Opinion: What Makes a University “Christian”?

Dr. Ron Highfield is a Professor of Religion, Religion and Philosophy Division at Seaver College.

It is often hard to determine what a school means when it designates itself a “Christian” university. Such schools rarely define what they mean and sometimes give the impression of studied ambiguity. Consequently, different faculty, students, donors, and alumni harbor very different conceptions of Christianity and the school’s relationship to it. My first question to any would-be Christian university, then, is this: when you say you are Christian, what do you mean? More importantly, what should you mean?

The “Christian” College

For a university to designate itself as “Christian” should mean at minimum that it confesses the same faith that believers in Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, and Rome, under the guidance of the apostles, confessed: Jesus is Messiah, Lord, and Savior, crucified and raised from the dead (See 1 Cor. 15:3-8; Rom 10:9). A Christian college must live out its institutional life under the guidance of this faith. I will not acknowledge as genuinely Christian any university that will not make this confession before the world and conduct its affairs on this basis. There are, of course, differences between the ways Christian colleges and individual Christians live out their faith. Universities do not have hearts with which to believe or mouths with which to confess that Jesus is Lord. As corporate entities, universities exist in and act on the basis of their charters, policies, mission statements, codes of conduct, and desired outcomes. In Christian universities, these institutional identifiers must affirm the Christian faith clearly at every level, from charter to desired outcomes. Moreover, these commitments mean little unless they are taken seriously in hiring, retention, curriculum, teaching, and student life. Christian colleges must remember that their existence makes sense only as a protest and an alternative to the dominant culture of academia.

What Makes a Christian Institution a University?

In designating itself a university, it would seem that a Christian institution claims to conform to the general idea of a university. Implicit in this claim is the assertion that a school can be genuinely Christian and authentically a university at the same time.

The Idea of a University?

Christian universities must do the essential work that universities exist to do or they should cease calling themselves universities. But here we face a difficulty that is almost universally overlooked in discussions about the nature of Christian universities. There is no authoritative blueprint defining the nature and work of a university. Instead of such an authority, we have a history of associations that called themselves “universities.” As educational endeavors, universities organize themselves as societies of teachers and students whose purpose for coming together is advanced learning, which involves seeking to understand the best intellectual achievements a society has to offer. This core meaning has remained constant throughout all the changes within the history of higher education. Hence a Christian university, if it wishes to identify itself with this history, must at minimum constitute itself as an association of teachers and students whose purpose is higher or advanced learning.

 Advanced Learning as a Contested Idea

What, then, counts as advanced learning? Again we face a difficulty not often acknowledged. There is no unchanging and authoritative blueprint that determines what should be taught in institutions of advanced learning. Every society teaches its young what it judges to be the best wisdom, securest knowledge, and most useful skills it possesses. But judgment about what is true and useful differs from society to society and from age to age. What counted as advanced learning in Ancient Greece differs from that in fifth-century Rome, thirteenth-century Paris, nineteenth-century Berlin, or twenty-first-century Los Angeles. Diversity of educational traditions characterizes even the same era and society. Historically, the pluralism in American higher education has mirrored regional, philosophical, political, and denominational differences. Educational traditions compete with each other for dominance. For some time now the dominant tradition in American academia has been what we can call “secular progressivism.” It presents itself to the public as the standard that defines the meaning of advanced learning. It considers traditional Catholic, denominational, evangelical, and other conservative colleges to be unenlightened, culturally backward, and morally oppressive.

Despite its arrogant claims, the secular progressive tradition of academia possesses no right to set standards for advanced learning. Reason is not its exclusive possession. Its ever-changing vision of what is wise, good, true, and useful can be contested. Hence Christian universities need not and should not accept its definition of what makes a university academically sound as a pattern to emulate. In fact, confessing Christians contest secular progressive academia’s vision of what is wise, good, true, and useful. We understand God, creation, human nature, the human condition, human destiny, and morality, and a thousand other things very differently. We do not share the same vision of human good or of what constitutes a good human being. To love God above all things is the most profound of human obligations. In contrast, idolatry, that is, worshiping anything other than God, is the most profound abandonment of duty and the wellspring of manifold evil (Rom 1:18-32).

The Christian Vision of Advanced Learning

For confessing Christians, the events of the cross and resurrection of Jesus are the most significant events in human history. Because we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, we also believe that Jesus Christ reveals the true nature, identity, and destiny of humanity (Rom 8:29; 1 John 3:2). Confessing Christians do not believe that an education that omits or rejects these truths and this vision of human life can provide a foundation for a good life. Much of what American academia considers wise, good, true, beautiful, and useful we consider foolish, bad, false, ugly, and useless. And this is our rationale for creating and maintaining Christian universities. Christian universities that no longer present an unambiguous and confident Christian alternative to the secular progressive tradition have forfeited their birthright.