An Estimate of the Educational Work of Dr. Isaac Conrad Ketler

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An Estimate of the Educational Work of Dr. Isaac Conrad Ketler First President of Grove City College

By W.M. Ramsay

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Grove City College is proud to reprint Sir W.M. Ramsay’s book as part of the March 21, 2015 symposium entitled: Faith & Freedom, Classroom & Calling: Grove City College’s Commitment to the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge for the Common Good And in honor of the Inauguration of The Honorable Paul J. McNulty ’80 as the ninth President of Grove City College, March 23, 2015.

Grove City College thanks the Sapere Family Foundation for providing support to reprint this book.

Grove City College, 2015 ISBN-13: 978-1508753834 ISBN-10: 1508753830 Requests for information should be mailed to: Grove City College, 100 Campus Drive, Grove City, Pa. 16127 All rights reserved for the section titled “Foreword.” No part of the “Foreword” may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except by brief quotations for printed reviews, without the prior permission of Grove City College.

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About W.M. Ramsay William Mitchell Ramsay was born on March 15, 1851.

He was educated at the universities of Aberdeen, Oxford and Gottingen, and was a fellow of Exeter College, Oxford (1882; honorary fellow 1898), and Lincoln College (1885; honorary 1899). In 1885 he was elected professor of classical art at Oxford, and in the next year professor of humanity at Aberdeen. From 1880 onwards he traveled widely in Asia Minor and rapidly became the recognized authority on all matters relating to the districts associated with St Paul's missionary journeys and on Christianity in the early Roman Empire.

He received the honorary degrees of D.C.L. Oxford, LL.D. St Andrews and Glasgow, D.D. Edinburgh, and was knighted in 1906. He was elected a member of learned societies in Europe and America, and has been awarded medals by the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and the University of Pennsylvania.

His numerous publications include: The Historical Geography of Asia Minor (1890); The Church in the Roman Empire (1893); The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia (2 vols., 1895, 1897); St Paul the Traveler and the Roman Citizen (1895; Germ. trans., 1898); Impressions of Turkey (1897); Was Christ born at Bethlehem? (1898); Historical Commentary on Galatians (1899); The Education of. Christ (1902); The 

Information for this section was found at www.logos.com and http://www.ccel.org/ccel/ramsay.

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Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia (1905); Pauline and other Studies in Early Christian History (1906); Studies in the History and Art of the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire (1906); The Cities of St Paul (1907); Lucan and Pauline Studies (1908); The Thousand and One Churches (with Miss Gertrude L. Bell, 1909); and articles in learned periodicals and the 9th, 10th and 11th editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His wife, Lady Ramsay, granddaughter of Dr Andrew Marshall of Kirkintilloch, accompanied him in many of his journeys and is the author of Everyday Life Turkey (1897) and The Romance of Elisavet (1899).

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Foreword The Apostle Paul reminds us in his letter to the Colossians that all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. By God’s gift of faith our eyes are opened to the full riches of truth, which form the foundation of the most beneficial education.

Indeed, from faith we derive our calling to pursue education and thereby acquire the preparation necessary to serve others for the glory of God. Thus united in the pursuit of calling, we may enjoy the flourishing of our democratic freedoms as they find root in the faithful living of an educated citizenry.

This biblical framework for faith and freedom was at the core of Dr. Isaac Conrad Ketler’s bold vision for the College he founded in the tiny village of Pine Grove, Pennsylvania in the late 1870s. Dr. Ketler and his views on education are the subject of this remarkable article

by Sir W. M. Ramsay. Struck by Ketler’s courage and determination, Ramsay tells the story of a man’s lifelong passion to educate men and women in Western Pennsylvania and beyond, a passion motivated by his intense love of America. Ramsay writes, “No person ever had a deeper reverence for true knowledge than Ketler…. ‘The treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ were what he longed for, and wished to impart to his students, because in that process lay the future of America” (page 29).

According to Ramsay, Dr. Ketler saw education as vital for the success of the American Republic because, in Ramsay’s words, “An uneducated people can, at the best, only delegate the government to some individual,

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About Grove City College Grove City College was founded in 1876. From our inception we have endeavored to provide our students with an excellent Christ-centered, non-sectarian education at an affordable cost. The College offers rigorous liberal arts education with an exceptionally strong STEM program, taught by a highly respected and dedicated faculty called to serve both the minds and hearts of our students. With over 50 programs of study and a curriculum designed to educate in a holistic and personalized manner, students are equipped with both specialized knowledge in their chosen major as well as the tools to think and communicate to be leaders across a diverse range of professional fields and vocations.

Blessed with a strikingly beautiful, increasingly diverse and friendly campus and located in a picturesque Pennsylvania town an hour north of Pittsburgh, Grove City College offers our 2500 students a campus life of robust learning and living in the classroom, sports, the arts, community service, and other extracurricular activities. Students enjoy a thriving spiritual life as part of a community that values the foundation of faith.

When they graduate, nearly everyone is employed or in graduate school within six months, and they become part of a worldwide alumni association that affords close personal and professional relationships for a lifetime. Most importantly, they leave ready to be servant-leaders in their communities with courage and conviction.

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We practice what we preach. Coupled with its superior academic programs in a Christian environment, Grove City College remains remarkably affordable and is a top value college in the nation. The College operates on a balanced budget, refuses federal aid and remains virtually debt-free, proving that higher education can operate responsibly by delivering a first-rate education without government funding or mandates. We champion freedom in the marketplace and America’s heritage of ordered liberty.