10 Comments

Thanks, Scot. Would that college presidents and boards of trustees would take John's words to heart. I have not much hope of that; if anything, as he notes, there's a lot of retrenchment toward greater conservatism in many institutions, given the increasingly strong political alignments between Christianity and political conservatism. It's a very timely book.

Expand full comment

Thank you Scott and John. This sounds spot on .

Expand full comment

Thanks, Scot, for capturing not just my words but the spirit of the argument.

Expand full comment

I am a Spring Arbor Alumni. The old "Concept" they preached to us from our freshman year became my own means to live as a Christian in a pluralistic society. The language was already there but as I expect few will follow it.

Expand full comment

I argued for nine years that if one paid attention to the entire Concept, especially the “active participation in the world” phrase, a fear based response was not only ineffective but ran counter to the mission itself. Alas, it fell on deaf ears.

Expand full comment

I feared as much. My youngest daughter graduated from there and I noticed the “lack of concept”

Expand full comment

“The Fearless Christ University”

“The Fearless Christ Church”

Together, The Fearless Christian rises from the deep sleep we’ve been lulled into by the faithless fear of being wrong, over the faith filled joy of living the real life Jesus, The Christ freely gave!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thank you Scot and John!!! (Now, I think I need to go make a cup of coffee!)

Expand full comment

I no longer wonder why Jesus was crucified. I understand the dynamics he faced when he walked on this earth and the state of His church current day. Great article. Thank you!

Expand full comment

Great stuff, but for the moment, pie in the sky. The invisible force of donor good will and 'cancel culture' potential will not let this see life. I spent 31 years in higher education, studied it in depth (doctorate in Sociology of Higher Education) and 15 years with InterVarsity at senior levels. I know the depth of the problems. All systems apply pressure on outliers to move towards the mean. Christian Higher Education is such a system, and the mean has and is shifting towards the right....

Expand full comment

Hawthorne centers the role of the Christian university in the landscape of higher education. Maybe that’s the heart of the tension. Does the Christian university find its place in higher education or in service to the church?

Expand full comment