It accords well with Wheaton’s stated reason for existence that the College is best known for dedication to historical evangelical Christianity. Yet not far behind this most basic commitment has always come Wheaton’s dedication to excellence in the liberal arts. At least since the tenure of President J. Oliver Buswell HON that commitment has entailed more than simply well-rounded instruction in the humanities, physical sciences, and social sciences. It has also meant encouragement for faculty in particular disciplines to venture outside their specialties for fruitful collaboration with other faculty. And it has meant efforts at connecting themes in Bible and theology with subjects in all fields and asking what learning in all fields can contribute to understanding Scripture and formulating theology.

As befits an institution specializing in the instruction of undergraduates, the College’s commitment to liberal arts has always been most obvious in the classroom. Yet alongside Wheaton’s deliberate focus on faculty- to-student learning, that commitment has also resonated far beyond Wheaton.

I’m quite sure I did not realize the significance of this added dimension when I arrived at Wheaton as a freshman in the fall of 1964. Yet if I had been paying attention, I might have noticed that anthropology professor Dr. James O. Buswell ’48 had just published a book entitled Slavery, Segregation, and Scripture (Eerdmans, 1964). In it the son of Wheaton’s third president offered timely guidance to a broad evangelical audience about why—on grounds of careful anthropological investigation as well as responsible exegesis—biblical defenses of slavery and segregation were completely wrong-headed.

I may have been aware that a young Dr. Arthur Holmes ’50, M.A. ’52 would be hosting another philosophy conference during that academic year. But only much later did I realize that Arthur’s annual events, with their stimulating mix of believing and secular thinkers, were making a significant contribution to the international renaissance of Christian philosophy that has taken place over the last half-century.

In physics Dr. Howard Claassen HON was keeping on with his award-winning research in the inert gases (renamed “noble gases” in part because of his work). He was also laying the groundwork for the Human Needs and Global Resources (HNGR) program that has connected myriads of Wheaton students with the real-life challenges of development throughout the whole world.

In other words, students in my generation knew we were receiving a quality liberal arts education from the likes of Professors Buswell, Holmes, and Claassen. Few of us, however, fully grasped the multiplied benefits that these scholars also offered at large, even as they faithfully instructed Wheaton students.

And so it has gone. During the nearly three decades I was privileged to serve on the faculty, it was a great encouragement to see colleagues who were doing their best in the classroom, but also bringing much appreciated illumination to interested audiences far and wide. Dr. Dean Arnold ’64, who explained to students why responsible Christian thinking demanded careful sifting of anthropological research, also published books with Cambridge University Press on subjects like the ecology and ceramic production of the Andes. Dr. John Walford HON mesmerized classes with magic from his slide projector and also published the definitive work on the Dutch landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael with Yale University Press. Dr. Beatrice Batson M.A. ’47’s infectious enthusiasm for Shakespeare transformed all of her students into instant Elizabethans, while she also stage-managed numerous conferences and edited almost as many books on Christian topics related to the Bard.

In the very recent past I, along with the whole Wheaton family, have mourned the death of Professor of English and Arthur F. Holmes Professor of Faith and Learning Dr. Roger Lundin ’71. Roger too could transfix a classroom with his singular blend of autobiography, mastery of American literature, theological expertise, and deep engagement with modern critical theory. When he published books drawing on that same potent mixture, he touched other lives profoundly. As Christian Wiman, longtime editor of Poetry magazine and now on the faculty of Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music, wrote in commending one of Roger’s last books, “There are very few critics one thinks of as enlarging one’s life, much less making one more fit to live it. Roger Lundin, for this reader, is just such a writer.” 

Mentioning Roger connects the past with the future, for he was one of the key faculty members who recently reconfigured Wheaton’s general education program under the rubric, Christ at the Core. This effort, which refreshes Wheaton’s commitment to the Christian liberal arts, will be taught by professors who, like those who have gone before, make a difference in the world as well as at Wheaton College.