Friday, March 13, 2009
Tribute to Dr. Vernon Grounds
Here is a short video on the unveiling of a bronze bust of Dr. Vernon Grounds, who has served Denver Seminary since 1951. I am one of his approximately 1500 close personal friends. He is a warm and distinguished Christian statesman, now in this mid 90s. Denver Seminary has been tremendously blessed to have him for so long. Please read Dr. Bruce Shelley's biography on Dr. Grounds, Transformed by Love.
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2 comments:
Wonderful! Thanks, Doug. I remember when first meeting Dr. Grounds circa '93. I was standing at the counter paying for yet another book at the Denver Seminary Bookstore and he came up behind me unawares, put both hands in my pockets, and said "Give me all your money!" Not able to see him I was stunned for just a moment, then it registered that the voice came from an elderly gentleman. That recognition along with the smile on the bookstore clerk's face told me it was truly a joke. I turned around and he introduced himself, asked what I was buying, what program I was pursuing, we laughed at bit, and he eventually wandered out of the store! The bookstore clerk filled in the details on who he really was (his introduction included his name only). Whoa!! I was impressed and pleasantly surprised that he could retain such warmth and friendliness after all his years. (Reader keep in mind I live in a retired community where gnarly attitudes abound!).
Sometime later I made an appointment to meet with him at his office/library. While there I asked if he had heard of a book that Harper and Row only published 500 copies entitled Divorce and Remarriage: Recovering the Biblical View. We walked up and down all the aisles of books and actually found a copy! He said it was a good read (and I entirely agree as it remains one of the most thorough).
Thanks Dr. Grounds for being a warm, wonderful, endearing, and winsome person who loves Jesus in ways I long to and who never dismissed the importance of solid education and thoughtful Christianity. "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
Thanks for sharing this post. I had the pleasure of serving as teaching assistant to Dr. Grounds six years ago for a course on the philosophy of C.S. Lewis. I recall a particularly funny moment when Dr. Grounds mentioned the book The Taste for the Other. He then asked if perhaps the book was about cannibalism. Coming from Dr. Grounds, I was heartily amused. The fine book, by the way, is by Gilbert Meilaender and is about the social and ethical thought of C.S. Lewis.
I would also like to add that if it were not for Dr. Grounds and the course I assisted him with, my first book about C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Bible, probably would not have been written.
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