Remembering Dean Baepler
A special service of remembrance in honor of the founding Dean of Christ College, Richard P. Baepler, was held on Friday, April 16, at the Chapel of the Resurrection. The author of Flame of Faith, Lamp of Learning: A History of Valparaiso University (2001), Dr. Baepler wrote widely and thought deeply about the value of a Lutheran Christian liberal arts education. Here’s an inspirational example: “The Reformers . . . were still able to break with the presuppositions of Christian society to recognize the power and value of non-Christian contributions to culture. For government Luther preferred the smart Turk over the inept Christian. The great pagan poets and writers were to be taught for their inherent value . . . . Despite his dislike of Aristotle’s philosophy in general, Luther recognized the superior value of his treatises on ethics. Reason was detestable when it led people to believe they could storm the gates of heaven through their own moralism, but it was an indispensable means when applied to human experience and life in the created order, and strenuously so for that important sector of the created order, the university.”
