THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407110217
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY THOMAS PEAR, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Vinson Synan never dreamed he would become a theologian who was known even to the Vatican.
He never even attended seminary.
With three university degrees in history, he anticipated a career in a college classroom somewhere in the Deep South.
But this month, he took over as Regent University's new divinity dean.
Synan's career has been devoted to linking diverse denominations through the charismatic movement. Charismatics believe that faith in God can heal the sick and that the vivid presence of the Holy Spirit causes people to speak in unknown languages.
At Regent, he also wants to reach out to others.
He wants to educate future Catholic priests. He wants Regent to become a seminary for Third World countries that cannot afford their own seminaries. ``I can see the campus looking like the U.N., with peoples from all over the world,'' said Synan, 59.
He wants the school to become a vault of ideas for different Christian denominations. And he wants to establish a doctoral program in divinity.
Regent President Terry Lindvall believes Synan will accomplish these goals.
``Dr. Synan is an energetic and visionary scholar who has bridged the gap among white and African-American churches, among Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Pentecostals and among diverse international church communities,'' Lindvall said.
Synan credits his Unitarian academic adviser at the University of Georgia, where he received his doctorate in history in 1967, with launching Synan's career as a theologian.
The adviser, Horace Montgomery, persuaded Synan to write his dissertation on the Pentecostal movement, which parented the charismatic movement. Montgomery, now 88, described Synan as a ``good scholar'' who is ``objective,'' ``probing'' and ``totally committed to his religious beliefs.''
In 1972, Synan forged a closer bond with another denomination. A Catholic theologian from Notre Dame University, Kilian McDonnell, asked him to respond to McDonnell's pioneering paper on the Catholic charismatic movement.
``I told him I'm not a theologian,'' Synan recalled. But McDonnell begged to differ, telling Synan: ``You are now.''
Though Synan is a member of the Pentecostal Holiness Church, he was invited by the Vatican last fall to join Catholic charismatic leaders in a visit to Pope John Paul II. ``I heard him speak very positively about the charismatic movement,'' Synan said.
Synan, who has written 11 books about charismatics, last worked at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., where he was a divinity professor and led the Holy Spirit Research Center.
But his roots are in Virginia. He was born in Hopewell and spent six years of his childhood, from 1939 to 1945, in Suffolk.
His father, the late Bishop Joseph A. Synan, founded Pentecostal Holiness churches in Portsmouth and Suffolk.
Synan has vivid memories of the area during World War II. ``I remember the air-raid drills in school,'' he said.
He also remembers the blackouts that occurred in Suffolk during the war, sometimes even in church services his father was leading.
``All the city lights would go out suddenly without warning.''
Today, Synan is busy preparing his students for a warfare of another kind - spiritual warfare.
``It's time for us to turn the lights back on in the world,'' he said. ``The lights of the gospel. We've been in a spiritual blackout.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
THOMAS PEAR
Graphic
ABOUT SYNAN
Age: 59
Occupation: Dean of divinity school at Regent University in
Virginia Beach
Virginia roots: Born in Hopewell and lived in Suffolk from 1939
to 1945
Publications: Eleven books on charismatics, who believe that
faith in God can heal the sick and that the vivid presence of the
Holy Spirit causes people to speak in unknown languages.
Goals: Wants Regent to become a seminary for Third World
countries that cannot afford their own seminaries and a vault of
ideas for different Christian denominations. Also wants to establish
a doctoral program in divinity.
Quote: ``It's time for us to turn the lights back on in the
world,'' he said. ``The lights of the gospel. We've been in a
spiritual blackout.''
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