Harold Ockenga

== Later career ==
The first sixteen years of work at Fuller Theological Seminary witnessed the development of two outlooks among staff and students: conservative and progressive evangelicalism. Among the conservatives, such as Ockenga, Henry, Lindsell and Smith, there was some concern that others such as David Hubbard, Paul Jewett and Daniel Fuller held to a different view of biblical inerrancy.

Those who differed with the conservatives held to a vision for progressive thought among evangelicals on theological, biblical and ethical issues. With Ockenga's final departure from the role of president in absentia, the seminary shifted into a different phase of growth under the direction of those identified with progressive thinking.

Much of the history of these tensions between conservatives and progressives are discussed in George Marsden's history of the seminary.

When Ockenga retired from Park Street Church in 1969 he was appointed president of Gordon College and Divinity School. His desire was to recreate on the U.S. East Coast something of the essence of what had been planned for Fuller seminary. In the late 1960s, therefore, Ockenga entered into negotiations to merge two institutions: [[Gordon Divinity School]] and the [[Conwell School of Theology]]. He collaborated with people such as [[J. Howard Pew]], [[Billy Graham]] and [[Walter Ralston Martin|Walter Martin]] in establishing [[Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary]]. Ockenga served as its president from 1970–79, with figures like Walter Martin sitting on the seminary's board.

Ockenga died of cancer on Friday, February 8, 1985. At his funeral service on Monday, February 11, 1985, was an old friend: Billy Graham. "He was a giant among giants," Graham reflected. "Nobody outside of my family influenced me more than he did. I never made a major decision without first calling and asking his advice and counsel. I thank God for his friendship and his life."