Mark Schwehn in his provocative book Exiles from Eden: Religion and Academic Vocation in America. Listen carefully - “Epistemologies have moral and ethical implications, ways of knowing are not morally neutral but morally directive.”[1] Again, but this time allow me the liberty of embellishing. “What one values as knowledge has ethical implications; our methods of instruction are not morally neutral but morally directive.” Teaching is not a morally neutral activity. Learning is not a morally neutral activity. Teaching and learning are both morally directive.

The teaching-learning process is shaped by what is valued. Montreat College’s Foundation Statement is a statement of what is valued by this institution and why. This Foundation Statement serves to shape, direct and define this academic community. This community, as well as any other academic community, can only properly understand itself in light of a larger story – a grand narrative. The Story of our world as contained in the living Word of God – the Old and New Testaments – or in the words of our Foundation Statement, “As a Christian college in the Presbyterian tradition, we are guided in our pursuit of academic excellence by the framework of Reformed beliefs”[2]

The Scriptural story is a unique one. N.T. Wright[3] and Marva Dawn[4] have compared it to a five-act play. Imagine this scene with me if you will. Dr. King, our own noted Shakespeare scholar discovers an unknown Shakespearean play. After verifying its authenticity, he decides to produce it. The problem is that he only possesses Acts 1,2,3, and 5. Act 4 is mysteriously missing. How will he proceed? He would consult other Shakespearean scholars and actors who would attempt to reconstruct Act 4. Their knowledge of Shakespeare’s life and work would enable them to recreate this Act in a credible manner. Once constructed, they will perform it. Acts 1,2,3, and 5 always go smoothly, but Act 4 is always unique. It is never quite the same – sometimes the differences are hardly noticeable; other times they are dramatic.

The five-act play of scripture – the Story – can be laid out as follows.

Act 1: The Creation - created and declared ‘good’ by God.

Act 2: The Fall – disobedience, sin and its distorting effects upon all of Creation.

Act 3: The Redemptive activity of the Creator that reaches its climax in the death and resurrection of our Lord and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Act 4: The time between Act 3 and the second coming. In the New Testament from Pentecost onward provides a framework for understanding how the Christian life ought to be lived.

Act 5: The second coming of Christ – the renewed heaven and earth.

According to this metaphor, we live in the midst of Act 4. Our ability to live faithfully is must be rooted in a thorough understanding of Acts 1, 2, 3, and 5, God’s grace, and the wisdom and discernment granted by God’s Spirit. As people living during Act 4, we need all of the assistance that can be gained – by scholars who help us interpret and understand the Word and the world, and from tradition, which is the living faith of those gone before us, because we can learn from others who have wrestled with the same questions throughout history.[5]

During Act 4, the words of Jesus resound clear, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Lk. 12:34) In other words, what one values, shapes how one lives. What one values will shape one’s desire to learn. This has great implications for us as an academic community. Because of our foundation statement, the teaching-learning process is concerned with much more than the acquisition of knowledge. In fact, “Montreat College is a Christian liberal arts educational institution committed to the integration of faith and learning. Through our focus on faith, we seek to glorify Jesus Christ, to reflect His innate, to serve His church, and to encourage faith development in students. Through our focus on learning, we seek to educate the mind and challenge the spirit, to discern truth, to communicate effectively and to become agents of renewal and reconciliation in the world.”[6] Plantinga describes the intention of our mission statement in Engaging God’s World, when he explains that the Christian College equips students to live vocationally as faithful citizens of the Kingdom of God – our calling – in context of a specific occupation.[7] In other words, the Christian college equips men and women to live as faithful Christ-followers who call others to faithful Christ-following in the context of the student’s chosen occupation, whether it be as business executive, actor, counselor, scientist, outdoor educator, emergency services worker or even pastor.

The Christian college plays a unique, and in our time, necessary role. As we begin this term, allow me to sketch that role. This sketch is important because it reminds us that education occurs in the context of community – it is not an ‘individualistic’ endeavor. And if Wolterstorff is correct in Reason Within the Bounds of Religion[8] and Education for Life[9], and I believe he is, Christian higher education should be substantively different than what is offered by other institutions whose core commitments are not rooted in a high view of Scripture – “our infallible rule for faith, conduct, and worship.”

To my colleagues, teaching in the context of Act 4 is extremely challenging. For one must not only be a competent scholar within one’s field, but also a responsible interpreter of scripture, and theologian. James’ warning that those who teach will be judged more strictly should serve as a constant reminder of the power and influence we hold (3:1). As instructors – we are mentors. And as mentors – we are called to shape, challenge and hold accountable those we instruct.[10] A healthy tension must be maintained between theory and practice. Our Christian commitment should lead us to ask different types of questions. Our investigations should be able to stand the scrutiny of academia.[11] The teaching profession is demanding, for one must respectfully challenge students to develop an appropriate knowledge base and thought processes for living as faithful Christ-followers in the context of a selected occupation.[12]

The Board of Trustees and Administration are critical to an academic community. They are responsible for articulating the College’s foundation and assuring that it is pursued and applied with integrity. They must also be competent interpreters of Scripture and theologians in order to both articulate and guard the College’s mission. This is not an easy task for every policy and decision is in essence a statement of what the institution ultimately values and how the educational mission is viewed. These responsibilities are extremely challenging, given the fact that the institution must be a good steward of its available resources.

Likewise, coaches, residence life staff, and all of those who support the ongoing functioning of this institution play a crucial role in the community. You also serve as mentors to the many students you interact with daily. Students see what you value, they weigh your commitment to the college’s educational mission, and to Christ. You assist students in understanding the role of sports, community, and relationships within the Christian life. Again, because of the significant role you play in student’s lives and the community, you must also be responsible students of Scripture and theologians.

Students – how I long for those days. I loved (and continue to love) being a student, learning, reading, wrestling with ideas, exploring their implications for life. The life of a student, though challenging, is a grand one. As students you should engage the subjects you study. You are an active participant in the process. You should ask questions, probe, wrestle and explore questions both in the classroom and outside of it. You should engage the faculty, staff, administration, coaches and other students respectfully. Learning will become drudgery if you choose to be passive in the process. This is God’s world – and as faithful Christ-followers – we should seek to understand and delight in it. For me, this week, joy came in hearing my daughter explain a chemistry experiment, and a student from Univ. or UT share about her research in the neurosciences. Engage, challenge, but remember that you are responsible and accountable in the process. Because education is about more than acquiring knowledge, it is about being molded and shaped by an academic community in order that you might become “reflective and responsible citizens, effective leaders, and committed laity.”[13]

The local church is essential to the Christian college’s mission. The Christian college is not a church. The Christian college needs the church to support it and its students in prayer, to open its arms to the questions and concerns of college age young adults while providing spiritual nurture and an opportunity for students to develop their gifts. It should be a warm, welcoming and engaging body, intentional about its involvement in the life of the college and its students. The college attempts to address the spiritual needs of students, but it cannot serve as an adequate substitute for the local church. Montreat College’s desire for its students to be “committed laity” expresses the institutions commitment and appreciation for the role and place of the local church.

The Christian college is an academic institution rooted in the scriptures. It strives to be faithful to that foundation. As Schwehn reminds us, “all communities of higher learning are formed in part by an ethos or spirit of inquiry. Indeed all higher learning depends not simply upon the possession of certain cognitive skills but also upon the moral dispositions or virtues that enable inquiry to proceed. Academics (colleges) if they are to flourish over the long run, must therefore cultivate and sustain in their members those virtues that are required for the kind of learning they hope to promote.”[14]

Schwehn’s point is clear. Colleges are shaped by what they value – what knowledge they think is important – the nature of that knowledge, how they believe it ought to be taught. Montreat College is a unique college whose mission statement describes what should be valued and why. The Montreat College statement envisions education as being much more than the accumulation of data for knowledge’s sake. We see knowledge as something to be pursued and lived out within community under the authority of the living and written Word so that the community is challenged and equipped to “be agents of renewal and reconciliation in the world.”[15]

As a Christian and scholar, I believe the calling of the Christian college is unique and the only context where a true education can take place. For it is only in the Christian tradition that “students of all cultures, races and faiths can be embraced in an atmosphere of academic excellence, intellectual inquiry, and Christian love.” [16]For all people are invited to participate and are to be treated respectfully because they are believed to be image bearers of the Creator. There will be disagreements, but all are invited, and encouraged, to participate.

The calling of the Christian college is unique because it sees education as being much more than the accumulation of knowledge for the sake of knowledge. It sees knowledge as something to be pursued and lived out within the community under the authority of the living and written Word of God so that each member of the community is challenged and equipped to be “an agent of renewal and reconciliation in the world.” The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The act of teaching and the process of learning are in and of themselves acts of worship to be pursued with vigor to the glory of honor of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.