Alumni of Wheaton College concerned about the school’s alleged leftward drift recently singled out a philosophy professor at the school as an example of liberalism seeping into the flagship Evangelical institution.
Nathan Cartagena, Ph.D., who has been an assistant professor of philosophy at Wheaton College since 2018, has repeatedly exhibited “left-wing racial politics laundered through a patina of ‘Christianese,'” according to an analysis of his writings posted on the website “For Wheaton.”
Educated at Grove City College, Texas A&M University and Baylor University, Cartagena’s profile asserts that he specializes in Thomas Aquinas, civil rights activist James Baldwin, Critical Race Theory, military ethics, “Evangélic@ Theology,” and Christian pedagogy.
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“This report is not comprehensive,” the analysis of Cartagena’s writings says. “A comprehensive examination of Professor Cartagena would likely run dozens, if not hundreds, of pages.”
The document asserts that Cartagena has claimed God called him “to love and serve the Church as a race scholar,” and that he attempts to mix traditional Christian scholarship with Critical Race Theory. It quoted one of the professor’s writings saying there is a historic link between “Christ’s broken body” and the “redemptive conceptions of whiteness and white nationalism.”
Cartagena also endorsed a comparison of President Donald Trump to Pharaoh in the book of Exodus, accused Christians of “sinful blather” in their opposition to Marxism, and maintained that “we are in [antiracist author Ibram X.] Kendi’s debt.”
The document also posted screenshots of posts from Cartagena’s now-deleted X account, which was replete with reflections on white supremacy and Critical Race Theory.
“For Wheaton,” which was started by Wheaton alumni in February amid backlash to the school pulling a Facebook post congratulating alumnus Russ Vought for an appointment in the Trump administration, also hosts a petition demanding leadership change at the school.
As of April 7, the petition has been signed by more than 1,450 alumni.
A student who took one of Cartagena’s courses in 2023 claimed in an extensive statement published on the For Wheaton website that he sowed “hatred and division,” twisted Scripture and Christian philosophers to promote a socialist worldview, and clamped down on dissent in his classes.
“In this class, I expected to learn about different governmental systems and the way the different parts of the world approach justice; instead, Professor Cartagena complains exclusively of the evils of our capitalist system and how white supremacy has infiltrated all aspects of our society,” wrote the student, who remained anonymous to avoid “potential blowback from the faculty and administration.”
The student went on to claim that she was made to feel she was complicit in white supremacy because of her immutable characteristics and, therefore, ultimately beyond salvation.
“I feel as though I am painted as evil, racist, oppressive, un-Christlike and unsavable because of my race,” the student wrote. “This class cultivates a cultish atmosphere where students are not allowed to disagree or question Professor Cartagena’s views without punishment.”
The student also claimed Cartagena openly denigrated Wheaton College President Philip Ryken and chaplain Angulus Wilson by “claiming they are weak for not addressing certain issues during chapel time and saying also that they make many of their administrative decisions notably out of fear of looking racist and intolerant.”
Cartagena would close the classroom door based on the severity of his comments, the student also alleged.
Both Cartagena and Wheaton College declined to offer comment to The Christian Post on the allegations.
In an op-ed for The Federalist in February, Wheaton alumni Edie Guy and Gabriela Szostak also singled out Cartagena in their condemnation of their alma mater, labeling him a “critical race theorist” and accusing Wheaton of cowardice and a “leftward lurch.”
Wheaton, which boasts John Piper, the late Rev. Billy Graham and famous martyr Jim Elliot as alumni, has repeatedly made headlines in recent years for allegations that the school is being hijacked by leftism.
Last year, Wheaton College President Philip Ryken — the former senior pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia — pushed back after alumnus Tim Scheiderer accused the school of going “woke.”
“[T]he school in the leafy suburb west of Chicago has begun to mimic Harvard’s wokeness,” Scheiderer wrote.
The op-ed claimed that Wheaton began straying from its “orthodox, Christian moorings” by “banning biblical words, teaching critical race theory, and psychologizing gender identity issues.”
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
