JACKSON, Tenn. — Feb. 4, 2005 — Although a statement of faith doesn鈥檛 ensure future adherence to Christian orthodoxy, it still serves as a type of guardrail in theological matters, 51社区 president David S. Dockery said Friday.
鈥淭he statement of faith, while true and trustworthy, is no guarantee that in itself it will prevent the rise of error on this campus,鈥� Dockery said. 鈥淵et, it nevertheless is a safeguard and it is an identity marker of our orthodox and evangelical convictions, and it demonstrates our connectedness with the primary emphases of historic Christianity.鈥�
Dockery spoke to the Union community in a chapel service about the significance of Union鈥檚 newly-adopted confessional statement, developed to solidify the university鈥檚 mission and to strengthen its identity.
Following Dockery鈥檚 address, campus leaders took turns signing a statement pledging their commitment to the confession.
Too many once-Christian universities and institutions 鈥� like Harvard 鈥� have abandoned their heritages and embraced secularism, Dockery said. The Union statement was designed to help prevent the same thing from happening to Union and to tie the university to its Christian roots.
The purpose of Union鈥檚 confession is to 鈥渃ultivate across the campus a holistic orthodoxy,鈥� Dockery said. That orthodoxy includes a high view of Scripture and strong commitments to 鈥渢he Trinitarian and Christological consensus of the early church.鈥�
鈥淥nly in this way will we avoid a kind of fundamentalist reductionism on the one hand or liberal revisionism on the other,鈥� he said. 鈥淪uch revisionism often takes place without notice at an institution over a period of time. Certainly that is what has happened in dozens and hundreds of institutions who at one time held forth a vibrant Christian commitment.鈥�
Dockery cited Harvard University as an example. The school鈥檚 original motto, 鈥淰eritas pro Christo et ecclesia,鈥� means 鈥淭ruth for Christ and his church.鈥� Eventually 鈥渁nd his church鈥� was dropped from the motto, followed by 鈥渇or Christ.鈥�
Now Harvard鈥檚 motto is simply 鈥淰eritas,鈥� or 鈥渢ruth,鈥� and Dockery said some might question Harvard鈥檚 commitment even to that.
Though not 鈥渄istinctively baptistic鈥� in nature, Dockery said the Union statement of faith is consistent with affirmations found in Baptist confessions. It also recognizes common convictions Baptists share with other orthodox Christians 鈥渨ho stand in continuity with the consensus of the early church on matters such as the truthfulness of holy Scripture, the doctrine of God and the person and work of Jesus Christ.鈥�
Dockery described Union鈥檚 statement of faith as a summary of other well known confessions, such as the Baptist Confession of 1678 (often called the Orthodox Confession), the Nicene Creed, the Apostle鈥檚 Creed and the Chalcedon confession. These statements have successfully and succinctly articulated the first order principles of Christianity.
鈥淲e recognize this morning that we drink from wells that we did not dig and eat from gardens that we did not plant,鈥� Dockery said. 鈥淎nd thus today we are accepting our responsibility to receive this tradition and to pass it on to others here at 51社区, and therefore to pass it on to the ends of the earth.鈥� These confessions of faith and others like them are important because men and women are intelligent beings.
鈥淢any significant Christian thinkers have claimed that what cannot be thought through critically and expressed with reasonable clarity cannot demand the allegiance of men and women,鈥� Dockery said. 鈥淯nderstanding, they have maintained, is necessary for full commitment.鈥�
That鈥檚 not to suggest that the entirety of the Christian faith must fit within the confines of reason.
鈥淚t does mean, however, that faith must require neither the closing of the mind nor the sacrifice of the integrity of the mind,鈥� Dockery said.
The Union president acknowledged that the statement of faith isn鈥檛 on the same level as Scripture. It is not infallible, nor is it free from possible revision in the future.
鈥淭he Union statement has been developed at a particular time as the university seeks to clarify what it means to be a Christ-centered institution within the larger secularized academy of higher education, for it is in this context that we carry out our commitment to academic excellence in the Christian tradition, even recognizing that we are swimming upstream in doing so,鈥� Dockery said.