Hillsdale welcomed Associate Professors of Religion Jonathan Mumme and Mickey Mattox after their previous institutions grew hostile to theological instruction, the new professors said. 

Mumme came to Hillsdale from Concordia University in Wisconsin and Mattox came from Marquette University in Wisconsin. 

“Teaching should be fun,” Mattox said. “What happened in my own institution was that all the requirements for the liberal arts were either deleted completely or minimized.”

Mattox and Mumme are both teaching Western Theological Tradition, and Mumme also teaches a Sixteenth-Century Theology class. In the intro course, which Mumme described as a “behemoth,” both professors are basing their classes on the structure of the Nicene Creed.

“I came to Hillsdale so that I could teach what I know and say what I think,” Mattox said. “I felt at home on this campus from the first day of the interview, like I could get along with everyone, that it was going to be a great place to be, and nothing has contradicted my experience since then.”

Mattox taught at Marquette for 19 years after studying for his Ph.D. at Duke University. He said he left his tenured position atJoshua Newhook Marquette because of the liberal environment, which had become tense and overwhelming for teachers in their department. 

“For the first 10 years, it was a great place to be,” Mattox said. “We had Ph.D. students from Hillsdale College.” 

Mumme received his doctoral degree at Eberhard Karls Universität in Tübingen, Southwest Germany, specializing in 19th-century Protestant and systematic theology. He taught for three years at Westfield House in Cambridge and two years at Concordia.

Mumme said he felt a similar draw to Hillsdale. 

According to Mumme, theology has been pushed into the corner at many universities rather than being honored as the queen of the sciences as it is in classical education.

“We might talk about ultimate truth, ultimate beauty, ultimate goodness, but all of those are finally one in an ultimate being with God,” he said. 

In addition to whatever a student studies, they should be able to form their souls by engaging with the great books, Mattox said. Instead, colleges gear themselves pragmatically, neglecting the meaning of the study. 

Mumme recalled a 2006 address by Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Resensberg, where he said without theology, a school lacks an organizing principle that keeps people talking with one another.

“Theology liberates human beings to their full potential,” Mumme said. “You’re dealing with something that has to do with a God who has laid claim to your heart, mind, life, and future.”

Freshman Alya MacManaway, who is in one of Mattox’s classes, said she appreciates Mattox’s care for her perspective.

“He wants to support you with whatever way that you’re practicing your religion or beliefs,” MacManaway said.

Mattox said even from a distance, Hillsdale had always intrigued him, and he admired the group of people who invited him to come.

“I was really impressed with the learning, earnestness, intelligence, and will to have the truth,” Mattox said. “I feel a sort of joyous moral obligation to do my best to meet that expectation.”

Mattox said leaving his position at Marquette was worth it because being a professor at Hillsdale is “much more than a job.”

“If I was dead and gone to heaven, I would have a hard time telling the difference,” Mattox said. “I’m pinching myself every day.”