Commitment to Orthodoxy
Words: Dr. Philip Graham Ryken ’88
Photos: Neil Gates
The Trustees of Wheaton College pass an important resolution every year. At our May board meetings, we discuss and vote on a resolution affirming Wheaton’s “Commitment to Orthodoxy.” This resolution affirms that in order “to provide a spiritual and intellectual climate in which students will grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ,” the College has a “continued commitment to the orthodox Christian faith.”
The “Commitment to Orthodoxy” was drafted in the early 1980s to help ensure Wheaton would sustain its biblical, evangelical convictions and thus honor both its founding vision and the countless men and women who have left a kingdom legacy by supporting the College with their time, talent, and treasure.
Each year, the Trustees review the College’s theological commitments—not only in policy, but also in practice—to determine whether Wheaton remains the same theologically faithful community that God first called us to become.
What practices strengthen Wheaton’s commitment to orthodoxy?
Most importantly, every trustee and every employee who joins the Wheaton College community gives a credible testimony of faith in Jesus Christ and affirms the theological and moral commitments codified in Wheaton’s Statement of Faith and Community Covenant.
The word every is important. To teach in our classrooms, mentor our students, balance our accounts, preserve our archives, deliver our mail, clean our buildings, or perform countless other tasks on campus, every employee must bear authentic witness to Jesus Christ in faith and practice.
The process for welcoming faculty members is especially rigorous. In addition to providing their testimony, candidates write an essay about how their Christian convictions inform their classroom teaching and academic scholarship. They have lengthy interviews with the Provost and the Faculty Personnel Committee, with special focus on cardinal doctrines such as Scripture, creation, and atonement, plus mission-critical topics such as human sexuality. All of these steps are reviewed by the President and ratified by the Board of Trustees.
When questions arise from time to time about an employee’s moral or theological commitments, this leads to frank, compassionate conversations about whether he or she continues in good conscience to embrace evangelical orthodoxy.
We believe that these practices—in keeping with the Bible’s exhortation to “examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5, ESV)—help Wheaton fulfill its “Commitment to Orthodoxy.”
