Finally, My Sisters and Brothers . . .
Last words are never easy. The apostle Paul always closed each of his thirteen letters with a personal word.
I have done it before—at churches where I was pastor and at schools where I was teacher. And now here, on the printed page (with Fisher’s prodding) I will try again. This time, however, I feel a bit like Mark Twain, when he read his own obituary—except I do have the last word!
I vividly remember the call from Foy Valentine, just over a decade ago. I had just finished my second sabbatical at New Orleans Seminary, expecting to teach Christian ethics there for many years. However, the new president had another plan.[1]
Like Elijah, I was sitting under my juniper tree bemoaning my fate when the phone rang. I was familiar with CET, having provided a few articles for Foy. Also in recent years I had written other articles, a few books, and assisted editing our seminary journal. A meeting with the CET Board convinced me that this unexpected detour was indeed the plan and purpose of God.
Foy began the Journal in 1995, with a few hundred friends as subscribers, a few hundred dollars of seed money, and the strong conviction that now, more than ever, Baptists needed a prophetic voice for Christian ethics that could “recover the prophethood of all believers, matching our zeal for the priesthood of all believers.”
His original plan envisioned a Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor, directed by a person who would teach Christian ethics at Truett, edit this new journal, and conduct conferences. Unfortunately, this ideal plan was thwarted.[2] Being a pragmatist, Foy accepted this limitation in order to establish the Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor.[3]
Immediately Foy established a new entity—the Christian Ethics Today Foundation—for the purpose of continuing the Journal Foy had already begun in 1995. For four years, almost single-handedly, with no computers—not even typing skills—Foy wielded his classic blue-green-ink fountain pen at his desk at his home, enlisting, writing, editing, and assembling six issues of CET annually (he did find assistance from Marilyn at the Texas CLC, as well as three local friends to do layout, printing, publishing, and mailing). In a few years his mailing list grew from a few hundred to almost two-thousand!
From Day One, as is stated on the back page of every issue, the purpose of the Journal has been to “inform, inspire, and unify a lively company of individuals and organizations interested in working for personal morality and public righteousness.” And (Foy added with deep conviction), the journal will be “sent without charge to anyone requesting it, as money and energy permit.”
For the past decade the journal has been my pulpit and the readers my congregation. What a lively group we have! Letters, phone calls, and meeting subscribers in person at conventions, conferences, and church gatherings has enriched my life.
During these years we have been able to add a few items: EthixBytes, Movie Reviews, Letters to Authors and Responses, and occasional Poetry. Also we have sponsored conferences at Truett Seminary (twice), McAfee/Mercer, Baptist University of the Americas, and Gambrell St. BC (across from Southwestern Seminary), as well as a “Minister and Politics” conference in D.C.
Promoting CET at annual CBF meetings, the Texas Baptist Convention, and numerous colleges: Judson, Samford, Ouachita Baptist, Oklahoma Baptist, Mary-Hardin Baylor, Wayland, East Texas Baptist, Baylor/Truett, as well as at numerous churches was among the most enjoyable of my tasks.
I think now of the scene near the end of the novel Lonesome Dove—as Gus is dying, he looks up to his lifetime friend and says, “It’s been quite a ride, Woodrow.” Yes it has!
And now Pat Anderson begins his tenure as editor. Patrick has been on the Board of Directors from the beginning. He believes that CET is an important force for God and for godliness, and he will be a good steward of the journal and its values.
Foy Valentine had a heart that beat incessantly for the cause of Christian ethics and a soul that dreamed of ways that vision could be realized. His heart may be still; but his dream lives on.
—J.E.T.
[1] For the full story read the Introduction (and especially p. xviii) in Audra and Joe Trull, Putting Women In Their Place (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2003).
[2] Difficulties included the desire of the Baylor president to have a small, European-type seminary in which Christian ethics was taught as part of theology, and the concern of some trustees that CET was too radical.
[3] Ironically, the Baylor President first offered the position to a Roman Catholic ethicist , then to a Lutheran ethicist, but fortunately a Baptist with a PhD from the Univ. of Texas accepted the position and is now ably directing the Center, producing a journal, and teaching philosophy.
