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Obama Proposes Free Community College

Last week in the State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama outlined America’s College Promise, a plan to “lower the cost of community college — to zero.”

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the proposal aims to waive tuition for community college students who maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA and “make steady progress toward completing their program.” The plan applies to both half-time and full-time students and includes certificate, associate, and bachelor’s degrees. The plan would cost the federal government an estimated $60-billion over ten years, which would cover 75% of projected costs, while participating states would be asked to fund the other 25%.

358209_Obama-Community-College.18Dr. Linda Mills Woolsey, Dean of the College, who said she has “mixed feelings” about the plan, described it as a “well-intentioned” attempt to “meet a projected education gap” and to “make sure that there’s access to education for people from all economic backgrounds.” Woolsey said doing this solely through the community college system, however, encourages the mass-production of education,“we’re imagining a kind of Henry Ford type way to get students through their first couple years of education.”

Eric Currie, Vice President for Enrollment Management, said while initially the plan might “create a challenging moment” for Houghton, the already existing “great transfer processes” Houghton has with community colleges will be an important asset. Currie said Houghton is likely to continue to prioritize the continued development of online programs and of the Buffalo campus of Houghton, both of which more closely meet the needs of the demographic of students primarily targeted by America’s College Promise.

President Shirley Mullen said her primary concern is the current prominence of cost in the dialogue about higher education would make it “easy for the idea of a free two-year college to just be too tempting for students for whom that really isn’t the best option and not the only option,” and usually the rhetoric about cost “underestimates the impact of [four year] education on even one’s financial resources over the long haul.” She described a sadness in the potential loss, not just for Houghton, but for all students pursuing higher education if the proposal draws students away from four-year learning communities that in general provide “a more coherent education overall.” However, Mullen also said, “we would like to have more transfer students” as they often bring a greater appreciation for Houghton and a more focused drive. Currently, transfer students make up 18% of incoming students and 15% of the student body.

Currie said while he supports anything that will bring education to more people, he would have liked to see the government offer to pay two years of tuition for eligible students at any college that was able to meet a given price cap. “I would say challenge us all to rise to the occasion. Not just community colleges,” said Currie. “Challenge whoever is willing to go and make it happen…I think that that edifies some of the best things about our society which is innovation, entrepreneurship…and the kind of take charge personality, and yet still meeting people’s needs.”

The needs of the people are not just financial. Woolsey said she embraces the social good of widely-available free education, but is not sure “it will do what we want it to do if in the process we lose the richness and variety of higher education.”  Woolsey said, “These small private colleges and even some of the midsized, private Christian colleges offer an education that’s more varied, sometimes more creative, and certainly more focused on the individual.”

Though at this point it seems highly unlikely that the proposal will make it through congress any time soon, Currie said, “Whether it’s President Obama or the next President or the President after that, I think that something like this is going to come through…it’s on the radar in the federal government and in the state governments that they feel that they really want to have an impact on this issue, and I think they feel it’s important.”

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Opinions

Enrollment and The Hail Mary Pass

A Vanderbilt University study concluded colleges that had recently closed had enrollments of fewer than one thousand students and endowments of under $50 million. Many were religious institutions such as Bethany University in California. First year student enrollment drastically dropped – by 10% or more –  at more than a quarter of U.S. private four-year colleges over the past two years, according to the Wall Street Journal. Higher education experts foresee a death spiral for small private schools due to an overreliance on tuition revenue and a scarcity of large endowments.

JFGVHoughton College has been affected by low enrollment over the past several years. Last year, Houghton missed their enrollment target and the administration enacted austerity measures such as staff layoffs, closing of floors in dorms, and cutbacks to underperforming academic and sports programs. Houghton has survived more than a century of wars, depressions, and social changes. The problems faced today are found within rapidly changing local and national demographics. As Western New York loses 1% of its population every two years and families move south, the possibility of a vibrant local enrollment diminishes. In addition, our winters make Houghton a tough sell to out-of-state students.

The national numbers are even more implacable. As high school graduating class size declines, those who graduate are deciding in larger numbers not to attend college. Private liberal arts schools continue to be dominated by white, female students. At open access colleges, which accept at least 80% of applicants, enrollment for African-Americans and Hispanics doubled in the past decade.

Religion in America is also changing, according to Pew Research. In 1955, our country was composed of 70% mainline Protestant faiths. Today, Protestants account for 50%. Catholics and non-denominational Christians are now up to 36%.  Houghton College and Dean Michael Jordan have been very accepting of all Christian faiths, but Houghton should include our Christian diversity more when promoting the school.

The dawn of online education also hurts enrollment. According to a Babson College survey, 32% of students nationally had enrolled in an online course. To add fuel to the fire, many liberal arts schools have simply priced themselves out of the market. Tuition costs have risen beyond the inflation rate and the ability to find a job to pay off debt has severely diminished due to a poor job environment.

Every problem has solutions and Houghton has responded with many positive initiatives to assist in this year’s enrollment, which is up 10%, or about thirty students, from last year’s numbers.  The increase can be attributed to an agreement with Indiana Wesleyan to launch Houghton education online, a newly opened associate’s degree program in Buffalo, the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, and an increased effort to attract foreign students in Hong Kong. These endeavors have moved the football down the field a few yards, but more students can be added at a low cost. Houghton would score a touchdown by using its best asset.

Through a generous gift by the Kerr-Pegula family, we have trumped nearly every college in the Northeast with our athletic facilities. Houghton has also spent a lot of money to complete the project. There has been a growing population of students who play sports at Houghton. According to Skip Lord, Houghton’s Athletic Director, 25% of students participate in athletics, with a goal of a 33%. The ratio is excellent, but consider elite academic schools such as Haverford College and Williams College with nearly 40% of their students playing varsity sports. Athletics attract students to come to campus, stay on campus, take up residence, and buy Houghton sports themed apparel. Our teams recruit players at camps and give Houghton visibility. Houghton athletes establish recruiting pipelines from their former high schools. Coaches have a distinct advantage of selling the college over an admissions officer as athletes and their parents are easily swayed by the opportunity to play at the next level.

Recently, the addition of several new sports has helped enrollment. Of those additions, baseball has been the biggest success adding more than 30 students. Coach Brian Reitnour has recruited students from Colorado, Washington, New Jersey, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Canada and British Guyana. We could add more students by relaunching low-cost, official JV teams. Sports like soccer and baseball are ripe for JV programs and could add 50 students. Houghton is well known for its equestrian studies and runs one of best equestrian summer camps. Could not Houghton mirror the program and competition schedule of Centenary College of New Jersey, which packs ninety students on the equestrian team?

However, the enrollment touchdown pass for a small college is to add a football team with a promise of over one hundred new, paying students. Since 2009, over 40 new college football programs have been added. Many programs have helped small private schools such as Hendrix College reverse the enrollment death spiral. Seton Hill also found enrollment in football. The school’s president noted to The New York Times, “I could have started a spiffy new major of study, spent a lot of money on lab equipment and hired a few new high-powered professors; I might have gotten 25 more students for that. Instead, I started a football team, brought in hundreds of paying students, added a vibrant piece to our campus life and broadened our recognition factor.” College football is a game changer for small schools. Besides just boosting enrollment it can eliminate low male ratios and attract new Christian minorities and ethnic, Catholic students that might not consider Houghton. Football can also add a 25 person cheerleader squad and a 60 student marching band to our vibrant music community.

In sum, Houghton doesn’t have to be a small school casualty. We must acknowledge that demographic shifts and technological changes are moving rapidly and are beyond our control. With our athletic facilities, Houghton College has distinct advantage to reverse a national trend. How we react and adapt to those trends will be how our future is determined.

 

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News

17 Students Enroll at Buffalo Satellite Campus

The addition of a satellite campus in Buffalo is one of the hanges that have happened recently at Houghton. This campus provides an opportunity to receive a 2-year Associate of the Arts Degree through Houghton College. Upon graduation, students are granted automatic admission into the bachelor’s program at Houghton’s main campus, should they choose to accept.

BuffaloSkyline 2Currently, there are 17 students enrolled, representing five different areas of the world. Several of the students are refugees who have been living in Buffalo for less than six years, from places like Burma, Thailand, Congo, and elsewhere, according to Dean of Extension Studies, Scott McClelland. Many of these students are first generation students who are learning English during their pursuit of higher education.

Both Houghton’s Buffalo program and Houghton itself, McClelland says, were created as a means to provide an education about the broader world in a Christian environment. McClelland quoted the mission of Houghton Buffalo as “…providing our educational distinctive to students who are economically diverse.”

This education being provided is as diverse as the students themselves. According to Houghton Buffalo’s page on the Houghton College website, courses are offered in fine arts, theology, mathematics, and others, all in Buffalo. These courses are taught by a combination of current full-time professors, and local Adjunct professors who are familiar with the Buffalo area.

In addition to professors, there are other Houghton members and alumni assisting in the start of program. Director of CASA, Mark Hunter works closely with the students to help them with their English vocabulary skills, while professor Laurie Dashnau offers the services of the Writing Center to Buffalo students on Fridays. Three recent Houghton alumni, Amanda Wojcinksi, Elizabeth Wallace, and Roxanne Kehr also provide daily tutoring sessions through the AmeriCorps program. Programs such as tutoring sessions and other programs help the students transition into their new life as they move between two cultural contexts every day.

The Buffalo area, particularly within church populations, has already recognized Houghton as a college community for providing tutoring services and service learning opportunities in the region. With the development of the new Houghton Buffalo program, members of the Buffalo community have an opportunity to be reached in a way they have not experienced before.  McClelland says, “Now we have become neighbors, with an educational site to help urban students as Houghton students. The difference is huge.”

The program also looks to make sure that Houghton Buffalo students aware they are part of a larger college community in addition to the Buffalo community. Students will be making three trips to Houghton’s main campus this semester, where one of the courses is being taught. Looking toward the future, McClelland also says that he hopes to establish some sort of video conferencing to help tie the colleges together.

Video conferencing is just one of the ways that McClelland hopes to integrate the two campuses in the future. As Buffalo students come to Houghton to be a part of the larger community, McClelland would like Houghton students to know that they have an opportunity to be part of the revival in Buffalo as well by participating in the semester at Buffalo program that the college offers.

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Opinions Two Views

Two Views: Are Non-profit Careers Necessary for Christian Students?

It seems quite natural to assume that a Christian’s vocation lies somewhere in the nonprofits.  Their goal of serving the public seems to mesh well with the Christian calling of serving others.  Why would any Christian look for employment in a company that exists to maximize shareholders’ wealth?  Well, if this model describes all for-profit companies, then that general assumption would be warranted; however, many charitable organizations are finding that the for-profit model allows them freedom, and that this extra freedom is worth any tax incentive that the government can offer.

cicNIKA Water, a small for-profit bottled water company, donates 100% of its profits to bring clean water and safe sanitation to less developed areas around the world.  Jeff Church, Co-Founder of NIKA, claims that the for-profit model allows them more autonomy over their giving and doesn’t tie them down to donors.  He stated, “NIKA’s model is one that doesn’t need to rely on economic cycles or donor priorities but rather it uses the market place to create the profits which are then contributed back into the causes.  Businesses such as NIKA are challenging to get to a critical mass level but if done correctly they can result in a steady stream of profits to be donated.”

NIKA isn’t alone in their philosophy.  Companies around the country are foregoing the tax benefits and other incentives of a nonprofit and adopting the for-profit model.  Toms Shoes, commonly mistaken as a nonprofit company, adopted the model for similar reasons.  Blake Mycoskie, founder of Toms, stated, “We’ve never had to ask anyone for a donation and that shows that you can sustain giving through the power of commerce.”  This charitable trend towards the for-profit model has led to the creation of two new entities: the benefit corporation and the L3C.  These dual-purpose organizations focus on turning a profit as well as creating a general public benefit.  The tax exemptions vary for each, and though there are obvious issues with the dual-purpose model, I mention these new types of corporations because of what they highlight.  They show that society is seeing business in a new light.  People are starting to understand both the importance of the profit seeking model and the importance of using it for the public good.  All this to say, if Christians limit themselves to seeking only nonprofit work, they are not only failing to see the big picture, but could also be missing out on for-profit companies who are just as focused on serving the public.

Now, for the Christians who have no issue with the whole for-profit vs. nonprofit debate but still find “the helping professions” more noble than the others I would again say the same thing.  It’s not that going into the medical field, missions, or any of the obvious helping professions (as I’ve termed them) is wrong but it is important for Christians not to limit themselves based on their preconceived ideas of a worthy calling.

A passage from Matthew comes to mind: “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.”

Why do I mention this?  Because in the grand scheme of things Christians who are overly concerned about whether to work in nonprofit or for-profit businesses, helping professions or business management, have most likely missed the point.  You can spend your entire life looking for occupations that fit well into a “Christian” resume but God’s calling should trump all.  Keep an open mind, follow the call of Christ, and don’t let the negative connotations of a for-profit business inhibit you from living out God’s call in the for-profit world.

 

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Stories In Focus

Coming Up: Bluegrass and Folk CAB Coffeehouse

This upcoming Tuesday in Java 101 the CAB Coffeehouse will feature a bluegrass-focused performance by students Abby Talone, Zach Kitchen, Colleen Winton, and Annie Hassen. These four have been playing music together for some time, including a performance last semester at the alumni coffeehouse that took place during Homecoming weekend. Aside from Coffeehouses, several of the group’s members have also played for Koinonia on Sunday nights.

CoffeehouseThe two hours will feature a variety of instruments. Annie Hassen will be playing the violin, a key element of traditional American folk music. Junior Zach Kitchen will be playing the mandolin, while fellow junior Colleen Winton will be performing on both the acoustic guitar, and also egg shaker. In addition to more traditional folk instruments, Winton will be contributing her whistling skills to the performance. Senior Abby Talone, who is a Koinonia leader, will add her strumming talents, playing on her Martin & Co. acoustic guitar. The four are intending to incorporate a variety of harmonies and vocal styles into their performance to emphasize their “folky feel”, as Talone put it.

The group chose songs that would best showcase their intended sound and create the desired casual and rustic ambiance. The selection of songs they will be covering include songs and artists such as “Flowers in Your Hair” by The Lumineers, “Your Love is Strong” by Jon Foreman, and “Like the Dawn” by the Oh Hellos. Additionally they will cover other artists such as the popular English folk rock band, Mumford and Sons, the Christian acoustic folk band, All Sons and Daughters, and similar folk-based musicians.

This American traditional style of music, or folk music, dates back to the early 1930s, from which it developed into our current genre of “hipster” or “indie” music. However, folk music is an intrinsic part of our history as Americans, as it incorporates elements from both the blues, country, bluegrass, gospel, and old-timey – a picture of how the integration of the American people as a nation began with the integration of music.

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Opinions Two Views

Two Views: Convictions and Compromise

Can a Christian hold convictions strongly, yet at the same time be willing to compromise?

Browsing over the lunches of my second grade classmates, I searched for food items that I thought my taste buds would find more satisfying than the bag of pretzels in front of me. Hmm … we had a small pack of Skittles (an option), a bag of baby carrots (too healthy), some Goldfish (those looked good, but their owner was a girl and girls still had cooties), and an array of other snacks, none of which measured up to my pretzels. So, I decided to eat my pretzels. Into my body they went, part of my body they became. Such is the way with convictions.

coryYour convictions define you. They are a part of you. This is always the case. But there is a hierarchy of convictions. What is it that differentiates the Christian from the non-Christian? It is her fundamental convictions, held by grace. The Christian could not and should not compromise or barter on issues challenging fundamental convictions. However, there is a time to compromise and barter on certain issues; history reminds us of the dangers of thinking otherwise.

The word conviction is derived from the Latin noun convictio, or verb convincere, which translates to “with conquer,” implying that holding convictions involves both a conqueror and a conquered. Holding convictions can do violence. But be not fooled: there is also danger for the disciple of Christ who is unwilling to hold convictions uncompromisingly.

In Romans 8:38-39, Paul says that he is convinced that nothing can separate “us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He is convinced of this, he holds onto it with certainty. The Christian must have distinguishing fundamental convictions, rooted in the certainty of the love of Jesus, on which she is not willing to compromise or barter. There are also issues that the Christian should be willing to compromise and barter on in order that she does not compromise on a more fundamental conviction within the hierarchy.

Economic theory tells us that a free market economy with pure competition maintains allocative efficiency; that is, goods and services go where they are most desirable. In the same way, if we compromise and barter on all issues, we will end up holding whatever convictions we find most advantageous to us. The Christian should be uncomfortable with bartering on issues that conflict with fundamental convictions. To barter on these issues makes one’s convictions meaningless and turns one into a disciple of self. Instead, Jesus calls us to follow him and be his disciples. If we have no discipline in holding fundamental convictions uncompromisingly, then how are we to be disciples of Christ?

Look at the conquest and evangelization of the Americas that marginalized native peoples. Many people would see this as Christians who were unwilling to compromise and barter on issues with the native people. While I think this is true, I would argue that, at the heart of the matter, it was Christians who were willing to compromise on the fundamental convictions in order to use “evangelization” as a means to power and domination. Because it was advantageous, fundamental convictions were abused. This is the danger of a “free market economy of ideology.”

Because convictions make us who we are, we must never compromise on the fundamental convictions that are inseparable from our Christian identity. We have a table at which we are formed. No, it is not the second grade lunch table. At the Eucharist table we partake of the embodiment of our fundamental convictions. May we always hold to these uncompromisingly.

 

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Stories In Focus

Album Review: Five Iron Frenzy, “Engine of a Million Plots”

Five Iron Frenzy. The band’s name honors a golf club swinging paranoiac. Its albums have names like All the Hype That Money Can Buy, It’s Funny but Not Very Creative, and Our Newest Album Ever! (exclamation point not mine). A few of its songs quote literary figures like Edgar Allen Poe and Shakespeare, while others feature imaginary scenarios with dancing glittery unicorns or hungry wizards.

And it’s a Christian band. Earnestly, realistically Christian.

If this description intrigues you, stop reading and go listen to Five Iron Frenzy’s new album, Engine of a Million Plots. If the description has confused, alarmed, or disgusted you, then please keep reading.

Five Iron Frenzy is a ska-core band, meaning they combine the reggae-like rhythms and prominent horn sections of ska with the fast, intense, and sometimes abrasive sounds of hardcore punk rock. The band formed in 1995, released nine albums between then and 2004, and after a nine year gap released a tenth album in November of this year. The latest album, Engine of a Million Plots, features twelve of the band’s characteristically weird, spirited, and astute reflections on life. The music—with its strong beat, catchy melodies, exuberant horn playing, and hint of melancholy—is fantastic. However, the album’s greatest strength is in the lyrics to its songs.

That is, once they make sense. Listening casually, I found the meaning of these songs difficult to grasp. This is partly because the words can blend into the music and partly because the words often seem nonsensical. The snippets “we are professors at robot spy college,” or “I fight tsunamis with an umbrella” for example, don’t convey much. However, reading the full lyrics revealed commentary on despair, arrogance, lost faith, and tightly held hope. The album presents a complex picture of Christianity—alternately joking bitterly about its failures, regretting times when it is lost, and triumphing in the confidence it offers.

Courtesy of relevantmagazine.com
Courtesy of relevantmagazine.com

The song “Zen and the Art of Xenophobia,” for example, mocks the hypocrisy and disdain of so-called Christians. With biting sarcasm, the lyrics say to “cling to your god and guns,” and to “lock and load—just like Jesus did.” The line “give me liberty…or something” highlights the loss of ideals, while the suggestion to “turn your wine back into water” evokes the self-righteous Pharisees’ rejection of Jesus’s miracles. The final words, “and Jesus was American,” are a sharp rebuke for a false sense of superiority.

With an entirely different tone, the song “Blizzards and Bygones” reflects on the loss of a once vibrant faith. The song is resigned in attitude, with lyrics like “you look around but find yourself all alone, and you hunker down, but the cold’s already in your bones.” However, the portrayal of faith is beautiful and loving. The song contrasts the time “back when the angels of heaven would sing” with a time of “frost and no thaw,” and describes “a flicker of desire…a faintly glowing fire for some truth” that remains even when faith is gone.

Of all the songs on the album, “I’ve Seen the Sun” caught me most unaware with the power of its lyrics. The details are vivid and chaotic—“I’m facing down death like a fly on the windscreen. You bring the Warheads, I’m bringing ice cream” or “I’m screaming down into the black abyss…bells are ringing.” But they bring to life the central lines, “I’ve seen the sun come down…And in the dark of night I hold to its return.” This radical hope appears again in the words “tell me that I’m doomed and I’ll keep singing. The fight won’t end with me.” Then, in the last line, the song boldly celebrates the source of such hope: “Savior says…everything’s gonna be alright.”

Five Iron Frenzy’s new album is simultaneously profound and playful, depressed and confident, accusing and joyful. A brief description should have made obvious that the band doesn’t take itself too seriously. Arguably because of this, Engine of a Million Plots offers a thought-provoking look at the real brokenness surrounding Christianity and the real salvation we find in Jesus Christ.

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Stories In Focus

Differing Perspectives on the Military Spark Discussions of Conviction and Support

Bowing his head over the chapel pulpit on Monday, November 11, Michael Jordan gave thanks for the sacrifices of those in the military, confessed the mistakes of this and every country, and asked earnestly for peace. His prayer observed Veteran’s Day and the Canadian Remembrance Day. Also, whether intentionally or not, it honored those at Houghton involved in the military while showing respect for those here with pacifist convictions. This is a necessity for a college that strives to offer support to individuals with ties to the military but also to recognize those who have other perspectives on Christian involvement in the military.

“The Christian tradition as a whole has within it two long standing traditions regarding the use of violence and the military—pacifism and just war theory,” explained Shirley Mullen, president of the college.  “As a Christian college, I believe we have a responsibility to familiarize students with both of those traditions.”

One way the college does this, while providing for the needs of students in or aspiring to join the military, is through the Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC) program. The ROTC program on campus began in the late 70s, following years in which Houghton students participated in ROTC through St. Bonaventure University.

“The benefits [of ROTC] are too great in number to achieve an accurate count,” said Alyssa Kiser, a senior cadet in the Houghton ROTC program. Formerly part of a high school JROTC unit, Kiser said “[JROTC] taught me to be honest, be courageous, and how to be proud of not only my achievements, but the achievement of the team working together to reach a goal.” Kiser said the benefits of her college ROTC involvement include “a four-year scholarship awarded right out of high school (for contracted cadets), a monthly stipend (for contracted cadets), relationships with people from all over the United States and abroad, a guaranteed job after graduation, and skills that will last a lifetime.”

Others at Houghton do not share this enthusiasm about ROTC. “There have been some in our community and some in our alumni constituency who believe that we should not have ROTC on campus,” Mullen commented. “My own position on this is the following:  If we were a college of one of the Peace Denominations, then we would not have ROTC…But the Wesleyan Methodist denomination has historically had within itself both pacifist and just war advocates. So our denomination does not dictate our position on this issue…In supporting ROTC, I have always encouraged our ROTC group to be proactive in creating a forum where these issues can be discussed. So that the presence of ROTC is, itself, an educational opportunity for students at a Christian liberal arts college.”

Connie Finney, professor of education, is among those who question the role of ROTC at a liberal arts college. Finney described herself as “not personally against the military, but…against some of the ways it functions.” While making it clear that she respects and cares about the individuals involved in the ROTC program, Finney commented “The ROTC program being housed at a Christian liberal arts college is a bit puzzling to me in the sense that my understanding of the military is that you are not encouraged to be an independent thinker – you are encouraged to follow orders.  It would be difficult to have a well-functioning military otherwise. This does not, in my mind, seem consistent with liberal arts thinking.”

Whatever their views on Christians in the military, Houghton students, faculty and staff are generally supportive of individual members of the college community who are involved with the military. The support takes various forms. It may be prayers in chapel and elsewhere. It may be, as Kiser described, “excusal from classes in understanding of training events for the military, attendance at military functions, silence when performing in color guards (the parading of the National flag), and not disgracing the personnel in uniform.” It may be the respect which John Van Wicklin, faculty advisor for ROTC, said “starts from the President of the College and works its way down.” It may be former ROTC advisor Robert Danner’s challenge to Houghton cadets: “that they be good leaders in the Army, and good witnesses for Christ…”

 

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Opinions

Missiology 101

Hello, Phil. I hear you’ve got to know this new fellow who has moved into your town lately, and I’ve been wondering what you think about him. He’s an immigrant, a missionary from a Muslim country, here to try to convert Americans to Islam. He certainly seems surprising, in some ways. He knows nothing about Christianity, or about what Christians believe. When someone asked him, he had no idea which country was on the other side of the United States’ northern border. And it was complete news to him that America had begun as a collection of British colonies, which rebelled against British rule and achieved independence in the eighteenth century. He doesn’t speak English, and is certainly taking his sweet time about learning it. But then, as he says (through an interpreter), some people just aren’t good at languages.

In fact, self-deprecation seems to be his long suit. He keeps saying what a dummy he is, how naïve etc.. Though I notice that, when you give him information that will be useful to him, he almost makes a point of forgetting it again right away, as though he didn’t want to be contaminated by it — as if naïveté were a treasured part of his self-image.

And then there’s the strange matter of American names. You can’t have failed to notice. As he explains, there is a custom in his country that all foreign names containing a simple ‘i’ sound have to be pronounced with ‘oo’. It’s not that the ‘i’ sound is difficult for him (there are plenty such names in his own country, for goodness’ sake); it’s just that they have a rule among themselves to pronounce all foreign names this way. So he calls Philadelphia ‘Fooladelphia’, and addresses you as ‘Fool’ — and, in the nicest, humblest possible way, he rather expects you to answer to it. And if you tackle him on this, he does his favorite ‘hurt feelings’ look, and says it’s the custom of his country, a part of his identity. And how could you try to take that away from him?

So what I want to know is this:  What do you think of this fellow, Phil? (or ‘Fool’?) Please don’t tell me merely that you expect him to be rather unsuccessful in converting Americans to Islam. I think we can take that much for granted. No: I’m playing the shrink here, with the big “So how do you Feel?” How do you feel about him?

missionaryMy guess is that, at a minimum, you will view him as a pitiable but also unwelcome intrusion into your town. Maybe you go further, and hold him in some degree of contempt for his attitudes. It’s possible you even go so far as to view him with actual anger and hostility.

Since it’s hard to feel threatened by him (although his country is powerful, it’s nowhere near as powerful as the U.S., and people there are an awful lot poorer than they are here), I suspect that you go for the more moderate reactions toward him. If the relationships were reversed, though, and his was the more powerful and wealthier society that was influencing our daily lives in countless ways, I suspect that your reactions would move over toward the more virulent end of the spectrum.

Scratch all that. I just made it up. And anyway, you’re not Phil. So let me tell you instead about a young couple I really have met, who really were surprising, in exactly the ways our imaginary Muslim in Phil’s home town was surprising. And I have to say that it’s OK — not great, but still OK — not to have any idea who Cyril and Methodius were. Or whether Istanbul is at the eastern end of Turkey, or the western. Or which country Belgrade is in. Maybe you know none of those things. It’s not great to be ignorant about them, because they matter. But the world is a big place, and I’m sure you could easily find facts of equivalent importance about, say, western China, concerning which I would be equally ignorant.

And anyhow, we’re in America. Indeed, it would still be OK not to know those things if we were in the U.S. and planning to start a business (or some political move, or do some Christian missions work) in, say, Peru or India. But this couple? They were missionaries in Macedonia. By that I mean, they had already arrived there. Now, Macedonia is a predominantly Orthodox country (Cyril and Methodius are the crucial figures in Slavic Orthodox history), that was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks for more than five centuries until just about within living memory. And it spent most of the twentieth century as part of Yugoslavia — which was ruled from the Serbian capital of Belgrade. And our couple knew nothing about these fundamental features of the country’s culture, religion, history, or geography.

A missionary is a person who, to put it bluntly, goes somewhere to tell the locals what’s what. But our friends didn’t know what’s anything.

We’ll take as read the fact that they didn’t know any of the language until they arrived. Who would expect anything else? And, of course, they pronounce the capital city of Skopje as ‘Skoapje’. You can say that’s the American pronunciation — like calling the Italian city of Firenze ‘Florence’ — if you want. Except that it wouldn’t be true. Because, even if we accept the unlikely assumption that they’d even heard of the city before they arrived, or had heard American pronunciations of it, they pronounced it that way straight away anyway, and ditto for smaller places that would have been completely off their radar. No: everyone around them in Macedonia says one thing — so they say another. It’s the custom, right? And my friend Kosta gets addressed if he were a beer mat: Coaster.

Can we see that anything milder than furious outrage would be altogether too kind a reaction by the unfortunate hosts?

But our friends are not the exceptions: they’re typical. To be sure, I know counterexamples. There’s an American pastor who has lived in a small town of that country for nine years. He looks and dresses like a local, sends his kids to the local school, and speaks so well that many can’t even tell he’s a foreigner.

But he’s the exception. The clueless young couple are the rule. So how should they respond to the points I just made? I’d tell you how they will respond — but you already know. Smile; look bewildered; make self-effacing jokes about what dummies they are; do something groovy that’ll entertain the local kids; look hurt and keep what they fondly imagine to be a ‘holy’ silence. But, whatever they do, make no change.

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Doubt Suspended in Confidence

Season seven, episode seven of the Fox series Bones features a nine-month pregnant Dr. Temperance Brennan wading through a crowded fight in the cafeteria of a men’s prison without a care in the world. Her anxious partner, Booth, begs her to have some sense and not over-exert herself, but she casually states that hurting a child is one of the biggest prison taboos, and carries on. And she is right; the prisoners catch sight of her immense belly and fall over themselves to get out of her way. Her path is miraculously cleared in the midst of tackling bodies, headlocks, and thrown punches. She is aware of something cognitively and she fearlessly applies it to her physical life without a second thought. She is confident in her own mind.

tenetsI hoard my favorite quotes in notebooks and look over them periodically like a miser counting gemstones. Several oft-read quotes are pulled from Nietzsche’s The Gay Science. At the risk of being thought delusional, I in all honesty find that Nietzsche, “God is dead” Nietzsche, provides me with as much affirmation in my faith as any Christian writer ever has, if not more. Particularly these lines: “When we hear the news that ‘the old god is dead,’ as if a new dawn shone on us; our heart overflows with gratitude, amazement, premonitions, expectation. At long last the horizon appears free to us again, even if it should not be bright; at long last our ships may venture out again, venture out to face any danger; all the daring of the lover of knowledge is permitted again; the sea, our sea, lies open again; perhaps there has never yet been such an ‘open sea.’” Let me explain. I enter the crowded fight between Nietzsche and God with the knowledge that God is not dead, not anymore. And the crowd parts before me. “The old god is dead,” yes, and the new God has risen, and a new dawn shines on us. We can venture out without fear of sin. We can grow in our knowledge, knowing that the open sea of God’s forgiveness lies before us. Few things I have read have given me more hope. Of course, I am blatantly projecting my own personal beliefs and convictions upon the undoubtedly unwilling Nietzsche. I am being rude, perhaps; I am blaspheming, even. I have a habit of gathering hope from typically barren places such as this. Is it a unique and valuable form of faith, or am I over-confident and foolish? In the wise words of our own Houghton alumnus Gordon Brown, “Bad self-esteem and inflated self-esteem are two sides of the same coin.”

In season eight, episode ten of Bones, Dr. Brennan enters a ballroom dancing competition while undercover with Booth. She has never danced before, but she observes the other dancers and says with the same assuredness as before that she can translate the same movements that they make to the corresponding parts of her own body. She then proceeds to do so… and is dreadful. She believes that she is mimicking their motions exactly, but she does not have the practice that they have, and in actuality has no idea what she herself looks like in action. This kind of misguided confidence is seen all too often in the efforts of various evangelizers. The desire to appear infallible and have all the answers repeatedly overwhelms the real need for earnest seeking and authenticity. There is a delicate balance here. My fiancé Andy Nelson writes, “We should question our faith. We should express our views with humility. But we should not adopt a state of constant uncertainty and doubt.” Too much, honesty is replaced by bravado; but just as much, assertiveness is degraded by a kind of shrugging denial of confidence. Neither approach is effective in excess.

There is a poem by Denise Levertov titled “Suspended” that reads, “The ‘everlasting arms’ my sister loved to remember/ Must have upheld my leaden weight/ From falling, even so,/ For though I claw at empty air and feel/ Nothing, no embrace,/ I have not plummeted.” Whether or not complete confidence in every aspect of faith is possible, certainly I can be confident in the fact that I am suspended, that I float on the level with the core tenets of my Christian faith. While some value doubt and others value confidence, each cannot exist without the other. Faith, more than anything else, is a satisfaction in the self. If I, like Dr. Brennan, have confidence in my own mind, then I can feel free to doubt and question, to test my boundaries, to move fearlessly. After all, I have not plummeted.