Notes from a Byzantine-Rite Calvinist: Grove City College stay

18 April 2024

Grove City College stay

Not quite two weeks after my visit to Calvin University, I drove down to Grove City College, a Christian university in the Reformed tradition where my great friend Russell D. Kosits now teaches. I had, of course, heard of the place, but this was the first opportunity to see it for myself, and I very much liked what I saw. The drive from Hamilton is about four hours crossing the border via the Peace Bridge connecting Fort Erie and Buffalo. The weather co-operated quite nicely, and my time there coincided with two bright spring days, with trees on campus just beginning to flower.

Grove City College is nearly 150 years old, having been established in 1876. It once had a connection to the Presbyterian Church (USA), but no longer. It is a private liberal arts undergraduate university and has more than 2,000 young people enrolled as students.

Although Kosits was my principal host, I was also hosted by Michael L. Coulter, chair of political science and humanities. I arrived at the campus on monday, 15 April. The following evening, I delivered a lecture titled, "Citizenship as a Calling: Christian Citizenship in a Fallen World." My text, from which I occasionally departed, was adapted from chapter 2 of my forthcoming Citizenship Without Illusions, to be published by InterVarsity Press on 26 November. There was a good turnout of students and faculty, some of whom were already familiar with my work.

The following morning I guest lectured in Coulter's course, POLS 205, titled: Political Philosophy and the Christian Intellectual Tradition. The subject was Abraham Kuyper's life and work, for which the students had read the "Third Lecture: Calvinism and Politics" from Kuyper's famous Lectures on Calvinism, delivered at Princeton Seminary in 1898. Shortly before noon, I had lunch with Coulter and some of his students in the cafeteria, where we had an animated discussion on politics and related subjects. Then I got in the car and made the four-hour drive back to Hamilton.

While at Grove City, I also had the opportunity to meet and get to know Carl Trueman, a professor of biblical and religious studies who previously taught at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. I am a great admirer of his 2020 book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the spiritual and philosophical roots of expressive individualism and the associated sexual revolution. (I've not read the abridged version, Strange New World, but for those lacking the time to read Rise and Triumph, this is the book to read.) For my full assessment of Trueman's book, see The Enthroned Self: Carl Trueman’s Account of a Revolution.

During my visit I was billeted at Stewart House, the university's guest house at the southwestern periphery of campus, a Victorian-style house which I am given to understand was once a bed and breakfast. Here are a few photographs of a most enjoyable visit.