Dr. Niel Nielson

Recently President Obama nominated Dr. Francis Collins to lead the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Collins’s view of the compatibility between science and religion raises particularly intriguing questions about the proper understanding and use of the Scriptures.

Dr. Collins, a convert to Christianity at age 27 and author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, is well-known for his contention that there is no conflict between science and revealed religion, that these ways of knowing are compatible and complementary. In this regard he has become a kind of poster child for many Christians, providing a persuasive response to secularists’ contention that there is no place for committed Christians and the Christian God in scientific theory and practice. Click to continue »

Each commencement season, I enjoy surveying the landscape of addresses and essays which in one way or another attempt to provide vision and challenge for the year’s graduates. Most are utterly predictable, along the lines of “reach for the stars” or “make the world a better place.” But a few go deeper, some reminding us of misplaced priorities or of the too easily forgotten purposes of genuine education.

Consider the address of Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, who undoubtedly was speaking both to graduates and their parents when he repeated the often asked questions, “What’s my son going to do with this literature major?” or “What’s my daughter going to do with her degree in film studies, or in government?” Such questions seem all the more pertinent during tough economic times, when job prospects appear slim in every vocational field.

He went on to cite several examples of Wesleyan alumni who are putting their liberal arts degrees to work in remarkable ways – doing Arabic translation, writing film scripts, starting up businesses of various sorts, and working in transformational ways in government. Click to continue »

The week before last the Presbyterian Church in America, the denomination which owns and governs Covenant College, held its annual General Assembly in Orlando, FL. Each year a specially appointed committee reviews the program and progress of the College, examining board meeting minutes and financial reports and inquiring about a wide range of matters. It was a joy to engage with these commissioners who take very seriously their oversight responsibility on behalf of the denomination, and I am grateful that their report to the full Assembly expressed strong support and appreciation for the work of the College.

Each year we also have the opportunity to give an informational report on the Assembly floor. This year Pastor Jeff Jakes, senior pastor of Orangewood Presbyterian Church in Maitland, FL, joined me at the podium, and he read wonderful remarks written by his daughter Jessie, a rising Covenant sophomore.

As with all such ecclesiastical gatherings, serious issues arise which deserve serious attention, raising the possibility of sharp divisions and rising emotions. Click to continue »

Yesterday morning, in a Sunday School class at Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church, we looked at Acts 24:24-27, the short episode in which the apostle Paul speaks with Felix, the Roman governor of Judea, and his wife Drusilla. In this passage, we see one good example and one bad example that are instructive for Christians as we face a culture increasingly hostile to biblical faith.

The previous passage shows us Paul before the governor “cheerfully” defending himself against the charges brought against him by the spokesman for the Jewish leaders: stirring up riots among the Jews, profaning the temple, and generally being a “plague.” Paul denies the charges, and declares his worship of “the God of our fathers” and his belief in “everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,” i.e. he affirms his wholehearted faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Cleverly he narrows the reason for his trial to his belief in the resurrection of the dead, a point of contention among different groups of Jews.

Felix, who the text says had “a rather accurate knowledge of the Way,” is lenient toward Paul, allowing him some freedom of movement and visits from his friends, and after several days he sends for Paul to hear him “speak about faith in Christ Jesus” (v. 24). Click to continue »

Last Saturday, May 9, Covenant College celebrated its 54th Commencement Exercises, with more than 320 graduates from our four academic programs. Our Commencement speaker was Kay Cole James, whose many-faceted career demonstrates the kind of whole-hearted and Christ-honoring service that we hope for all our graduates (see Mrs. James’ biographical overview on the Gloucester Institute’s website).

We also heard from four of our graduates who testified to God’s faithfulness through their years of learning and growth and joys and challenges at Covenant. Click to continue »

One of the key distinctives of Covenant’s faculty is their keen attention to teaching students. What happens between professors and students, inside but also outside the classroom, is central and crucial for our mission, and Covenant alumni almost universally report that relationships with faculty members are at the top of the list of the most meaningful and transformative aspects of their college experience.

At the same time, we recognize that effective teaching rests, in significant measure, on effective and energetic scholarship. Our faculty’s ongoing scholarly inquiry necessarily and fruitfully informs the education Covenant students receive, as our faculty guides them in thoughtfully and biblically engaging current issues and conversations. While the majority of Covenant’s graduates will enter vocations other than academic, they will do so understanding the big questions of the whole range of intellectual pursuits and equipped to respond with Christian minds and hearts as those questions inevitably connect at vital points with their various life paths.

Not only does our faculty’s scholarship profoundly shape and bless our students, but it also reaches out beyond our campus as an exciting and important extension of Covenant College. Click to continue »

This spring semester we were pleased to have Leslie Leyland Fields on campus for the Nick Barker Writer-in-Residence program. Fields taught a class on Creative Nonfiction, and gave public readings of her own works. The Nick Barker Writer-in-Residence program honors retired Professor of English and former Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Nick Barker, and is funded by the generous financial support of an anonymous donor. You can listen to a podcast about the Nick Barker Writer-in-Residence program and read more about Leslie Leyland Fields at her website.

Here are some examples of our students’ responses to their class experience with Mrs. Fields:

I absolutely loved being part of this class….I learned so much about not only the creative nonfiction genre, but how to write….

I had always written one way and this class really stretched me to have to try writing from different angles.

It was a humbling and challenging experience. It took my love and skill for writing and directed its focus to Christ….it kept hounding gently the fact that I write for God.

Click to continue »

I just finished reading two books recommended by an acquaintance: Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences (Broadway Books, 2005), and Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men (Basic Books, 2007). The author of both books is Leonard Sax, a family physician and a psychologist.

In Why Gender Matters, Sax takes on the dogmas of gender-neutral child-rearing and social constructionism (the view that differences between girls and boys derive from social expectations with little or no input from biology), and presents a compelling account of the enormous price that children and society have paid for these modern experiments. Under the pervasive influence of blurred distinctions between male and female, particularly the erasure of gender distinctions in school program and curriculum, many children feel “less rooted” in their identity as boys or girls than at any time in our memory.

The neglect of gender in the raising and education of children has resulted in a loss of direction for the growing child and especially the adolescent. The adolescent today is like an explorer without a compass in a trackless wilderness, unsure of the path or the destination.

Consequences include dramatic increases in anxiety and depression among even young children, an elevated sense of instability and threat in their personal lives, and massive confusion about their own identities and about how to relate to one another. Click to continue »

I recently read an article by Phil Zuckerman, associate professor of sociology at Pitzer College, an article adapted from his 2008 book Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment. Zuckerman conducted interviews with residents of Sweden and Denmark, two countries known for their relative absence of religious belief and conviction, in order to support his claim that

…it is not the most religious nations in our world today, but rather the most secular, that have been able to create the most civil, just, safe, equitable, humane, and prosperous societies. Denmark and Sweden stand out as shining examples.

While he clarifies that he is not making a causal argument, i.e. that the alleged high level of social health in these countries is caused by the low levels of religiosity, he states that he wishes “to soberly counter the widely touted assertion that without religion, society is doomed.” He aims this counterargument at those who claim that religion is the foundation for a moral and just society, for human dignity, and for happiness and contentment. Click to continue »

This week’s blog is a bit of a potpourri, written in Ft. Myers, FL, where I’m traveling with my wife for the College. Yesterday I preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Naples in the morning and at North Ft. Myers Presbyterian Church in the evening, and today I speak in the chapel service at Evangelical Christian School of Ft. Myers.

1. My travels have recently taken me to Miami and Ft. Lauderdale; Baltimore and Annapolis; Jackson, MS; Washington, D.C.; and soon again to Miami. These trips have included several preaching engagements, visits to schools, gatherings with Covenant alumni and parents, and conferences connected with my work as college president. Kathleen has enjoyed speaking engagements with women’s groups from Wichita, KS; Greensboro, NC; Suffolk, VA; and even Dubai, where she spoke at a women’s conference and was hosted by the parents of a Covenant student. What a joy it is for both of us to connect with the larger Covenant family around the world, and to see the church at work in so many remarkable ways in so many interesting places! Click to continue »