[Vision2020] NSA: Among the Top 40 Bible Colleges

[keely emerinemix]

Thanks, Nick.  I find it hard to believe, based on my interaction with New 
St. Andrews students and faculty, that it's ranked one of the top 50 of any 
kind of school, but I don't find it surprising that ISI has applauded its 
effectiveness.  After all, embracing the dusty, patriarchal remnants of 
classical Western cultural and then turning out putatively "Christian" 
versions of young libertarians would be right up the Heritage Foundation's 
alley.

I think your points are entirely valid, and I particularly want to emphasize 
what you said below -- that most of the books published by NSA faculty are 
published by Canon Press, which, as we all know, is a Christ Church 
ministry.  Also, I don't consider the parodies "The Mantra of Jabez" and 
"Right Behind" to be the pinnacle of either scholarship or satire.  Easy 
targets, the groaningly simplistic "Prayer of Jabez" and the laughably awful 
"Left Behind" series; on the other hand, a clumsily wielded serrated edge 
generally is effective only on the most conspicuous of targets.

keely


From: <nickgier at adelphia.net>
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] NSA: Among the Top 40 Bible Colleges
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2006 16:20:48 -0700

Greetings:

This is my KRFP radio commentary for tomorrow morning.  It is a follow up on 
the post I did yesterday.

NEW ST. ANDREWS COLLEGE: AMONG THE TOP 40 BIBLE COLLEGES
Radio Commentary for KRFP's "Morning Mix," August 8, 2006

Moscow's New St. Andrews College (NSA) was recently listed among the top 50 
conservative Christian schools by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. 
This institute is supported by the conservative "National Review" and the 
right wing Heritage Foundation, and its evaluation of schools is based on 
faculty and student self reports.

NSA President Roy Atwood is now ranking his school with three other colleges 
on this list:  Hope College, Calvin College, and Aquinas College.  I submit 
that there is no comparison between these schools and his.

Hope, Calvin, and Aquinas are accredited by the 1,303-member North Central 
Association of Colleges and Schools, which requires all permanent faculty 
have PhDs, while NSA is accredited by the 41- member Transnational 
Association for Christian Colleges and Schools, which allows their colleges 
to get by with only one third PhDs and the rest MAs.

I have met faculty from Hope, Calvin, and Aquinas at scholarly conferences 
and I have heard their excellent professional papers.  Since 2003 I've 
extended personal invitations to NSA faculty to attend our annual regional 
theological meeting, but Atwood has declined saying they have "better things 
to do."

Calvin College boasts that it is the first evangelical school to have an 
Asian Studies program.  Hope College has three professors who specialize in 
Asian philosophy and religion.  Don't hold your breath for news that NSA 
will offer any courses on non-Christian thought.

Aquinas College even has a feminist philosopher on its faculty, but NSA 
founder and senior fellow Douglas Wilson believes that only propertied males 
should have the vote.

A sign of a good college is whether or not other institutions would hire its 
faculty.  After teaching 30 years at Calvin College, Nicholas Wolterstorff 
was hired away by Yale Divinity School.

Here are some items where Hope, Calvin, and Aquinas fortunately do not 
compare:

•	Two of NSA’s senior fellows, presumably equivalent to full professors, 
do not have PhDs. Generally, a PhD is required at the lowest rank of 
assistant professor.

•	Wilson's brother, son, and son-in-law are on the NSA faculty.

•	NSA has demonstrated disrespect for its big academic 
neighbor—requesting, for example, that two UI history professors be 
disciplined for criticizing Wilson's views on slavery

•	Most of NSA faculty’s published books are from Canon Press, Wilson’s 
own creation.

•	In 1998 Wilson wrote an article entitled “Why Evangelical Colleges Are 
Not.” The hostility displayed against reputable evangelical colleges in 
this article not only shows blatant disrespect for these fine schools, but 
it manifests shameful disregard for the entire academic enterprise.

NSA's true peers are not Hope, Calvin, and Aquinas; rather, they are Word of 
Life Bible Institute, Shasta Bible Institute, the infamous Institute for 
Creation Research, Messenger College, and Jerry Falwell's Liberty 
University.



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