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By Jonathan S. Raymond
People choose a university for varying reasons.
Students differ from their parents and from each other. Alumni and friends
differ in why they financially support a university. Not all faculty are
unanimous regarding why they are attracted to a particular place of vocation.
This is because universities serve a diversity of functions. Among different
institutions, there is variance in the opportunities and possible purposes to
which people are attracted. One thing should be underscored: the essence of a
Christian university is a calling to a higher purpose.
The special synergism of faith and reason that makes Christian higher education
superior to all other forms of university has been well articulated ever since St. Anselm (1033-1109) wrote his well-known treatise on fides quaerens intellectum – “faith seeking understanding.”
Christian university education is truly ‘higher’ education, grounded in particular attributes that go beyond faith and reason.
This perspective is often the basis of the attraction of students, parents and
friends to a Christian school, as they invest time and resources in the life of
the university for specific purposes. The university draws them into a sphere
of participation – and occasions hope that, through this participation, desired ends will be
realized.
Those special characteristics, commitments and promises of an authentically
Christian university inspire a kind of ‘calling’ for people to become engaged in the very organic, dynamic life of the university – because it is different, and holds the promise of achieving ends that could
never be fully realized in secular university settings.
What is it that makes a Christian university distinctive and worth the
investment of time and resources? What is at the heart of its promise to serve
powerful purposes beyond what other universities can deliver?
What is it about a Christian institution that exercises a pull and a calling
upon many who are attracted to a Christian university above all others? What is
it about its essence that is so compelling?
The answer lies not in the what, but rather in the who. The distinctiveness, promise, essence and calling are embodied by Jesus
Christ! In the authentic Christian university, Christ is at the centre – and from the centre, his presence permeates the university. By the outworking
and inworking of the Holy Spirit, the resurrected, glorified, living Christ is
the ‘spiritual DNA’ of the university, when it is seen as a faith community.
The essence of the university is the body of Christ gathered for special
purposes:
* To discover truth, knowing that “all truth is God’s truth.” Students find factual truth through scientific inquiry, propositional truth in
theories and hypotheses, and revealed truth through scripture, witness and
personal experience;
* To experience and express compassion within the university – and beyond, in the local community and in the larger marketplaces of the world;
* To experience and promote reconciliation within one’s circle of friends, across the university community, and out in society;
* To experience and communicate hope.
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When the essence of the university is Jesus Christ, the ends of the university
are God’s grace in several forms: truth known; compassion lived-out; reconciliation
realized; and hope manifested.
When its essence is Christ, a university becomes a special means of God’s transformational grace in the world. Its students, faculty, staff, alumni and
friends become the agents of God’s grace – engaged toward accomplishing his kingdom’s ends in a world of tremendous opportunities, and engaged in and for a world
which has profound needs.
In both its essence and its ends, a Christian university expresses a vision that
is different and necessary in today’s world. A Christian university, first and foremost, consists of people of faith
– and also people of hope and love.
When a university is not merely an aggregation or collection of academic guilds,
not merely an exercise in running the gauntlet of courses and requirements, not
merely a transaction of tuition for degrees, it is free to be something more.
Such a university is free to go beyond transaction to transformation. When
students are transformed by the permeating presence of Christ in every facet of
their university experience, they become agents of transformation in the world.
When the university is truly Christian, it is a community of people and a
special place that is a social-spiritual ‘ecology’ of holiness.
As a Holy Spirit-filled, Christ-permeated university, it is a place where a
living God, in Christ Jesus, does truly miraculous things in and through the
lives of students, faculty and staff – as each one responds daily to God’s call to a higher purpose.
Jonathan S. Raymond is president of Trinity Western University, in Langley, B.C.
The preceding piece was adapted from his book, Called to a Higher Purpose.
August 2009
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