History, Politics, and International Studies Department

The Department of History, Politics and International Studies believes that historical thinking is an essential feature of faithful living. In our history classes, we aim to help cultivate in students the skills, knowledge, and virtues necessary for thinking historically. To think historically is to read all dimensions of the creation with a keen and subtle awareness of how they were shaped by processes rooted in the remote and the recent past. It also involves understanding past events, ideas, institutions, and civilizations within their thick and varied contexts. The department offers both a major and minor in history, and a concentration in art history, to achieve these goals.

We also believe in the importance of civic thinking for a vibrant society. Our political science classes develop civic thinking by providing students with the theories, analytical skills, empirical methods, and research opportunities to understand the patterns of conflict and cooperation that characterize relations within and between states and peoples. The department offers a major and minor in political science to achieve these goals.

By its very nature - complex, interconnected, change-prone, and operating across both levels of analysis and time - the academic study of international phenomena is not amenable to traditional disciplinary boundaries. In recognition of this reality, the international studies (INS) major is multi-disciplinary, with an emphasis in the core disciplines of political studies, history and economics, together with intensive training in foreign languages and research methods. In keeping with the commitment to integrated learning and a biblical consciousness of Christ’s preeminence over all things, the international studies program seeks to unfold the implications of this preeminence by studying the history, politics, and economics of the created order in global context, and by treating the international dimension of human behaviors and institutions as a distinct and critically important area of inquiry.

"Dr. Green was one of my first friends at Covenant. He showed me that professors can be your friends and not just mentors or instructors."
- Ian Banks ’20 | chemistry major

For General Education

The department will help students taking history or political science courses within the core curriculum to understand the shape, political dynamics, and historical roots of the modern world and to ask questions within their own major fields informed by the realities of historical development.

For the History Major

Majors are further assisted in developing a deeper understanding of certain aspects of the past and in thinking critically about the issues and problems of teaching and writing history as Christians. To that end, Introduction to History, Historiography, Senior Seminar in History, and completion of a Capstone Project are required for all history majors. Majors in history at Covenant have led to vocations in teaching, journalism, law, government service, pastoral ministry, academic scholarship, and a host of other fields that benefit from a strong foundation in research skills, writing aptitude, and general training in the liberal arts.

For the Political Science Major

Majors study the actors and institutions that generate cooperation and conflict in society and among states. The starting point for this study is an acknowledgment of human beings as fallen image-bearers and government as an ordained institution, and requires that students be taught the discipline’s scientific basis, values, constraints, theoretical foundations and debates, ethical considerations, content across disciplinary fields, methods of inquiry, and analytical skills.

For the International Studies Major

Majors will develop a deeper understanding of various international phenomena and will be challenged to think and write critically about these phenomena as Christians. To this end, a common international studies core is required for all international studies majors. Students will emerge from the international studies program with a grasp of the major theories, methods and substantive issues pertinent to the study of international political, social and economic phenomena, coupled with advanced training in a foreign language that will prepare the individual for a career with international dimensions. Specifically, the major will prepare students to pursue careers in government, law, journalism, international non- or inter-governmental organizations, business, the military or academia, among others.

Teacher Certification

History Pre-MAT

Students interested in teaching history for grades 6-12 should complete a BA degree with a major in history and then enroll in the one-year Master of Arts in Teaching at Covenant College. It is recommended that the Education Minor be completed.

Political Science Pre-MAT

Students who are interested in teaching political science for grades 6-12 should complete the political science major or the history major and then enroll in the one-year Master of Arts in Teaching at Covenant College. It is recommended that the Education Minor be completed.

"We are in the business of training students who are both serious minded and engaged in culture, and striving in these things to be faithful to God."
- Dr. Jay Green, professor of history

Recent Senior Capstone Projects

“Freedom Summer Revisited: A Comparison of Elite Activist Networks in the 1964-65 Mississippi Voter-Registration Movement”
“The Pocaiti in Romania under Communist Rule 1946-1989”
“The Durham Mines and the Convict Lease System: The Devaluation of Life and Inhumane Conditions in a Georgia Convict Camp”