Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Spring 2013 | Page 4

letter from the editor c hiseled in stone above the doors to the main building of a premier university are these words: “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” What might this statement mean to the thousands of daily passersby? Is it a call toward worthwhile academic pursuits, an inspirational goal, or just a sentiment to live by? Or would passersby know that these were Jesus’ words, as he spoke promises to those who believed in him and continued in his word (John 8:32)? Chiseled in the cornerstone of Blanchard Hall, Wheaton’s main building, are the words “For Christ and His Kingdom.” Passersby who know something about Wheaton likely recognize this as the expression of the College’s ongoing mission, vision, and identity. Every Wheaton magazine demonstrates this commitment to the integration of faith and learning. In this issue is an article (p. 6) about an on-campus exhibit displaying original letters written by Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), the noted philosopher-theologian and prominent figure of the Great Awakening.1 Edwards had a brilliant mind, entering Yale in 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduating four years later as valedictorian. For a short while before his death, he was president of Princeton University. “Truth, in the general,” he wrote, Georgia I. Douglass ’70, M.A. ’94 Editor “may be defined after the most strict and metaphysical manner: ‘the consistency and agreement of our ideas with the ideas of God.’” 2 Moving from the topic of truth in the 18th century to that in the 21st, read a Chapel address by Wheaton alumnus Todd Komarnicki ’87, an acclaimed novelist, producer, and director of film and television 1 Editor’s note: Find information (pp. 58-59): on Jonathan Edwards’ thought and ministry in the several books written or coedited by Wheaton Remember [God’s] promises. They’ve outlived every generation alumnus Douglas A. Sweeney and they still clap out like thunder with their truth. . . . If we dare to ’87, chair and professor of believe Romans 8:28, “All things lead together for good to those church history and the history of Christian thought, and director of the Jonathan Edwards Center, at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Forthcoming from Oxford that love God”; 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear”; and Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”—then we are free. University Press is another of his books that deals with Edwards’ view of the relationship between Passersby might look at what has been revealed yet not see it—or Editor Georgia I. Douglass ’70, M.A. ’94 Editorial Consultant Katherine Halberstadt Anderson ’90 Director of Marketing Communications Kimberly Medaglia Design Consultants Alice Isoz Chrismer ’70 Ellen Mardock Chrismer + Mardock Communication Class News Editor Donna Antoniuk Editorial Adviser Dr. R. Mark Dillon Wheaton Alumni Association President Christopher A. Jahns ’82 President-Elect Kurt Tillman ’78 Executive Director Cindra Stackhouse Taetzsch ’82 Professor Emeritus Leroy H. Pfund ’49 Alumni Trustee Representatives Christopher A. Jahns ’82 Kurt Tillman ’78 Timothy A. Stoner ’82 Wheaton College President Dr. Philip G. Ryken ’88 Provost Dr. Stanton L. Jones Vice President for Finance Dale A. Kemp Vice President for Student Development Paul O. Chelsen ’91 Vice President for Advancement and Alumni Relations Dr. R. Mark Dillon Executive Assistant to the President Marilee A. Melvin ’72 Wheaton is published autumn, winter, and spring by Wheaton College, reason and revelation: Edwards even reject it. “What is truth?” Pilate asked when Truth incarnate stood the Exegete: Biblical Interpretation before him. Judging and dismissing Jesus, he passed him by, in the 630/752-5779, and mailed free of charge end choosing bondage over freedom. Postmaster: Please send address changes to and Anglo-Protestant Culture on the Edge of the Enlightenment. 2 Whether emblazoned across the façade of a building or etched into Jonathan Edwards, “The Mind,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, our hearts and minds, ultimate truth cannot be known apart from the 501 College Ave., Wheaton, IL 60187-5593, to alumni and friends of Wheaton College. Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 60187-5593. Wheaton magazine is an expression of the College’s commitment to biblical faith and practice as expressed in our Statement of vol. 6, Scientific and Philosophical Lord Jesus Christ, through the work of the Spirit and the Word in Faith and Community Covenant. In fulfilling Writings, ed. Wallace E. Anderson our lives. Trusting in his promises frees us to serve. And serving Christ complete discretion over its form and content. and his kingdom is not for mere passersby. www.wheaton.edu (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980, 341-42). 2    S P R I N G   2 0 1 3 this purpose, the magazine exercises © 2013 Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL