Presbyterian church in America. I love the Westminster Confession of Faith and catechisms. That’s an expression of my theology. That’s a natural habitat for me. I love the local church. 

Wheaton college is a natural habitat for me. My father taught here for 52 years. This is the community I was raised in. And I understand, we have just as strong a commitment to our theology at Wheaton College as ministers do to their own denominations and as I do to my own denomination, but it’s a less detailed confession of faith. They’re the things that we decide we’re going to agree on. It’s a smaller set. It’s right at the core of Christian faith and commitment and conviction, but I can operate, I think, pretty faithfully and comfortably in a couple of different contexts. So when I keep the context in mind I don’t sense so much of that tension. 

One other thing that just stands out to me is the complexity of the role of a college or university president. So there, there are aspects of it that are pastoral, but there are aspects that are managerial. There are aspects that are financial, there are aspects that are fiduciary, that are legal. There’s a real complexity to those roles. I think if at the heart of what you are trying to accomplish is care for the total well-being of the people in your community, including soul care, if that’s at the heart of what you’re about, then that gives us a center of gravity, even if there are some, even if there are some tension points.

The other tension point I’ll just mention is that, when you are in a leadership role in a college or university campus, you need to be very careful about what you are speaking on behalf of that entire community. And that’s very different. We have a lot more freedom when we’re just operating as private individuals with their own opinions and thinking about how do I represent the needs, convictions, interests of our campus community and being always mindful of that. The role is bigger than you are as a person, so I don’t know if I’d call that a tension point. I’d call that a reality that you live within. It is a constraint.

Todd Ream: Thank you. Persistence in terms of one’s calling has only grown more challenging for many members of professions over the course of say, the last 10 to 15 years. COVID-19 exacerbated that challenge, accelerated it a little bit, but it had been there even before. The most recent survey of college presidents by the American Council on Education, for example, found that the average tenure of a college president was now 5.9 years, down from 6.5 years in 2016 and 8.5 years in 2008. Amidst the challenges, what do you find most vocationally fulfilling about the long standing service you’ve offered Wheaton College?

Philip Graham Ryken: So I’ll just start with some of the data that you were talking about there, Todd, and first thing I’ll say is it’s very challenging to persevere in a professorial calling. Boy, the demands of teaching and scholarship and mentoring and perhaps family life, certainly church and ministry life beyond that, and put all of that together into one life. It’s a very challenging calling. So I admire anyone that really perseveres in higher education. 

I do take a perverse interest in the articles you see in the Chronicle, the Chronicle of Higher Education, other publications, just about how you couldn’t pay me enough to do that job. That’s a tough job. It’s 10 years. Tenures are getting shorter, yes. You know, all of that is true. And I think that’s been true for at least a decade. There’s been a big ramp up. And part of it is just the financial constraints of higher education. Just make everything more difficult because the resource questions are always there for you.

Thankfully, if you look at Christ-centered institutions, our numbers are better, and we see college and university presidents on many of our campuses persevering. And, of course, I mean, I think about this a lot too, sometimes you need a transition, you stay too long. That’s something we need to be careful about as well. There’s real value to having a leader that can see a vision through, build something for the future. I mean, that helps so many of our Christ-centered campuses. So it’s important for us to tend to the care and feeding of our college and university presidents so they can persevere. 

To me, the most life-giving things typically are anything having to do with our students and how they are experiencing the Christian faith, the life of the mind, the exploration of their, of their gifts and, and social contexts. I’m also absolutely a poster child for liberal arts learning. I love learning new things. I love learning new things in the sciences, in the social sciences, love learning new things through literature and philosophy and theology. But this really suits me to be on a campus where you always have new things to read from your faculty members, new ideas and lectures to attend if you’ve got the time to attend them. That’s life giving for me to be a learner in a learning community. 

And then I’ll just say if you’re in a leadership role, you get a lot of criticism. I mean, just read the book of Exodus and see what it was like for Moses. And it’s not too dissimilar in a lot of leadership roles. But you also have the possibility of getting a lot of encouragement. So just to have grateful parents, teary eyed graduates, talk to alumni that something meaningful has happened in their lives through Wheaton College, I mean, that’s real fuel for our fires. 

And then I guess the other thing I’ll mention is boy, these are very demanding roles just in terms of work hours, just that alone. I’ve gotten a little better over the years at being restful in some of the restful moments. I don’t know that I’ve proportioned my time to have more rest time, but being able to take advantage of small opportunities or even just really, really enjoying being able to sit outside on a beautiful day with some of the work that you have to do and enjoying the context of it. There are ways that we can nourish the soul along the way in our callings. So those are a few things. Staying away from regular college work on Sundays is another, I think, healthy practice for me. 

Todd Ream: Thank you. Perhaps another practice that nourishes your soul is writing. You’re the author or editor of over 50 books, titles that include collections of sermons, biblical commentaries, and theological scholarship. And that habit, habit of writing began prior to your appointment as Wheaton’s president, but it’s something you’ve sustained while navigating the demands that we’ve talked about. If I may, when do you write? And without giving up too many secrets here, where do you write?

Philip Graham Ryken: So my most productive writing times are going to be first thing in the day. If I had everything else, you know, organized around this, if I could write for about two hours in the morning, maybe in a 7 AM to 9 AM time frame, I can be very productive. It doesn’t help me to do long days of writing. I’m more effective if I can write for two or maybe three hours, and then, you know, you’ve got other reading. I can do editorial work beyond that, but just the creative process of writing. 

I definitely get more writing done during the summers. We have the opportunity to go up to Honey Rock Camp in the north woods of Wisconsin. We’ve got a cabin by the lake that we can use there, and some of my most productive writing takes place there. In a good summer, I might get three, maybe four weeks up there. And there’s some other work to be done, but there is some writing time. 

The other thing is a lot of the teaching I do and a lot of the preaching I do, is gonna be reflected in writing. And I approach it in terms of how I research, how I write, how I edit after I speak. There’s a kind of process I go through to try to get the maximum benefit from the teaching and preparation that I’m doing. 

And particularly, you know some years I’m working on a chapel series through the year. This year, I’m very excited to be speaking to our students at Wheaton on the subject. It is the end of the world and the implications of the end times for Christian faith and discipleship and Christian learning. That might make a nice book project. That might be something for me to work on next summer, but I’m always thinking about how to maximize opportunities.

And I would just say overall writing is life giving for me. Probably, but as you know, it’s a costly labor in the editorial process. You really have to give of yourself to accomplish it. But I think ultimately it is, I like a well-crafted sentence. Feeling of satisfaction when you’ve written something that you think is pretty good. I definitely like going back and reading something, and saying, oh, this actually, it is pretty good. So that is a good feeling. 

But the best feeling of all is when people tell you this was helpful to me. This made a difference for me. What you wrote influenced how I think, or God touched my life through it. I mean, it’s so meaningful to have some of those opportunities, a real privilege.

Todd Ream: Thank you. Of all the book projects in which you’ve worked, did you find one to yield greater personal significance than others?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah, I’ll give one little secret. It’s a tough question. It’s a little bit like, you know, which of your children do you love the most? I like the writing project I’m working on right now. That’s what’s compelling to me. 

I write on a lot of things that I don’t understand well enough yet and may not be particularly good at. So wrestling with suffering, going deeper in the life of prayer, writing books on how to love people. Well, like I’m not writing on these topics because I think, you know, I’ve arrived at something that is worthy of emulation. Like I’m trying to understand something and understand it better. And the process of writing and thinking about it does make a difference in my life. 

I will say it’s been meaningful for me, probably of all the things I enjoy the most, I love studying biblical texts, trying to understand what they mean and how they apply to daily life. That, you know, that’s, that’s the absolute sweet spot for me. It’s been meaningful to write about Christianity and the arts, particularly because, you know, probably when I was starting to do that, there were not as many resources in that area. 

So, you know, there was a sense of contribution. Oh, it’s hard to say though. I mean, I loved thinking through the implications of beauty for theology and the Christian faith, like what a wonderful subject that is. So I don’t know, there are a lot of things to love in what you study. So it may be hard for me to choose.

Todd Ream: Yeah. Of all the books that you’ve worked on, did any one of those books garner more public interest perhaps than others?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah, probably my little book on Christianity and the arts has done very well over the years and continues to garner interest. I think it’s partly because it’s short. I think that’s one of the reasons. A fair number of students on different college and high school campuses use my The Christian Worldview: A Student’s Guide.

So, and then, you know, I did a book on, just on trouble in the Christian life and that struck a responsive chord because when you’re in trouble, it feels good to have a sense that somebody cares about that and you have a place to turn in your walk with Christ, but also in the experience of believers in Scripture. So there’s maybe a few that have touched people. 

I also get, you know, some heartfelt letters from pastors that were using one of my commentaries and really like, this was the, you know, this was the most helpful for me and there’s a kind of a bond you feel pastor to pastor. So that’s been meaningful over the years as well.

Todd Ream: For our last set of questions, I want to ask a little bit about the academic vocation, how you understand it, and how it’s practiced at Wheaton. Despite the long history the academic vocation has experienced, critics argue the threads that presently define it are fraying due to a myriad of pressures: financial, political, social, and technological pressures, for example, to name only four of those. What’s your assessment of the current state of the academic vocation?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah. You do a great job asking questions, Todd. You should do this every week and ask academics all over the country what they think on these great questions. 

So, on the one hand, particularly in the polarized society we’re in. I mean, in one sense, shocking to me the way that education and particularly higher education gets denigrated. And, and I’ll say even 15 years ago some of us within the Christian College Consortium as college presidents, we’re trying to figure out, how do we get a better connection with the Church? So there’s a stronger sense of the Church support for Christ-centered higher education. 

By and large, I think the national data shows that of high school students that are in distinctively Christ-centered high schools, of course, which is not all the students that end up on our campuses. The majority of students at Wheaton are from public school backgrounds, but of those ones that had a Christ-centered high school education, only 15% of those students are going to end up at a Christ-centered college or university. The vast majority are going to go to secular private institutions or especially public institutions. 

Now, I think there are a lot of great places to get an education. God’s calling for each person is different and beautiful. So I’m not saying, you know, one kind of education is the be all and end all. But I do think it is a problem that there’s not stronger support from the Christian community for Christ-centered higher education. I think that’s a longer standing problem, which has probably become more acute. 

On the other hand, and, and I’m always, I’m a positive person just by temperament, I don’t know that there’s ever been a better time to have an academic vocation because the needs of the world are so great. It’s so important for us to think Christianly about everything in life. With all the problems we’re facing in the world, we certainly need to be developing problem solvers that can honor God in the way that they approach the great problems of the world. I mean, there are many reasons to be, yeah, just hopeful and optimistic about Christ-centered higher education. 

And I will say, I think probably just about without exception, as I talk with other Christian college presidents from around the United States, we are seeing things that encourage us. Students that have a stronger commitment to the life of prayer, that are more passionate about evangelism, that want to go deep in Christian discipleship and at the same time, aren’t thinking of Christian vocation narrowly, but they’re thinking about medicine and law and education and the marketplace and making a difference in those places. 

So I’m, I’m encouraged by the emerging generation, even though there’s so many things that are discouraging in the polarization we’re seeing inside the Church and beyond the Church. And we’ll probably see it as much in an election season as ever. But this is a good time. It’s a good time, an important time for people to be investing their lives in the academic vocation.

Todd Ream: Thank you. Personally, how have you come to understand the academic vocation? What qualities or characteristics do you think are most essential?

Philip Graham Ryken: You know, and I had a front row seat for this. I admire deeply my father’s academic vocation, was so interested and drawn, even from my earliest age, to books, to graduation gowns, to the English department at Wheaton College with its wardrobe in those days. I mean, I’ve just always, and honestly, even as a junior high student, I kind of loved an evening lecture, you know, like we would experience when we went on Wheaton in England and we would hear Humphrey Carpenter or, you know, Martin Lloyd Jones, Martin Lloyd Jones spoke to the Wheaton College, Wheaton in England program one year. So I just love, you know, all of that. 

For me, what’s been definitional is John Milton’s understanding of the liberal arts, what he called a generous education, by which he meant a liberal education. He said it’s one that prepares you for all of the offices of life. He said of both peace and war, we could have a discussion about that. But what he meant was this, this liberal education, this breadth of education, which is not simply a breadth of content areas but ways of understanding the world, that is going to prepare you to be a better friend, a better wife or husband, a better neighbor, a better church member, a better leader in whatever your particular vocation is. And I just was raised to believe that a liberal arts education prepares you for everything. 

Although one time I did ask my father, I said, well, what, you know, like, what do students do, like the students you teach? Well, they go on and they teach English. So I said, okay, so you teach English teachers that learn how to teach English teachers that learn how to teach English teachers. I mean, it didn’t seem like a very hopeful regression at that point. But there’s a vitality to liberal arts education. 

And in terms of what it takes obviously certain habits of mind and research and scholarship and a hunger for learning. All of the Christian virtues are relevant to the calling of a professor, because of course, all of the Christian virtues are relevant for all of us and all of our callings.

But I think the academic calling definitely calls for humility. There are warnings about intellectual pride in the Bible that really need to be taken seriously. Charity, which is a love for people we disagree with and a love for our students. Courage, the courage of convictions and to hold those and articulate those. Those are the kinds of virtues that really need to flourish in the academic calling.

Todd Ream: Thank you. You mentioned the relationship shared by the Church and the Christian university a few minutes ago. In what ways, if any, do you believe the health of the relationship shared by the Church and the university then corresponds or relates to the health of the academic vocation?

Philip Graham Ryken: Yeah, that’s, I mean, that’s such a rich question. I mean, the first thing I think of is to be a healthy member of a Christ-centered academic community, you need to be a healthy member of the local church. That’s true for students. 

I tell our students, for me, one of the most important decisions you can make during your college years on a Christ-centered campus, let alone on a secular campus, is your decision about engagement with the life of a local church. And also, I tell our students, for me, the best predictor of how well you’re going to do spiritually after college is that local church commitment during your time in college, because you’re setting up life, hopefully lifelong habits of church engagement. 

But our faculty and staff need the encouragement, the fellowship, the accountability the worship opportunities that are separate from their life in an academic community, but that nurture the soul, so we all need that healthy connection. We also need the prayers of the local church on behalf of the members of our campus communities and on behalf of the work of our schools.

One thing we do at Wheaton is every semester we invite every church, the pastoral staff members of every church where we have a Wheaton College connection. We’ve got faculty, staff, or students worshiping in their local church. And that’s a lot of churches in Wheaton and beyond, even into Chicagoland. And we say, hey, come for breakfast. This is a prayer breakfast. We’re really not asking anything of you except your prayers, but we covet those prayers. And so, and we obviously need to be praying for the churches in our community as well. That’s important for us as campus communities, but that important.

Then the other thing I’ll mention, Todd, is something that I think is often lacking, and that is a true understanding of the calling of our institutions. A Christian academy is not a church. It doesn’t replace certain sacramental aspects of Church life. It doesn’t have Church discipline in the same way.

Like there are a lot of things that college or university can’t make up for, but also we are entertaining ideas that we disagree with because that’s part of a good education. You don’t do that in quite the same way in a local church context. We are much more a how to think than a what to think institution. I’m not sure most churches would understand their calling that way. 

I love a quote from the 1878 catalog of Wheaton College. It just says, “We do not expect students to agree with everything their faculty members say or everything they read in a textbook, but to think for themselves.” Now that’s in a context where you have a statement of faith and theological convictions that you’re trying to cultivate. So it needs to be understood in its context. 

But that’s a different calling, and we need to respect the differing callings, and we need to do that across the board with Christians in all vocations. But that mutual respect and understanding of what the calling is can, can really help us all. It can help the Church and it can help the academy.

Todd Ream: Thank you. As we close out our conversation here today, I wanted to ask you about those junior faculty members you’re welcoming to campus right now, the next class, and perhaps those who are preparing in PhD programs that’ll be coming there in the years to come. In what ways, if any, do you think that we can strengthen the health of the academic vocation for them and in turn our campuses?

Philip Graham Ryken: That’s another great question. I mean, we’ve just been having healthy conversations just this week about how to strengthen faculty to faculty-mentoring in a more intentional way. A lot of it happens organically, but we need to make sure that new faculty members get the support, help, and encouragement and guidance that they need in all aspects of calling. 

So just one thing I’ll say is, people often think about the anxiety that students feel coming into a new community. Will I measure up? Will I have friends? I like to remind people, faculty have exactly the same, I think, I mean, yeah, sure, there are differences, but they’re wondering, are my students going to like me? Am I going to measure up academically to this community? Or is it a little bit beyond me? Like those kinds of questions, anxieties, and concerns. So what do you need? You need really good friends, supportive colleagues, people that believe in your calling, people that are able to help you in areas where you are a little weaker, develop your pedagogy.

Another area we try to be very intentional about is, you know, most of the new faculty at Wheaton College, they’ve had healthy church relationships, by and large, most of our new faculty will have been in a couple of different evangelical way stations along the way. They might have gone to a different flavor of church in college than they did growing up, and it might be yet another thing during graduate school.

So they’ve already started to see a little bit of a breadth of evangelical Christianity and they’ve been in a few places that have tried to help them think Christianly. Maybe they’ve been part of an InterVarsity Fellowship on a campus or maybe if they’re really fortunate there’s been a Christian study center near their university. But they have only begun to think Christianly in a deep, they’ve only begun to think Christianly in a deep way about their academic discipline and they need to go through a multi-year process. 

You know, we’re so blessed to have Tim Larsen, who I know has been one of your guests, guiding our Faith and Learning Program. We have a whole program where they’re doing a faith and learning paper and they’ve got colleagues that are assisting them through the process. Like we have a whole process that we go through. 

We just realized we’re going to have to develop our faculty so that they enter more fully into what it means to approach their discipline, their research, their scholarship, they’re teaching, everything from a thoroughly and distinctively Christ-centered perspective, and we embrace that calling as a campus, and we want to support and encourage our new faculty, as challenging as their calling is, so that they can teach with confidence. 

Todd Ream: Wonderful. Thank you, thank you very much. Our guest has been Philip Graham Ryken, Professor of Theology and President of Wheaton College. Thank you for sharing your insights and wisdom with us.

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Thank you for joining us for Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. We invite you to join us again next week for Saturdays at Seven.