Cornel West and Robert P. George: America at 250 at Cornerstone University

“As we think about America at 250 and the 85th year here at Cornerstone, I can’t think of a more important conversation to have,” said Cornerstone University President Dr. Gerson Moreno-Riaño. That conviction set the tone for a special Wisdom Conversations event that brought two of the nation’s leading public intellectuals to campus to discuss this historic milestone.

Dr. Cornel West, who holds the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary, joined Dr. Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, for the March 5 conversation titled “America at 250: Christianity and the American Experience.”

At the center of the evening was a defining question: What sustains a free society — and what happens when its moral foundations weaken?

Together, West and George are widely known for their decades-long friendship and their engagement with the deepest moral and philosophical questions rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ, while honoring one another as brothers.

The evening began with prayer and perspectives on the night’s themes from Dr. John G. West, vice president of the Discovery Institute and Cornerstone’s newly appointed Distinguished Scholar of American Government and Christian Civic Engagement. He pointed to the Declaration of Independence and the principle of human equality endowed by the Creator as an important values framework for the kinds of conversations possible in America, such as those taking place at Cornerstone University through tonight’s exchange.

In his opening remarks, Dr. West also highlighted the uniqueness of The Cornerstone Core™, the university’s new general education curriculum focused on the wisdom of the American experience grounded in the beauty of the Christian worldview.

From there, President Moreno-Riano began to moderate the conversation with Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Robert George focused on the evening’s central theme America at 250: Christianity and the American Experience. Both West and George ultimately arrived at a shared concern: the American experiment cannot endure on political structures alone. It depends on a particular moral and spiritual formation of its people. And this particular formation is grounded on Christ and the Gospel.

George noted that the American founders designed constitutional structures with a sober understanding of human nature and therefore that the deeper protection of liberty lies beyond governmental structures:

“Our problem is not our Constitution,” George said. “Our problem is lack of fidelity to our Constitution.” He emphasized that the primary protection of liberty lies not in government, but in the institutions of civil society—“mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and coach and teacher and pastor”—that form citizens capable of sustaining freedom.

At the heart of that formation is what George called “civic friendship”: the ability to engage disagreement without treating others as enemies. “If those institutions don’t teach us to honor people with whom we disagree — not to treat them as enemies to be destroyed — no one else will do it.” George said.

West spoke to the same reality through the lens of Christian faith and moral witness, emphasizing the radical call of Christ. “If we don’t cultivate the courage to love — not just calculating the consequences — but believing that intrinsically loving one’s way through life is still desirable,” he said, the foundations of a just society begin to erode.

He cautioned against reducing Christianity to sentiment rather than sacrifice. “Don’t transform the blood at the cross into Kool-Aid,” West said, pointing back to the costliness of real faith.

West also spoke candidly about America’s moral failures, including racial hatred and injustice that have marked the nation’s history. “We are a wretched folk too often,” he said. “Thank God that doesn’t have to be the last word.”

Despite their different emphases, both scholars returned to the same underlying truth: freedom depends on moral capital—and that capital must be renewed.

“We are living off the capital of Christian morality,” George said, warning that society is “depleting the capital and not replacing the capital.”

The conversation ultimately pointed beyond politics or policy to something deeper—formation. Families, churches, schools and communities all play a role in cultivating the character required for a free and flourishing society.

George closed by challenging students in attendance directly. “Form yourselves to be determined truth seekers and courageous truth speakers,” he said.

“That,” he added, “is the mission of this university.”

West and George’s ongoing public dialogues across the country are reflected in their recent book, “Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division.”

Cornerstone University thanks the sponsors who made this Wisdom Conversations, a signature Michigan Christian thought leadership event, possible: Discovery Institute, Acton Institute, Credo Communications, AMDG, and Kevin & Meg Cusack.

For more information about The Cornerstone Core™, our 65-plus Christ-centered degree programs or future Wisdom Conversations events, contact admissions@cornerstone.edu.