From the President: Matthew A. Scogin ʼ02

Dear Friends and Family of Hope College,

As we approach the start of our 163rd academic year, I am reflecting on the challenges faced by college campuses across the United States. Once characterized by robust discourse, many campuses are witnessing conversations that quickly devolve into protests and shouting matches.

At Hope, we believe we can chart a different course. While another heated election looms, our hope doesn’t rest in political leaders; rather, it lies in the unwavering grace and truth of Jesus.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it really means to be a school that follows Jesus. And as I’ve contemplated this, I realized I had missed something that was in plain sight — something of which many others are probably already well aware. Jesus was a teacher.

He was obviously more than a teacher – he was God incarnate! But if you ask yourself, “What was his vocation?” the answer is that he was a teacher.

As a school, then, that is wholeheartedly committed to following Jesus, it strikes me that we could learn a lot by examining how he taught. Jesus taught by asking questions and telling parables. Rarely did he offer direct answers. Instead, his methodology centered on drawing students out. He didn’t tell them what to think, but led them on a journey to help them see for the first time what they had always thought. Then, it was up to them to decide whether they wanted to keep those beliefs or change them.

That’s not to say that Jesus didn’t have definite views on certain topics or that he wasn’t willing to say one idea was wrong and another was right. Jesus believed in absolute truth, yet he knew it couldn’t be neatly confined; instead, it had to be embodied. The truth he taught was himself: “I am the truth. I am the way.”

Today, many are tempted to “teach” students by telling them what to believe, rather than instructing them on how to think. Our society seems to want our colleges to lead with answers, not questions. In a divided culture, people want to know which “side” you’re on. And if you don’t agree with that “side,” you’d rather protest than talk about it.

That’s not how Jesus taught. And that’s not how we plan to do it, either.

We aspire to be an institution that can put all the big questions on the table. The biggest most important questions of all, like: Who am I? Why am I here? How did I get here? Is there a God? We can be a place that wrestles with big questions together in an environment that is loving and caring.

This is distinct. A lot of research institutions are taking questions off the table because they think they already know the answers. And similarly, at a lot of Christian colleges, maybe the questions are on the table, but the answers are pretty prescribed.

Hope is different. We are a place that gives students the opportunity to wrestle through tough issues on the way to discovering truth. We are not afraid of this because we believe that the pursuit of truth and beauty in all its forms is in fact a pursuit of God. That’s the essence of Hope College, but it’s also the essence of true hope: the “living hope” that Jesus himself offers.

Spera in Deo!
Matthew A. Scogin ʼ02
President