Chaitanya Jyothi Museum Opening, 2000
RAMANAM
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen
Countrymen,
ORBIS NON SUFFICIT
SOLUS DEUS SUFFICIT
Please accept my warmest thanks for this publication, The State of Union. The form alone is lovely, and your article is gratifying to this old observer.
I was on the Curriculum Review Committee of 1968-69. Bob Handy asked me to write the report of the committee, which was published by the American Association of Theological Schools. It is not boastful to say that my contributions were seminal to the committee and its report. My interest in curriculum continues unabated, even to a redesign of the paradigm from Quadrivium to Quintivium.
Delight and thankfulness I have that the budget is balanced again. For years I did not give because it would be good money after bad, to wastrels.
My father, George Russell Graham, was Rheiny’s first student assistant and President of his Class. He graduated Union in 1943 while my mother graduated Barnard that year … and I entered this breathing world.
Here is an intelligence digest from some antennae:
they are neither theologians nor ministers who do not earn their bread in the work of their hands — Pauline/Benedictine model;
Union’s black lesbian agenda is inviable and unsustainable; in the macro view it is simply ludicrous; ditto Union’s gay agenda; Hindu taxonomy is more detailed than Christian regarding these conditions, which are actual;
Union’s non-christological unitarian agenda is understandable as an attempt to grasp modern conditions; but it reflects a cursory rather than a stable methodology; the non-christological aspect is inviable; the unitarian aspect is viable but unnecessary and therefore undesirable;
Union’s continued support of the client mentality among minority populations will be a significant negative for Union’s credibility and therefore viability; if Union supports minorities’ extortion of public treasure and private peace, Union will be incredible as a religious institution; this may sound hard-hearted or Draconian to you, not to mention very non-PC; our nation have given minorities every opportunity to bring themselves forward as self-reliant, contributing citizens, and instead, significant numbers of them have chosen to remain inert, demanding, resentful, bullying, dangerous, obnoxious and racist to the core; the consensus is that we don’t need to support people who are going to shoot, rape and pillage anyhow; come drive a bus and wear a policeman’s uniform and knock as a plumber and appear as a painter and stand behind a cash register — all activities you might consider demeaning — and then your words about justice and love may resonant with authority, authority born of experience; you recall that Rheiny was on the picket lines and tending the wounds and that this experience with life made Sloan Coffin respect him and see his value to the churches; rarely have I not felt that Union is out of touch and in her cups, responding to ephemera and getting shanghaied by cheats and idlers; and the reason is, the leadership are unable to earn their bread with their hands, as the foundational Christian paradigm insists is necessary; I am heart and soul with you in our commitment to be theologians in a world which ignores or hates God and theology, both; but I nearly despair that Union has a first-class ivory tower complex — with resulting policy impedimenta and moral evisceration — and I just keep saying over the years, “Friends, let’s wake up and face facts;” and no one pays no never mind … but the development office want my money, which is unjust, as I know you are aware;
Union is sterile until recognition is made and terms come to regarding Sathya Sai Baba; it is juvenile to talk about God and ignore (now deliberately) His Presence in the midst; the churches are in the condition of the First Century Sanhedrin because of their refusal of Sathya Sai, Who is far more than Jesus was; He is the One Who sent Jesus, the One Jesus said would come again; this continued snub is a sin of escalating seriousness as time progresses and repeated warnings are sequestered;
Every professor should be on the Internet and the Union library with them, the latter free to the public; the Internet is one of the greatest examples of beating swords into plowshares in the history of the planet; it is direct evidence that the careers of Rheiny and, by extension, of the Union of his inspiration succeeded brilliantly; incidentally, I introduced Union to the need for computers and also to systems theory as a tool for self-examination and policy formulation; my thesis was in the same vein: congruencies of cybernetics (systems) theory and OT Theology; George Landes allowed and read it; it was, as they say, somewhat ahead of its time;
Union’s best interest is to secure my presence on campus for one or two weeks per year as visiting theologian/eremite, to exemplify informally — and formally also, if you desire — with the community; I would accept any agenda you write; these visits should occur yearly for as long as this body can take nourishment; this personality is the seminal Christian theologian of the second half of this century and continuing into the next; Union should make use of the resource, especially since she has the inside track on allotment of time and energy.
So, there is an intelligence digest from some of your antennae. I hope you will accept my warmest well-wishes for yourself personally and professionally. Thank you again for balancing the budget. This means very much to me. One way and another, I will always look after the welfare of Union.
The Rev. David R. Graham, ’69
The Friends Of West Point ’00
Βασιλεία του Θεού
Kingdom of God
Update 1: An A-Z Guide To The New PC.
Update 2: ‘Absolute theological bankruptcy’: Union Theological Seminary students pray to plants
AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA
