Presidential Visit
George W. Bush visits Perkins class on Presidential Rhetoric and American Political Theology
Perkins students in Dallas Gingles’ classroom had a surprise visitor on September 17: former President George W. Bush.
At the invitation of Gingles and the office of SMU President R. Gerald Turner, Bush participated in the “Presidential Rhetoric and American Political Theology” course. The class followed a Q&A format, with the former president fielding questions from students and Gingles.
Due to Secret Service protocols, the visit was unannounced and was a surprise for everyone in the classroom except Gingles.
“Brad Cheves came in and told the class, ‘Hey, there’s a special guest speaker here for you. He’s the 43rd President of the United States,’” said Gingles, who is Associate Professor of Practice in Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics at Perkins. (Cheves is Senior Vice President for Development and External Affairs for SMU.)
The course looks at the speeches of U.S. presidents and the theological concepts they called on. According to the course description, “This course treats such presidential speech as primary texts of political theology. It seeks to understand the vision of God and the good life that is both presupposed and constructed in the speech.”
Gingles said he invited President Bush “not to have him speak on
any particular topic, but more to engage with the class on the overall topic of president’s speech, in relation to the theological claims that we are interrogating in the course itself.”
Every student had a chance to ask a question. Because the contents of the discussion were strictly confidential, Gingles can’t share details. Students were required to turn in their devices before class and were not allowed to take notes. However, Gingles does say he believes the conversation was fruitful and enlightening.
“I can say that it was uniformly an excellent experience,” he said.
Twelve graduate and post-graduate students are taking the course, including three M.Div. students, two students in the Th. M. program, a law student, and an alum who is auditing the course. Having taught several of the students for multiple courses, Gingles believes a wide spectrum of political views – conservative, moderate and progressive — were represented in the classroom.
“There was no partisan rancor,” he said. “The students were willing to engage with President Bush honestly. It was a truly a free exchange of ideas. One student called it the best day of her education, ever.”