ERLC head surprised at induction into Union society
- Aug 7, 2007 - comment
JACKSON, Tenn.—Richard Land traveled to Union University in Jackson, Tenn., August 3 to speak to Union graduates, but Union president David Dockery had more in store for the president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission during the ceremony.
Dockery surprised Land by announcing Land’s induction into the university’s Carl F. H. Henry Society of Fellows. Land delivered the keynote address for the school’s August commencement ceremony.
Land said he was “delighted to be honored so graciously by Union University,” noting the honor had particular meaning for him because Henry had such an “enormous impact on my life and ministry.”
Henry, a renowned Christian theologian and son of German immigrants, was the first editor of Christianity Today and in 1947 authored the seminal evangelical work, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism. He died in December 2003.
Describing Land as “a person whose voice matters in our culture,” Dockery said the nationally known Christian ethicist has provided “leadership for Southern Baptists in thinking about church-state issues and cultural engagement over the last 20 years.”
“He is a brilliant thinker,” Dockery said of Land, whose most recent book, The Divided States of America? earned endorsements from a cross-section of influential Americans.
Land explained that when he was elected in September 1988 as the president of the then-Christian Life Commission (now the ERLC), the first thing he did in planning his installation service was to ask Henry to give the installation address.
“To be honored in this way by Union University and to be associated in any way with the memory and legacy of Dr. Carl F. H. Henry is a very gratifying and humbling experience,” he continued.
Land joins Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Paul Corts, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities; Edmund Moy, former director of White House personnel and now director of the U. S. Mint; and Carl Zylstra, president of Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, as fellows in the society. The Union University-based society was established in 2000.
In his remarks to the graduates, Land reminded the students that graduation was simply the beginning of a lifetime of learning, stressing that Christians have an obligation to make an impact upon the culture.
“This is all prologue and preparation for the rest of your lives,” Land told the 262 students and their families. “We who are Christians follow a Savior who is a never-changing Savior in an ever-changing world, and He is the Rock of our foundation.
“He is not just true, He is Truth. He is the definition of truth,” he continued.
“You have a calling. You have a responsibility. You have a destiny to go forward and to be the salt and the light that your Savior has commanded you to be,” Land said.
In citing C.S. Lewis, Land stressed the importance of reading, as it is the means by which one’s education continues.
“Studying history—studying the past—can be an exercise in which we cleanse our senses of the stale, indoor air of the present,” Land said. “We can’t know the future, and so the only way we can gain perspective on the present is by increasing our knowledge of the past.”
In an interview with FFV, Land said, “It has been exciting to watch as Union has blossomed into one of the finest Christian liberal arts universities in the country under Dr. Dockery’s inspirational and capable leadership.”
He noted he had personal ties to the university through a daughter who is a graduate as well having had the “opportunity to have known Dr. Dockery as a colleague and friend for many years.”
Tim Ellsworth contributed to this story.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Faith, Ministry, Citizenship, Christian Citizenship