Reverberating Love: Oldenburg’s Enough is Best

Known as “the man the Quad was named for,” Douglas Oldenburg’s effects are still felt far beyond the center of Campus

Introduction by ERSKINE CLARKE, Professor of American Religious History

The week after Doug Oldenburg announced he was leaving his pastorate in Charlotte to become president of Columbia Seminary, an editorial in the Charlotte Observer called his leaving Charlotte “a great loss to the city.” The editor noted that Oldenburg had addressed eloquently many issues, but “his most urgent interest was Christian faith and economic justice.” Later, on the eve of his departure from Charlotte, the Observer said that he had been “a powerful influence for good” in the life of the city and named the many ways he had challenged “his prosperous congregation, community and denomination to use wealth and influence in the way Jesus commanded: to help those who are in need.” He was, the paper said, admirably suited for the work to which he had been called: “the shaping of future generations of Presbyterian ministers.”

Those of us on faculty soon learned that for Doug “the shaping of future generations of Presbyterian ministers” involved a serious quest for excellence that demonstrated his deep internalization of a Calvinist ethic and piety—an excellence that emphasized personal discipline as a characteristic of the Christian life and that honored the life of the mind as a Christian duty. The excellence he sought for Columbia was not a vague abstraction, but a quality of spirit that combined an unusual degree of disciplined work and scholarship with personal integrity and a vision of the high calling of Christian ministry. He was to say repeatedly that any quest for genuine excellence could only flow from gratitude and from a Christian discipleship that had its origins in God’s amazing grace.

Doug demonstrated excellence in the brilliant administrative team he gathered—persons with deep roots in the life of the church who had provided leadership not only in the Presbyterian Church but also in the broader ecumenical church. He brought new faculty, some from other denominational traditions, who were already widely respected scholars or young scholars with great promise and an eagerness to teach students preparing for the ministry. Columbia began to draw students from around the country in rapidly growing numbers. Doug said regularly that “we are not looking for more students, but always looking for better students.” Still the numbers grew as did the number of international church leaders—bishops and deans, theologians and biblical scholars—who came to study and spend time on the Columbia campus. With his pastoral background in Charlotte, he was able to recruit as trustees highly respected ministers and elders who were distinguished civic and business leaders. All of this meant that Presbyterians in the southeast came to know and trust Doug. They thought of Columbia as “our seminary that educates most of our ministers,” and they consequently gave generously to support the work of Columbia as the endowment soared far beyond what earlier generations could have imagined.

While Doug did not hesitate to make hard decisions about the faculty, we respected him because we knew he was a person of great integrity who did not hold grudges. His pastoral experience marked his relationship to us—always kind, generous, and eager for us to be a community of shared Christian commitments and affections in service to the church and through the church to the world.

Main article by BRIAN D. HECKER, Public Services Archivist

Douglas Oldenburg (1935-2020) served as the seventh President of Columbia Theological Seminary from 1987-2000. While serving as president, CTS underwent significant changes, including greater diversity in faculty, campus renovations, and more than a quintupling of the endowment. While President of CTS, he also served as the Moderator of the 210th (1998) General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and was awarded five honorary doctorates.

However remarkable and valuable these accomplishments were, Oldenburg kept praise at bay. He spent years cultivating a vision of success which permitted him to recognize that he was a recipient at a greater level than he was a participant. It was a vision of success that did not require these particular accomplishments - cumulatively considered - in order to be expressed.

Before his appointed as President of CTS, Oldenburg held pastorates at three churches: Covenant Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, VA (1960-1967), Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church in Elkins, WV (1967-1972), and Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C. (1972-1986). Throughout this time, as well as a year spent at Yale Divinity School, Oldenburg deeply explored the relationship of the Christian faith to questions of economic justice. Oldenburg came to hold fundamental interwoven assumptions about the human person stemming from his understanding of God’s love expressed in creation and redemption. These assumptions explored below deeply shaped his views on economic justice and informed his vision of success.

Presidents Emeriti J. Davison Phillips, Steven A. Hayner, and Douglas Oldenburg at Hayner's inauguration

For Oldenburg, all of creation is a beautiful reverberating gift of love. Humans - each an individual instance of this original gift - are equally loved by God and created valuable to the whole of creation. He envisioned humans as a communal family given out of God’s original love for the sake of reflecting that very love through sharing with one another and caring for creation. Oldenburg believed that God’s love is exceptionally and profoundly shown to humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, a measure and incarnation of love that those who call upon the name of Christ are called to show to every other person. Economic inequality and especially gross inequality were primarily expressions of the gifts of God not being equitably shared, often emerging through a series of tendencies and misremembrances, and more often than not, accompanied by devastating consequences.

Oldenburg diagnosed the condition of gross inequality as a byproduct of what he termed the “cultural story.” The cultural story recognizes on some level that creation is beautiful but tends towards forgetting the accompanying primordial call to reflect God by giving and sharing. It tends to operate under the assumption that the creation and accumulation of wealth and other goods is an end unto itself and that all that our possessions have come by our efforts and are ours to keep. This story is fully expressed in radical individualism, meritocracy, and unfettered capitalism. Under this understanding, humans are owners rather than stewards, and value is measured by abundance and the ability to contribute to what the culture deems relevant.

The cultural story is principally spread through saturating the imagination with competing advertisements peddling promises of a better self and a happier life. Such advertisements elicit attention and create desire by instilling and exploiting deficiencies under the guise that only these proffered goods can fulfill. More is always perpetually needed because such goods and promises foster further desire rather than sustained satisfaction.

Oldenburg encouraged audiences to recognize that this story is one that has contributed to the high standard of living found throughout much of Western world. He identified multiple benefits deriving from the drive for innovation and individual wealth accumulation, including medicine, information technology, food production and distribution, plumbing, and education - including seminaries. He also implored audiences to recognize this story is one that has also accompanied and contributed to the spiraling social decline and degraded conditions of untold millions. Many of those who have accumulated much wealth are not happier because of it. Marriages are broken. Countless children (whom Oldenburg had a particular concern for) are impoverished. For Oldenburg, more individuals are casualties, rather than beneficiaries, of radical individualism stemming from the cultural story.

Oldenburg’s repeated response to the tendencies of the cultural story over several decades was, “enough is best.” The seemingly simple motto was an imperative call to patience and an abidance with a vulnerable hope, beckoning listeners to permit an interruption from the insatiable desire for more. “Enough is best” entails being faithful to God’s creation without worshipping it.

Oldenburg also took the motto as an indicative, and perhaps supplies an appropriate summation of what for Oldenburg constitutes the conditions of a just society. Conditions of a just society include equal access to sufficient and long-term sustainable living conditions for all members and freedom from exploitation, hunger, and poverty. “Enough” may not always be precise and exact, but it is not difficult to grasp that the malnourished do not have enough. Equality — born from the inclusive nature of God’s love — should be viewed as normative and more essential than individual taste, preferences, and differences.

Oldenburg believed that the Christian community is called to have special care for the poor, the vulnerable, and afflicted because God has special care for the poor, the vulnerable, and the afflicted. The empty tomb cannot be domesticated and paraded according to the form of progress sought by the cultural story because God in Christ identifies with those whom progress has left behind. Christ is found amongst those in greatest need — amongst the least of these. Those who have plenty are not loved less, but those in greatest need especially feel the absence of the shalom — the peace and joy for which they were created. He warned against the temptation to view success — whether in ministry or society — according to the cultural story of accumulation and radical individualism. Oldenburg understood success along the lines of stewardship, serving those in greatest need according to the gifts God has given.

For Oldenburg, this special care for those in need translates into exploring and advocating for public policies because charitable donations and the resources of the institutional church are limited. Those with actual needs should not have to depend upon the provisional charity of select donors. Access to sustainable necessities of life is an extension of sharing within the communal family of humanity. Economic justice is founded upon love, but for Oldenburg, economic justice is a matter of justice, as it is unjust that those among the communal family are not valued. “Enough is best” entails having an unequal concern for those in greatest need and promoting means to provide for those needs.

Oldenburg insisted that we listen to economists as well as those affected to understand what policies to support. Solutions may always be expressed in tension with the continual need for amendment, but success should primarily be viewed as being faithful to the gifts God has given — creation and others — especially to those in greatest need.

From his years in active ministry to his time as president of CTS and Moderator of the 210th (1998) General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Oldenburg’s focus and decisions consistently testified to his deep care for creation as a divine gift. For anyone who visits and walks across the campus of Columbia Theological Seminary, one of the first and most conspicuous spaces is the Oldenburg Quadrangle. It was one of the many renovations he oversaw while serving as President and it was named in his honor upon retirement. It is a fitting reminder of Oldenburg’s love of creation — a space intended for equal communal sharing and enjoyment.

The C. Benton Kline, Jr. Special Collections and Archives is honored to house the papers and select sermons of Douglas Oldenburg, documenting his many years as a minister, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and President of Columbia Theological Seminary. For access or questions about this collection, please contact the archivist by phone at (404) 687-4628 or by email at archivist@ctsnet.edu.

Remembering Oldenburg

CAROLINE LOVE MYERS

Founding Director of Crisis Assistance Ministry

During the recession of l974, Doug Oldenburg made a pastoral call inviting me—a mother of four and part-time teacher— to join the staff of Charlotte, North Carolina’s Covenant Presbyterian Church staff as Director of Community Mission. He was very persuasive, and I was very intrigued.

In that turbulent time of massive unemployment many desperate people went to churches seeking help, and Doug and I were determined to respond in a meaningful and responsible way.

A trip in early l975 to Winston-Salem’s Crisis Control Ministry helped us to enlarge our vision. Afterwards, Doug set to work through the Clergy Association recruiting a Board of Directors. He also wrote a grant request to PCUSA while I sought trained volunteers. They helped us secure funds from other congregations. All the while, Doug’s preaching and concern about economic justice inspired me and many others to help.

In April l975, Crisis Assistance Ministry began operations out of the Scout Hut at Dilworth Methodist Church. By that summer we moved to St. Martin’s Episcopal Church where the agency lived for 13 years.

It is now housed in a building provided by Mecklenburg County, Crisis Assistance and is a public/private partnership meeting emergency needs of food, shelter, and clothing for thousands of county residents. In FY 2020 alone, over l7,000 families were served. Doug’s support for the agency continued even after leaving Charlotte; he stayed informed and involved through service on the Advisory Board.

Doug’s pastoral visit of 46 years ago not only gave me the opportunity to serve my community for 25 years but also gave the community an amazing organization that for over 45 years has made a profound difference in the lives of thousands.

JOANNA ADAMS ’79

Pastor Emerita Morningside Presbyterian Church and former Columbia Board of Trustees member

One of the great blessings of my life and ministry across the years has been my close association with Columbia Theological Seminary, a meaningful relation that began almost fifty years ago. Across the decades since my graduation, I have been involved with the Seminary in a variety of ways, but by far, the most memorable chapter took place during the thirteen-year presidential tenure of Doug Oldenburg. Besides having the privilege of serving on the search committee that called Doug, I later served on the Board of Trustees and was chair of the Board for several years during his presidency.

What a visionary Doug was in ways great and small. I was the first woman to lead the Board of Trustees, because he believed in me and because he thought it was way past time for a woman to serve in that position. The first tenured African American professor, the Reverend Doctor Marcia Riggs, was called during his tenure. His inclusive vision of the reign of God soaked into every aspect of seminary life.

When Doug spoke, people listened. I was present at the PCUSA General Assembly when he was overwhelmingly elected as our denominations’ Moderator. Presbyterian Commissioners from all over the country were genuinely overwhelmed with joy that a person of such stature and skill would be their next leader. And what a job he did, emphasizing the crucial role of Christian education in the church and advocating for theological education wherever he went. His key commitment was encouraging people, as did our Lord, to love God with both mind and heart.

For all his gifts and prominence, Doug was, most of all, a really swell guy. He had a twinkle in his eye. He got up on the right side of the bed in the morning. He was generous with his friendships, loving in all his personal relationships, especially with Claudia, his beloved and wise partner in all things.

Many times over the years, I heard Doug remind his audiences that “We drink from wells we did not dig and reap from harvests we did not plant.” I thought of that a couple of months ago when I was near Decatur and decided to drive over to the Columbia campus, which I had not visited in some time.

No one was there. Not a single car in the parking lot. COVID shutdown, of course. It was a beautiful, crisp autumn afternoon. I sat on a bench by the Oldenburg Quadrangle and gave thanks to God for Doug’s brave vision for the extraordinary and successful expansion of the campus. He loved asking people for financial gifts to the Seminary, because he wanted to give them the blessedness of giving, the happiest of human states. Columbia still drinks from the wells he dug and will for a long time to come.

A swell fellow indeed.

ROBERT M. ALEXANDER ’00

Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Mission Davidson College Presbyterian Church

I first met Doug Oldenburg, then President Oldenburg, as I entered Columbia Seminary in the summer of 1998. As he spoke to our incoming class, he reminded us that we were not alone, he challenged us to persevere through the hardships, and he assured us that God had a purpose for us in the church and in the world. He offered The President’s office as a place for discernment and counsel.

Even in retirement he connected alumni with prospective students, inspiring men and women to open their hearts to God’s call upon their lives and challenging us all to be open to the fresh and exciting ways that the Holy Spirit was at work in the church and in the world.

When I accepted a call to Davidson College Presbyterian Church years later I was excited to discover that I would be in the same community as Dr. and Mrs. Oldenburg. By then they were simply Doug and Claudia and they welcomed me into their home with grace and hospitality, not only as one of their pastors but as a friend and colleague.

During those visits Doug continued to challenge and encourage me in my sermon writing, my pastoral leadership, my service to the community and my care of neighbor. He continued to share his vision for a church where the gospel was proclaimed with integrity, passion and sincerity of heart, where all were welcomed and loved, and where people were challenged to take seriously the life of faith and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. Doug continued to pastor and mentor me even as I tried to be a pastor to him.

I hope to continue to carry his encouragement, his wisdom, and his passion for the gospel and the church with me throughout ministry.

To God be the Glory.