We`ve Got Mail
Letters From Our Readers
Letters to Foy Valentine in Response to His Retirement as Editor:
"I read your Doxology with understanding, but a bit of sadness too. You have been such a blessing to so many others and me over the years. I thank God for you and the hard work you have put into making Christian Ethics Today such a quality piece." Ed Carter, Waco, TX
"Thank you for your work; this publication has been a real joy for me as I try to get back in touch with Baptist life . . . You have been a light in what has often been crazy darkness!" Philip Allen, Ashville, NC
"What a tremendous service and ministry. Well done, good and faithful servant, . . . I have been blessed." Byron Welch, Houston, TX
"I am hoping and praying that this is not a prelude to the ceasing of publication of the journal. . . .You may have no idea how refreshing it is to receive and read C.E.T. It is truly like being lost and dying of thirst in a desert and suddenly finding an oasis." Issac McDonald, Elizabethton, KY
"Enclosed is a contribution for the continued publication of the journal. I have read each issue from cover to cover usually within the first 2 days. I have gone back and read many of the articles over and over, sometimes to help in preparing a S.S. lesson and sometimes just to chew and meditate." Ralph H. Ramsey, III, Lubbock, Texas
"Among your many substantive achievements, with the Lord`s help, advancing the Kingdom Cause, I consider Christian Ethics Today your grand opus. I salute you, congratulate you, and thank you." David M. Smith, Houston, TX
"I appreciate so very much such timely articles and the fact that I didn`t have to sift through a lot of `junk.`" Freddie Tatum, Brownfield, TX
"Thank you for providing us with issues of well-documented, informative, inspirational, and explanatory contents from diverse scholars with their diverse styles that leave readers convinced that each issue is the best." Helen Case, Austin, TX
Letters to the Present Editor:
"I`m delighted that Dr. Valentine will continue his valuable contributions to your journal. He has been a hero of mine since his prophetic ministry at the SBC Christian Life Commission. I appreciate your reprinting of his address at the 1987 Maston banquet. I was there that night and still consider that speech one of the most direct hits at the Christian conscience that I have ever heard." Bill Jones, Plano TX
"Thank you for continuing the outstanding stewardship of Foy Valentine. I`ve been profoundly influenced by . . . Baptists and have enormous respect for the Baptist heritage of religious liberty." Charlotte Coffelt, President, Greater Houston Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State
"Thank you for the recent edition. . . I am reading, slowly and deliberately, through the articles . . . was impressed by your introduction and moved viscerally by Foy Valentine`s "Crying in the Wilderness." Scott Shaver, Nachitoches, LA
"I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that you are now the editor of this fine publication. . . . My feelings are that Foy Valentine and the Board of Directors are very fortunate to have a man of your considerable experience and ability editing their journal." Gene Garrison, Cary NC
"Thanks for the textual stimulation! Especially the Commencement Address by Moyers and A More Excellent Way by Brenda McNeil-both were more than just thought provoking. . . . each of the authors helps me to focus on some of the elements of blindness and petty bickering that afflict us who invoke the lofty title of Christian." Wm. H. Ray, M.D.
"You are doing the Lord`s work and I value every edition of the paper. . . . Dr. Maston would be proud of you." Bill Moyers, New York, N.Y.
"I though you might like to see a copy of the circular letter that I sent out after preaching the sermon that you so kindly printed in C.E.T. ["By Grace Alone Through Faith Alone," August, 2000]. I thought you might find it amusing:"
A CIRCULAR LETTER—JANUARY, 1997:
`I am enclosing a sermon that got me canned! After I had made two presentations on the Ephesians, the pastor came to my motel room to say that it would be best if I not continue. Even though most of the congregation had responded favorably to my lectures, a few folks were outraged when they smoked me out as a non-inerrantist concerning Biblical authority. The Scriptures are trustworthy and true because of their infallible Word, I insisted, not because of their fallible words. . . . As always, I learned more lessons from defeat than victory. I discovered how little I am able to deal with fundamentalists, after having spent my career engaging liberals. Though theologically I am closer to the zealots on the right than to the corpses on the left-and though there is more hope of cooling down the former than warming up the latter!-the fundies have little willingness to learn from me. I also discovered that there is virtue in the academic tenure system, even if it also protects slackers and idiots. They could fire me for two days but not for life. And while I still refuse to call myself a moderate (i.e., a self-confessed Laodicean), I now can more deeply sympathize with Baptist liberals whose jobs have been destroyed by fundamentalists. Hence this question to sundry readers: Is there any way that orthodox but non-literalist Christians can work with fellow believers who have encased God in the iron box of biblicism?` Ralph Wood, Baylor University Professor
