Learning from a 96-Year-Old Theologian

David Mathis and Tony Reinke recently made the trek to a small town in Minnesota to interview the author of a big systematic theology book whose fascinating life history seems unknown to almost everyone.

An excerpt from their piece:

Robert Duncan Culver is the only surviving founding member of the Evangelical Theological Society — and his mind is sharp enough to recall his membership number was 158. He taught a combined 25 years at Wheaton College and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and stirred up his share of controversy.

“I don’t mind disagreeing,” says Culver. “I can live without everyone’s short-term friendship.”

He knew evangelical stalwarts like Kenneth Kantzer (1917-2002) and Carl Henry (1913-2003) and John Gerstner (1914-1996) — especially Kantzer (more on him later). And he still remembers the details, down to the exact dimensions of the house of worship he built with his own hands while planting a church in Ohio in the early 1940s.

He’s an eleventh generation American, of certifiably Puritan descent. One of his ancestors came to the New World in 1630 with John Winthrop (1587-1649), who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. And he’s a man who has known 37 years of marriage to each of two different women: Arlene (from 1937 until her death in 1974) and Celeste (from 1975 to the present).

Most notably, Culver is the author of the massive 1200-page theology published in 2005 by Christian Focus, Systematic Theology: Biblical & Historical, the book he moved to rural Minnesota to work on, and gave over a dozen years to writing.

Tony and I knew we were in for a treat, and Culver didn’t disappoint. It made for a seriously interesting lunch appointment and afternoon interview.

You can read the whole thing here.

A note to young theological journalists: let’s see more stories like this. It’s a way to learn from the past, establish unexpected friendship, honor our elders, and produce pieces worth reading.