CHRISTIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Christopher Toote

Description

History recounts that the least memorable period for Christian higher education had been from 1920 to 1960 when numerous church-affiliated institutions followed the state universities and elite private institutions in the movement toward secularization. Research indicates that significant numbers of colleges begin with a Christ-centered mission but change their original intent to quasi-secularization or secularization.
This book examines the mission of Christian colleges in an effort to understand the shift from Christian to secularized foundation by exploring participants from the founding membership colleges of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and ten other colleges or universities that were once Christ-centered and are now secularized. The author used a qualitative research approach to examine the mission statements of Christian colleges by exploring participants from the founding membership colleges of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and ten other colleges and universities that have shifted to secularization. The objective was to discover why Christian colleges changed their Christian mission to secularization and determine the necessary components for Christian colleges to remain true to the original intent of their establishment. This is a fundamentally sound, reliable, historical resource.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Education
• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 13 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456639631
• Langue: English

Extrait

CHRISTIAN HIGHER EDUCATION
 
AN EXAMINATION OF THE SHIFT IN MISSION FROM
NON-SECULAR TO SECULAR
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Christopher E. L. Toote, Ph.D., D.Min.
© 2011–2022 Christopher Edison Lynn Toote
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-3962-4 (hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-3961-7 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-3963-1 (ebook)
 
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the Study
Research Questions
Conceptual Framework
Definition of Key Terms
Overview of Methodology
Organization of the Study
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
A Historical Perspective of Christian Colleges
The Colonial Era (1636–1789)
The Emergent Era (1790-1869)
The University Transformation Era (1870-1944)
The Golden Age Era (1945-1975)
The Consolidation Era (1976-1993)
The Contemporary/Postmodernization Era (1994-2010)
Christian Higher Education
The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU)
The Curricula of Christian Higher Education
Teaching/Pedagogy
Summary
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
Rationale for Qualitative Research Approach
Institutions
Participants
Role of the Researcher
Ethical Considerations
Site Selection
Site Profiles
Bethel University
Eastern Mennonite University
Gordon College
Greenville College
Malone University
Messiah College
Seattle Pacific University (SPU)
Taylor University
Westmont College
Wheaton College
Brown University
Faulkner University
Fordham University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Ohio Valley University (OVU)
Princeton University
The University of Rochester
Rutgers University
William and Mary University
Augsburg College
Caldwell College
Charleston Southern University
East Texas Baptist University
Edgewood College
Grove City College
Jackson State University
Jarvis Christian College
Lourdes College
Marian University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Pacific University
Regis University
Southwestern College
Southwestern University
Rationale for Data Collection Approach
Protocol
Interview Process
Field Notes
Data Analysis
Coding
Trustworthiness
CHAPTER 4
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Description of Sample Participants: Presidents
Description of Sample Participants: Administrators
Description of Sample Participants: Faculty
Presidents’ Responses to the Interview Guide
Administrators’ Responses to the Interview Guide
Research Findings
Summary of the Results
Emergent Themes
The Hiring of the Right Faculty
The Appointment of the Right Leadership
The Inadequacy of Finance
The Pursuit of Academic Credibility
The Irrelevancy of Christ-centeredness
The Anti-mission Challenges of Enrollment Growth
The Prevalence of Quasi-secular Institutions
Summary
CHAPTER 5
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Summary of Significant Results
Discussion of Findings
The Hiring of the Right Faculty
The Appointment of the Right Leadership
The Inadequacy of Finance
The Pursuit of Academic Credibility
The Irrelevancy of Christ-centeredness
The Anti-mission Challenges of Enrollment Growth
The Effect of the Fear Factor
The Severance from Church/Denomination Affiliation
The Prevalence of Quasi-secular Institutions
Recommendations Based on Results of the Study
Recommendations for Further Research
Implications for Policy and Practice
Conclusion
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDE
APPENDIX B: COUNCIL OF CHRISTIAN COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES (CCCU)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
DEDICATION
The Omniscient One is worthy of all honor, praise, and glory!
I dedicate this work with deep appreciation to my mother and father, who honored God, motivated their children, lived to serve, and strived for excellence. Thank you for being my inspiration, example, and “ wind beneath my wings. ”
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table
1. Original Religious Affiliations
2. Role Distribution of Study Participants
3. Participants ’ Demographics: Presidents
4. Participants ’ Demographics: Administrators
5. Participants ’ Demographics: Faculty
6. Categorization of Actual Participants and Participating Colleges & Universities
 
Figure
1. Regional Distribution of Participating Colleges & Universities
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A project of this magnitude is impossible without the guidance and supervision of an experienced hand. Thank you Dr. Walter A. Brown, the chair of my dissertation committee, for extending your hand of high expectation, demand for excellence, resolute for scholasticism, and preparedness for practical leadership. I have benefited immensely from your wisdom, patience, scholarship, candor, humor, rigor, expertise, professionalism, and experience. Your perspectives and advisement in the completion of this project are indispensible. I feel honored and blessed to have been mentored by your tutelage. I am now, forever, one of your prot é g é s.
I would also like to thank the members who participated on my dissertation committee, namely, Dr. Neari F. Warner, Dr. Thomas C. Calhoun, Dr. Doris Robinson-Gardner, Dr. James S. Maddirala. I am most grateful for your guidance, comments, critique, and recommendations shared in making this project a reality. Thank you for your learned counsel.
Among a select minority, I am also extremely appreciative for the critical analysis and invaluable feedback, motivation, insight, and contribution received from my mentors on this journey, Dr. Daphene O. Singleton and Dr. Troy L. Baldwin.
I extend a special thank you to all who play a pivotal role in my life and supported me even when I was unreachable. A few of these angels are the members of Metropolitan Baptist Church, the members of New Home Baptist Church, the faculty and staff of Kingsway University & Theological Seminary, the administration and respondents of participating institutions of this study, my loving family, praying relatives, and encouraging friends.
ABSTRACT
History recounts that the least memorable period for Christian higher education had been from 1920 to 1960 when numerous church-affiliated institutions followed the state universities and elite private institutions in the movement toward secularization. Research indicates that significant numbers of colleges begin with a Christ-centered mission but change their original intent to quasi-secularization or secularization. Numerous other institutions of higher learning identify themselves as Christian colleges to later change the name “ Christian ” and a Christian platform to a more secular identity. Most colleges and universities that have been founded by churches have evolved from their religious beginnings.
An extensive body of literature documents that many of these institutions have shifted in mission from non-secular to secular. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the mission of Christian colleges in an effort to understand the reasons for the shift in institutions from Christian to secularization. Data from various sources were compiled and analyzed to reach conclusions concerning the shift and recommendations were presented for the sustenance of Christian institutions of higher learning.
This study was viewed through the lens of the original intent of Christian colleges and universities. The perceptions of trustees, presidents, administrators, and faculty were gathered through interviews. Although thirty-six interviews were conducted which represented twenty-two initial institutions, only twenty-one interviews representing seventeen institutions were used. Only the perceptions of respondents who served at institutions that experienced a shift from non-secular to secular or quasi-secular were used in this study.
As a result of the interviews, only data derived from respondents that perceived that the institutions where they serve have actually experienced a probable shift from an exclusive non-secular stance were used in this study to provide a better understanding of this phenomenon. A key finding unveiled that a prevalent “ quasi-secular ” group of institutions exists that are normally perceived as non-secular. Significantly, the study revealed that the most prevalent emergent themes to explain the shift from non-secular to secular or “ quasi-secular ” were the hiring of the right faculty, the appointment of the right leadership, the inadequacy of finance, the pursuit of academic credibility, the irrelevancy of Christ-centeredness, the anti-mission challenges of enrollment growth, the effect of the fear factor, the severance from church/denomination affiliation, and the prevalence of quasi-secular institutions.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU, 2010) reported that the U.S. Department of Education estimated that there are over 4,000 degree-granting higher education institutions in the United States. According to the CCCU (2010), nearly 1,600 of those institutions are private, non-profit colleges and universities, and about 900 of them describe themselves as ‘‘ religiously affiliated. ’’ Nevertheless, only 111 are purposely Christ-centered which qualifies them for membership in the CCCU ( http://www.cccu.org , CCCU home page).
During the late twentieth century, according to Ringenberg (2006), several issues came together contributing to the heightened increase in the quality of Christian higher education and keen interest in finding an acceptable way to re-establish a bigger role for religion in the academy in general. Emergent from its parent organization, the still existing fourteen-member Christian College Consortium, the CCCU changed its name in 1999 and developed