Interview with Dr. John Frame
Jake and I had the opportunity the other day to sit down with Dr. John Frame of Reformed Theological Seminary – Orlando (RTS-O) and ask him several questions related to his writings and experience in the seminary environment. The interview revolved around two writings of Dr. Frame that I believe to be “must reads” for those in seminary or those thinking about it.
The first is a pamphlet Dr. Frame wrote at the request of the RTS-O admission department called, Learning at Jesus’ Feet: a Case for Seminary Training (free online). This is a phenomenal read for those thinking about attending seminary as it address many of the questions that are probably going through your head.
The second document is much older than the pamphlet. Written in 1972, Proposal for a New Seminary is an amazing work where Frame discusses the current seminary structure and suggests that there might be a better way. Since the original publishing date, Frame has added two postscripts to show how his thoughts have developed in relation to the original piece. This is a great read for all seminarians and some really good food for thought and discussion.
For the interview we asked Dr. Frame about these publication and a couple other seminary related questions. The interview is really great… and 17 minutes long… So, go grab a cup of coffee, tea, or whatever and get comfortable. There is a lot of gold in there.
The interview took place at the RTS-O chapel, so there is a little bit of an echo as the room was empty. Also, Dr. Frame is sitting in front of the organ… which he can totally jam on. For our last question we asked him if we’d play a little something for us and he most graciously agreed.
(goingtoseminary.com videos are available at youtube, vimeo, and blip.tv)
This video is the teaser video we posted on youtube. It is Dr. Frame’s answer to our question about advice for current and future seminarians. It is covered in the longer interview, but I thought I’d post it here too in case anyone wanted to see it or grab the code to embed it somewhere else… like their blog (hint, hint).
Brief Biography of Dr. John Frame
(taken from Reformed Theological Seminary website)
Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy
Princeton University, A.B.
Westminster Theological Seminary, B.D.
Yale University, M.A., M.Phil.
Belhaven College, D.D.Dr. John Frame serves as J.D. Trimble Chair of Systematic Theology and Philosophy at RTS – Orlando
An outstanding theologian, John Frame distinguished himself during 31 years on the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary, and was a founding faculty member of WTS California. He is best known for his prolific writings including ten volumes, a contributor to many books and reference volumes, as well as scholarly articles and magazines. Rev. Frame is a talented musician and discerning media critic who is deeply committed to the work of ministry and training pastors.
Selected Publications
Van Til, the Theologian (1976)
The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (1987)
Medical Ethics (1988)
Perspectives on the Word of God (1990)
Evangelical Reunion (1991)
Apologetics to the Glory of God (1994)
Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of his Thought (1995)
Worship in Spirit and Truth (1996)
Contemporary Music: a Biblical Defense (1997)
The Doctrine of God (2002)
Salvation Belongs to the Lord (2006)
Excellent! This turned out great.
You should list his newest book under the publications as well, The Doctrine of the Christian Life.
Jake Belders last blog post..Newbigin: The Urgent Task of the Church
Great interview, Ryan. Thanks for sharing this. I really enjoyed it. I just mentioned the interview on my blog.
I’m a big Frame fan and am thrilled that many of his works are now available in Libronix: The Collected Works of John M. Frame, Vol. 1: Theology. Have you picked it up yet?
Phil Gonss last blog post..John Frame on Seminary
Phil,
I haven’t picked up the Libronix version yet. What is fun though is that Dr. Frame asked for a copy of the interview so it could be included in a future “collected works of John Frame”. Pretty cool.
Wow! Very nice!
Ryan / Jake:
Great job on the video, also thanks to prof. Frame.
One tech request, if possible. The full length video played great on my MacBook, but the iPhone doesn’t support it. The YouTube one did play perfect and actually played full screen in the built in YouTube app. Can you place future videos in both formats?
Rick,
The problem with youtube is that it has a 10 min max on videos. The frame video is 17 min, so that’s why we didn’t post the long version there. We did however post the long version in vimeo and blip.tv. I’m pretty disappointed with youtube and found both blip and vemio to be better in every way… sadly youtube is the industry leader, so we must use it as much as possible.
As a sidenote, I am working on setting up a vodcast through iTunes. As soon as it is set up I’ll let everyone know.