Pepperdine Letter Writer Says “Pepperdine Believes” Statement Departs from Churches of Christ Tradition

In summer 2019, Jim Gash was selected to become the eighth president of Pepperdine. A letter to the editor in the Pepperdine Graphic reports that Gash said at the time that the university would keep its affiliation with the Churches of Christ rather than adopt an official doctrinal statement. The same letter says Pepperdine then had no official doctrinal statement beyond the 1999 Affirmation Statement.

Years later, President Gash announced the “Pepperdine Believes” faith statement in a campus-wide email on Oct. 8, according to the Pepperdine Graphic. The Board of Regents and its Faith and Heritage Committee approved the statement unanimously. The statement covers seven areas: God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, grace, the church and Christian living.

The Graphic’s news report describes the statement as the first major update to Pepperdine’s official faith statement in more than 50 years, following the 1970 Affirmation Statement. That account differs from the letter to the editor, which names the 1999 Affirmation Statement as the existing document before “Pepperdine Believes.” The two accounts do not reconcile the earlier statement’s date.

The October email said the statement would be posted to the university website 30 days after the announcement. As of Nov. 8, it had not yet been posted, the Graphic reported. Gash said the statement defines the university’s Christian identity and is not a personal faith requirement for students or faculty. Chris Doran, president of the Seaver Faculty Senate, said several faculty members had expressed concerns about the statement. Gash’s clarification addresses the question of personal belief, a point on which the university and some faculty members are still engaging one another (Psalm 133:1).

The letter to the editor argues that “Pepperdine Believes” is a creed, since the word “creed” derives from the Latin “credo,” meaning “I believe.” It notes that the Churches of Christ traditionally do not use creeds. The writer says the document’s final section is titled “Christ-Like Living.”

The university’s FAQ, as cited in the letter, states that the document is not a creed because it is not used as a test for church fellowship and because Pepperdine is not a church. The letter does not say whether the FAQ has been updated since the statement’s announcement. The letter’s author presents the creed argument as a view and the FAQ’s position as the university’s stated reasoning, and the two positions remain in disagreement.