Wednesday, February 8, 2023

It is the 8th of February 2023 Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A few weeks ago, I answered a mailbag question about the roots of higher education in the West and the church. I answered by calling the two things inseparable for the first few centuries. So, what happened? And when in American history? And what if I told you it was at the very first college proposed in the colonies?

No, not Harvard. Although Harvard opened earlier, the first planned college in the New World was in Virginia- from 1619, the college was soon to be known as the College of William and Mary. Virginia was a rough colony from the beginning, with trouble with the natives in the Anglo- Powhatan wars, the harsh soil, the early introduction of slave labor, and Bacon’s Rebellion. This was not the “Godly city on a hill” that Plymouth sought to be. This was a rough and ready frontier- allegedly, when one minister asked about starting the proposed school for the benefit of the souls of the natives and colonists, he was told, “damn your souls, make tobacco.” So, the first college proposed took a while to get off the ground- the English Civil War slowed things up. It wasn’t until after the Glorious Revolution of 1689 that the school was given a royal charter by none other than the new King William of the Dutch House of Orange and his wife, Mary of the Scottish house of Stuart, and daughter of English king James II (or VII). On this the 8th of February in 1693, the crown gave the charter and a gift of about 2,000 pounds to the University. The charter was for a "perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good Arts and Sciences.” 

The school was designed to train natives and men for the ministry. And in its early years, it did so well that it was said that the colonists who went back to England caused a great scandal because they were so better prepared than those coming from the English colleges. But where it took places like Harvard and Yale sometime to secularize, and even then, still have a Divinity School- the College of William and Mary became secular during the Revolutionary period.

The school was famous for several “firsts”- not only was it the first planned college, but it was the first to have a fraternity, the first to have a law school, and its famed “Wren Building” is the oldest collegiate building still standing- named after the architect- the same Christopher Wren who designed St. Paul’s in London.

The college gave our first president George Washington his surveyor's license, and Washington would later serve as Chancellor. But out was the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson- also an alumnus of the College who would be behind its secularization.

Jefferson proposed a bill to reorganize the school when he served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. It failed, but he was soon governor and was able to implement some of his plans, including getting rid of the divinity school, the grammar school, and the school for natives. One takeaway is how opposed Thomas Jefferson was to historic Christianity- he was an Enlightenment Deist. Also, it is helpful to remember that colonial America was not just New England (as much as they get conflated) but also the southern colonies. William and Mary, despite not having a divinity school, has an august legacy as one of the so-called “Public Ivies” its famous alumni include a lot of fancy politicians, but also Bill Lawrence, the guy who created both Scrubs and Ted Lasso.

The first planned college in America but not the first built, also the first American college to ditch its divinity school- an important milestone in the history of the church and University- the College of William And Mary received its charter on this, the 8th of February in 1693.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary from John 8:

21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

25 “Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 8th of February 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who once shocked his own congregation when he said, “damn your souls, make tobacco.” He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man whose favorite theory about the name Ivy League is that it was because of having an original four colleges- 4 in the roman numeral IV- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.