Something to Think About

I've done it. You've done it too. We've all done it: Just don't tell anyone else . . .

Life, Learning, and a Letter

Back in 1983, a group of young men--some still college students and some recent graduates--wanted to pay tribute to a teacher who had profoundly impacted their lives. They knew him then as Mr. Grier, and he was the stuff of academic legend for these students who were discovering what it was to think truly, deeply, and Christianly. Mr. Grier himself had studied at Westminster Philadelphia with Van Til, and now he passed on to these young men what he had learned about how to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ in the discipline of philosophy. But after many years of teaching at Cedarville College, Mr. Grier accepted a position at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and his students were grieved to see him go.

How could these young men thank a professor who had helped them to understand what it was to think biblically in ways they had never understood before? They thanked Mr. Grier in the way any teacher can best be thanked--by offering up a magnum opus of thought that pulled together everything they had learned about their academic specialties and wrote a volume titled Essays on the Christian World View. They dedicated it to "James M. Grier, professor and friend." They wrote about heady subjects like epistemology, apologetics, anthropology, exegesis, economics, history, politics, and science. It was quite an accomplishment for a group of young men who were busy with their own studies, but they did it. And the one who pulled it  altogether--even to securing the necessary funding--was the editor, Jonathan Selden.

While I wasn't an integral part of this effort, I was there. In fact, I resented the project a little because it distracted Jon, who was then my fiance, from paying as much attention to me as I wanted him to. An English major, I proofread. I also helped collate, walking around tables piled high with pages for hours on end. I sat at  the book table during lunchtime and sold books myself. Such a huge undertaking for a young man who hadn't even finished college yet--to edit a book, to author two chapters himself. But it was a good thing he took on projects like this then, because his life ended early, at age thirty-five. Not many of us can say that we've edited a book of essays before we have graduated from college, but Jon needed to because his time was so short.

Fast forward nearly thirty years to last week. It was like Christmas at the seminary where the offices of Reformation Heritage Books are, where I work. The hallway was filled with long tables loaded with books--commentaries, Bibles, books on theology, philosophy, history. Students pored over the tables, looking for treasures to fill their libraries. The reluctant Santa, now Dr. Grier, is moving to a smaller home and has had to downsize. This teacher of so many, for so many years, donated his personal library, the tools of his trade, to the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary Library. The librarian had pulled what she wanted from the collection, and now the rest were for sale.

It occurred to me that it would be nice to have a book from the library of this teacher who had had such a profound effect on my thought, even though I had taken only one class from him. So I spent some time digging through the piles, not exactly sure what I was looking for but positive that I would know it when I found it. The elevator doors opened, and a couple of students came out with the last few boxes and started to load the books onto the table. 

I smiled as I recognized three or four copies of Essays on the Christian World View, with its stark blue cover and black plastic coil binding it all together. I thought how pleased Jon would be to know that his books had been a part of Dr. Grier's library for all these years, and now they were being placed on a table to be sold, perhaps, to students. I picked one up and felt sadness for a brilliant young man whose life ended so early, for other young men who had once been passionate for God but had long ago fallen away. And then I noticed the letter.

I knew right away what it was. Mr. Grier had moved to Grand Rapids before the books had been finished, and Jon had mailed copies to him. I was shaking as I opened it and read a letter that had most likely been typed on my electric typewriter back in June 1983:

Dear Mr. Grier, . . .

The years at Cedarville for me and for most of my friends have come and gone. However, we have endeavored to leave behind a legacy, a witness to the truth that has been taught us. This witness we have embodied in a collection of writings, Essays on the Christian World View.

Because you have been so influential in each of our lives and in our academic careers we have chosen to recognize this fact by dedicating this book to you . . .

On behalf of each of the contributors may I ask you to accept this, the first volume printed, as a token of our thanks and appreciation.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Selden

How amazing that a letter that once rested in my typewriter nearly thirty years ago should find its way back to me--through distance and time, through one man's library to a seminary library to a book table. It is a legacy--a witness to the truth--indeed.