Introduction
By Bishop Craig Anderson
The Anglican – Fall/Winter 1993/94
Calvin Coolidge once quipped, “If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called on to repeat it.” A good bit was said in the various lectures, sermons, and addresses given as part of my Installation as the new Dean and President of The General Theological Seminary this past fall. Several persons have asked that it be “repeated” in the form of audio cassettes or a printed text. This special issue of The Anglican is a response to that request. In addition, audio cassettes are available through The General Theological Seminary Communications Office.
Bishop Craig Anderson
Ranging from a remembrance of our history as an institution of theological education, through Professor Franklin’s lecture to a renewed rehearsal of that tradition in the present, with Dr. Walter Brueggemann’s reflections on “the Other” to Professor Breidenthal’s ruminations on the meaning of covenant existence, these addresses serve as a way of remembering our shared past as we anticipate the mission and ministry of The General Theological Seminary in the years and decades to come.
The three addresses, which provided an opportunity to introduce two new members of our faculty in the persons of Doctors Franklin and Breidenthal, were punctuated by a sensitive sermon on the “Decanal Chair” by our Presiding Bishop, Edmond Browning, and a call for the Seminary to provide a prophetic witness to the larger community and church in the stirring words of Ms. Diane Porter, Senior Executive for Programs of the Episcopal Church.
Taken together, these varied talks provide differing angles in support of the vision that I propose in my inaugural address. I suspect that the reader will find in the words that inform these several lectures and sermons much that is memorable and worth repeating.
This special issue also represents what the editorial board as well as the faculty and staff of The General Theological Seminary hope might be a new partnership in expanding the scope and readership of The Anglican as a forum for theological reflection in addressing issues before the Episcopal Church and wider Anglican Communion.
I wish to thank The Rev. David James, Editor (GTS, ’82) and the editorial staff of The Anglican in bringing you the transcripts of these addresses. I also wish to express my gratitude to the contributors who have provided important perspectives on our shared visio for the future of The General Theological Seminary.