A Charge to Keep: Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the Renewal of Evangelicalism

by Garth M. Rosell

Publisher:

Wipf and Stock

, 2020

Overview

In celebration of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s fiftieth anniversary, its former Academic Dean and longtime historian, Garth M. Rosell, was commissioned to write a history of the school. The merger of two much older institutions, the Conwell School of Theology founded in 1884 in Philadelphia and Gordon Divinity School founded in 1889 in Boston, created an institution that since its own founding in 1969 has become one of the largest theological seminaries in the world. With more than ten thousand graduates and nearly two thousand students studying on four campuses from Hamilton and Boston in the north to Charlotte and Jacksonville in the south, the seminary has become an important center for theological education in the evangelical tradition. A Charge to Keep explores the seminary’s history from its founding by Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, and J. Howard Pew to the installation of its seventh president, Scott Sunquist.

Praise for A Charge to Keep

“Rosell’s work offers a model for how the story of a theological seminary ought to be written. . . . He shows how the seminary has provided a consistently strong evangelical witness since its founding in 1969, but he also acknowledges painful moments of personal and theological tension. In short, in Rosell’s hands, a distinguished seminary receives the distinguished history it deserves.”

—Grant Wacker, Duke Divinity School



“Rosell finds at the heart of Gordon-Conwell a vision of providing rigorous biblical training for Christian thinkers as an antidote to anti-intellectualism in the evangelical church. This deeply researched and insightful history is in part a celebration of that vision and the extraordinarily committed faculty, staff, and community members who made it a reality; and in part a prophetic call for the seminary to continue to serve, at a high level, the intellectual needs of the church.”

—Adrian Chastain Weimer, Providence College



“A Charge to Keep is an accessible, scholarly history that tells the story of Gordon-Conwell from its founding by Billy Graham and Harold Ockenga to the present day. Dr. Rosell thoughtfully chronicles how professors, students, administrators, and trustees alike developed an academically rigorous culture that remained faithful to the confessional tradition. I was inspired to read this engaging account of how powerfully my alma mater helped shape and advance the evangelical movement in America.”

—Chris Chun, Gateway Seminary

Product Details

• Title : A Charge to Keep: Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the Renewal of Evangelicalism
• Author: Rosell, Garth M.
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Publication Date: 2020
• ISBN: 9781725256712

About the Author

Garth M. Rosell is Senior Research Professor of Church History at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, where he previously served as Dean of the Seminary and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Director of the Ockenga Institute, and Chair of the Division of Christian Thought.