Fall 2007
QUESTIONS
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You have a reputation among students for bringing a great deal of enthusiasm and humor into the classroom. What is your favorite topic to teach? I’m really excited about learning, and I love challenging students to learn. Mark Twain described good teaching as inspiring the “aha” moments in students — the moment when a light comes on. In the information age, good teaching goes beyond information stuffing and should be geared towards inspiring a love of learning so that young adults will leave here excited about being lifelong learners.
With
David
Van Heemst ’88/’96 M.P.C./’98 M.A. Associate Professor, Department of History and Political Science
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Over the years you’ve inspired many students to go out and make a profound difference in the world. What do you say to those who feel unequipped to do so or don’t know where to begin? One of the things that occurred to me while having devotions years ago was the concept of “radical ordinariness.” God brings about His Kingdom piece by piece, little by little, through the radically ordinary acts of obedience of His children. From a teacher staying 15 minutes after school to counsel a troubled student to the social worker helping a socioeconomically disadvantaged individual fill out paperwork — God unfolds his kingdom. He provides glimpses of the already but not yet fully completed Kingdom reversing the tidal wave of injustice in this world, through His children.
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Any plans for more books in the future? I’m one of those people who’s always thinking. Last week I was at the park with the twins and they were hopping on and off the swings. I explained to them the impact of dark matter in contrast to the power of gravity that keeps them on the ground after getting off the swing — yeah, they weren’t overly interested. Seriously, there’s always another book idea going on somewhere in my mind. Presently I’m thinking about one related to a Christian worldview and college undergraduates and another on good teaching pedagogy in Christian colleges. But with our hands a bit full at home right now, the next book will be at least a few years away! Can you tell us a little bit about the new Master of Arts in political theory you co-developed with the other professors in your department? Our department has tried to do something cutting edge. We’ve put together a substantive master’s degree in political theory and in the philosophy of history that focuses on the ideas that spearhead social change throughout the history of Western civilization. Many M.A. programs are pretty narrow in focus; we have intentionally built one with a broad focus so that when one has completed the degree one will have a solid understanding of the ideas that have driven social change. It’s a program that’s ideal for social studies teachers and for recent graduates looking to delve deeper into the big picture.
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Besides teaching, you’ve authored or co-authored three books in the past few years. Have you always wanted to be a writer or is this a recent passion? Growing up in New Jersey and playing a lot of baseball, I always wanted to be a baseball player for the New York Yankees — not a writer. My books grew out of my 15 years of teaching undergraduates at Olivet. We spend time studying social justice, for example, how we can live out a fundamental paradox of the Gospel. Namely, that we are called out of the world to be thrown back in as salt and light. My heart has always been pulled toward the issues and people impacted by social justice and my passion for this grew as I worked with students, inspiring them and getting them involved with service opportunities. The thought occurred to me one day while sitting in my office in the basement of Burke that one positive change in governmental policy could literally impact thousands of lives. I realized that while some are called to give a cup of cold water in Christ’s name, others are called to focus on systems and structures. I decided I wanted to try to impact the larger national discussion, and so I wrote my first book around issues of social justice as they related to the poor children in K–12 schools in the U.S. today.
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You’ve lost a significant amount of weight in recent years. What was your inspiration for the initial loss and what have you done to keep it off since then? Two years ago I experienced two mini-crises: I realized I was about to turn 40, and I discovered my first gray hair — something had to be done. So, I started walking, then biking, then jogging, and then running. I got up to running about 10 miles per day but then I’d be pretty spent after my run, and being spent is not a good condition to be in with three little babies around the house. So now I run six–eight miles per day and have a really good energy level to focus on the fam.
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Your most recent book, Hope in Troubled Times: A New Vision for Confronting Global Crisis, was co-authored with two other people. Did you enjoy the more collaborative process to writing? Collaborative writing is certainly very different from writing alone in my office! You have to have pretty thick skin because what I think is really good, well, let’s just say others might think it’s not quite as good! But seriously, it was an amazing process to work digitally with Mark, who lives in Canada, and Bob, who lives in Europe. We sent each other well over 1,000 e-mail messages in the five years that we worked together on the book. Over that time we came to see our work as not just a book but as our common calling. Some of that is reflected in how we dedicated the book: “To Ellie and Maggie Van Heemst, two of God’s precious children.” In the acknowledgements, we explain dedicating the book to my 6-year-old twins: “During the making of the book, David Van Heemst’s young daughter Ellie was stricken with se-
The Olivetian
THE VAN HEEMST FAMILY Pictured, from left: April ’94, Ellie, Maggie, Annika, Jessica and Elizabeth
vere viral encephalitis; to our community of three, her journey of illness and recovery, and the exquisite care and attention given by her twin sister Maggie, became a living metaphor of the vulnerability and resilience of life in God’s world that occupies us throughout the book.”
tion where he met with the assistant to the The Most Reverend Njongonkulu W. H. Ndungane, the current Anglican archbishop of South Africa. Mark gave him a draft of the book to give to the archbishop. The archbishop loved the book and gave us an endorsement, then he passed the book on to Archbishop Desmond Tutu who was so impressed by it that he agreed to write the foreword for us. Can I just say how excited we were when the archbishop’s assistant contacted us saying that Desmond Tutu had agreed to write the foreword!
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The foreword for Hope in Troubled Times was written by Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. How did he come to be involved with the project? That’s an interesting story. Mark, one of the co-authors, was at an international conven-
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Which was the more difficult adjustment? Having twins as a first-time parent or having triplets as a more “seasoned” parent? Having the twins six years ago was mostly the “fear of the unknown.” April and I just didn’t have the experience. This time around we knew what we were getting into! I’d have to say that this time is actually the bigger challenge because now we have five children vying for and needing our attention instead of two. Although we’re still adjusting to life being a bit out of control and going on less than ideal sleep, we hold the deep conviction that children are a blessing from God. We are so thankful to God for all five of our little girls and are wholly dedicated to raising young women who are sold out for Christ and His Kingdom. You are now the only male in a household with six women and all female pets. Any insight for those male readers still trying to understand the gentler gender? I’m reminded of the Tom Hanks movie, “A League of Their Own,” because so many have said I now have my own basketball team. As much as I’d like to say that, “There’s no crying in baseball,” I’m learning that there is crying (and drama!) with girls — that’s just a part of life. Seriously, the most precious place in the entire universe is the heart of a female, and I am committed to instilling significance and security into my girls so that they can grow up with the internal peace and joy of Jesus and then pass that on to their families, friends and colleagues.
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