stained glass windows of CR leaders

[William Thornton]

[Sandy]

It looks like a donor is a bit on the eccentric side.

[Dave Roberts]

Are they adding a room to the chapel for Paige's taxidermy collection?

[Ed Pettibone]

"Dorothy and Paige Patterson will be portrayed together in a window set to be made next year, Young said."

Ed: That will take a good sized window.

[Lou]

Oooh, Ed, that was harsh.

And funny.

[David Flick]

[Mrs Haruo]

In mah humble opinion, this winda project will take some mahhty big windas, and some mighty big wind. Or was it a lot of wind that got them folks up there in the first place. Bless their hearts. I think I'd better hush mah mouth now before I get into any mo' trouble.

[Tim Bonney]

Unbelievable!

[Dave Roberts]

[David Flick]

[Tim Bonney]

Well it amazes me that they don't know how bad it looks.

I understand that a priest in Pope Francis' home town tried to put up a huge statue of the Pope. It is my understanding that he personally called the priest and ordered him to take it down. He was concerned that he would receive undue adulation from such a thing.

[Sandy]

First of all, it's a silly idea, and I can't believe that the seminary's development team isn't trying to move the donors to another project that will be of more direct benefit to the students and their theological education. Statues and stained glass are aesthetic touches, and they're pretty, but if a donor funded a scholarship or a professorship, it would be more beneficial to the students and have a greater impact in the long run.

That being said, it would not take me long, if I wanted to look, for similar examples of such silliness among educational institutions operated by Christian groups and denominations of all theological varieties and stripes. Everyone has their prominente and their mutual admiration societies that hand out plaques and awards, and pats on the back, to people who have not really done all that much except open their checkbook or be a good friend to someone who has a big checkbook, or ascend to leadership with the right mixture of supporters, detractors, moxie and vanity.

"Honorary" doctorates come to mind. When I think back on the individuals who were awarded one, in front of a chapel service at my Southern Baptist alma mater, it was the same sort of thing as this. Someone who, in the opinion of those who had the power to grant them, was a great influence peddler in the right way, or who wrote a gigantic check to the school. During my sophomore year, W.A. Criswell came to speak at the 50th anniversary of the state convention, which was also the retirement party for the executive director who was one of his protégés. He spoke in chapel the next day, and the school gave him an honorary doctorate, I guess so he would remember po' lil' us out in Arizona. That made the moderates on the trustee board and in the administration mad, so they invited Ken Chafin to come and speak in chapel and gave him an honorary doctorate as well. This stained glass window thing is more of that kind of stuff. Everyone does it and should be ashamed of it.

[Tim Bonney]

Sandy, while I agree with you that everyone does it to some extent, things like stained glass windows and paintings are usually done after your death, or after your retirement at the earliest. They also aren't sponsored or encouraged by the people who will be honored. It sounds to me like Mrs. Patterson at least is right in the middle of this on behalf of Paige and it looks really really bad. Maybe everyone does it to some extent but this is approaching jumping the shark.

[Sandy]

I think the church has to be very careful when it does anything to honor or memorialize individuals, regardless of what it is for. Being a servant is an expectation and an obligation, and doing stuff like this takes the focus off Jesus and puts it on something else, literally as well as figuratively. What constitutes the kind of service that the church is supposed to consider above and beyond the call of duty, that someone would be memorialized for it? I can't think of anything.

Usually, something like this is done as a memorial, after the person has died, but certainly not all of it is, and the SBC leadership and what's happening at the chapel at Southwestern is not the only example of such in the religious world. I think there are plenty of examples that could be cited in comparison.

[Tim Bonney]

I agree with you Sandy. Now I know there are paintings of former Presidents at seminaries I've attended. But there is something about stained glass windows of still living people that is just too much.

[Mrs Haruo]

Are they so totally so out of touch with the rank and file ordinary Joes and Josephines of this world that they have no clue of how self-serving this is? All the more ammunition for those who think Christians are a bunch of superstitious sheep who hang their brains at the church door.

[Bruce Gourley]

Paneful to think about, those windows are.

[Tim Bonney]

[Dave Roberts]

In various blogs and FB postings from the CR, I have not encountered a defense of this move. Interesting.....

[Sandy]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Tim Bonney]

Sandy hasn't responded. But I'm guessing he is thinking of statues or stain glass of founders of denominations. I'm pretty sure I've seen Roger Williams immortalized in stained glass as I have John Wesley.

The big difference is that this was done after their death and not as something they promoted themselves. If a church wants a painting or stained glass of a dearly departed pastor I can see that. But if I were to have a stained glass piece commissioned of myself or even allow my church to do so I'd be deserving of ridicule.

[Sandy]

It doesn't just have to be a statue, or stained glass. Religious institutions and organizations have all kinds of ways for extending honor to their preferred insiders and "prominent" personages. Honorary doctorates was an example I already used in this thread. There are the back-patting kind of awards given out, including some awards named after individuals, on occasion, some of whom are still living. Buildings get named after individuals, sometimes still living, though those are usually reserved for big contributors.

Google it and see how many religious institutions and organizations other than the SBC have done something similar. You won't have to look very far.

[Haruo]

But honorary doctorates are expected to be used this way. You wouldn't give an honorary doctorate (even posthumously) to Jesus or St. Paul.

[Neil Heath]

Honorary doctorates are a whole lot cheaper than stained glass windows, too!