Introduction

The project of Christian higher education and the liberal arts may seem like a strange enterprise to defend, and yet many of us who work at Christian colleges and universities find ourselves doing just that—to others, sure, but also to ourselves. A cursory glance around the landscape of Christian educational institutions is bleak: schools continue to close at an alarming rate, programs are frequently cut or consolidated, faculty morale is low, and tuition climbs ever higher. We are professors at two different small Christian institutions, and each of us have been in conversations with colleagues who wonder aloud what we’re doing here, and how long “here” will even exist. And yet, we firmly believe that the project of Christian higher education matters now more than ever.

From our perspective as faculty at Christian liberal arts institutions, we see the work of Christian higher education as unique and essential. What should set Christian colleges and universities apart is their distinct purpose of doing God’s work in God’s world, explicitly. This is not a pithy truism, nor does it sidestep the painful failures of institutions and their people to carry this mission forward. This mission does, however, invite and expect faculty—and students—to make visible instances and effects of brokenness, and then to actively pursue restoration. At its best, Christian higher education seeks to address key challenges in our time: defragmenting faith from work, expecting orthopraxy, and fostering a robust commitment to the historic Christian faith within the ethos of the next generation of students.

Defragmenting Faith and Work

It seems safe to say that modern life could be described as fragmented and individualistic; there is constant pressure to ‘find’ ourselves within ourselves, and then to show up as these authentic, autonomous selves to the world. One manifestation of this has been the siloing of faith and work as separate projects, often in almost entirely different communities. We go to church on Sunday or have a quiet time in the morning to tick faith ‘off the list’ and then take up paid work as something distinct (unless, of course, you work as a pastor or in some other ‘faith work’ hybrid, which presents its own challenges).

Christian higher education explicitly pushes back against this fragmentation; faculty are hired as disciplinary experts who are expected to teach and model holistic lives of integrity and excellence. Whereas in higher education as a whole, faith and academics may be kept explicitly separate, Christian liberal arts education sees faith as fundamental to what it means to be a professional, whether as a social worker, a musician, or an engineer. For example, Bethel University frames its mission in this way: “We educate and equip students to lead lives of impact through transformative academics in a Christ-centered community.” In practical terms, this might look like preparing K-12 teachers for pedagogical excellence as a core expression of faith in action. It might look like training scientists, psychologists, and artists who see their work not as in conflict with faith, but as central to delighting in and stewarding creation. It might look like training nursing students to care for their patients as exemplary medical providers, yes, but also as people who believe in a miraculous God. By pursuing faith and work as mutually constitutive, faculty and students pursue models of what an integrated life can look like. To be sure, our colleagues at public higher education institutions may model lives of faith integrated with work, and we train our students to enter public work spaces to do the same. What may be unique within the Christian liberal arts institution is the expectation for faculty to talk explicitly about a faith-infused life with students, and for the community to wrestle together to counter cultural pressures that seek to compartmentalize faith from work.

This mission is supported by another unique characteristic of the Christian university: the synergy that arises from bringing together Christian faculty who share a common commitment to faith and work as interdependent. At its best, Christian higher education is shaped by regular and robust conversations about how faith informs work and how work exists as an expression of faith across a range of disciplines. As an example, a Public Health professor from Calvin University and an English professor from Hope College, both in Michigan, recently received a grant to raise public awareness of water contamination in drinking water. The professors proposed the project as part of a joint Creation Care initiative using a distinctly Christian framework. Calvin University Public Health students will focus on understanding and sharing the dangers of water contamination, as well as researching potential restoration efforts, and Hope English students will, in turn, create posters and digital projects to spread awareness throughout their communities. Within a fragmented time, Christian higher education can demonstrate examples of a defragmented whole—a complementary body of believers, invited to join in God’s redemption of all things.

Faculty in Christian higher education have the opportunity to nudge students one step further beyond building moral character or impacting communities for good. The ultimate call away from hyper-individualism and defragmentation of faith from work is the call to sacrifice. In a culture that bombards students with opportunities to discover their identities and to pursue their own advantage, the call to self-surrender is a call to a radical practice of vocation, one that invites a community to sacrifice individual control and gain for the glory of God.

Expecting Orthopraxy

This defragmentation of faith and work also cultivates an expectation of orthopraxy—“right actions” that arise from foundational Christian beliefs. Fundamentally, if Christian higher education believes in its purpose, our institutions should exist as “small working models of new creation,” to borrow from N.T. Wright’s framing of the church and its mission. We see this as playing out in a few key ways.

First, at their core, Christian institutions should make legible the instances and effects of brokenness and actively pursue restoration. Rather than commit themselves to the belief that humans are inherently good, or condemn humanity as historically and unredeemably evil, the Bible ‘diagonalizes’ these false binaries (to borrow a term from Christopher Watkin). Christian colleges and universities should instead “perform a different story, rhythmed to the beat of creation, fall, and redemption” (Watkin). Within the varied disciplines and professions Christian college students pursue, university communities have a responsibility to help make clear strengths and challenges relevant to their disciplines, leading to an open-handed engagement with the world. Whether in a history class or a community-engaged learning seminar, during a study abroad course or a spring break trip to contexts very different from our own, as Christians, we need not shy away from evidence of sin and brokenness because we believe in God’s ultimate redemption of all things. Likewise, we can delight in all that is good wherever we find it, because of God’s common grace.

As “small working models of new creation,” Christian institutions should also model orthopraxy in confronting their own challenges and limitations. Particularly in a time where there is every incentive to double down and to avoid admitting wrong, repentance and reconciliation are practices that bear witness to God’s goodness and grace. Whether mediating a conflict over a disputed grade; or owning institutional histories that fall short of our ideals; or seeking reconciliation when harm is caused—“by what we have done or left undone”, as a historic prayer of confession reminds us—Christian higher education can exist as a counter-witness to caustic patterns of intransigence and hubris. Our workplace policies should be exemplary in caring for employees; our expectations for academic honesty and professional practice clear; and our opportunities for remediation abundant. When we do our work well, it is to God’s glory.

Deepening Christian Identity

Finally, faculty and students who invest today in the work of Christian higher education participate in a unique project of constructivism in a time of rampant deconstruction. In his 2016 keynote address at the 40th anniversary celebration of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), David Brooks explained what he observed as distinctive among today’s Christian college students: the willingness and the character to commit. Brooks argued that many people today are unwilling to make commitments, fearing that a commitment to one choice will lead to missing out on other opportunities. He asserted that our culture de-values commitment-making and prioritizes individualism instead. In contrast, students at Christian colleges and universities are taught to identify with historic Christianity and to claim and commit a Christian identity.

As Christians, we surrender ourselves to something larger, recognizing that our shared faith pre-dates us and will exist long after us. The Christian university can contribute uniquely to student understandings of their identities in Christ by sharing the legacy of those who also identify in the same way. While some students enter college with significant knowledge of historic Christianity, many or even most do not. The Christian university therefore has an important responsibility to deepen students’ identities in a faith that welcomes critical questions and embraces hope in times of doubt. This is especially important because there is understandable reluctance among some students to identify with historic (and present-day) church leaders and practices that don’t sit well with modern-day values, especially when it comes to the treatment of gender, sexuality, political difference, and other social identity traits.

At its best, Christian higher education engages students with the historic Christian faith, supported by both key foundational beliefs (such as those outlined the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds) and perennial controversies (e.g., the definition of a “day” in the biblical Creation account, or the problem of suffering). Students today can take comfort in the truth that Christians can disagree and still claim Christ crucified, and that debates can and should continue as people try to understand God’s ongoing work in God’s world. Moreover, students can deepen their faith as they learn how to navigate complicated questions—how to approach biblical texts that seem contradictory in one way or another, how to integrate faith and reason, and how to understand the sovereignty of God in a world where bad things seem to happen to people who deserve better—alongside mentors who share their commitments. This engagement should also be exemplified by Christian virtues including charity and humility, and allow for disagreement without divisiveness. Such a commitment is nothing more and nothing less than a way to love God and to love one’s neighbor.

Conclusion

These three themes, or missions, if you will, of Christian higher education are ultimately complementary. We see faith and work as shaping what we do—orthopraxy—in and through the lives to which we are called. We see the surrendering of our individual desires to something larger as good, because we believe in a redeeming God, who calls all of us to join him in the renewal of all things. We see our faith as being challenged, engaged, and developed, by life in a diverse community.

Certainly, there is room to improve. As many essays explore in our forthcoming edited book, which focuses on faculty thriving within Christian higher education, faith-affiliated colleges and universities face significant internal and external challenges. And yet, we persist in believing that Christian higher education speaks well to key challenges of our time. Whether it is cultivating patterns of truth-telling even when it might (at first) seem disadvantageous; or building a more robust sense of what it means to live lives of integrity and joy within a changing world; or simply (or not so simply) pursuing what is good across neighborhoods and communities while facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles, we believe that Christian higher education—its faculty, current and future students, administrators, parents, community members, trustees, donors—offers something unique and essential. We believe the project of Christian higher education is worth stewarding, even when the road seems uphill both ways.