Beginning next year, the Developing a Christian Mind (DCM) department will expand its offerings beyond just intro classes, enabling students to either minor or major in DCM. With new course offerings like  DCM 201 — “Survey of Cornelius Plantinga’s Works” or DCM 314 — “Advanced Shalom”, students will be able to engage God’s world to a greater extent than current classes enable them.

“This is exactly where we want to be heading as a college,” noted Dr. Keffner, currently a professor in the Student Activities department, where he was instrumental in adding the Taylor Swift and Sufjan Stevens concentrations to the Contemporary Music and Thought major.

Each student at Calvin must take one class in the DCM requirement in order to fulfill core, but Keffner noted that some students were unsatisfied with this limitation. “There were some students who wanted to sharpen their lenses with which they saw the world, to engage in courageous learning in greater depth,” he said.

DCM majors will be required to take classes in several already-existing categories — pop culture, theology, quilting and philosophy — in addition to new courses that have been developed specifically for the program. Students can also contract other courses for DCM credit provided they write at least one paper with the word “reformed,” “sustainable” or “Kuyperian” in the title.

“Talk about liberal arts education,” said first-year student Myrna Smith. “This Interim I loved my DCM ‘Christ and the Art of Chainsaw Juggling’ so much that I knew this was a program I wanted to continue.”

With expanded course offerings and a strengthened department, Keffner estimates between 15 and 25% of incoming students will elect to major or minor in DCM.

“This is a promising step, both for Calvin College and for the Reformed theological community in general,” said President Leeroy Michaels in an exclusive Snapchat interview. “Now students have the chance in higher education to focus solely on developing their Christian mind, without the distraction of other more-rigorous academic pursuits.”

Happy April 1