Free Methodists Respond to Inaugural Year Events

At the invitation of Seattle Pacific University President Philip Eaton, Free Methodist leaders from Idaho, Oregon and Washington attended a Free Methodist Roundtable February 17. Nearly 100 pastors and their spouses, two bishops, church administrators, and SPU faculty and staff members met for lunch at First Free Methodist Church to discuss issues raised during the Inaugural Year and at the Symposium on Evangelicalism and Higher Education.

Many of the questions raised at the Roundtable stimulated a lively exchange. Among them were: How does SPU impart the Christian message to its non-religious students and the multi-religious community of Seattle? What is the role of a Department of Religion at a liberal arts university? Would it be possible for SPU to host a ministers' conference cosponsored with Regent College and Fuller Seminary?

"The Symposium and other Inaugural Year events are an excellent reminder that at the core of Seattle Pacific is both excellence of learning and the lordship of Jesus Christ," says Joe James, superintendent for the 46 churches in the Pacific Northwest Conference of the Free Methodist Church.

"To invite well-known Christian scholars to spend a week interacting with each other, as well as the campus community and the church, is a very healthy thing to do. It shows a real commitment on the part of President Eaton and the school to the original purpose for which SPU was founded. It was a very positive week!"

Resources for
Further Inquiry

Symposium Tapes

Tapes of each session held during the Symposium on Evangelicalism and Higher Education are available from Seattle Pacific University's Office of Campus Life. To request an order form, which lists all session titles and speakers, call 206/281-2763. The cost is $60 for the 23-tape set, or $2.50 each for individual tapes.

Books on Evangelicalism and Higher Education

For those interested in further exploring the topic of evangelicalism and higher education, a number of books are recommended by Symposium organizers. Some of these titles are available in the SPU Bookstore, 206/281-2136.

A Far Glory: The Quest for Faith in an Age of Credulity
Peter L. Berger. 1992.

The Fabric of Faithfulness
Steven Garber. 1996.

John Wesley's Message for Today
Steve Harper. 1983.

The Idea of a Christian College
Arthur Holmes. 1975.

Models for Christian Higher Education: Strategies for Success in the Twenty-First Century
R.T. Hughes and W.B. Adrian. 1997.

The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship
George M. Marsden. 1997.

The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief
George M. Marsden. 1994.

The Secularization of the Academy
George M. Marsden and Bradley J. Longfield. 1992.

A Passion for Truth: The Intellectual Coherence of Evangelicalism
Alister McGrath. 1996.

Evangelicalism and the Future of Christianity
Alister McGrath. 1995.

Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture
Lesslie Newbigin. 1986.

The Idea of a University
John Henry Newman. 1852.

Christ and Culture
H. Richard Niebuhr. 1951.

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
Mark Noll. 1994.

John Wesley's Scriptural Christianity
Thomas C. Oden. 1994.

The Christian College
William Ringenberg. 1996.

Exiles From Eden: Religion and the Academic Vocation in America
Mark R. Schwehn. 1993.

Discipleship of the Mind: Learning to Love God in the Ways We Think
James Sire. 1990.

The Idea of a College
Elton Trueblood. 1959.

No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?
David Wells. 1993.

The Abandoned Generation: Rethinking Higher Education
William Willimon and Thomas Naylor. 1995.

The Burning Heart: John Wesley, Evangelist
Arthur Skevington Wood. 1967.

The Struggle for America's Soul: Evangelicals, Liberals and Secularism
Robert Wuthnow. 1989.

Please read our disclaimer. Send any questions, comments or correspondence about Response to jgilnett@spu.edu or call 206-281-2051. Copyright © 1999 University Communications, Seattle Pacific University. Seattle Pacific University Office of University Communications 3307 Third Avenue West Seattle, Washington 98119-1997 United States of America