G. William Carlson papers, 1966-2011

Collection

Identifier: MSS-BU-11

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Academic Papers series is made up of four large binders of papers spanning most of the years of his career as a professor, organized and donated by Carlson. These contain mostly Carlson's personal research and writings on topics involving politics, history, and Christianity. There are also some correspondences included involving his work at Bethel.

The Christian Nonviolence series covers four large binders of papers. Carlson taught these subjects as General Education Studies courses at Bethel. These binders contain course syllabi, personal notes on the subject, and many academic and media articles on the subjects of violence, peace, and Christian responses. They also include articles written by Carlson on the subjects.

The Utopia Literature file is a large binder on the subject of utopian writings and politics. Carlson taught the course Utopian Political Thought at Bethel. The binder contains syllabi, personal notes on the subject, and many academic and media articles on the historic writings of utopia and politics.

The Academic Freedom Ad Hoc Committee folder contains materials from 1981. The committee submitted the report by Stanley Anderson, Donald Larson, and Dale Rott included in the file.

The Bethel Cheer file contain's Bethel Junior College's cheer in Swedish.

The Bethel Health Plan is from the year 1983.

The Celebration Chapel folder contains two chapel bulletins from 2003 and 2005. These chapel services celebrated the beginning of the new school year.

The Curriculum Revision Committee file contains the 1983 report submitted by the committee containing the suggested changes to the general education curriculum.

The Faculty Handbook is from 1981, with some documents interleaved from other years.

The Pi Gamma Mu Historical File holds files from this social sciences honor society, primarily from the 1960s. It contains the newssheet from "Minnesota Mu", Bethel's Chapter of the society.

The Writings by Carlson include "Nonviolence: A Christian Life Style," "Evangelicals and Soviet Christians," "Evangelicals Political Ideologies: Can We Agree to Disagree?" "The Christian and the Human Rights Debate: Some Personal Reflections," and "Looking for the 'Beloved Community' at Bethel University: Racial Reconciliation Issues in an Historical Perspective."

The Sobornost Newsletter file contains several issues of this paper, published in Denver Colorado. The newsletter is theological and anti-institutional, with Marxist influences. The issues held in this file are from 1971 and 1972.

The Foreknowledge Debate series deals with the concepts of Open Theism and the Foreknowledge of God. Carlson collected many materials regarding this disagreement between Greg Boyd, John Piper, and other members of the denomination and Bethel University. This series spans two boxes of papers, the bulk of which are dated to the early 2000s. The Readings and articles subseries includes many essays and writings by various authors on the subject of Open Theism and the disagreement. Some writings were authored by Carlson. One folder is dedicated to the writings of John Piper, opponent of Open Theism. The Committed Pastors folder contains papers from this group organized in defense of Greg Boyd, organized by Ron Saari. The Edgren Fellowship folder contains papers of the group that opposed Open Theism as taught by Boyd. Carlson's personal notes are handwritten notations on the situation. The Board of Trustees file includes the position statement on the subject, the resolution on academic freedom in this case, and the 2000 Annual Meeting schedule and notes. The BGC Annual Meeting of 2000 was not soley focused on this debate, but the case was addressed at the event, and this file contains these materials. The Resolution Debate file contains various statements on different churches that altered their articles of faith, as well as arguments based on different viewpoints about what official resolution should be adopted by the denomination.The Resolution on the Foreknowledge of God file contains the offical resolutions adopted by the Baptist General Conference and regional confereneces. The Correspondence subseries include the extensive letters and notes to and from various interested parties on the subject, collected by Carlson. The Foreknowledge-Letters folder was the only collection of letters specifically included in a folder by Carlson, with the rest left loose in a box. One folder in this subseries involves Ron Saari, member of the Committed Pastors group. All printed emails in this subseries are kept in separate folders. Finally, a binder compiled by Carlson on the subject is included.

The box of Memorabilia contains a variety of objects collected by Carlson, primarily marketing Bethel's logo and name.

Dates

1966 - 2011

Biographical Note

Gordon William Carlson was born to Bert and Bernice Carlson on April 21, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in Verona, New Jersey. He married Cathy Floberg, whom he met at Bethel, on December 20, 1969 at Calvary Baptist Church. The couple had children Ian and Sara (Koehn).

Carlson graduated from Bethel in 1965, and later received his graduate degrees from the University of Minnesota. During college, he ran cross country and sang in the Male Chorus, and as a junior, he served as class president. After graduating from Bethel, he worked as a teacher at Sibley High School in St. Paul. He became a faculty member at Bethel in 1968. He taught in the history and political science departments. As a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, he taught the course Christian Nonviolence. He participated in "teach-ins" at Bethel in response to the Vietnam War.

Carlson was interested in pietism, and edited The Pietist Impulse in Chrstianity and The Baptist Pietist Clarion. He was a member of Central Baptist Church in St. Paul. He served on the St. Paul school board from 1986 to 1996 and was involved in the Democrat Party.

Carlson retired in 2012. He died after a stroke on February 12, 2016.

Extent

8 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The first three boxes in this collection contain large binders compiled by Carlson on different subjects, which maintain Carlson's original order.

Original or donated order of the folders in box 3 is unknown.

When the two boxes making up the Foreknowledge Debate series were donated, they were filled with loose papers reflecting no discernable order, with the exception of a folder labeled "Foreknowledge-Letters" and a binder, both of which maintain the donated order. The rest of the papers were arranged into the Readings and Articles series and Correspondence series, along with a few other topical folders. These reflect no particular order.

Custodial History

These materials were transferred from G. William Carlson's office to the History Center at an unknown date, likely when he retired.

The folders in box 3 were intermingled in the archives' vertical files after donation, noted in a spreadsheet, but were added to the Carlson papers in 2022 to retain provenance.