GTS and ETS: An Arranged Marriage

Sometimes it can feel like a tongue twister telling people the full name of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. We often get asked questions like:

• Why is the name so long? 
• Why don't you just say Garrett, instead of Garrett-Evangelical? 
• What do you mean by "Evangelical?"

The short answer to the questions above is that Garrett-Evangelical came into being when Garrett Theological Seminary (GTS)  and Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) joined together to form Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. The "Evangelical" in our name reflects the merger with ETS.

However, this doesn't do justice to the story of how these two institutions, GTS and ETS, came together in what some have called an "arranged marriage." Below you will find the the 2004 Convocation address by Rev. Thomas E. Babler (ETS, '73) in which he describes the process of this "arranged marriage" from the eyes of one who was there when the talks began and the recommendation approved.

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Evangelical Theological Seminary

I entered Evangelical Theological Seminary in Naperville in 1969. I graduated in 1973—the Centennial Year. As a student, I became involved on the Task Force that worked on the plan of union for the two seminaries. When Garrett-Evangelical was constituted in 1974, I was surprised to be elected as a member of the Board of Trustees on which I have served these past thirty years. I came to seminary as a young student, and I never left. My pastoral ministry has been shaped and reshaped all these years through my close association with this school. I am blessed. A story is told of travelers who lost their way while driving the back roads of Ireland. They were relieved to see someone walking along the remote highway who pulled up alongside and asked, “Can you tell us how to get to Dublin?” The old Irishman looked at the travelers, then looked toward the horizon, and after thinking about it for awhile, he said, “Well, if I were goin’ to Dublin, I wouldn’t start from here.” Today I want to say, I’m glad I started from here. To you students I would say, if you are looking for a ministry that is woven out of evangelical commitment, creative and critical reason, and prophetic participation in society, this is the place to start. You can get there from here. It is good for us all to remember how we got here. The Sesquicentennial Celebration has been an occasion for us to tell the stories of how this seminary has come to be, and what it is called to be. Today we are focusing on the last thirty of our one hundred fifty year history. I would suggest that Garrett-Evangelical came into being as a result of an arranged marriage. It was the idea of the parents. It was encouraged by the extended families on both sides. When the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist denominations joined in 1968 to form The UMC, a commission was authorized to “study the ministry.” That commission brought a recommendation to the General Conference in 1972 which called for a reduction in the number of United Methodist seminaries from 14 to 11 with the expectation that there would be only one seminary in the Chicago area. 

This recommendation was adopted by the Conference in April, 1972. There it was. An arranged marriage for ETS and GTS. These two institutions, for years, had been neighbors, friendly acquaintances. Now they were to be one. I have learned with the help of Dick Tholin’s research, that when the recommendation was adopted in 1972, conversation had already begun between GTS and ETS regarding union. Still I would maintain the idea of arranged marriage. The partners may have initiated a brief courtship, but it was begun because they knew what the parents had in mind. Our two seminary communities were faithful to the larger church. The union was consummated at the Orrington Hotel, here in Evanston, in January of 1974. The first classes offered by the united faculty began here thirty years ago this month. Will Willimon, of Duke Divinity School, now Bishop Willimon, wrote an article in “The Christian Century” some time ago commending the idea of arranged marriages. He wrote: “We are conditioned to think that only what we decide for ourselves is right for us. . .I think we should be more open about the arranged, unchosen aspects of our marriage because it enables us to think clearly about the peculiar ethical demands placed upon us. . .(“The Christian Century,” Oct. 17, 1990, p. 925).” Bishop Willimon contends, in his article entitled, “The People We’re Stuck With,” that love is the result of marriage rather than its cause. Applied to our history, can we say that one result of this arranged marriage was a discovery of identity and mission that might not have been realized by either of the institutions on their own. This discovery began in the process of selecting a name for the new united seminary. The question was raised, “What will it be called?” The list of possible names grew. One of the names I remember on that list was, Covenant Theological Seminary. We could have been another CTS. That name would have spoken of our sacred bond with God and with each other, but it did not represent our heritage. Nor did it represent the new United Methodist identity of 1968. After considering various possibilities, it was decided finally that we needed to keep our names. The name of the new seminary would be hyphenated—something some newly married couples were doing in the early ‘70s. There was a distinct heritage and identity carried in those old beloved names. It could not be just “Evangelical.” It could not be just “Garrett.” It was to be Garrett “hyphen” Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Merger of GTS and ETS Banner

The naming is wonderfully portrayed on a banner that was created for the uniting celebration. The initials, GTS and ETS, are drawn close then linked together by a hyphen that is finally transfigured into a cross. The uniting and naming of Garrett-Evangelical was something to celebrate, but that celebration took place in a stormy context. Those were the years of the Vietnam War. Difficult days for the Church and painful days for our country. The process of union ran against the mood of the times. We were talking about joining together when so much around us was coming apart. We were seeking to build a new institution in an environment of anti-institutionalism. It was no honeymoon. The purpose and vision of the new seminary were tried and tested right from the beginning. I will always remember something that happened at ETS during my Middler Year. That was before the union, but it was an experience of the forces of evangelical commitment and prophetic participation in society that would shape the new school. One of those moments that has shaped my ministry. I believe that it was in the fall of 1970 (the fall after the Kent State massacre). A moratorium was called at Evangelical Seminary. Classes were cancelled for one week. This was not the result of a student rebellion. Instead, I would say it was an act of faithfulness on the part of our Community Council, a story in itself. That council included the faculty along with representatives of staff, students, and spouses. It was authorized by the Board of Trustees to direct the day-to-day life of the seminary community. The council debated and finally approved the moratorium. It should be noted the split vote was not a tally of students versus faculty, but it was the difficult decision of a covenant community in which members stood on different sides of a crucial issue. The moratorium was a drastic measure taken in a desperate time. (Do you remember the casualty reports every Thursday evening on the six o-clock news?) It was an effort of the seminary community to address the national crisis of the war. We were not of one mind about Vietnam. Our community reflected the agonies of division felt all through the land. The labels of “hawk” and “dove” so often defined and strained our encounters. It seemed there was no middle ground. But somehow together, as a community devoted to shaping ministry, we needed to make a witness in the face of the war. There was intentionality about the moratorium. It was not to be a vacation, a time to go home to sleep. Each member of the community was to find a way to respond that was faithful to the Gospel and to his or her convictions. For some, it would mean participating in an anti-war demonstration. For others it meant letter writing, or an intensive time of prayer, or work for the cause of some justice ministry. 

The moratorium began with a service of worship in the seminary chapel. Dr. Wayne Clymer, the seminary President, who soon would be elected to the episcopacy, led the worship. I do not remember the sermon that morning, but I do remember the Sacrament. Holy Communion was not celebrated often in chapel, but it was that day. After President Clymer consecrated the elements, he broke the bread, then he walked out from the Table into the sanctuary. He brought the broken bread to us. One at a time he served us with the words, “Take and eat. And now go, do that which God has given you to do.” The chapel was silent. In the quietness, we heard again and again those words of grace and commission. Grounded in the Holy Sacrament, somehow the moratorium was a matter of faith. Grounded in the Sacrament, somehow our actions were the work of the Body of Christ. Painfully aware of our differences, somehow we were held together by that broken bread. I wonder how much I understood of what was happening in that service. Praise God that the Sacrament works without our understanding. “Ex opera operatum,” says the Church. Here we are thirty years later. Still, these are trying times for the Church and terror-filled days for our world. Still, we are at war. Still, in this seminary community we reflect the diversity and differences, even the divisions, of our culture. Yet, here the Holy Spirit is at work shaping ministry and preparing spiritual leaders. Amidst the issues of this day, may we be nourished as the Body of Christ to do what God has given us to do in Christ’s transforming ministry. May we continue to witness, and to learn what it means to be held together by broken bread. We are called to be bold leaders in a new world. You can get there from here. Praise God for what God has done, and is doing through Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Amen!