Updated Reflections on R.C. Sproul by Donald Philip Veitch

Who is the Rev. Dr. Robert Charles Sproul (hereafter called “RC” as he would affectionately be known in later years)? Where did he come from? When did he gain influence? Is he worth reading or hearing? What is his significance today? These and other questions, answered more largely in later years, began in 1974. As the story developed, so did a friendship--one that endures to 2010, thirty-six years later and a phone-call away for a dinner or lunch.


I first encountered the Rev. Dr. Robert Charles Sproul, or RC, at the “Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology” (for brevity, hereafter called PCRT) in April, 1974. We had no internet, DVD, IPod or social networking resources in those days. If memory serves me, I do not think VHS and video-resources were widely available. Even audio-cassettes were coming of age more widely. For crying out loud, although we had radios, "audio cassette" players in automobiles in those days was becoming a pleasant luxury. In context, put simply, RC was an "unknown" in the larger world of Presbyterianism. Yet, here was RC, an unknown man in 1974, a veritable beginner dwarfed by the grander context of the PCRT.


By way of larger context, this weekend event--the PCRT--was not a conference for backwoods prophets or tub-thumping revivalists. RC was not that. He never would have been invited had he been such. But who was he and why was he at the PCRT? The PCRT typically had drawn academic notables from the wider conservative, evangelical, Presbyterian and Anglican world: Drs. John Gerstner, James Montgomery Boice, Roger Nicole, James Innes Packer, Eric Alexander and others. These speakers had earned doctorates from world class institutions such as Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, Edinburgh, and Westminster Seminary. I could think of others who should have been invited. But as it was, these were all-stars for this 1974 PCRT.


By way of family lore on my father’s side, the "Princetonian Presbyterians" were dinner table names to me from youth, an "an august and scholarly breed" I was told. Mother listened, but as a cardiology nurse she more often than not spoke about "PQS-waves, arrhythmias, and defibrilators" (and she was constantly studying books and journals on issues of the heart and attending medical conferences). But to the point, Dad had read the Princetonian titans and spoke of a different heart, the spiritual "heart and mind," if I may. Dad's treasure-trove of one-liners, quips, snippets and asides remain. "The Princetonians have a better handle on God, sin, the Cross and the atonement," I was advised. "Yes, they have a better picture of man and reality," was solemnly stated. The Hodges, B.B. Warfield, Henry Green, Robert Dick Wilson, J. Gresham Machen, and John Murray were familiar names to me in 1974, even if I had not digested their writings. "Henry Green forever answered Wellhausen in the 1890's," a phrase that meant a whole lot more to me in later years. Dad also had an high regard for the old Anglicans. "Very scholarly and careful" was the phrase. After all, that was my paternal patrimony. But, what did I know? I was a lad. "Dad, could you pass the potatoes, please?" Even my father asked in 1974, “Who is R.C. Sproul?” Neither my father nor I had answers let alone clues. But, new to this all-star lineup of heavy hitters in 1974, an event I attended, was RC Sproul. Who was he? Was there a fit here at the PCRT? Was there a back story? There always is.


This broader context made the suspended questions about RC even more pointed. The history, the theologians, the architecture and the music at the PCRT afforded theology, sound, color, and line—stark lineaments that dwarfed this 30's-something “new join” on the dais. The conference was held at the historic landmark church, Tenth Presbyterian, 17th and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, a church not far from other historic landmarks in downtown Philadelphia. Additionally, Tenth Presbyterian had been known historically for its illustrious line of Pastor-Scholar-Writers from the Princeton-tradition, a tradition made known to me at the family dinner hour. I grew up on the old names and books. To add further gravity, the “Princeton School” of the 19th and 20th century had itself possessed an esteemed place in the academic literature on American Presbyterianism, both primary and secondary. The Pastors from Tenth, then or now, were not loud yahoos. Neither were the Conference speakers at the PCRT. Dating to 1829 and standing through various traumas in American history—the Civil War, WW1, WW11 and other national traumas including the terminal illness of 19th and 20th century theological liberalism—Tenth Presbyterian stood immutably and intelligently as an established witness to the Triune God, Confessional Presbyterianism and the Westminster Confession of Faith, 1646. Tenth was built along Gothic lines and enshrined a majestically capacious, ivory-coloured pulpit, a mahogany-paneled apse, marble columns for the outer aisles, mahogany pews, yellow-stained glass windows, informative and historic wall inscriptions over decades, along with the mute but perpetual witness of a preserved interior. Whatever else had changed through preceding decades, something permanent was etched into the very character and life of Tenth Presbyterian. Tenth’s congregation had kept faith with its Confessional patrimony and its matrimonial heritage, ever strong, ever protective, ever wise, ever the same, ever Biblical, ever theological and ever Confessional--ever begetting new believers by the Law-Gospel witness and ever nourishing the congregation by Word and Sacrament. The faith of the forbears in 1829 spoke afresh, unchangingly and as intelligently in 1974 as they had in 1829. “If the walls could talk,” I wondered in 1974 as I sat in the pew at Tenth Presbyterian. “If the unchanging theology of Tenth’s Scholar-Pastors and the Princetonian lions could be heard again?” I mused. “Beam me back in time,” I queried. Although I was young at the time, the PCRT speakers were known to me by oral and literary tradition through Dad and were anticipated at this gala event…along with the wider context. One of these theologians--widely known and published--played with this toddling scribe and his doodling toys--crawling around on all fours with me--under a dinner table in the Veitch home, an incident distant in the past compared to this present moment in 1974. This family friend and double-doctored theologian, Dr. Roger Nicole, was also speaking at the 1974 PCRT. Yet, here, in 1974, at this place and in this time, stood RC behind the ivory pulpit, a novice, a "new join" with his oddities. Indubitably, RC was a lesser light in this effulgent galaxy. What was the RC-story? Would he have staying power? “God alone knows” was the only imaginable answer.


While RC was dwarfed by history, Tenth's abiding fidelity to the past, her famous theologians and pastors, her Confessional patrimony, and its architecture, the music added another substantive tension to the unanswered questions about RC. The Conferences conscientiously presented historic Cathedral and parish traditions in music. The first rate pipe organ, paid and doctored organists, paid choristers, and the Westminster Brass intensified the grandeur and majesty as fifteen hundred worshippers heartily sang noble hymns from an hoary past in this historic place of immutable and stable Confessional integrity. Here there were no choruses with “seven words repeated eleven times” (as it is with “7-11” music) with raucous, thumping Praise Bands, but here were grand hymns from the centuries past with substantial musical enhancements and ennobling lyrics, carefully crafted by top shelf writers shaped by the old paths. The hymns themselves were weighty and substantive "sermons." That was another piece in the larger context for this PCRT, the music. But out of nowhere came this “new join,” RC? Who, pray tell, was he? Somehow, he fit and—yet oddly— somehow he did not fit. There were disjunctions; were there continuities?


The glossy brochure for the 1974 PCRT itself answered few questions about RC. The brochure gave wider details about the Conference itself, but included only brief academic backgrounds on the speakers. This brochure helped. But only tidbits emerged about RC. He graduated with a BA (Westminster College), a 90-hour Master of Divinity (Pittsburgh Seminary) and the Drs. in theology (Free University of Amsterdam). Academically, there was a fit for the conference. That assumption and expectation was a given. The brochure mentioned a "Ligonier Study Centre" in some unknown--perhaps forlorn--place in western Pennsylvania. However, unlike the other speakers, there were no publications as I recall. This was obviously a cameo appearance for RC. It was early in his career. Time would tell. The jury was out for quite some time. Glossy PCRT brochures for subsequent conferences were equally unhelpful, although a bevy of audio-resources was emerging and clarifying RC’s place in the national storyline of 2010--once dwarfed, but now a giant, once a theological Ensign but now a Fleet Admiral, but I have fast-forwarded too much.


As the years would pass, I would learn that RC earned his doctorate under the famous Professor of Amsterdam, the Rev. Dr. G. C. Berkhouwer. But again, this emerged in later years. Although young myself, I had read a few of Dr. Berkouwer's books and was familiar with the titles yet-to-be read. The learned Dr. Berkhouwer wrote of complex theological matters almost journalistically and quite readably, without any loss of substance--a signature line that would characterize RC throughout the years. This was a well-known name; Professor Berkhouwer was widely published. He had been invited by the Vatican to attend the Second Vatican Council, 1962-1965, as a “Protestant observer.” The Roman Curia paid the bills for Dr. Berkhouwer’s presence, no minor thing and an high honor for an academic theologian of any stripe. While Professor Berkhouwer was well known in 1974, RC surely was not. In later years, I would learn that RC had sustained examinations from and had earned his doctorate under the Rev. Dr. Berkhouwer. This tiny, but important tidbit, unknown to many of us in 1974, was known to the gate-keepers of the PCRT. This tidbit, his background, gave RC a foot in the door to this august sanctuary and its wider context. RC's background may even have opened the door to his inclusion in future histories of 20th-21st American religion--but historians will sift these new and pending questions. If RC was dwarfed in 1974 by the PCRT context, by 2010, RC would be a man shaping other contexts beyond the PCRT.


That was 1974; today is 2010. Subsequent years intensified newer questions while resolving old ones. In the 1970’s, who was RC? What was he doing? Whence cometh he? By 2010, these were non-issues. By 2010, the questions changed. Dr. Sproul had achieved a significant place in not just American Presbyterian circles, but in larger circles as well. As an Anglican, I am one of those, but I go too quickly. While an official or unofficial biography awaits publication, this scribe presents a few clues to explain this scribe’s abiding interest in the man. By 2010, a national constituency had asked and answered those same lingering questions that I had had in 1974, but again, I go too quickly.


In 1974 and throughout the earlier years, R.C. had the disconcerting if not distinctive air of a “smug, collegiate frat boy” with an ever-faint yet off-putting trace of hubris. Ah, but we all are sinners as justified saints, confessing our "manifold sins and wickednesses which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed" and, by faith alone, simultaneously clinging to Christ's righteousness alone...all of us with intolerable sins covered by Christ's satisfactions for us. Just perhaps--the young RC saw the gravity, grandeur and importance of the context and, in elemental insecurity, summoned a youthful courage which was but a masquerade for the inner reality. Whatever the case, it did not play well from a godly playbook, especially in the presence of His High and Holy Majesty. It was off-putting by contrast with the other established dignitaries in the grander context. RC’s lectures were surely scholarly and understandable, but this trace of a slight smugness remained and, candidly, ill-befitted the context. How did this piety square in a theologian? In this context? On this point, fortunately, RC’s expression of a smug hubris--if it was that--receded in later years. Who ever could abide a backward-tilt of the head with an air of smugness, veiled or otherwise? In anyone, it is insufferable--but that was a doctrine and piety conditioned in this scribe by the old Prayer Book, an Anglican ethos that never made a debut--regrettably--at Tenth or at the PCRT, but I digress.


Fortunately, a more dominant and eclipsing quality was evident in RC, a quality that would prevail and entertain, and one that would strongly mitigate this lingering perception of hubris. Unquestionably, RC had the uncanny appearance and style—identically so—of one of my favorite television characters and shows. The popular TV show, “Colombo,” was a “who dunnit” detective series. The actor was Peter Falk who played Lieutenant Colombo. Colombo was an oft-humorous, Trench-Coat-wearing, ever-rumpled, cigar-smoking, note-taking and ever-inquisitive detective who never missed a beat and who always got his man. Colombo often appeared to be “off task” in his investigations and somewhat disoriented, just "a bit off," when, contrary to appearances, he was constantly “on task” and tracking to target. That was integral to Lieutenant Colombo’s character. At this PCRT, we had a theological Colombo on the loose—both in style, mannerisms, and even physical appearance! RC was frumpy, rumpled, investigative, and was asking Socratic questions with his intuited half-answers that—despite other appearances to the contrary—he was plying and answering with considerable astuteness. Behold, RC was working the questions and "getting us" to the issue. RC might say, "I just don't understand (reader, fill in the blank)..." It was a cue. An answer was coming. RC understood--even the "nonsense" he understood and was about to explain, sensically. One could expect larger, fuller, and satisfying answers to emerge. This was engaging and charming, if not disarming. With quixotic disorientations of furrowed brows with pendant questions, now and then, RC even treated us to Colombo-like head-scratchings as he hounded the theological questions to greater clarity. It was not feigned upon further reflection. The only missing thing from RC’s persona was Colombo’s half-smoked, unlit and vintage cigar. A cigar, lit or unlit, at a PCRT or Tenth Presbyterian clearly would have been out of place--in a public pulpit. Otherwise, RC was straight out of Colombo’s playbook. Even with these things, however, RC still seemed disjointed and misplaced in the larger context of Tenth Presbyterian, the PCRT, its history, its architecture, its line of Princetonian titans, its music, its congregational fidelity through decades and this current roster of Conference all stars. In 1974, RC was untested, new, and young. Was he a rising star with staying power? Or, was he a falling star--a flash in the night, brilliant but for a moment? Time would answer many questions but raise others, e.g. what is RC’s long-term impact? But, I get ahead of myself.


As the PCRT Conferences rolled through the years along with RC’s unabatedly growing popularity, these Conferences expanded to other cities, e.g. Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, Chicago and Atlanta. RC was ever present in the lineup on the dais. During one PCRT session in Philadelphia, Dr. Sproul, doffed his sport coat, rolled up his sleeves and said, "Now...let's get started." A USMC Captain and I exchanged glances and chuckled. Vintage RC. It did not fit, but it did fit; we loved him. This rumpled RC, ever-learned but always clear, became a household name in Presbyterian circles and beyond; he had earned a place in the galaxy, a place at the table. He was “here and there” to stay. His name was not going away. From 1974 to 1990, RC began publishing widely; he had a growing video-ministry; his conference ministry expanded; his name appeared increasingly in Presbyterian, as well as evangelical, magazines; his name appeared at famous schools as a “guest” or “visiting” Professor; he taught with some regularity at Gordon-Conwell and Reformed Seminaries; his Presbyterian constituency expanded to include those from other traditions. Arguably, his video-series on the “Holiness of God,” an exposition of Isaiah 6, would become a staple and classic for thousands of families and churches. All told, by 2010, RC may have written as many as sixty books as well as appearing in volumes of DVD, VHS and audio-cassette resources. RC even developed his own annual conference, The Ligonier Conference, in addition to his continuing appearances at PCRT Conferences. More information is available at http://www.ligonier.org/. An half-way adequate brief may be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._C._Sproul. A partial list is offered, but fails to comprehend the full scope. Retrieved 30 August 2010. While paltry in detail, it affords a working summary. By 2005 or so, he had a nationally syndicated radio program called “Renewing Your Mind.” Several brief video-segments have migrated, willy nilly, to http://www.youtube.com/. One example among many: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zArjHbikAHU&feature=fvst. This rising star of 1974, and an “unknown” for several years thereafter, was firmly in the Presbyterian and wider evangelical orbit by 2010. Beyond these things and more personally, RC had become a friend. Thirty-six years later, I take time to reflect on a memorable man, some issues, a few changes, a few answered as well as newer questions, while paying tribute to a standing friendship of many years...and honoring a beloved mentor.


Upon entry to the military in the early 1980’s, this scribe had fewer opportunities to attend the PCRT conferences. While I had brief conversations with RC at the conferences, fewer direct exchanges were to be had. However, I purchased the audio-resources every year—up to and including 2010. This scribe was able to attend several Ligonier Conferences and purchase the audio series from them. The content was played again and again. The theology was engrained and formative. Notwithstanding numerous military moves and deployments, I purchased all of RC’s books and video-audio-series as they came to market; I spent several thousand dollars doing so; by proxy, RC had become the Presbyterian mentor and companion of an Anglican student since 1974—namely, yours truly. Over the years, a literary friendship developed as snail-mail letters were consistently exchanged. I wrote from deserts, fields and places afar and afloat—the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf to mention a few. My ships’ names had one common theme and name: USS NEVER DOCK, or USS ALWAYS GONE. Despite the movements, RC never missed a port; he always wrote back; I never will forget one letter received while sitting in an 120-degree desert with thousands of Marines around; each letter was source of encouragement with further points for reflection. This pre-existing context from 1974 to the early 1990’s shaped the ensuing years of friendship and respect—RC-wards by this student. By proxy, by letters and by video-audio resources, RC was ever present.


Of note, once instance comes to mind in this friendship of thirty-six years. In 1996, twenty-two years after my first encounter with him, I shared dinner with RC and Vesta, his wife, in the historic town of Amalfi, Italy, a coastal hamlet about seventy miles south of Naples (Naples, the "hell hole" of the Mediterranean and second only to a greater and more iniquitous hell hole, Rome, but I digress with this understatement) and abutting the historic town of Salerno, Italy. It was a “Table Talk” moment for me, a term or phrase, if I may, that Martin Luther used to describe his dinner conversations with students… over food and German beer…occasionally, with Luther quaffing down copius draughts of German beer over serious questions, but I digress. RC and I were not wantonly indulging, but a parallel existed. (The teacher-student identities were clear, then as now. It could be a stretch to call Sproul “a Martin Luther” but it is not that far off. Historians will assay that unanswered question.) In 1996, RC and Vesta were travelling for the summer month of June, 1996; I, as always, was travelling during summer, fall, winter and spring months. We were able to coordinate complex schedules for this single dinner—from afar and by letter; internet was not a possibility at this point and cellular phones were just coming of age. The details worked. Over a good Italian meal and a few bottles of wine, the topics were varied. As the evening passed however, notably and memorably, our “Table Talk” interaction zeroed in on the “state of American evangelicalism.” This had become a subject of widening inquiry in the 1990’s—in the literature, in conferences, and other venues. Given RC’s front seat to the discussions at a national level, given his writings and those of other notable writers, given his close relationships to opinion-influencers, RC was unquestionably a “Go-to-Guy” for any student, a Professor with a developed track record, a Professor to be heard. This subject had also been my own question for several years. Here we were in Amalfi, Italy, with heavy waves crashing ominously against the jagged rocks below where we sat. It was a defining moment for this scribe. Here was my friend and mentor, AKA “Lieutenant Colombo,” scratching his head thoughtfully as we dined over Italian spaghetti and bruschetta, asking questions, giving astute observations on American evangelicalism and its literature, naming names, making strong assertions and—in the meanwhile—asking, “Isn’t this meal delightful? Another glass of wine, Phil?” It was vintage Colombo. It was vintage RC, whether private or public, the past to 1974 or the present until 1996. It was Sproul himself without editors. It was RC "on screen and off screen." This was an appetizer and main course of insights from a Master! As the night closed about 1 A.M. and as we were about to part, RC said, staring at me and with a salute to me (a reference to my profession of arms but also the dominant subject of the evening), “I intend to sail into harm’s way.” I promptly returned the salute and said, “Very well, Sir, I respectfully recommend that we steam full flank speed, maintain course and bearing, and straight into harm’s way.” He directed, “Carry on!” We chuckled, parted and pondered these things later. As I returned to my hotel room, the pounding waves crashed. For RC, that mission objective had not changed. That objective was ever-there, ever-probing and ever-insightful, from the earliest years until this night in Italy, 1996. Safely to presume, that perspective still prevails in 2010 (other evidence is withheld due to the constraint of time).


As RC stated the above with earnestness, the literal waves crashed below us. The hammering sounds and their meanings were not lost to this scribe’s ears or heart. RC had been doing this for years, confronting, answering and staring down thorny, even ugly, and nettlesome issues by pen, national pulpits, graduate level class rooms, and national conferences. As a theological Marine, "fear" and "retreat" were not words in RC's vocabulary. He had been in “harm’s way.” There would be no change in RC’s operational rudder-orders for the future. As in the past with his little known presence in 1974, a theological Ensign, a beginner with pending questions, the older RC had “fleeted up.” By 1996, he was a Fleet Commander--air, surface and subs-- experienced, ready, and able to steam in heavy seas on hard questions.


Thirty-six years later with much water beneath the bridge, RC himself has answered a good many questions. In his early days, this “butter-bar Ensign,” an unknown, a junior with perhaps a future, stood with tested Admirals at the PCRT with all its grand, refulgent and historic context. In those days, he was dwarfed by history and larger names. By 2010, books, articles, conferences, DVD-resources, and radio programs dominate RC’s days. Today, 2010, RC is in his own category. From 1974 to 2010, RC has dramatically shifted from a man dwarfed by context to a man who—himself—is shaping historical context. RC is "what he is," a giant dwarfing others.


RC is a friend, thankfully, but that is a minor matter, albeit an important one personally. Of greater import, RC is arguably one of the great Field Commanders of our time. Amidst changes, one question lingers. Will the Rev. Dr. “RC” Sproul have a place in the history books about 20th -21st century American religion? His inclusion is likely, but newer questions emerge. (This will be for the younger scholars to assess...perhaps in thirty to sixty years.)


As a postscript to the conclusion above, for humor and human interest, RC still retains the charm and eccentricity of Lieutenant Colombo. While many things have changed since 1974, the style persists although it is less pronounced. While older, the RC of 1974 is still the RC of 2010, "tracking to target." Though time and questions haved changed, RC remains a beloved friend, mentor and leader. These conclusions and observations will not change until the death of this scribe. Although separated by 700 miles from RC, the Covenant God of the Veitchs over the generations, "RC" himself, PCRT, and the Confessional contexts live daily with this student--and with my children too. The children grew up on RC.


Thank you, Dr. Sproul, Sir. Apart from His Glorious Majesty, our Sovereign God, Three in One, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, life without you would have been poverty and emptiness. You taught us about the Triune God with all the implications to it--creation, providence, redemption, church life and final things.


A salute is in order. So rendered.


Almighty and everlasting God, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift, we give thee thanks for this faithful servant, teacher, warrior and friend, Dr. Sproul. For his work, books, articles, audio and video resources, we bless thee for thy care in sending RC our way. Set forth, we beseech thee, myriads of teachers like him, veritable Gideonite-warriors. Arise, O LORD, help us, "for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man." (Ps. 12.1). We implore thy blessings on all thy true churches throughout the world in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic doctrine, word, and piety--Confessional Lutherans and Confessional Presbyterians such as Tenth. We ask that thou wouldst redirect Anabaptists, Baptists, TBN-deceivers, revivalists and other enthusiasts back to the truths of the Gospel that that may learn to live in biblical truth, peace, godly concord, and unity with thy Flock, without the arrogant sectarianisms and rootlessnesses. More especially, LORD, deliver us Confessional Anglicans from the Anglican Babylonian Captivity--our invincible sins rise up against us. Thou hast turned thy face from us! Thy judgments are fair, O LORD! They have been long in the making. Have mercy, O God! Have mercy, O Son of God, the Lamb that takest away the sins of the world! Have mercy, O Holy Spirit, we beseech thee. Send down upon our other bishops and other clergy, and upon the congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace. Thou alone fightest for us and there is no other; thou rulest the unruly willls of all. Thou along rulest the raging seas. Grant that our leaders may truly please thee, who by thy doctrine and their living, may show forth thy Word and praise. Pour upon them--men like RC and others--the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honor of our only Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.