Tuesday, February 27, 2007
- NTS Connection
Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Henry Spaulding,
NTS Professor of Philosophical Theology and Christian Ethics
In this issues’ Faculty Spotlight, we are pleased to introduce you to Dr. Henry Spaulding who will join the NTS Faculty in the fall 2007 as Professor of Philosophical Theology and Christian Ethics, also assuming the role of Director of the Master of Divinity Degree Program. Since 1995, Spaulding has taught at Trevecca Nazarene University (TNU), serving as Professor of Theology and Philosophy, Dean of Arts and Sciences and also as Director of Graduate Program in Religion.
We recently had opportunity to chat with Dr. Spaulding and to ask him about how NTS has impacted his ministry and teaching career—we also asked him for a little more information about his family.
What memories do you have of your time as a student here at NTS?
One of my most powerful NTS memories: At the convocation for new students (fall 1974), Dean Willard Taylor cautioned us to not assume that NTS would be a place where all our answers would be found (in fact, he admitted that he had three or four questions he was still working on)! This comment freed me to make my years at NTS a time of honest theological reflection. Another memory was a course on Kierkegaard with Dr Oscar Reed. This course changed almost everything for me by awakening me to the risk of faith and the passion of the religious.
Tell us about your call to ministry. . .to teaching.
I was called to ministry while in high school, when I was on my way to be anything other than a pastor! I remember receiving my first local preacher’s license from the first (and maybe only) pastor of my home church who was a graduate of NTS. My call to teaching came later as I began to realize a deep love for theological and philosophical reflection. One day while at NTS, Dr. Kenneth Grider suggested to me that I should consider pursuing a Ph.D. I remember leaving his office that day excited that teaching, whether as a pastor or a professor, was exactly what I needed to be doing. I feel certain that were it not for the encouragement of Dr Grider, I would not be a professor today.
What do you like most about teaching?
The most important part of teaching is the opportunity to be a part of the formation of the next generation of pastors and teachers in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. The chance to engage students in an ongoing conversation around the Christian faith is very gratifying. Another important part of teaching is the opportunity to work alongside colleagues who are passionate about the depths and riches of the Christian tradition. I also appreciate the time teaching allows to look deeply into sources of theological wisdom.
How important do you think continuing education is to those called into ministry (that is, having a sense of being a life-long learner)?
One of the most important things about my theological education was the sense that I am a part of something bigger than the little church where I first heard the gospel. An NTS professor once remarked that though we may not ever have the opportunity to study with some of the major theologians and philosophers of the present or past, we can all have long and grand conversations with them if we will commit to reading. Surely a life that has been enriched by the many resources of the Christian faith is in a good position to engage the world redemptively.
I have learned a great deal since I graduated from NTS. It would be a pitiful thing to get a degree and just stop reading, writing, and thinking. A major theologian that I read often talks about theological integrity. He defines this as allowing for conversation – admitting that the object toward which we reach is too big for us to ever really finish describing. I think theological integrity requires life-long learning.
What do you see as the importance of the partnership between NTS and the Church? And/or What is the role/relevance of NTS in the life and journey of the Church?
NTS exists for the Church. In fact, it is through the support of the Church of the Nazarene that an intentional conversation between where the Church has been and where it is going is maintained. I think it is important for NTS to listen to the Church and it is important for the Church to listen to NTS. I know that I am different and better because I attended NTS. I believe that the Church can trust NTS with its young and with its theological riches. NTS needs to always remember that it is training men and women for ministry in the Church. All the theology, philosophy, Bible, counseling, administration, preaching, missions, and so on must come to rest by focusing the eyes of the institution and its graduates on ministry.
Tell us about your family. . .your hobbies. . .
I have been married to my wife Sharon for 34 years. She is a second grade school teacher and she has supported me and our family every step of the way. Our oldest daughter, Shelly, was born in Kansas just as I graduated from NTS. Today, she is married to Matt O’Connor, lives in Gallatin, TN, and is a social worker. Our daughter Megan will graduate this spring with a major in elementary education from TNU. Our son, Hank, is a freshman at TNU majoring in religion and music. Our family is full of laughter and fun. We enjoy being together.
Sharon and I sometime joke that our hobbies for 34 years have been Shelly, Megan, and Hank. We have been on the sidelines of many a soccer or baseball game on many a Saturday! Now that our children are older there is more time for reading and travel, but our hobbies have always been and remain our children.
Welcome (back!) to NTS Dr. Spaulding!
Just the facts on Dr. Spaulding . . .
• He received his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Florida State University.
• He is a 1974 graduate of TNU and a 1977 graduate of NTS.
• He has written a book, several articles for Holiness Today, Come Ye Apart, and Illustrated Bible Life, and was a contributor to the Wesley Study Bible.
• He is active with the Wesleyan Theological Society for which he has published several scholarly articles and book reviews.