Tradition and Innovation

The Seminary Situation

Controversy erupted at Calvin in 1951, as the Seminary faculty divided into combative factions of conservative Confessionalists and progressive neo-Calvinists. They shouted at each other in meetings and took potshots at their opponents in their classes. Calvin College had its own problems, as seven seminary-bound students dubbed the "Sacred Seven," complained to the Board of Trustees that several faculty were un-Reformed in their teaching. But William Spoelhof, in his first year as the college's president, prevented the complaint from becoming a crisis.

The "Seminary Situation," as it was known, was rooted in longstanding tensions simmering at Calvin and in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) between Confessionalists and neo-Calvinists. One of the triggers for conflict in 1951 was a proposal to offer a doctorate in theology (ThD) at the Seminary. That proposal offers a window into the differences between a tradition looking backward to inhibit change versus one looking forward with openness to innovation.

The crisis at the Seminary dated to 1948. One flashpoint was whether the faculty should approve several students, alleged to hold un-Reformed views, as candidates for ordination. A second was student complaints about the teaching of two of the Confessionalist faculty, who they alleged did not equip them to address the complex moral and theological issues of the day. Personal conflicts were part of the story, too, with memories going back to 1922 and the firing of Ralph Janssen, a neo-Calvinist. Finally, the two factions stoutly disagreed about whether the Seminary should start a ThD program.

H.J. Kuiper, editor of The Banner, sided with the Confessionalists, as he had during the Janssen controversy. He also supported the "Sacred Seven" and went after the College, as he had in 1920, when he charged that its faculty was not faithfully Reformed. Kuiper circulated a petition that claimed there were un-Reformed faculty at the College and called on Synod to "purify" it of secular and socialist elements. Meanwhile, the CRC was once again arguing about movie attendance.

Synod Cleans House

Synod had enough. In 1952 it rebuked Kuiper, affirmed Spoelhof's handling of the Sacred Seven complaint, and cleaned house at the Seminary. It retired Seminary President Samuel Volbeda, one of the Confessionalists, and Clarence Bouma, a neo-Calvinist who had become ill. It fired four of the younger faculty, two of them progressive and two conservative. That left only an aging Henry Schultze, who taught part time, and a repentant Martin Wyngaarden, whom Synod rebuked. Over the next decade Schultze and Wyngaarden retired and Synod rebuilt the faculty. It started with Henry Stob, who had been teaching at the College. R. B. Kuiper was recruited from Westminster Theological Seminary to serve as president. John Kromminga, a church historian, also joined the Seminary faculty and succeeded Kuiper as President in 1956.

A Window into Two Postures

The ThD proposal makes the "Seminary situation" relevant to the recent history and future of the Seminary. In 1948 the Calvin Board of Trustees proposed starting a ThD. The Confessionalist faculty favored doing so, hoping to keep advanced ministerial education in the Seminary's hands and thus ensure reliably Reformed clergy. The neo-Calvinist faculty argued that the Seminary faculty and Calvin library were inadequate to deliver a ThD program. They also thought it appropriate for future Seminary faculty and CRC clergy to study at other schools.

Whether the Seminary could have pulled off a ThD program in the 1950s is less interesting than examining why Confessionalists wanted it. Their goal was inward looking—securing traditional doctrine and piety in the CRC during an era of change. The CRC had Americanized and was becoming more bourgeois. CRC folk were leaving Dutch enclaves in cities for the suburbs. Students at Calvin, many of them veterans, were more confidently American and outward looking. John Kromminga wondered in his Princeton doctoral thesis what would hold the CRC fast to its theological heritage amid these changes.

A Global Thread Already Forming

The Seminary need not have looked inward, or only inward, in 1951. Its first student from Korea, Shin Hong Myung, had come in 1939 and studied in its Master of Theology program (MTh). He served congregations in Seoul in the 1940s and 1950s and represented the Presbyterian Church in Korea at the World Council of Churches.

Myung suggests how Calvin was becoming part of national and global Reformed-Presbyterian networks. In the 1950s a small but steady stream of Asian students would begin coming to the Seminary, from Korea especially, most of them seeking master's degrees. Calvin and the CRC would build relationships with Korean churches and schools, and by the early 21st Century students of Korean descent would study in large numbers at both the Seminary and Calvin University.

The Outward Turn

In 1992 the Seminary did start a doctoral program in theology. It raised money for endowed chairs and hired new faculty for the program. The new PhD built on Calvin's longstanding MTh. International students had been asking for more. The Seminary also raised money to support PhD students by waiving their tuition and providing them with stipends. In 2000, the program had 30 students. The MTh had 36 more. The Seminary's vision now looked outward. Graduates would serve the global church by training faculty for seminaries and universities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In 1997 Calvin awarded the first PhD to Jean De Dieu Rajonarivony, a student from Madagascar whose dissertation was on Karl Barth. By 2012, almost 50 percent of the Seminary's students were international.

These international students would indeed serve the global church. But they also benefitted Reformed institutions in the United States. Jai-Sung "Jay" Shim (PhD 1998) pastored a Korean American CRC congregation, taught at Dordt, and directed the CRC's Korean Institute for Ministry, which assists Korean pastors seeking ordination in the CRC. The Seminary's own Yudha Thianto (PhD 2003) taught at Trinity Christian College before returning to Calvin in 2022.

Traditioned Innovation

The PhD program exemplifies what scholars have come to call "traditioned innovation." Living traditions evolve in response to changing circumstances and opportunities. Innovation typically succeeds where it builds upon the foundation of what has characterized an institution or community in the past. Continuity and change need not be in conflict, but should be mutually dependent. The Seminary's curriculum and mission remain deeply rooted in Reformed Christianity but now are leavened by many cultural traditions and expressions of the faith from the global church. Rather than a vision for a ThD defined by anxiety about change, as in 1951, the Seminary's programs today extend outward to the world and invite all interested students into its classrooms.

Written by:
William Katerberg
Curator of Heritage Hall and Professor of History at Calvin University