College (2 min vid+text)

I LOVE talking with students about their studies . . .

. . . helping them to think Christianly about all things.

Students have questions outside of class as much as they do in class.

The Comenius Institute helps Christian young people navigate intellectual waters.

Watch our two minute video to hear some of what I hear (full text follows).

At Comenius, we help provide guidance in life, for the next generation.

Subscribe to “Truth in Two” videos from Comenius (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).

Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat, Polly Riddell

FULL TEXT:

I recently spoke second-to-last at a conference in Houston.

I told stories about issues students bring to the Comenius lunch table every week.

  • “I feel the pressure to shift my moral compass all the time”
  • “My academic disciplines depend on Christian assumptions but don’t admit it”
  • “We are told love is the answer but the focus is always on self, not others”

Dr. Mary Poplin, professor at Claremont University, author of Is Reality Secular?, spoke last at our conference. Before she began her talk she pointed at me and said,

“Everything Mark said about belief on a public campus is true.”

Students in public university are sometimes taught from a belief system antithetic to their own. I love helping Comenius students respond Christianly to academic – intellectual questions.

But academic free speech is difficult for Christians at college. One student told me:

“I state my opinion to classmates but write my papers saying what my liberal professor wants to hear. I want to graduate.”

Comenius students find encouragement in Christian belief (Titus 1.9) in weekly on-campus meetings. Our tag-line explains both our passion and mission: “Where Christian wisdom and college life meet.

One pastor says,

“I have a vested interest in the work of Comenius with college students. My daughter will be attending IUPUI this coming fall. I’m glad Dr. Eckel will be there to answer my daughter’s questions, providing a Christian response to what she hears in the classroom.”

One patron says,

“We need a Comenius on every university campus in America.”

I am humbled and honored to teach on the campus of IUPUI with great, gifted professors. I am glad to be respected for my academic accomplishments. Even more, I am glad to help Christian young people find their academic voice on a public university campus.

For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, President of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking Truth wherever it’s found.