Religion: 42 Hours of Repentance

Just after dinner one evening last week, balding, spectacled President Victor Raymond Edman of Illinois' Wheaton College rose to begin a regular session of the Evangelistic Week that traditionally begins each term. Stepping up to the microphones in the brightly lit, rectangular auditorium of Pierce Memorial Chapel, he asked if any student would "like to give a word of testimony or praise on the blessings of this week."

President Edman was not surprised when several students trooped up to the rostrum. Such impromptu declarations are not unusual at Wheaton, a little (1,500 students),...