Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-21-2019

Abstract

This history of distinctively Christian institutions of higher education in America signals the importance of missional vigilance for stakeholders. This article proposes a framework for Christian faculty to approach their work of educating students in a distinctively Christian way, by orienting each discipline and field of study to the main points of redemptive history as defined by Christian theology. When we train students at a Christian institution, we should be training them to become participants in the redemptive work of God. By taking an intentional approach to this (i.e., orienting our disciplines and the subject-matter to redemptive history), we help our students to realize the opportunity that presents itself with the acquisition of learning and credentials. We aren’t just training them to be job-ready graduates, research-ready graduates, informed citizens, or ministry-ready graduates. We aren’t just training them for thriving lives of obedience to God. Nor are we just training them to go into the workplace and share the gospel. In addition to these, we are training them to be participants in the redemptive work of God who use their knowledge and skills to mitigate the reign of death and dysfunction in creation, and who instantiate aspects of new creation now – catalysts of redemptive change in all spheres of society. This is a distinctively Christian approach to higher education in all academic disciplines, all of which is possible because of what God has done for us, and will do through us, in Christ and for His glory.

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