Interview of author of new book on religious colleges

Inside Higher Ed interviews Samuel Schuman on his new book Seeing the Light: Religious Colleges in 21st Century America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009). During his career Schuman served as chancellor of two public institutions—the University of Minnesota at Morris and at the University of North Carolina at Asheville—and as vice president for academic affairs and acting president of Guilford College, a Quaker institution.

Faculty at Baptist College Must Affirm 2000 Baptist Faith and Message statement

The trustees of Truett-McConnell College  in Cleveland, Georgia, voted on December 4 to adopt The Baptist Faith and Message [BF&M]as its confessional statement and to require  a signature by all faculty and administrators affirming the statement. The president of Truett-McConnell, Emir Caner, said that faculty would not be expected to sign the BF&M until August 2011. The article on Education in the BF&M states:

Christianity is the faith of enlightenment and intelligence. In Jesus Christ abide all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All sound learning is, therefore, a part of our Christian heritage. The new birth opens all human faculties and creates a thirst for knowledge. Moreover, the cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate with the causes of missions and general benevolence, and should receive along with these the liberal support of the churches. An adequate system of Christian education is necessary to a complete spiritual program for Christ’s people.

In Christian education there should be a proper balance between academic freedom and academic responsibility. Freedom in any orderly relationship of human life is always limited and never absolute. The freedom of a teacher in a Christian school, college, or seminary is limited by the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature of the Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the school exists.

For a critical report, see the piece by John D. Pierce. For a sympathetic account with quotes from some faculty, see the piece by J. Gerald Harris.

Faculty on a Mission

College presidents are paid to tell the mission of their school as eloquently and persuasively as possible. Been there, done that.

But far more illuminating, persuasive, and often eloquent are faculty on the mission of their school. And when they join their scholarly expertise to their sense of personal commitment, the story informs as well as inspires.

A case in point is L. DeAne Lagerquist’s “Matters of faith: Reflections on the Place of Theological Literacy in the Liberal Arts.” Lagerquist is Professor of Religion at St. Olaf College and one of the foremost authorities on Lutheranism—and Lutheran higher education—in America.

Take a look at Lagerquist’s article and please send me links to other examples of “Faculty on a Mission.” As William B. Adrian and Richard T. Hughes, Models for Christian Higher Education: Strategies for Success in the Twenty-First Century (Eerdmans, 1997), reminds us, there are many different models for church-related higher education. And secular missions can also differ greatly from one institution to another.