Princeton

Princeton University Professors Among Founding Members

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

Princeton University Professors Robert P. George and Keith Whittington are among the founding members of the recently-formed Academic Freedom Alliance. The organization, which seeks to defend freedom of speech on college campuses, includes over two-hundred scholars, representing a spectrum of academic disciplines and political perspectives.

Princeton Alumnus Is Concerned by Decision 

Ryan T. Anderson knew his book would be controversial in some circles. When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Momentprovided a robust scientific, philosophical, medical, and legal examination of our nation’s rapidly changing understanding of transgenderism as soon as it was released a little over three years ago. A Princeton alumnus ('04) and speaker for Christian Union events, Anderson earned his Ph.D. in political philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. 

Christian Union Bible Courses Are a Virtual Training Ground at Princeton

By Anne Kerhoulas, Staff Writer

Christian Union Nova, the student organization at Princeton University, was forced to get creative as it considered how to manage nearly twenty online Bible courses among only three ministry fellows this fall. Students wanted to stay in their regular Bible courses since they are places of growth, personal sharing, and deep spiritual friendship. In order to care for these students well, while also ensuring that they would receive high-quality instruction as they studied the Gospel of Mark, Christian Union Nova faculty created a new method of teaching. 

Nova’s Sending Team Focuses on Evangelism Training

by catherine elvy, staff writer

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, students involved with Christian Union Nova at Princeton University took a deep dive into evangelism.

During April and May, about fifteen students participated in video conference calls to discover how to share the Good News more effectively in their everyday lives, both on campus and beyond.

“God is doing something on our campus. Our prayer leaders have been praying about how to reach the campus,” said Christopher Heslep, ministry director at Princeton University.

Caritas Is Engaged in Summer Bible Study

by catherine elvy, staff writer

Young adults involved in Caritas, Christian Union’s ministry to Stanford University students, are discovering new insights into the foundational truths of Genesis.

In late June, Ministry Fellow Justin Woyak began leading a virtual summer study devoted to unpacking the themes and wonders of the Bible’s first book. “There’s a lot to dig into,” said Woyak, Princeton ’09. “There are so many threads of the Bible’s storyline that begin here.” 

A dozen students are participating in the online studies, which are held on Tuesday evenings and will continue into early September. Stanford students from varying collegiate stages are taking part in the calls, including two incoming freshmen. 

Given the COVID-19 pandemic, Christian Union’s ministry team at Stanford moved the gatherings to an electronic format for summer 2020. 

Former Toro CEO Was a Prominent Supporter of Christian Union

Melrose passed away on May 3, 2020. The former chairman and CEO of The Toro Company, founder of Leading by Serving, LLC, and primary donor for Christian Union’s Melrose Center for Christian Leadership at Princeton, will be remembered for his deep love for Christ, his passion for leadership, and his profound generosity. 

Student-led Prayer Enhances Ski Safari 

by eileen scott, contributing writer

Christian Union Nova’s annual Ski Safari in Upstate New York offered Princeton students a holy space where the Spirit moved and attendees bonded through fellowship and fervent prayer. In late January, approximately seventy students and Christian Union faculty attended the five-day event at Camp of the Woods in Speculator, New York.

Nicole Williams ’22 discerned the palpable presence of God at Ski Safari. “Many of us, in our devotion time, felt God highlighting the importance of prayer,” said Williams. “As friends shared with one another, it seemed to affirm what God was speaking to us individually. Many of my peers had a hunger for prayer that they previously did not have.”

May 31, 2020

Nova’s Upperclassmen Enjoy Mentoring Roles

by tom campisi, managing editor

Andrew Lin is committed to the biblical mandate of making disciples.

Lin is a member of Nova, Christian Union’s ministry at Princeton. The computer science major from Dallas, Texas, serves as a co-leader of Nova’s discipleship team, a group of upperclassmen who regularly meet with younger students to study the Bible, pray, and serve as mentors.

Princeton Students Lead National March for Life 

By Jon Garaffa, Princeton ’20

On Friday, January 18, students from Princeton University were at the forefront of the March for Life in Washington, D.C., an annual rally aiming to protest peacefully the practice and legality of abortion in the United States. The rally started in 1974 and takes places annually near the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the decision of the Supreme Court to decriminalize abortion.

This year, students from Princeton Pro-Life led the march, chanting in the front row as they proceeded through the city. Many Princeton students had come to the march in previous years. “It was really different to be able to march in the front and see all the people we were leading,” stated Allie Burton ’17, who served as past vice president of Princeton Pro-Life and made her third trip back to D.C. this year. “Personally, it was a very special moment for me when we marched past the Supreme Court.” Ally Cavazos ’19, the president emerita of Princeton Pro-Life, gave a speech to the crowd to fit the pro-science theme of the March for 2019: “Unique from Day One.”

'Go and Make Disciples'

By Shelby Brainard, Princeton ’22

Most Princeton students spend their summers engaged in activities such as internships, summer jobs, or backpacking trips, but undergraduates Jack Monaco and John Smith dedicated their long break to sharing the Gospel.

The students’ spiritual fervor on summer break was the direct result of an effort at advanced discipleship by then-Princeton senior Mikal Walcott. During the latter half of the 2019 spring semester, Walcott led a group of five underclassmen (including Monaco and Smith) in an intensive, seven-week spiritual “boot camp” that included an hour of morning prayer and two hours of afternoon instruction, Monday through Friday.

Walcott created this cohort after feeling called by God to pass along his knowledge and experience in advancing God’s kingdom to younger disciples. Although the commitment of nearly fifteen hours a week to prayer and instruction was difficult at a university like Princeton, the five young men immediately began to testify to incredible fruit and growth in their lives as a result of their commitment to the Lord and to each other during those six weeks. 

Institute for Catholic Life Fosters Religious Discourse

By Jon Garaffa, Princeton ’20

The Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life is a new initiative that will focus on the faith formation of Princeton students. Directed by married couple Alexi Sargeant and Leah Libresco Sargeant, and coordinated by Dr. R.J. Snell, the initiative comes out of the Aquinas Institute, the Catholic campus ministry at Princeton. Focusing on members of the undergraduate community, the Institute for Catholic Life offers a variety of seminars and guest speakers and hopes to create new conversations on campus related to faith and religious scholarship. 

“As we develop, the vision is to provide a full range of formation,” explained Dr. Snell. “This includes liturgy and sacraments, small groups, Bible study, mentoring and spiritual direction, prayer, and also solid intellectual offerings in theology, philosophy, arts, and literature dealing with perennial Christian themes, as well as responding to contemporary questions and topics.”

The Poulson Family

Q and A with Ken Fish

Ken Fish, Princeton ’82, is the founder of Kingdom Fire Ministries. He is the featured speaker at Christian Union’s Gospel of the Kingdom Conferences, which are hosted biannually in New York City. The conferences are known for focusing on physical and emotional healing, deliverance, and prophesy, and other supernatural aspects of ministry.

A Graduate Student’s Faith Journey Through MATHEMATICS

By Jon Garaffa, Princeton ’20

Princeton mathematics student Evan O’Dorney’s accomplishments are nothing short of extraordinary. Yet, even with his many feats, he gives all glory to God. A trailblazer among the next generation of mathematicians, O’Dorney credits his Catholic faith as the source of his exceptional work ethic.

Princeton doctoral candidate Evan O’Dorney glorifies God through his amazing mathematical abilities. 

While homeschooled in California, he medaled four times in the International Math Olympiad and won the Intel Science Talent Search at the national level. After graduating from Harvard summa cum laude, he completed Part III of the Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge, one of the most challenging mathematics courses in the world. Having received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program award in support of his research, O’Dorney is currently undergoing his doctoral studies under Fields Medal winner Manjul Bhargava.

Opeyemi and Prudil Appreciated Comradery, Mentoring

Two recent Princeton University graduates, a computer science major and an electrical engineering major, are eager and prepared for the integration of faith and vocation.

Moyin Opeyemi ’19 and Bryan Prudil ’19 each credited their participation in a Christian Union Bible course with giving them confidence to be salt and light in the workforce. Opeyemi (computer science) is an associate product manager at Uber in San Francisco, while Prudil (electrical engineering) is a systems engineer at Raytheon in Tucson, Arizona.

Christian Union at Yale Hosts Forum

by cassandra hsiao, yale ’21

On a rainy Friday evening in April, a hundred people gathered in Battell Chapel at Yale University to hear the answer to the pressing question: “Why suffering?”

Christians and skeptics alike have grappled with this question for centuries—how could a loving God allow for the existence of suffering? At a forum hosted by Christian Union, Vince Vitale and Michael Suderman of the Ravi Zacharias Institute presented some profound answers.

Vitale, educated at Princeton (’04) and Oxford, is the director of the Zacharias Institute. Along with Suderman, he has been traveling across the country, giving lectures at churches and college campuses alike.

by robert p. george

When the U.S. Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998, it recognized that religious liberty and the freedom of conscience are in the front rank of the essential human rights whose protection, in every country, merits the solicitude of the United States in its foreign policy. Therefore, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, of which I served as chair in 2013, was created by the act to monitor the state of these precious rights around the world.

But why is religious freedom so essential? Why does it merit such heightened concern by citizens and policymakers alike? In order to answer those questions, we should begin with a still more basic question. What is religion?

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