Page 26 - Holyland Magazine - 2025 Edition

Dr. A. J. Nolte
Since October 7, the anti-Israel
protests that have rocked elite
college campuses in the United
States have shocked many
observers. But these protests
did not happen in a vacuum. For decades,
academia, particularly in departments of
Middle East studies, has incubated a toxic
ideology based on warmed-over Marxism.
Dividing the world into “oppressors” and
“oppressed,” this ideology has cast Jews
and Israel in the camp of the "oppressors,"
meaning that anything they do is judged
as evil, and anything their enemies do is
judged as good.
Christian colleges and universities must
resist this ideology for five reasons. First, it is Since its foundation, the Institute has held
objectively false to claim that Israel is a settler three major events at Regent, featuring:
colonialist enterprise, an apartheid state,
intrinsically racist, or any of the other easily
debunked myths this ideology propagates.
Second, most Christians in the United States
see Israel, in some sense, as part of God’s
redemptive work through history, rather
than embracing the false narratives of critical
theory. Christian academics need not embrace
this perspective simply because many
Christians hold it, but it would be responsible
for Christian colleges and universities to
seriously, and constructively engage in this
perspective without the intrinsic ideological
bias critical theory imposes.
Third, the critical theory paradigm undermines
the critical thinking required to analyze a
region as complex as the Middle East. As a
result, it also undermines the foundations
of liberal education and free inquiry. Fourth,
the same critical theorists that attack Israel
as "colonial" level the same false accusation
about America. Fifth and finally, the “colonial”
trope has been used against Christians, even
in countries where they are persecuted. So
long as critical theorists code Christianity
and Judaism as “colonial” and Islam as “anti-
colonial,” their ideology will continue to justify
anti-semitismand Christian persecution alike.
Tragically, few Christian colleges have answered
the challenge since October 7. But Regent
University is a shining example that counters
this trend. From Regent’s early embrace of
the International Holocaust Remembrance
Alliance's definition of antisemitism to our
26 l HOLY LAND
long-standing positive relationships with which will give three exceptional Regent
the local Jewish community, an attitude of students the opportunity to work as fellows
support for Israel and the Jewish people is at the Institute for one semester, and then
in Regent’s DNA. Now, with the launch of study at Hebrew University free of charge for
Regent University’s Israel Institute, Regent the following semester.
is taking this commitment to the next level. In all of our work, the Israel Institute has been
blessed to have valuable partners, from the
Established in May of 2024, the Israel Institute’s local United Jewish Federation of Tidewater
mission is to educate the Regent community to the U.S. branch of the International
and the public about the history and politics Christian Embassy of Jerusalem. CBN Israel has
of the modern State of Israel. The Institute emerged as our most critical partner in the
works with Regent’s various academic units past year. Through their outstanding work
to promote collaboration with Israeli partners covering news in Israel, their tremendous
and research focusing on Israel. We also seek humanitarian work in the country, and
to counter the most common myths about
Israel and strengthen the alliance between Countering Antisem
Jews and Christians in support of Israel and
against new antisemitism. Student praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem,
the most holy site for the Jewish people.
Ambassador David Friedman and MK
Ohad Taal in Fall 2024; Ambassador Danny
Danon this March; and a colloquium on
the Hebrew Bible and the roots of Western
civilization this March, with Rabbi Pesach
Wolicki of Israel 365 and prominent Christian
intellectual Os Guinness. We also sponsored
a screening of the film Tragic Awakening with
Rabbi Raphael Shore this Spring. In addition,
Dr. A.J. Nolte, Director of the Institute, has
spoken on Christian support for Israel
and the Jewish people at Gratz College in
Philadelphia, Jewish Theological Seminary in
New York City, and Old Dominion University
in Norfolk Virginia.
The Israel Institute has also fostered strong
partnerships with academic units at
Regent. We’re working with the School of
Business and Leadership to connect SBL
alumni with opportunities to mentor Israeli
companies seeking to enter the U.S. market.
We’ve co-sponsored an event on Israel
and international law with the Center for
Global Justice at Regent’s Law School, and
we look forward to advancing this research
program further. Within the Robertson
School of Government, we’re creating a new
concentration in Israel studies for our MA in
government, and preparing PHD candidates
to produce dissertations focused on Israel.
Most significantly, with the generous support
of CBN Israel, we are launching a fellowship
program through Regent’s Honors College,