May 11, 2012, Update: Pearceys Resign From Rivendell Sanctuary

Going out across PressWire today is the following announcement: 

Worldview Thinkers
Nancy Pearcey & J. Richard Pearcey
to Join Faculty at Rivendell Sanctuary 

Bloomington, MN (Jan. 13, 2011) -– Rivendell Sanctuary, an innovative new college, announces that best-selling author and scholar Nancy Pearcey, and editor-publisher J. Richard Pearcey, will join the Rivendell faculty. The couple begins team-teaching classes in the Fall 2011.

Best known for award-winning books such as Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey is currently a columnist with the Capitol Hill newspaper Human Events and editor at large of The Pearcey Report. Nancy studied with Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri in Switzerland and served as the Francis A. Schaeffer Scholar at the World Journalism Institute. Her most recent position was Scholar of Worldview Studies at Philadelphia Biblical University. An article in The Economist describes Nancy as “America’s pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual.” Her latest book is Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, & Meaning.  

“What appeals to me about Rivendell Sanctuary,” Nancy says, “is that it is a ‘great books’ program with an integrated curriculum, using a Socratic method of teaching. Students are taught to dig deeply into a text and learn how to think for themselves.”

J. Richard Pearcey, also a published writer, has worked in the Washington, D.C., area for several years as an editor at The World & I, managing editor of Human Events, and associate editor of the Evans-Novak Political Report. He has edited books by David Limbaugh, Hal Lindsey, and John Erickson and is currently writing a manuscript on worldview and resistance in a secular age. In 2005 he launched the influential Pearcey Report (www.pearceyreport.com).

Rick and Nancy met at Swiss L’Abri, and they see Rivendell as encouraging a similar kind of honest and intensive engagement with ideas that helped thousands of young people discover a vibrant Christian worldview through the Schaeffers’ work. As Rick puts it, “In a sense, Rivendell is L’Abri with a bit more structure.”

In the 18-month program, students learn to think independently and Christianly while earning an Associate of Arts degree that they can take to any four-year college. A Rivendell education emphasizes:

• Holistic Learning -- Discover how the unity of knowledge engages the whole person
• Critical Thinking -- Test everything in the rigorous pursuit of truth 
• Authentic Community -- Live and learn in fellowship with a single group of students and faculty for the entire 18-month program to build genuine relationships
• Global Adventure -- Travel abroad to broaden your perspective with a semester in Europe

“I consider myself a free-thinker who embraces the Christian worldview as a liberating way of life based on verifiable information about God, humanity, and the cosmos," Rick says. "That's what I hope to communicate to students. The founding of a unique educational venture like Rivendell at such a critical moment in our nation’s history surely has a relevance and meaning that is both immediate and enduring.”

Bobby Norment, co-founder and CEO of Rivendell, says, “We are delighted to welcome the Pearceys to our team at Rivendell Sanctuary. Their high standards of excellence and dedicated pursuit of truth align perfectly with our vision for developing students of honor.”

To learn more about Rivendell, go to www.rivendellsanctuary.com. To find out how you can enable a student to attend this life-changing new college, look into their “Take Back Education Scholarship Fund” at www.takebackeducation.org.  

To schedule media interviews with the Pearceys, or to talk with someone about Rivendell Sanctuary, please contact A.J. Hofstetter (email: aj@rivendellsanctuary.com; phone: 952-996-1451).