Who We Are
What is ContraryU?
In an age when higher education has been reduced more to technical proficiencies answering the clarion call of market-efficiency, ContraryU stands in constructive opposition, offering instead a communal, slowed down, intentional approach to learning, with the flourishing of the whole person as the root motive and final aim. All communities have boundaries. All communities pursue some vision of the good life. ContraryU is a community that is attempting to answer the need in our current social order for deep connections with one another and with the truth.
Meet the Professors
Matt Bonzo (Ph.D., Free University Amsterdam)
Matt Bonzo (Ph.D., Free University Amsterdam)
Matt Bonzo (Ph.D., Free University Amsterdam)
Matt Bonzo has been a professor of philosophy for more than 25 years. He is passionate about helping people understand the world and
themselves in redemptive ways. He and Dorothe (wife) also nurture Small Wonders
Farm where they raise beef cattle, pigs, and poultry. They are working at their new role
as grandparents, affectionately known as Grumps and Beppe, to Addie and Josie.
Michael Stevens (Ph.D., University of Dallas)
Matt Bonzo (Ph.D., Free University Amsterdam)
Matt Bonzo (Ph.D., Free University Amsterdam)
Michael Stevens grew up in the northernmost stretches of
Appalachia, in Cortland County, NY, where his ancestors on both sides had lived since
the Revolutionary War, mainly farming until the great displacement of people from the
land in the middle of the twentieth century (all four of his grandparents ended up
working at some point at the Smi
Michael Stevens grew up in the northernmost stretches of
Appalachia, in Cortland County, NY, where his ancestors on both sides had lived since
the Revolutionary War, mainly farming until the great displacement of people from the
land in the middle of the twentieth century (all four of his grandparents ended up
working at some point at the Smith-Corona typewriter factory in Groton, NY). After an
undergraduate Biblical studies degree, and a Master's in Great Books education, he
married Linda Merkel of Long Island, NY, and then completed a PhD in Literature from
the University of Dallas in Irving, TX. They eventually moved to Grand Rapids, MI,
where he worked as an English professor for 27 years, teaching a range of courses,
including American Literature, Russian Literature, and Imagination in Culture. After
teaching a course titled Home Economics with his colleague Matt Bonzo, they
embarked on the co-writing of Wendell Berry and the Cultivation of Life, published with
Brazos Press in 2008. Since then, his research, writing, and teaching has moved
around the central node of Berry's vision for sustainable and life-giving communities.
He and Linda have served in their church in Grand Rapids for the last 27 years, and
their neighborhood for the past 22 years. They live in close proximity to their three
children—Ethan, Julia (and her husband Sam), and Gabe—and even closer proximity to
their three aging cats.
How Can You Participate in ContraryU?
ContraryU will accomplish its purpose through the offering of classes, supporting
research, and sustaining relationships. While we embrace a porous boundary for our
community as people discern their level of involvement, we also recognize the need for
an abiding membership that embodies both the truth and love that gives vitality to our
vision. We invite you to join us!