Hillsdale College: What 30 Years War?

Hillsdale College was founded by Free Will Baptists in the 1840s; Hillsdale College prides itself on its “Christian” and “limited government” virtues. I had my parents send me there during the 1980s, along with thousands of dollars for the tuition and other expenses, with the hope of a superior education.

Alas, I found a Hillsdale College that’s essentially a Roman Catholic institution with sunglasses. There were numerous indications, beyond its Board of Trustees including Vatican apologist William F. Buckley, or an English teacher who was an Anglican Priest who admitted that he and many of his Anglican cohorts were Papists, and by a “Christian” studies program that was heavy on Thomas Aquinas and St Augustine, and about non existent with Tyndale, Wycliffe, Calvin, Huss, or Luther.

As I recall, Hillsdale’s “Christian” studies program adopted the veneer of the original Free Will Baptists for a Roman Catholic adaptation of the term “free will” to be presented against Protestantism which was presented under the Calvinist label of “pre-destination”. Since “Free will” sounded nicer then “pre-destination”, Hillsdale could make Roman Catholicism seem more true then Protestant groups, taking full advantage of the preceding narrow interpretation (of the Roman Catholic Church) against a broad interpretation against any non Roman Catholic groups professing faith in the Bible, and not simply “Calvinists”.

When it came to history I look forward to learning something about that period of time between the development and popularization of the Gutenburg press and the birth of the US: aka the Reformation and the Counter- Reformation. I took a class that included that period, and that area of the world, whether termed “Western”, “European” or “German”. The class was to cover the period of time from 1460 or so to 1945. Yet we learned about as close as it is possible to nothing about the Reformation or the Counter Reformation. This was ostensibly because the teacher was so “excited’ about that first period - say 30 years within a 485 year period – that he ran out of time to teach us anything about the Reformation – Martin Luther, Tyndale, Wycliffe – nor the Counter Reformation – the Jesuit Order and the Wars of the Counter-Reformation.

He spent so much time, perhaps 75% of the semester discussing the period right around and at the Gutenberg Press, that he had to speed through the 1500s, 1600s and 1700s within something like a single day’s class session. Since this was not the first time that teacher had taught that class, and since he did – IIRC – employ notes composing some sort of class outline when he gave his lectures, this had me figuratively scratching my head.

Wars with such a great loss of life unworthy of being taught?

That's BS!

Wlodimir Ledochowski: Continuing the Counter Reformation into the 20th Century