As I was “calling it a day” last night, my good friend, Carl, over at Ignatius Insight Scoop, posted a note about Dinesh D’souza and his assumption of the presidency of The King’s College.
Before I write anything more, I must admit two things.
First, I’ve not kept up with D’Souza’s career in the last decade or so. I greatly admire his biography of Reagan (I even own two copies of it—one perfect, signed hardback for the shelf and one abused and dog-eared paperback with marginalia for lectures), and I saw him give an excellent speech at Indiana University back in the mid 1990s. Since then, through no fault of D’Souza’s, I’ve just not paid much attention.
Second, I was utterly confused about Carl’s reference to “The King’s College.” For some reason, I’d thought this place had become Columbia back in the American Revolution. But, no, I found on the web, there’s a college proclaiming itself “The King’s College.” And, it’s not an online school, but a school located in the heart of the Empire State Building. Wow. It’s quite possible, every reader of this blog site is familiar with this school. I wasn’t.
Here’s the mission statement: “Through its commitment to the truths of Christianity and a biblical worldview, The King’s College seeks to transform society by preparing students for careers in which they help to shape and eventually to lead strategic public and private institutions, and by supporting faculty members as they directly engage culture through writing and speaking publicly on critical issues.”
The first part of the mission statement seems a redundancy to me. Isn’t a “biblical worldview” a necessary part of the truths of Christianity? So, King’s College, you continue to confuse me. You seem more of a debating society than a liberal college. But, I wish you luck. If I remember correctly, Peter Parker attends The Empire State University, located in the same building.
On a serious (non sarcastic, non snide) note, Carl also has a piece on the “High” of Catholicism.
Despite the deepest wishes of our own John Willson, Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged have been in the news this week. Two fascinating articles (one old, one new) about Rand:
And, Houston lawyer and conservative, Susanna Dokupil, offers a great analysis of Atlas Shrugged in light of Fundamentalist theology.
Bob Mondello had a wonderful piece at NPR, “At the Movies, A String of Futures Passed,” dealing with Hollywood dystopian films.
And, finally, former president Jimmy Carter has landed in North Korea to discuss the release of an American being held captive by the communist state. For the sake of the American, let’s pray he does better than he did with Iran.
Books on the topic of this essay may be found in The Imaginative Conservative Bookstore. The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.
Alisa Harris taught journalism there for a couple years. Marvin Olasky is a big deal there, too, I think. That mission statement does sound a bit more like a glorified evangelical youth group than a college…
Mark and Daniel, thanks for the responses. I wrote out of ignorance; Daniel, I just read the article you posted. Thanks for doing so. Looks like an interesting place, and I wish them luck.
Daniel, I agree completely. I was really just being sarcastic–which is hard to tell, because it's the web, and my humor (such that it is) comes across as more biting than funny. Anyway we're in agreement. And, now that I've questioned the reality of the King's College, I'm seeing and hearing about it everywhere. Looks like a really interesting place.