As he unlocks the light wooden door to Parkes Hall, University Chaplain Timothy Stevens passes a guitar case on his left as he makes his way into his office. He sits at a cherry wood table. On top sits a box of Heavenly Soft facial tissue, not the least bit ironic. Bookshelves line the wall boasting Dante, Chaucer and Shakespeare among many others.
“The trouble is I acquire books, but I don’t ever give them away,” Stevens says. “It would be like giving away your children. How could you do that?”
Stevens has been the chaplain at Northwestern since 1986. “What I am called to do, and I think it’s consistent with what I think Christians should do, is to respect the religious convictions of those around them and say, ‘How can we partner with you?'” One of his goals as chaplain is teaching to be a good neighbor in a pluralistic community.
Stevens attended Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana to study engineering. After struggling with the issue of his stance as a Christian regarding the morality of the Vietnam War, he decided to pursue his faith. He later attended Princeton Theological Seminary for his Master of Divinity degree and then NU for his doctorate in English literature. After that the position as chaplain opened up, and he was able to combine his passion for academics and ministry.
While some see his job as setting aside his own convictions to accommodate the needs of others, Stevens disagrees. “As a Christian my job is to be chaplain of not only all the students but all the faculty, all the staff, all the alumni of Northwestern University … It is not my job to say ‘My religion is the best, and you should join it.’ My job is to say, ‘How can I enhance your spiritual journey?'”
After finding out the Buddhist group on campus had stopped meeting a couple years ago, he contacted every student two years back who expressed an interest in Buddhism. After extending a helping hand by purchasing meditation cushions for them, the group began to thrive and now meets on a weekly basis.
Stevens also opens Parkes Hall every Friday to Muslim students so they can have a place to gather for Juma’h Prayer. “I had a Muslim student who said, ‘We view you as the spiritual leader of the campus.’ I was really touched by that,” Stevens says.
In explaining the Protestant faith, Stevens describes what he calls an “insider language” by comparing it to people involved in a relationship. “When Christians get together to worship, they say things like, ‘Jesus is the best; Jesus is the way.’ Fine. When two people are in a relationship, you will hear things like ‘My girlfriend, my fiancé, my wife is the most beautiful person in the world. She is absolutely like an angel.’ Well there’s six billion people on the planet; there might be one or two others who are kind of attractive too, right? But we view that as acceptable in that setting.”
Over the last few decades, Stevens has witnessed the significant growth of religious diversity on campus. Church-going is no longer the thing to do. However Stevens thinks that might be a good thing. “Now church isn’t just something you go to because it’s expected and it pays off … but it’s because you actually believe it.”
