Aug
21
2010
D’Souza, Catholicism, Campus Crusade, and The King’s College
The King’s College in New York City is a non-denominational school whose roots are in the evangelical Protestant tradition, and which has been a ministry—indeed a subsidiary—of Campus Crusade for Christ. Marvin Olasky, editor-in-Chief of World Magazine, serves as the school’s provost.
Although the Chronicle of Higher Education reported the news last week, TKC officially announced yesterday that bestselling author, speaker, and think-tank scholar Dinesh D’Souza—who described himself as “a believing Catholic but a poorly practicing one“—was announced as the school’s new president.
Campus Crusade for Christ, which invested heavily in the school, is in process of transferring full ownership to the school.
Christianity Today‘s Sarah Pulliam Bailey has an excellent, 2700-word article on this, pulling together a number of interviews.
A couple of interesting quotes:
D’Souza says:
I’m quite happy to acknowledge my Catholic background; at the same time, I’m very comfortable with Reformation theology. . . . I’m comfortable with the evangelical world. In a sense, I’m part of it.. . . . I do not describe myself as Catholic today. But I don’t want to renounce it either because it’s an important part of my background. I’m an American citizen, but I wouldn’t reject the Indian label because it’s part of my heritage. . . . I say I have a Catholic origin or background. I say I’m a nondenominational Christian, and I’m comfortable with born-again.
And Olasky says:
I know there’s some concern on the part of some evangelicals about the direction of King’s because of Dinesh’s background. But he, in my view, is certainly heading in the right direction. What I can do is work to make sure that the academic program remains firmly in the Protestant, evangelical tradition.
The article goes on to talk to folks like David Dockery, Gene Veith, and Frank Beckwith, and looks at the statement of faith that D’Souza has signed.