Maintaining Ecclesial Identity in Christian Higher Education: Some Thoughts from the Catholic Experience

Abstract

By the mid-19th century, liberal protestant universities had allowed their religious identity to slip away. During the same period, Catholic institutions had maintained their religious identity. Catholicism's stance against modernist thought had held the day. In the 1960s, the Aristotelian-Thomistic hegemony was broken, allowing for a pluralistic approach. Today, many Catholic institutions continue to struggle with their ecclesial and university identities. Evangelical Protestant universities, represented in part by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), have maintained a solid religious identity. They suffer from similar tensions as their Catholic counterparts. The influence of secularized society, finding competent and faith-filled faculty, and the difficulties in maintaining funding impact their religious mission. This essay examines ways in which Catholic and Evangelical Protestants might learn from one another how to enhance religious identity, honor ecclesial tradition, and maintain integrity as both a religious and a higher education institution.