This issue of Christian Higher Education: An International Journal of Research, Theory, and Practice contains three research articles and one essay initially received by the journal’s previous coeditors, Dr. Karen A. Longman and Dr. Laurie A. Schreiner of Azusa Pacific University. Taken together, these pieces shine a light on various facets of institutional mission. In particular, the reader is invited to contemplate how animating purposes, the dimensions of place, and alternative forms of programming all contribute to the character of Christian higher education.
In the lead essay, Bernardo and Butcher emphasize the importance of staying grounded in the purposes of Christian higher education amidst the pressures of external influences, noting that “[m]any Christian educational institutions (CEIs) succumb to the neoliberal lure of today’s markets and unwittingly metamorphosize into entities alien to their Catholic character.” In response, the authors offer a critique of neoliberalism and propose the concept of prophetic imagination as a possible corrective that should be considered for adoption by Catholic colleges and universities. In a research study also attending to elements of institutional purpose, O’Donoghue examines the prevalence of engagement with notions of Satan, demonic evil, and spiritual warfare within research and teaching at Christian colleges and universities. The author finds that “these topics are virtually ignored, with both recent scholarship and curricula largely silent,” and argues that greater attention must be paid to warfare in the spiritual realm in order for Christian higher education to achieve its faith integration mandate.
The ways in which geographic location and culture shape the contours of Christian institutions of higher education are illustrated by the next research article. Examining the Australian context, Glanzer notes that historically, “institutional diversity and pluralism remained extremely limited,” such that “theological education became siloed within narrowly focused theological colleges, seminaries, and a few stand-alone Bible colleges.” However, the recent emergence of eight different Australian Christian colleges and universities provides ample opportunity to investigate the extent to which these institutions have operationalized their Christian identities throughout the organization. Glanzer’s results reveal that while Australian institutions of Christian higher education mirror their counterparts in other parts of the world in many ways, their state-based funding and nonresidential character limit the extent to which Christian mission can be fully operationalized.
The final research article investigates Christian study centers and institutes for Catholic thought, which represent a burgeoning type of Christian programming within American higher education. Employing a collective case study approach, Cockle et al. describe the distinctive features of these para-academic organizations whose purpose is to explore the Christian intellectual tradition on the campuses of secular universities. While the selected research sites differed in important ways, common to all five were assumptions about “the value of an integrated life,” a vision for engaging the host university “thoughtfully and collaboratively rather than antagonistically,” content forming “a supplemental core curriculum that provided a model of the Christian intellectual life,” and a method of using “hospitality as an on-ramp to intellectual fellowship.”
The issue concludes with reviews of books that touch upon faculty development from two distinct vantage points: where we’ve been and where we’re headed. Choi evaluates Wolterstorff’s In This World of Wonders: Memoir of a Life in Learning, an autobiographical work from a Christian philosopher whose scholarship has guided many serving in faith-based colleges and universities. Doty closes out the issue by interacting with the various chapters of Ream et al.’s edited volume Cultivating Mentors: Sharing Wisdom in Christian Higher Education, which casts vision for shaping Christian academic life through theologically informed mentoring.
Editor-in-Chief
Center for Academic Faithfulness & FlourishingGreenville, SC, USA
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