Spiritual Fathers in the Christian Church

Bainton took time to pose with our son twice,
and he helped me with my dissertation, offering to xerox pages for me.

Luther taught OJ, according to Jay Webber.
I guess he never read this book either.

My first interest was church history, so I was very happy to see Roland Bainton on campus at Yale so often. If he was talking, we were there.  He was a socialist and a rationalist, but that did not keep him from being kindly, considerate, and easy to approach. When we asked to visit him at Sterling Library, where he had his own office, he posed with our son the second time and showed off his bands for keeping his trousers out of his bike spokes. 

Years before, Bainton posed with baby Marty, after our son broke up the lecture audience at the mention of Martin Luther's son - Martin. LI moved his arm and said "Eep" very distinctly. Bainton loved it as much as the others, who knew the baby was another Martin.

Paul L. Holmer posed with Little Ichabod in his office.

I took continuing education one year at Yale, just so I could hear Paul Holmer again. Mrs. Ichabod threw him a party when he had a one-semester sabbatical. It gave the students and faculty a chance to show him how much we appreciated him. The Left hated him, so some liberals took his class just to argue with him.

Last night I was searching for graphics and found a number of Holmer. I often go to the page for that graphic. I found a summary of his life work and realized even more what a genius he was, how he held that back to let his students thrive. He and Nils Dahl were always in church at Bethesda Lutheran; they even did Swedish services together,  Dall preaching in Swedish - with Holmer on the organ.

Nils Dahl was considered the best Biblical expositor of his time.

 Dahl taught Biblical studies unlike the rest. He stymied the class by asking what we knew for certain about Jesus - in his Christology class. He answered, "The text! Do not teach what we do not know, but what we do know." He studied under the famous New Testament scholars of Europe, such as Mowinkel and Bultmann, but he shunned the theories for the text. He wanted us to study the famous scholars but use the text for research.

Meanwhile, the so-called conservative Lutheran professors want everyone to follow the official dogma, no matter how much that contradicts the Bible.

I met Stan Hauerwas at Augustana College, where he was not renewed,
took his advice for attending Notre Dame, and had him for a dissertation advisor.

Stan Hauerwas and Roland Bainton were my examples in publishing early and often. Stan grew up a bricklayer - helping his father - doing a lot of hard physical work, similar to what I did in my father's bakery. However, I had much better benefits and far less to lift.

Stan was the opposite of my official advisor, who was all talk and all forked-tongue. Stan acted tough but he made things happen, without asking or expecting thanks.

He is now the best known theologian in America. His publishing allowed him to be selected for a well known European lecture series and endless opportunities, such as working with the Kennedy family.

Sterling is the main library,where I found a 270 year-old book labeled,  when Yale wasjust the  Collegiate Institute at Saybrook.

This is the nave of Sterling Library - yes the nave.
Baintain said Sterling was a church where education was worshiped,
pointing to the figure of Knowledge above the desk.