Dr. A.J. Nolte, an associate professor of government at Regent University who chairs its M.A. Government and M.A. International Development programs and has taught on Middle Eastern-related subjects for about 10 years, will lead this project.
He says the institute's purpose is to educate the next generation of Christian leaders about the realities of contemporary Israel and the history of her modern state.
"First of all, I can tell you that we're all extremely excited," he reports. "I've heard good feedback from the chancellor [and] from Dean Bachmann."
"This profound initiative amplifies Regent University's unwavering commitment to Israel," says Chancellor Gordon Robertson. "You can’t understand today's headlines without a thorough knowledge of the modern history of Israel. This institute will give students a scholarly grasp of the origins of Zionism and its impact on our world today.”
Dr. Nolte shares that since he started teaching at Regent in 2017, the "real need for a higher level of understanding – particularly among young, biblically faithful evangelical Christians – about the contemporary realities of the state of Israel" has become evident to him.
In his experience, the older generations were interested in the biblical arguments and the eschatology of it, but those things, he says, are still important for younger generations.
"What they're getting from their peers are all these lies that Israel is an apartheid state, Israel's committing genocide," Dr. Nolte notes. "And because they don't have the knowledge about the contemporary state of Israel, they're having a hard time countering that, and [they're getting] sucked into that mindset."
"Post-October 7, as we've seen the absolute insanity that's happening on a lot of these campuses now, there was just a felt need to take action sooner rather than later and to really start to develop something at Regent that was going to change the conversation in academia more broadly, but particularly among our Christian colleagues and among future Christian students," the professor details.
The new Institute for Israel Studies is expected to fully launch in the fall of 2025. The program will be home to the nation's leading biblical studies — enriched education on the history, culture, society, and politics of contemporary Israel.
