I’ll be teaching an Intro to Bible course at my alma mater this fall and we had our adjunct faculty training this week. We had a lively discussion among the new faculty, many of whom had not been exposed to much Covenant identity, about how North Park University is both intentionally Christian and has a diverse, not all Christian, student body. So I’ve been thinking some about what distinctives shape a Christian school in a multicultural, highly diverse and rapidly changing culture like we live in. I feel like I want to work out more my own mission for what a higher ‘Christian’ education really means, how to put into words what I appreciate about North Park, what I’ve learned about how it compares to other Christian schools/places I’ve experienced like Northwestern. At any rate, I think my class will be a lot of fun and very interesting, but I wonder what isssues might be raised and how I would articulate my beliefs or thoughts in the role of professor.
I’ve also recently heard of several examples of Christian colleges that I think missed the mark in their attempt to be distinctively Christian. The story below features one way to interpret Christian education that I strongly disagree with. Not because of the specific content taught or supported/disagreed with, but because of the school’s overall framework. More thoughts from me later – but here’s the story:
Professor Andrew Paquin, who was voted teacher of the year in 2006, was recently dismissed from his position at Colorado Christian University due to his ‘stance’ on free markets. University President Armstrong apparently cited two authors from Paquin’s reading list as part of the problem, Peter Singer (Princeton animal rights atheist) and Jim Wallis (Sojourners President and left-leaning activist).
“I don’t think there is another system [capitalism] that is more consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ,†Armstrong told the Rocky Mountain News. “What the university stands for, among other things, is free markets.†The full article describing the firing can be found on the RMN site.
Also from the RMN article: “Among the school’s ‘strategic objectives,’ adopted last year, is to ‘impact our culture in support of traditional family values, sanctity of life, compassion for the poor, biblical view of human nature, limited government, personal freedom, free markets, natural law, original intent of the Constitution and Western civilization.’ ” Later on in the story, President Armstrong makes the amusing comment that he would “probably” be considered part of the religious right. Um, yeah.
Interestingly, Paquin says he supports capitalism, but would “stop short of deifying it.” He founded and runs a faith-based non-profit that offers micro-loans to small business owners in Africa. Paquin is not planning to try to return to Colorado Christian or sue them for being fired.
Why this is an example of how NOT to think about Christian education: Colorado Christian has their framework askew. It seems like this school somehow sees its mission of building up the church to include indoctrinating specific, narrow, secular belief systems and passing them for what defines “Christian.” As if the Bible clearly points the church toward supporting a free market economic system versus socialism, or small government versus lots of social programs. To be clear – I am not arguing FOR socialism, or against small government or any other eensy teensy secular issue that an education institution may and should discuss. I am saying it is the wrong question to be asking in a Christian mission statement, the wrong dichotomies to let define a Christian school that should be grounded in a different – more biblical and holistic – framework. Maybe Christians like Armstrong truly believe that Jesus would want capitalism, but that narrow label of which economic system to support falls more in the category of personal preference or a political stance – not to use as an identity shaping doctrine for a faithful Christian community. Christ repeatedly tells us that all earthly power will pass away, that God’s kingdom is of our highest concern, and His answer to issues of wealth and poverty should challenge every notion we have of business and affluence in this global world. Armstrong himself is quoted as saying something about how you can’t throw the mantel of Jesus on top of any political system. I agree.
It’s the refusal to even read any other viewpoints that disgusts me. From the article:
Yep. That kind of narrow “education” just breeds ignorance, and the church doesn’t need any more of that than it’s already got.
Funny you should bring this up right now. I have my own opinions on the topic (which earlier this week I was up in the middle of the night angsting and blogging about). As a current business student at our alma mater, I’m afraid to report that the priorities and paradigms set forth in the classroom are determined more by Adam Smith than by Jesus.
Liz~
Thanks for your reflections on this article and what it means to be in Christian higher ed. To me teaching Christianly at a Christian college means encouraging the “how” students think, not as much the what. If they are viewing the world and creation through a biblical framework, I think we can trust them to make solid judgments. Why shield them from differing viewpoints?
Also, I read a book earlier this year “Less Thank two Dollars a Day” by Kent Van Til–it’s helpful in taking a look at the present global economy and how that relates to biblical ideals of economic justice for the more vulnerable in our society.
I miss our great conversations and I am so glad to hear that you are teaching this semester!!
AMJ