The Washington Examiner Interviews Ian Markham of Virginia Theological Seminary

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?

I am a Christian -- I love the Lord Jesus. Christ is the prism through which I interpret everything. I don't interpret the world in terms of complicated bundles of atoms that are ultimately purposeless, but I see everything as an example of the agency and the love of God, and everything held in God's eternal loving gaze.

How can you trust that your Christian beliefs are correct?

The way of the world is that all knowledge is provisional -- it is human constructs in conversation with experience. Therefore, all of us should hold what we believe about the world with some humility.

Now, why I believe what I believe is because it makes more sense of the complexities of human life than the alternatives. My experience of morality, of beauty, of love -- all these things point to the divine, which makes theism more likely than atheism. And then if you ask how can I believe in a God that allows so much suffering? Part of the answer is that I can only believe in God provided I know God knows what it's like to suffer -- and that is the Christian claim, that God knows human suffering. So, for me, it has the ring of truth, more so than the alternatives.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Theology • Seminary / Theological Education

9 Comments
Posted August 3, 2010 at 4:30 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. MikeS wrote:

Interesting story.  I’d love to hear the back story behind his ordination and being named Dean of VTS, as well as the cuttings that dropped off the editor’s desk.

August 3, 9:34 pm | [comment link]
2. sophy0075 wrote:

“Loving the Lord Jesus” is good, but it doesn’t define a Christian. If Mr Markham paid closer attention to his Bible (and actually believed its text), he would know that Jesus himself said that he was ” the way, the truth and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through me.”

August 3, 9:38 pm | [comment link]
3. NoVA Scout wrote:

I bet he knows that, No. 2.  There’s nothing in the article that would indicate a fundamental gap in his knowledge of the Gospels or a lack of attention or belief.

August 4, 3:43 am | [comment link]
4. phil swain wrote:

Is all knowledge provisional?  Are the dogmas of the Church provisional?  Is the humility of uncertainty, expressed by Markham, really humble?  Can’t one humbly acknowledge the certain truth of dogma?

August 4, 6:37 am | [comment link]
5. phil swain wrote:

“The way of the world is that all knowledge is provisional.”  I assume that Markham humbly holds that knowledge provisionally.

August 4, 7:15 am | [comment link]
6. alcuin wrote:

I met him a while back and found him a kindly and personable Englishman, promoting a moderate liberal theology, partly based on natural theology methods - a Christianity that was hard to get excited about but high on ‘inclusiveness’. I didn’t know he had an Exclusive Brethren background (as a child), but people from that background can react a bit against evangelicalism or perceived sectarianism. OTOH, it’s hard to imagine someone from a secular background becoming a liberal Christian.

August 4, 7:34 am | [comment link]
7. Laura R. wrote:

In a recent VTS publication he says that the Seminary has significant numbers of conservatives and liberals, and that they are finding it “possible to live in the space that honors conversation ... We can do this.  It does work.”  He sounds to me rather determined that it shall work.  I have to wonder how well.

August 4, 5:00 pm | [comment link]
8. markham wrote:

Ouch!
So please allow me to clarity my position.  I am completely sure that Jesus is the way the truth and the life.  No one can be saved without being saved through the atoning work of Jesus.  At the same time, I believe that the Spirit blows where it wills.  Given dedicated Jews from the Old Testament are saved who didn’t consciously know about Jesus (unless you all believe that Abraham, David, and Amos are all in hell), then yes I believe that God might well be saving some Muslims through the agency of God in Christ.  Are you sure that this position is not Biblical?

August 21, 10:49 pm | [comment link]
9. markham wrote:

And on the provisionality of knowledge: too right I recognize my sensitivity to the provisionality of knowledge needs to be held with some humility.

August 21, 10:50 pm | [comment link]
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