The Grand Rapids Press on Saturday, December 26, 1981, printed an article under the headline, “Adam and Eve’ Issue Leads to Seminary Dialogue.” The article reported on a meeting held at Calvin Seminary the previous Tuesday in which professors at the seminary discussed with students certain controversial questions relative to Scriptural interpretation.

It is to be granted at once that the article in the Press contained some inaccuracies. For example, the article stated that Allen Verhey had applied for ministerial candidacy, but was rejected because of his controversial viewpoints. This of course is not the case, and the Press printed a correction several days later. However the fact that a meeting was held at Calvin Seminary for this purpose is of course the case.

It would be worthwhile to consider the background of this meeting which was the basis for the Press article. The student newspaper of the seminary called Kerux has been running a weekly “Instapoll” in which certain questions are asked inviting the opinion of the students. These questions deal with practical aspects of life in the seminary, and are generally quite harmless. In this issue dated December 11, 1981, a questionnaire appeared which apparently departed from the usual harmless nature of the “Instapoll.” The students were asked the following three questions:

“1. On a scale from 1 to 5, how important do you consider questions relating to the historicity of Adam and Eve to be?

“2. Do you believe that Adam and Eve were real persons (as you and I are real persons)? Yes __ No __ Undecided __ .

“3. Are you satisfied with the opinions of the seminary professors (in so far as you are aware of those opinions) on the historicity of the events recorded in Genesis 1–11? Yes ___  No __ Undecided __ I do not have enough information on this matter to give an opinion ___ . ”

The next issue of the Kerux magazine reported that the student Senate, which is the student council, requested that the editor of the student paper not print the results of the “Instapoll.” The request further stated that the Senate hoped to hold a meeting at which the issues raised in the “Instapoll” could be discussed. Apparently the meeting referred to in the Press article was the result of the Senate’s decision and request.

All of this of course raises some important questions. These questions which were the concern of the “Instapoll” and which were discussed at the meeting referred to, come at a very critical time in the history of Calvin Seminary. There is no question that the seminary is under a cloud because of the rejection of Clayton Libolt by the Synod of the CRC 1981. The fact that this man was recommended by a majority of the faculty members and then rejected by Synod because of his views on the very questions raised by the student paper is more than coincidental. Whatever else one can say about the relationship of these two events, one surely must say that the questions raised are relevant.

Certainly the professors at Calvin Seminary desire to have the cloud lifted from them and from the seminary. And now an opportunity has been given to them to have that cloud lifted. The students themselves have offered to them such an opportunity to come clearly before the seminary community and the church as well, as to their position respecting these important questions. But when the results of the questionnaire were received by the student paper, the editor was asked to repress them.

Now it is to be deplored that the author of the Press article suggested that since four faculty members out of sixteen said at the meeting that they believe Adam and Eve were real, the other professors apparently don‘t believe the Genesis account of the Bible. This kind of conclusion is unwarranted. At the same time, however, to what conclusion can one come when questions about the students’ understanding of their professors’ view of Genesis 1 to 11 are suppressed? Doesn’t this suppression of the result of the “Instapoll” suggest that the professors are not willing to come out clearly with their opinions?

There have been several requests or overtures to the Board of Trustees of Calvin Seminary from churches or classes requesting the Board to inquire of the seminary professors their position on the issues in question. These requests have not been received graciously by some in the seminary community. But when we in the church receive reports of the opinions of students regarding their professors’ stand on these issues being suppressed, what conclusion are we to draw? These overtures to the Board are right. Let the professors come clean on this issue. Do they or do they not believe in the factuality of Adam and Eve? in the factuality of the serpent? of the fall in Genesis 3? and the like. The church has a right to know what our seminary professors believe on these matters. And these men have the responsibility to answer these questions before the entire church. They all signed the Form of Subscription in which they “promised to be always willing and ready to comply with such requisition.”