Date: August 12, 2025
Back in the Spring, I asked the Communications department to give the Seminary Covenant appropriate prominence on our front page of the website. I did so because in an age when DEI has suddenly become inappropriate and even wrong, I wanted our witness to be clear. And, given its prominence I listened to those words again. As I listened, I was struck with how theological the covenant is. Right at the outset, this is a work done in ‘response to the love of God in Jesus Christ’. There is an appropriate recognition for the need for ‘repentance’ – a key Christian theme. And we ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to realize the vision of the covenant.
It puzzles me why these sentiments are now so controversial. Perhaps it is the list of forms of oppression that we recognize that we must both repent of and commit to overcoming. Perhaps it is the recognition that white supremacy and elitism are problems. Yet again I pause, surely, this is just a description of the sins that have shaped and have continued to shape human relationships here in the United States of America.
Let me say this clearly: the Seminary Covenant remains a statement of our values that are grounded in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We remain committed to the Seminary Covenant because we remain committed to the Gospel.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary.