The Wheaton Record
Wheaton, Ill.

Feb. 10, 2006

Noll hired by Notre Dame
By Sarah Pulliam

One of Wheaton’s most prominent professors will leave for University of Notre Dame at the end of this school year.
Mark Noll, McManis Chair of Christian Thought, announced his decision Wednesday to become the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at Notre Dame.
Noll will replace George Marsden, a history scholar who has won several honors, awards and fellowships for his research. Noll said it has been a privilege to have taught at Wheaton and that he decided to leave because he wants to “follow the good work that Marsden is doing.”
Provost Stan Jones said Noll’s departure is a significant loss for the college because he is respected for his scholarship and carries tremendous influence in many circles.
“He has set the standard for quality scholarship, particularly Christian scholarship,” Jones said. “He’s helped to break down any perception that to be an intellectual is not necessarily to be anti-Christian.”
Jones said other institutions have been recruiting Noll for some time but declined to say which ones.
John McGreevy, chair of the history department at Notre Dame, said the school is delighted that Noll is coming to the university to build upon existing strengths in the religious history department.
“He also has serious interest in Protestant–Catholic dialogue which will be most welcome,” McGreevy said.
Noll was named one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential evangelicals in 2005. He co-founded the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicalism with current Wake Forest University President Nathan Hatch ’68 in 1982.
Noll’s 1994 book, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind,” has been a highly influential work among evangelicals. In it, Noll advocates a higher intellectual standard for North American Christians.
The Atlantic Monthly called Noll’s book “America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln” almost certainly the most significant work of American historical scholarship in 2002.
In 2005, Noll and Carolyn Nystrom published “Is the Reformation Over?,” an analysis of the changing relationship between evangelicals and Catholics. His next book, “The Civil War as a Theological Crisis,” is set to release in April.
Wheaton Trustee Kathleen Nielson said Noll has been a gift to Wheaton.
“From this place, his voice and his writing have awakened and encouraged the worldwide evangelical community,” Nielson said.
History department chair Kathryn Long said Noll has been a steadying and a challenging academic presence since he began teaching at Wheaton in 1979.
“His presence has certainly lent prestige to Wheaton as an academic institution,” Long said. “He now has an opportunity to influence Ph.D. students, and in that way, he’ll have an additional longer term impact on the study and teaching of history in universities around the country.”
Bible/theology professor Dan Treier, who is team-teaching God and History with Noll, said “Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” and Noll’s example have profoundly influenced his perspective of scholarship.
Treier said he thinks Noll’s loss will have a negative effect on faculty morale in the short-term.
“He’s clearly a major reason why Wheaton is taken so seriously as an intellectual force,” Treier said.
President Litfin was unavailable for comment.
Jones said there are no plans to replace Noll next year because it is too late in the year to begin a search.
Junior Jacob Eapen, a student in God and History, is taking his first class with Noll and admires his work.
“He’s very knowledgeable and constantly affirms the authority of the Bible in historical scholarship,” Eapen said.
Jeff Pelz M.A. ’94 is also taking God and History with Noll. He said he and his InterVarsity co-workers were encouraged to think more critically about academic pursuits after reading “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.”
“Any champion of the university world like Dr. Noll we always appreciated because a lot of evangelicals think of the secular university as the big godless monster,” Pelz said. “Dr. Noll stares that big godless monster in the face.”