Quickly, however, it proved all too inadequate to contain the greed and selfish ambition that is man’s natural tendency. At Handong International Law School, we begin with the proposition that truth is not relative, that there exist norms which are universal in scope. As a corollary, we would affirm that the law’s capacity to redeem societies depends on virtue in those who govern and in those who are the governed. Accordingly, our calling is to educate leaders who would serve and servants who would lead– from around the world – whether in business, as diplomats, in humanitarian organizations, as teachers, or in remote villages, as advisors– and to do so excellently.

An understanding of the law, in both its potential and its limitations, is the framework with which our students are equipped, and we would produce statesmen, not mere politicians, stewards, not simply consumers, counselors-at-law, rather than legal technicians. We would be bold to face the unique challenges of our generation, challenges that are defined by both their international and pluralistic nature. We would evaluate cultures, our own included, in accordance with those norms that are our starting points.

And we would build in our school a caring community that models cultures where none is marginalized, where human dignity is grounded in the God-image bearing that is the inheritance of every man and woman. The world’s hunger for answers – or even just a clarifying definition of the questions – is an increasingly desperate hunger and, by God’s grace, we would assuage the famishment through graduates who are called to something greater than themselves. Dean Eric G. Enlow