Grand View University - Viking Yearbook (Des Moines, IA)

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QUE X DSX! 6660379

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An O is a circle A circle is infiniteg it has no end. Here at Grand View we come in contact with the infinite: through our God and through the vast and limitless funds of knowledge that are available to us. The 0 is also the first let- ter in the word Hour. Grand View is OUR schooL We make it what it is, whether it be satisfactory or not. We are proud of its accomplish- ments: we create the traditions and attitudes that others find unique. In that spirit we dedicate this yearbook for 1959 toalltheteachers Dedication and students, past and present, who have labored here and will long remember the story of our campus and their Dart in it.

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President Nielsen Whether one reads Sholem Asch's, THE APOSTLE, or Boris Pasternak's DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, one is deeply struck by a common witness from two different worlds to the place of suffering in the lifeof the people one meets on the pages of these two books. Personalities emerge. Both books are profoundly religious. They reflect the high talent and the complete dedication of the authors to their literary mission. There is a personal dedication for which each of these men has had to pay, thus confirming their central wimess that sacrifice is part of human life. In THE APOSTLE and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, onecon- fronts the inescapable question, What did it mean to be a Jew? during the periods which these two books cover. Somehow we nearly always have an answer on hand to this question. Is it because this question does dis- turb our conscience? Strangely enough, we probably find it more difficult to ask, What does it mean to bea Christian? Many religious leaders are asking seriously for a lay-witness to this question. Although we do not deprecate such a development in contemporary Christian- ity and do recognize that many students from Christian communities in Asia and Africa are disconcerted, yes, even disappointed to find many Christian students in America rather reticent in matters of faith, reticence or slowness to speak tuttil one has something to say is better than shallow, religious verbiage. My point is that our generation is not without significant lay-witnesses to the creative and redemprive power or redemptive power of religion. We meet this in many contemporary writings of serious literature. The Christian college is an ideal place for students to begin to read great imaginative literature in religi- ous terms. There are modern authors whose writings show that modern man cannot come to grips with the basic concerns and issues of life without encountering religion. The source of such serious literature is inevitably trace- able to the individual writer's own person, his concern with the antitheses, tragedies, inevitabilities, and potenti- alities of man and life, and his deep commitment and dedication to his literary vocation. The pages between the past and the present are replete with records of those who dedicated themselves to a godly way of life. Perhaps they were fools in the eyes of their own generation, but in the case of many of them their deeds follow them and their legacy is ours. Although our knowledge is limited, we are not without light. We hope that students will follow the light and continue the pursuit of liberal education throughout life. Ernest D. Nielsen