Earlham College

We had an interesting time in Richmond, IN. The motel did not serve breakfast, so we had breakfast at an IHOP. We did a drive-by of the $15,000 house I had posted a picture of - it looked pretty beat-up and was sort of jammed in between two other dumpy houses. Not desirable. Cheap housing though!

The $15,000 house "in the flesh"

There are other residential areas of Richmond that are quite attractive, however. Downtown Richmond, on the other hand, is blighted: many boarded-up buildings, empty stores and several store-front ministries, suggesting the existence of a large homeless population. The strip development around the city seems to be thriving. This is all typical of many mid-western cities.

The Earlham campus is very handsome. It is large (600 acres) but more modest than Swarthmore College, which is posh by comparison. Earlham seems more Quaker in its modesty. I visited the Lilly Library, which serves not only Earlham College, but also the Earlham School of Religion and Bethany Theological Seminary. It is a very pleasant library to be in. I did my usual assessment of the holdings in the stacks: I went to the section devoted to the Gospel of Luke. I am so familiar now with the holdings in this subject area that I can make a pretty quick assessment. I would say the holdings are adequate, comparable to, say, Mount Holyoke Library back in Massachusetts, but also slightly dated. They are not nearly as complete as Wheaton College or certainly Princeton Theological Seminary (the most magnificent collection I've seen to date), but I would not expect that. I did find one book I had not seen before that cited my work, and there are probably others. The author of that book is an evangelical Christian at Dallas Theological Seminary. I've run into several other books and theses originating from Dallas TS, which have used my work. Maybe we should move to Dallas! (Just kidding).

A professional photo of the Earlham Campus in the fall

 Ellen was interested to see the sign outside the Stout Meeting House that says Earlham has an "unprogrammed" Friends Meeting - i.e., a silent meeting. Midwestern Friends are typically more like mainline Protestant churches with a pastor and a "regular" worship service (readings, hymns, sermon, etc.). She prefers the silent meeting. However, when I went to the Earlham website, it described the Meeting as "semi-programmed."  There is a period of silence and then a student or faculty member gives a brief talk. In any case, I am sure that Earlham would be a great place to be near. I can imagine there are a lot of programs and lectures of great interest, dealing with a wide variety of peace and justice issues, given the culture of the place.

The Stout Meeting House at Earlham

 Also outside the Meeting House at Earlham is a statue of Mary Dyer, a replica of a statue in Boston outside the Statehouse.  Mary Dyer was a Quaker who defied a ban against Quakers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was hanged for her effort in 1660.

Mary Dyer, Quaker martyr

So, pluses and minuses - like everywhere else. Definitely a possibility not to be written off.