Noll Crosses the Tiber (to South Bend, anyway)

The fact that the most prominent member of Wheaton College's faculty is leaving for an institution that in previous generations was the object of evangelicals' scorn as the intellectual headquarters of American Catholics adds a bit of irony to the Hochschild controversy.  My past criticism of Wheaton is not grounded in any desire for the school to disregard or minimize the centrality of its mission in faculty hiring, but simply to recognize that the presence of a professor who is devoted to following Christ and is Catholic does not pose a serious threat to the continued viability of that mission.  Professor Noll, I would guess, would not view his departure to Notre Dame as an abdication of the calling that kept him at Wheaton for so many years.  The venue changes, as do particular priorities and opportunities in terms of scholarship, teaching, mentoring, etc.  But the foundational academic mission of bringing Christ's light to the world of ideas remains, even in South Bend.

Rob