On the Trump Presidency: From Members of the Princeton Seminary Faculty

February 24, 2017

(signers to this statement do not represent the Seminary or the faculty as a whole)

We, the undersigned, believe that because God is sovereign over all creation and becauseall human beings are embraced by God’s all encompassing grace, the god of DonaldTrump’s “America first” nationalism is not the God revealed in our scriptures. Regardlessof our specific political persuasions we agree that the attitudes fostered by thisnationalism are inconsistent with Christian values of welcoming the stranger as if wewere welcoming Christ, of seeking to distinguish truth from deception and conceit, and ofbelieving that no institution or government can demand the kind of loyalty that belongsonly to God.

We also believe that the policies and approach embraced by the Trump administrationrun counter to democratic values, as executive orders and members of the newadministration’s cabinet often seek to demonize Islam, foster white supremacy,compromise the rule of law and intimidate judges, undermine the empowerment ofwomen, ignore the destruction of the environment, promote homophobia, unleashunfounded fears of crime that worsen the “law and order” abuses of police and securityforces. We reject the pervasive aim of placing the monetary gain of wealthy classes overthe welfare of its citizenry by undermining education, quality employment, and healthcare. We believe that Christian faith and US democracy are not the same thing; hence, westand against the notion of a “Christian nation.” But as Christians who are also citizens orresidents of the US, we stand against the attitudes and policies that are being fostered inthis present political climate.

As we look at the role of the US in promoting war and repression abroad and divisionamong its own peoples at home, however, we confess our own complicity in the sinfulentanglements that have created this political and social crisis. Not all of us have taken afirm and vocal enough stance against what Martin Luther King, Jr. called the “gianttriplets” of violence in the United States: “racism, extreme materialism, and militarism.”We have often embraced academic elitism that overlooks the needs of the unemployed orthe value of jobs that do not require higher education. We recognize a legacy of failurethat marks past presidential administrations, and so harbor no nostalgia for the politics ofthe past. But we do not believe that Trump is a remedy for that legacy of failure. InTrump’s values and policies we see no public witness consistent with the Gospel or withthe values of those who are believers in Jesus Christ and members of Christ’s church.

We not only reject Trump’s values and policies, we also renew our commitment to afuture where both the church and the academy will foster attitudes and actions so thathuman beings and the whole of creation can thrive. We join our hearts, our minds, ourvoices, and our actions with those of religious believers--Christians, Jews, Muslims, andpeople of all faiths, as well as with secular people of good conscience, to resist thepresent destructive politics in our country and to seek reversal of their destructiveconsequences here and around the world.

Members of the Current Faculty

Afe Adogame, Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Christianity and Society

Eric D. Barreto, Frederick and Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of NewTestament

Raimundo Barreto, Assistant Professor of World Christianity

Clifton Black, Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology

Lisa Bowens, Assistant Professor of New Testament

John Bowlin, Robert L. Stuart Associate Professor of Philosophy and Christian Ethics

Michael Brothers, Associate Professor of Speech Communication in Ministry

Sally A. Brown, Elizabeth M. Engle Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship

Ellen Charry, Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Systematic Theology

Kenda Creasy Dean, Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture

James C. Deming, Associate Professor of Modern European Church History

Heath Dewrell, Assistant Professor of Old Testament

F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Professor of Old Testament

Nancy J. Duff, Stephen Colwell Associate Professor of Theological Ethics

Gordon Graham, Henry Luce III Professor of Philosophy and the Arts

William Stacy Johnson, Arthur M. Adams Professor of Theology

Jacqueline Lapsley, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Director of the Center forTheology, Women, and Gender

Cleophus J. LaRue, Francis Landey Patton Professor of Homiletics

Bo Karen Lee, Associate Professor of Spiritual Theology and Christian Formation

Gerald Liu, Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching

Bruce McCormack, Charles Hodge Professor of Systematic Theology, and Director ofthe Center for Barth Studies

Elsie McKee, Archibald Alexander Professor of Reformation Studies and the History ofWorship

Kathleen McVey, Joseph Ross Stevenson Professor of Church History

Gordon Mikoski, Associate Professor of Christian Education

James H. Moorhead, Mary McIntosh Bridge Professor of American Church History

Dennis Olson, Professor of Old Testament

Richard Osmer, Ralph B. and Helen S. Ashenfelter Professor of Mission and Evangelism

Brian Rainey, Assistant Professor of Old Testament

Paul Rorem, Benjamin B. Warfield Professor of Medieval Church History

Mark S. Smith, Helena Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis

Mark Lewis Taylor, Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Theology and Culture

Sonia Waters, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology

Richard Fox Young, Elmer K. and Ethel R. Timby Associate Professor of the History ofReligions

Emeriti

Richard S. Armstrong, Helen S. Ashenfelter Professor Emeritus of Ministry and Evangelism

Abigail Rian Evans, Professor Emerita of Practical Theology

Richard Fenn, Maxwell Upson Professor Emeritus of Christianity and Society

Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Helen H. P. Manson Professor Emerita of New TestamentExegesis

Darrell L. Guder, Henry Winters Luce Professor Emeritus of Missional and EcumenicalTheology

Geddes W. Hanson, Professor Emeritus of Congregational Ministry

Daniel L. Migliore, Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology

Patrick D. Miller, Charles T. Haley Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Theology

Peter J. Paris, Elmer G. Homrighausen Professor Emeritus of Christian Social Ethics

Luis N. Rivera-Pagán, Henry Winters Luce Professor Emeritus of Ecumenics

Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, Eisenberger Professor Emerita of Old Testament

J. Wentzel van Huyssteen, James I. McCord Professor Emeritus of Theology and ScienceCharles Converse West, Stephen Colwell Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics

Adjunct Faculty

Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, Old Testament

John Joon-Young Huh, Pasoral Counseling

Richard Lischer, Preaching

Michael Dean Morgan, Speech Communication in Ministry

Darryl W. Stephens, United Methodist Studies

Joyce MacKichan Walker, Presbyterian Polity

Ruth Workman, Spiritual Direction