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Everyone ought to have a hobby they can get lost in and feel like a kid. A train set is one of those hobbies, and Dr. George Pierson has one. In fact, he has a railroad system running in the basement of his home.

The philosophy professor devotes much of his attention to railroad history. He houses a model train layout that takes up three-quarters of his basement. He built a replica of the Tuscaroro Valley Railroad, a defunct railroad system in central Pennsylvania. The model includes bridges, landscape, and figurines.

"I get a little carried away with it," he acknowledges. "I have between 15-20 locomotives with a couple hundred cars. I've built some of the model from scratch using raw materials like wood and plastic, and I've also used some kits that have many of the pieces to add to the layout."

Railroad history enthralls Dr. Pierson so much that he published a book. Tommy Varner's Red Rooster tells the story about the Tuscaroro Valley Railroad, whose last run occurred in 1934. He completed most of his research for his book during his time in Washington, D.C., doing graduate work. He accumulated information from original sources from that era: newspapers, government documents and financial records.

Since coming to the College in 1987, he has taught the majority of the courses offered in philosophy. He attended Allegheny College in western Pennsylvania, where he received his bachelor of arts in sociology in 1974. Six years later, he graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary with a master's degree in religion. He spent the next 12 years doing graduate research before earning master's and doctorate degrees in 1992 from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

As the chair of the philosophy department at a Christian college, Dr. Pierson enjoys an opportunity unlike most of his colleagues: presenting the symmetry that exists between spirituality and philosophy. While most people may choose to repel the two from each other, he contends that the former is inherent in the latter.and everything else.

"Sovereignty means that all things are under God's control right now," he asserts. "Everything functions because God so wills it, and a true understanding of that will change one's perspective of reality.

"Many people believe that God is in charge of spiritual things like prophecy, but I want my students to understand the biblical sense of God's rule over all creation. If I ask how God is involved with a desk, I want them to see that He sustains the atomic relationships of the matter that makes up the desk."

Dr. Pierson and his wife, Virginia, live in Blue Island, Illinois. They have been married 27 years and have two daughters, Katherine and Rebecca.