When I came to Richmond, The Outlook (which had a book store and a book service) was housed in one of our buildings where it remained until we needed the space during our expansion in 1987. People in Richmond, the city with the longest memory in the universe, still ask me what happened to the store on Main Street, and tell me how much they miss it. Some other things we miss in Richmond are not as beneficent.
When I came on the Outlook Foundation board, hard as it is to believe, we had no provision for the rotation of board members. You were elected for life, or if you were a local pastor, until you were called to another church. Archaic as that seemed then and appears now, it was during that period that The Outlook, with Aubrey Brown as editor, together with Ernest Trice Thompson, professor of church history at Union Seminary (now Union-PSCE) made its most prophetic witness, not only to the former Southern Church, but to all Presbyterians in the United States, and to this nation. The Presbyterian Outlook was one of the first three journals/papers — religious or secular — to oppose the Vietnam War, even in the spring of 1965 when the war was just beginning.
I make this point and recount this history not for nostalgia’s sake, but to emphasize a policy which the board has de-bated over the years, yet which remains a signature of our existence, and which I believe is the principal reason for The Outlook’s success and endurance. In matters of opinion, religious, secular, editorial — the editor has the final say. The board cannot set the direction of the paper, or require the editor to espouse particular theological, ecclesial or political opinions. Some of us are old enough to remember how controversial The Outlook’s position on the Vietnam War was. In 1966 while I was in Scotland, I received a letter from a minister friend at home saying that my opinions on the war (against) were held only by the most irresponsible people, and bordered on being treasonous. It’s hard to imagine the criticism that must have been directed against Aubrey Brown and The Outlook for taking such a position, right on the heels of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
Yet there is a balance to what may appear to some as unreasonable, unlimited power. The editor serves at the pleasure of the board and must be elected annually. Over the years, when people have criticized the editor to me, I have reiterated the point that the board does not control the opinion of the editor, and that the editor serves at the pleasure of the board.
Not only has that position served The Outlook well for over half a century, it has also served church and society — the Presbyterian Church, the United States, and the church catholic. Such independence is not a right, but a responsibility. If it is ever abused the board should step in and remove an editor. That has never happened. But if, as Aubrey Brown once said with fire in his eyes, the editor feels scrutinized or constrained, then the magazine loses any chance to be a prophetic, courageous witness, and will become merely the mouthpiece of whatever trend happens to have captured the imagination of the church at that moment.
Behind that assumption are certain realities that we at The Outlook take for granted, which are not currently assumed about all ministers and elders in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The women and men who serve on the Outlook Foundation Board are, and always have been, devoted Christian disciples, loyal and faithful Presbyterians, and persons who care deeply about the credible witness of the gospel and its proclamation to the ends of the earth. And we all believe, equally, that the church needs an independent magazine — which is not the theological property of any one party, or faction, or even of the Presbyterian church, but which serves the whole church for the sake of the whole gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s not an easy position to maintain in these fractured times, but it is a true and faithful position, and worth our best efforts — all the time!
I have seen this foundational covenant between editor and board at work since our associate editor, John Sniffen, has stepped up to the plate following Robert Bullock’s retirement. John has been willing, as a journalist, not a theologian, to take courageous stands, working with board members, including myself, who have had responsibility for editorial oversight during the transition. Many of you have spoken favorably to me about John’s work. I add my own gratitude to that voice, as I begin to work closely with him as a colleague in the months ahead.
Posted March 4, 2004
O. Benjamin Sparks is interim editor of The Outlook and pastor, Second church, Richmond, Va.
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