Intersections

Volume 1997 | Number 3 Article 1

1997 Full Issue, Number 3, Summer 1997 The onC gregational and Synodical Mission Unit, The vE angelical Lutheran Church in America

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This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by Augustana Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Intersections by an authorized administrator of Augustana Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INTERSECTIONS faith + life + learning U NMBER THREE SUMMER 1997

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Contributors to this Issue

Focus: H.Paul Santmire ...... The LutheranLiberal Arts Collegeand Carefor the Earth. Gregg Muilenburg...... An Aristotelian Twistto Faith and Learning.

Two Poems: GaryFincke ...... Dark Angels & Decorative Cooking.

Discussion: Bruce R.Reichenbach ...... Mission and Hiring in the Christian College. Wendy J. McCredie ...... A Call for Creative Education. Hany Jebsen ...... Hittinga Moving Target.

Reflection: Chuck Huff...... Confessions of a Collaborator.

Intersections Number 3, June, 1997

Published by the Division for Higher Education & Schools The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Published at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, USA 43209

James Unglaube, Publisher Tom Christenson, Editor

Editorial Board Timothy,A. Bennett, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Wittenberg University Karla Bohmbach, Dep't.of Religion, Susquehanna University Tom Christenson, Dep't.of Philosophy & Religion, Capital University DeAneLagerquist, Paracollege & Dep't.of Religion, St. Olaf College James Unglaube, ELCA Div. For Higher Education & Schools

Staff Jessica Brown, Student Assistant& Secretary Cover Art by Forest Walker, age 8 Purpose Statement

This publication is by and largely for the academic communities of the twenty-eight colleges and universities of the EvangelicalLutheran Church in America. It is published by theDivision forHigher Education andSchools of theELCA. The publication presently has its home at Capital University,Columbus, Ohio which has generously offered leadership, physical and financialsupport as an institutionalsponsor forthe inauguration of thepublication.

The ELCA has frequently sponsored conferences for faculty and administrators which have addressed the church - college/universitypartnership. Recently the ELCA has sponsored anannual Vocation of theLutheran College conference. The primarypurpose of INTERSECTIONS is to enhaµceand continue such dialogue. It will do so by:

* Liftingup thevocation of Lutheran colleges and universities * Encouragingthoughtful dialogue about thepartnership of colleges and universities withthe church * Offeringa forumfor concerns andinterests of facultyat the intersection of faith,learning and teachi ng * Raising for debate issues about institutional missions, goals, objectives and learningpriorities * Encouraging critical and productive discussion on our campuses of issues focal to the life of thechurch * Servingas a bulletin board forcommunications among institutions andfaculties * Publishing papers presented at conferences sponsoredby theELCA and its institutions * Raising the level of awareness amongfaculty about the Lutheranheritage and connectednessof their institutions, realizing a sense of beingpart of a larger family withcommon interests and concerns.

From the Publisher:

Withthe publication of thisissue of Intersections we have begun our second year of thisvaluable part of theVocation of a Lutheran College Program. This entire effort has caughtthe attention of hundreds of people on our 28 college and university campuses and has been able to play an important role in nurturing the Lutheran tradition in higher education. Intersections has serves as an important bridge between the annual summer conferenceand the conversations which have been occurringon the campuses.

As I writethis, the 1997 conferenceis just aroundthe corner. Thisyear we will be looking at the Lutheran tradition in higher education from two perspectives. The first is from the outside. Richard Hughes from Pepperdine University will share insights from the Lilly Endowment project which included publication of the book he co-edited: Models for Christian Higher Education. David Johnson, President of theUniversity of Minnesota at Morris will look at thetradition fromthe perspective of someone in thepublic sector. David is a LutherCollege graduateand served for many years as thechief academicofficer at Gustavus Adolphus College. Thesecond perspective is fromthe inside. Ann Pederson fromthe Religion faculty at Augustana in Sioux Falls looks at the tradition from thecampus setting. Timothy Lull, President of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary will give a broader view fromthe church. We will be gatheringon theCarthage College campus in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

An excitingnew development in thisprogram will be sharedin its initial stages at theconference at Carthage. Eric Eliason, Associate Professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus College,. has been working on a model for the development of an Academyof Scholarsin Lutheran HigherEducation He will share withus his thoughtson creatingsuch an academy as a vehiclefor swnmer seminars wherein faculty from our campuseswill be able to do intensive scholarly research topics related tothe sub-title of Intersections, namelythe intersections of faith,life andlearning, enabling participants to venture into this area and out of theirmore narrow academicdiscipline. We lookforward to his report.

These areexciting days forLutheran Higher education.

James M. Unglaube Director, Colleges andUniversities ELCA Division forHigher Education andSchools June, 1997 From the Editor:

Withthis issue oflntersectionswe have deviatedfrom the pattern of thefirst two issues which featureda principle paper withseveral responses.In this issue we featurethree principle papers, one with responses, two without, plus a page of poetryand one of reflectivebemusement. Insteadof thesingle focus issues we have had in thepast we here featurework onthree completely different issues: theenvironment, theeducation of desire and hiring and personnel policies. Yet all of theseessays have thesame sub-focus namely the Lutheran colle ge/university,it's educational mission and its priorities. I amparticularly pleased withthis issue because of the provocative issues I see raised here. Paul Santmirefocusses our attentionon theambiguities about ethics in our own traditionand provokes us to examinethe sources of our anti-urban prejudices. He also provides aninspiring picture of what Lutheran education ought to include. Gregg Muilenburg uses anAristotelian analysis of educationto challenge thecommon Lutheran assumption thata dialogue of faithand reason is thebest we cando. BruceReichenbach, Wendy McCredie and HarryJebsen provoke us to explore thedimen sions and difficultiesof relationshipbetween mission andhiring/promotion priorities at our institutions. GaryFincke has provided us withtwo poemsthat explore surprising meanings of food and eating. Finally Chuck Huffcomes clean through honest but not verycontrite public confession. There is plenty here to argue withand about. We hope to hearyour responses.

I wish to use therest of my editorial space to recommend a text to yourreading. Though I will summarize thefocal argumentof thebook very briefly, my point is not to review it (I hope someone else will takeon thattask in these pages) but to provoke your reading of it. The book is George Marsden's The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, (Oxford, 1997) mentionedand quoted in Reichenbach's essay.

Marsdentackles head on theprejudice againstfaith - informedscholarship thatis verycommon in American academic circles. He cites and argueswith several influentialauthors who arguethat thoughit may be appropriate to have one's scholarship informed by one's political views or by one's gender or class - influencedoutlook, there is no place in the academyfor faith - influencedscholarship. Marsden then goeson to point out that this view is widely held even among most Christianscholars who have a very hard time articulatingwhat difference theirfaith makes to theirscholarship. Christians havethus, for the most part,been silently complicit in the view that faithdoes not andshould not informreally good scholarship. The most interesting andchallenging parts of Marsden' s book are thetwo latter sections where he details excellent examples of Christians whose faith explicitly informs their scholarshipand suggests some Christian theologicalprinciples thathe believes could have a positive effecto n Christianscholarship in several fields.

Those of us who teach in Lutherancolleges anduniversities like to thinkthat the"Lutheran-ness" of our institutions makessom e substantialdifference to thesort of institutionswe are. But we are usually quite silent whenit comes around to answering the question that Marsden raises: How do the particulars of our faith inform our scholarship and consequentlythe learning and teaching that takesplace in our institutions?Does thedifference appear only in what we may study(a requirement in religion, a coursein Luther)? Or does it also appearin the assumptions we make when we study (assumptions about the nature of humans, the fallibility of knowledge, our relationship to the culture, our responsibilityto ourneighbor)? Or doesit evenappear in the way we construct andweigh theorieswithin our disciplines (is a Christian scholar as likely as anybody to be a positivist, a behaviorist, a chaos theorist)?

Calvinistsand Christian evangelicals have done a gooddeal more explicit work on thesequestions thanLutherans have andhave come up withsome extremely interesting thingsin theprocess (e.g. Nicholas Wollterstorff'sReason Within the Boundsof Religion andhis subsequentArt in Action: Toward a ChristianAesthetic, bothpublished by Eerdmans). I donot want to argue thatLutherans should simply adopt the Calvinist approach to Christianscholarship. What I am suggesting is thatLutheran scholars oughtto become sufficientlyfamiliar withthe work that Wollterstorffand others have doneto beable to state explicitly how our ownapproach should differ(if it should) fromtheirs. I believe thatthis would make a greatmulti - year project fora teamof Lutheran scholars. A project that all of us who teach in Lutheran institutionswould benefitfrom. Run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore and add Marsden's book to thetop of your reading stack.

Tom Christenson Capital University THE LUTHERANLIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE AND CARE FOR THE EARTH H. Paul Santmire

I am one who stillholds to what is perhaps no longer a popular human creature alone, and so spiritual, focused on a world­ notion,that the liberal artscollege has a viable social vocation, transcendingDeity alone, that Christianity bears"a huge burden that it should attempt to foster what the World Council of of guilt" for all the environmental destruction and desecration Churches has called a just, sustainable, and participatorysociety, that has occurred in the modem West. Much of what White that it is not to be considered an effete afterglow of a now argues is historically justified, insofar as one can allow that discredited, under constructed academic era. I stillbelieve that religious faith can exercise in fact a significant historical the faculty, staff, students, and the constituent supporters of a causality. As I showed in my study, The Travail of Nature, liberal arts college are in a position to shape the future of our historic Christianity has exhibited a strong impulse to drive its society, for better or for worse, as we together launch students adherentstorise above naturetoward communionwith a wholly into a varietyof social orbits, whetl1er they be firstladies or first spiritual Deity and to treat the biophysical world, social workers or first biology teachers or first lawyers or first correspondingly, eitheras merely a platfonnfor Divine - human nurses or firstengineers: andiliat ifwe work togeilier, inspired interaction or as merely a field to be plowed for the sake of by a common vision ofilie intellectual and moral relevance ofour humanp roductivityand prosperity. academic irrelevance, we can indeed influence society, by the characterof our students and by the quality ofour learning, more But thatis only halfthe truth, and to that degree LynnWhite and nearly to approximate the good, the true, and the beautiful. On his many latterday followers in the academy have failed the basis of that conviction. with reference now to ilie theme miserably as historians. Pre-modem Christianityproduced not before us, I want to propose three mandates for your only a St. Francis, whom White cites as the towering exception consideration. to his historical rule, it also was the seed bed for a rich theologicaltradition of ecological thinking, fromIrenaeus in the First Mandate: Take Responsibility for Your Spiritual Second Century, through Augustine, positioned on the bridge Particularity between the ancient church and the medieval world, to Luther and Calvin in the sixteenth century. It is only a slight Everybody comes fromsomewhere. It is temptingto disregard exaggeration to call this pre-modem ecological tradition in that historical truism, as the liberal arts community charts its Western theology"Franciscan." course in this multicultural, pluralistic era. It is tempting to leap prematurelyinto the headyworld of global intellectual commerce, The ecologicaltradition in Westerntheology envisions God as neglectingboili the skeletons in our own closets and theriches in the Creator and Redeemer of all things, as a profoundly our ovmvaults. immanentDei ty indeed who has a cosmic purpose, not merely a human purpose. This tradition, in tum, is deeply rooted in the To takeresponsibility for your particularity as a Lutheranliberal imaginative projections of biblical faith, which begin with a artscollege, I believe, must mean at least this much, in light of vision of a God who creates all things with a purpose for all thetopic beforeus. thingsand end with a visionof a Godwho will one daybring all thingsto :fulfillment in a new heavens and a new earth,in which A. Con.frontthe Ambiguityof the Classical Christian Tradition righteousnessdwells, when all thingswill be consUll1IDatedin a toward Nature New Jemsalem situated in the midst of that new heavens and new earth. The ethos of this vision is one that prompts its Since the publication of a still ubiquitously cited essay by citizensto approachthe earth in termsof caring and the creatures historian Lynn White, Jr. in the late sixties, it has become ofthe earthin terms ofthe canon offriendship. fashionable in some academic circles to blame Christianityfor causing the current global environmental crisis. Whiteargued Take responsibility for this particular Christian history. that the Christian religion has historically been so Examine the skeletons in your closet, forsure. But do not fail, anthropocentric, so focusedon the meaningand value ofthe either, to contemplate the riches in the vaults. Do not prematurelygo running to Zen Buddhism or Native American H. PaulSantmire, author of The Travailof Nature, is pastor religions,surely not to the saccharinesweet enticementsof New of Holy TrinityChurch, Akron, Ohio. Age religion or to the quick-fix spiritual syncretisms of theological pied pipers like Matthew Fox. Do not prematurely

Intersections/Summer1997 1 conclude that all historic Christianity has to offer is andhave been profoundlysuspicious, not to say hostile, toward anthropocentrism and the domination of nature. Learninstead anyagents of socialchange, whetherthey be rebellious peasants to see with the eyes of ecological visionaries in the Christian in sixteenthcentury Germany or unionized workersin twentieth­ traditionamong who St. Francisis perhaps the greatest, but still centuryU.S.A. a representativefigure. Learnwhat it meansto call the animals brothersand sisters and to hear the glory of the Lord resounding Themost soberingLutheran story, of course, was written by the from the galaxies. Lutheranmasses in Germanyduring the Third Reich. Although it is surelyhistorically simplistic to assert the Lutheran ethos was As you take responsibility for your Christian particularity, by responsible for the monstrosity of Adolf Hitler's National confronting the ambiguity of the classical Christian tradition Socialismin Germany,it is also historically necessaryto own up toward nature, I now want to encourage you to do more, to how that Lutheran ethos made possible the rise of National regarding your Lutheran particularity Socialism and the perpetration of the Holocaust, precisely because its chiefsocial doctrine was rooted in Romans 13: that B. Confrontthe Ambiguityof ClassicalLutheran Social Ethics the powers that be are ordained by God, precisely because it chief spiritualdoctrine was rooted in Romans I: that thesingular Whether a Lutheran liberal arts college has only a minority of meaningof the Gospelis the justification of the sinner by grace Lutheran students in its midst or a majorityis beside thepoint. apartfrom works of the law. Everymember of a Lutheranacademic communityis associated, for better or for worse, with the ethos, if not self-consciously With the wisdom of hindsight, which still is wisdom, it is with the theology, of the Lutheran tradition. It is better to deal soberingto observethat those who adhered to the LutheranTwo with that tradition self-consciously than to be its unconscious Kingdoms ethosin Germany were vulnerable to, even powerless captives. in theface of, a venomous new state-promoted religionof nature: a return to an alleged neolithic spirituality of communion with Lutherespoused what is usuallycalled a "Two Kingdoms Ethic." the wilds, where might makes right, especially where macho Thisis theidea. Godestablishes two realms, which overlapand might makes right. To be sure, there were some Lutherans in interpenetrate, but which are fundamentally dissimilar, the Nazi times like the martyred DietrichBonhoeffer, who claimed Kingdomof creation andthe Kingdom of redemption,the world theworld of creationin thename of Christand did not forsakeit of the Law and the world of the Gospel. God rules by his left to theinscrutable Left hand of God. But those theologianswere handin theKingdom of creation,in, with, andunder allthings, indeed fewin number. to be sure, but except for certain structures or "orders of creation," such as the state or the family, God rules in the Such is theambiguity of classicalLutheran social ethics. In light Kingdom of creation fundamentally in inscrutable and of this history, it is not encouraging to hear more than a few unapproachable ways, according to Luther. In contrast, God Church leaders in American Lutheranism today being more reveals Himself by His graciousWord as He rulesby His right concerned about whether to hold hands with Episcopalians or hand,in theKingdom of redemption, thechurch of Jesus Christ. with the Reformed or with both, than with responding to the groaning of the earth and its masses in this era of global Accordingto classical Lutheranteaching, these Two kingdoms, environmental crisis. Nor is it heartening to read otherwise creation and redemption, intersect only in the person of the responsible theologians in American Lutheranism today individual believer; who is called by God to be a law-biding identifying those Christians who champion environmental citizen in this world and also a witness in this world to the concernswith the protagonists of New Age religion. Gospel and to the final Kingdom of Glory thatis yet to come, through Jesus Christ. Atits best, the Lutherantradition has sent Fundamental issues of social justice are being obscured in our forth forgiven sinners to be good citizens andwitnesses to the time, in many Lutheran circles in the U.S. That the greatest Kingdom of God thathas arrivedin Jesus Christ. number of toxic waste dumps are located near minority and impoverished communities does not appear to be a matter of Admirable as this theological constructionis as an affirmation theological concern for many Lutherans today, while the status anddefense of thetheology of God's grace,it leaves much to be of the historic episcopate or the historic teachings about Grace desired as an affirmation and defense of the theology of God's or the best mechanisms for church growth clearly are issues of justice. Criticsof the Lutheran Two Kingdomsethic have called major concernin thesame circles. it morally quietistic and socially indifferent, and not without goodreason. Lutheranism historicallyspeaking was bornin the territories of the ruling aristocracy, and, until very recently in Take responsibility for this particular spiritual History. placessuch asSouth Africa, theprotagonists of thishistoric faith Contemplatethe riches in theseLutheran vaults, surely. But also have typically sided with the ruling classes andthe status quo, be honest about the skeletons in the closet. Confront the

Intersections/Summer 1997 2 ambiguityof classical Lutheran social ethics. eradicationof any, even the most enormous wrong ... but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no ' , Second Mandate: Promote Responsible Cultural Criticism thought longer, not to give it practically his support." This is what his celebrated act of civil disobedience in opposition to It would be interesting to do a study of the values of typical slavery was about, to make hislife what he called"a counter­ liberal arts graduates today, especially those who have been friction to stop the machine," not to make any sustained nurtured by American churches, to determine how much those participatory attempt to change social mores and social valueshave been shaped by the liberal arts experience itself and institutions. how much they have been shaped by earlier formative experiences,above all the ethos of thesummer Bible camp: and It is thepure child of naturewho speakshere, the one who has if not the Bible camp, then surely the ethos of a Henry David found Deity by himself, alone in the lightand darkness of vital Thoreau, which in some watered down form is the still naturalforces, not in any historical call to thehuman community inebriatingspiritual potion being served freelyby many teachers formoral obedience by a Godwho strugglesfor justice in human in secondary education today and by most summer camp history. For Thoreau, if societyis corrupt,leave it be. Forsake counselors. it for the sake of your own moral purity, which can then be undergirdedby theoriginal virginity and fecundityof nature. Thisis thecultural religion of getting awayfrom civilization by getting back to nature. It would be tempting to blame this One might think of Thoreau as the first and most exemplaryof sociopathiccultural religion onthe advertising media, giventheir American suburbanites. Contemporarysuburbia was built and propensity to sell cars by perching them on mountain tops or is sustainedby a Thoreauvian mythos and aThoreauvian ethos. cigarettespinching by themin the mouthof theMarlboro man in Get away from it all. Don't go into the dty. Surround your thewilderness. But in thiscase, the advertisinggurus are mainly house with spacious lawns and gracious trees. Get out the addressing a pervasivecultural condition. barbecue and imaginethat you are alone facingthe elements in the great wide American. wilderness, like the Marlboro Man or Henry David Thoreau, the great American transcendentalist Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. And, by the way, vote against writerof thenineteenth century, is very much a venerable case in school leviesthat would serve urban children. Vote, likewise, point. No student of the liberal arts who is concerned with againstcandidates who championenvironmental clean-ups in the environmentalissues should be unawareof the philosophy of this cityand the greening of urban life. Why, afterall, have anything Concord,Massachusetts sage, givenits pervasive influenceand todo withthe dirty, violent urban wasteland, when you can daily exemplary significance. Thoreau's mythic move to Walden, Ii ve in a protected natural retreat called suburbia and have leaving behind what he considered to be thecorruptions and the regularaccess duringyour vacationsto majestic oceanvistas in decadenceof urbancivilization, to findhis true self, alone in the Floridaor to ski-lodge mountain panoramas in Colorado. So go midst of the wilderness, was a primordial act of American surfing or backpacking or white water rafting or mountain culture. climbing. Goback to natureand be surrounded by the awesome wonders of God's greatwilderness in America. But stay away For Thoreau, the wildernessis the source of all humanvitality, fromthe city. not the "pomp and parade" of the town. "Our villagelife," he writes,"would stagnateif it were not forthe unexplored forests Onthe contrary. Beware of the anti-urban bias of your cultural and meadows which surround it... We need the tonic of heritage in America -- a cultural legacy in which many liberal wilderness... We can never have enough of nature. We must be artscolleges, founded at theedge of the wildernessrather than in refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic the town, have shared. Thankfully some of our liberal arts features... " colleges, likeCapital, are immersed in urban settings. But where areyour minds andwhere are your hearts? Do you begrudgingly Thiskind of religionof naturewas permeated by an elitist social studyor teachat a liberalarts college located in the city? Do you idealogy: it promoted contempt for the town and spawned an carryaround in yourhead a pictureof theacademy that looks like anti-urbanbias in Americanculture which to this day shows no a calendar photo of a New England town green,bedecked with signsof weakening. Thoreau himself was anambiguous figure thebrilliant colors of thefall? Do you ferventlylong forthe day in this respect as is evident in his deep feelings of opposition when the spring semester is going to end and you and a few toward slavery. But upon close examination his passionate intimates will be able to escape to God's great outdoors? Are moralcommitments against slavery do not appearto have flowed you perchancetempted to take a different kind of"trip" with the from his articulated social ethic. Thoreau's articulated social help of so-called consciousness-expanding drugs or by setting ethic is an ethic of withdrawal from social institutions and of outon sexualadventures where you imagineyourself to be living strivingfor individual moral purity. "It is not a man's duty," he in Tahitilike Gaugin? Yet again,are you what in olden timeswe writes, "as a matter of course, to devote himself to the used to call a"wonk" or a "grind," totally devoted to academic

Intersections/Summer 1997 3 achievement twenty-fourhours a day, so that you canget into law people of the Pacific know and understand, however much we schooland earnthe kind of income that will allow you to escape may continue to consider it to be a topic that should be of from it all later? concernonly to specialists.

Bewareof thesociopathic individualism of your cultural heritage Such topics mustbe at the forefront in all our disciplinesso that in America, typically justified in the name of getting back to all of us can constantly deepen our awareness of the natureand gettingaway from the city. Is it any accident that the interconnectedness of all things. Overall, the liberal arts advertising gurus sell you cars with the images of you alone education must be predicated on a Declaration of racingout intothe wilderness, not with the images of you getting Interdependence, not on a Declaration of Independence. stalledin a conunuter trafficjam and getting poisoned by fouled urbanair on your way into the city? I can imagine, for example, an introductory sequence of core courses on "The City, Its Bioregion, and the Earth." These courses could be team-taught by historians, biologists, political Third Mandate: Promote a Holistic Environmental Ethos scientists, theologians, philosophers, scholars of the arts and literature, and others. The experience of planningthis sequence A. A Communityof Ecological Understanding of courses itself, bringing together scholars from many fields, would be worth the sequence's weight in gold. Hopefullythe Without treading on the prerogatives of departments or impact that such a sequence would have on the intellectual and reinventing the interdisciplinarywheel that may have been long moral life of students and, through them eventually. on others ago installed in your institution, and surely with no intention of would exponentially heighten the value of that gold. becominginvolved in themorass of departmentalpolitics. I now venture where angels fear to tread with thisproposal: that there What, pray tell, is the impact of your KFC chicken on the world shouldbe a required interdisciplinary. core curriculumdesigned in which you live? Is it the case that the fish catch offPeru is to promoteecological understanding, on the part of both faculty being diverted from the people of Peru, many of whom live in and students, and for the sake of the entire college community poverty,to the chicken ranches of North Carolina in the formof and its constituent supporters. fish flower in order to fatten up mass produced birds which,in turn, are going to fatten you up? What about the fertilizer run­ I would furtherventure to propose that in this case ecology serve off and the soil erosion from the lands that grow potatoes for as thequeen of the sciences. I may be totally mistaken, but it is your MickyD fries? And ,vhat kind of lives, by the way, do the myimpression that many, if not all, of the remaining disciplines people who serve you the fast food lead? Have you ever aretypically afflicted by a mental pathology that might be called contemplatedwhat it mightmean to support a familyon fastfood hardening of the categories. I would certainly warn against wages? Your fast foodis interconnected with a global economic installing theology once again as queen of the sciences, since as and environmental network. far as I can see much of the Church's public theology today is muchmore parochial than ecological. If a student learnsnothing Further. what are you going to say to your friends or your else, and if a faculty member teaches nothing else, it will be a neighbors who, as true believers in false prophets like Rush genuine gain if the core curriculum of a liberal arts college is Limbaugh. think that environn1entalism is a socialist plot shaped by theecological assumption that everything is related to engineeredto robus of our property and ourfreedom? How will everythingelse. Whileit is shockingthat many graduatinghigh you respondwhen they tell you that the green tree has red roots? school students in this country cannot read, it is all the more Are you intellectually equipped to define a position that takes shocking that many graduating college seniors still think that bothhUU1anjustice and ecological interconnectedness seriously? water comes from the faucet, that bread comes from the supermarket, that heat comes from the furnace, and that when What will you say, likewise, to your significant other, when he you flushsomething downthe sewer it goes away. or she wantsyou both to work as hard and as long as you canso that you can buy a house in the suburbs and thereby get away When I attended a meeting at the WorldCouncil of Churches in fromthe city and live in peace with your two-and-one-halfkids? Canberra,Australia a fewyears ago, I was shocked to learn, and Or set aside the thought about moving upscale for a moment. thenembarrassed with my own response, that the issue that most Consider merely the works of art which you will want to take troubles the Christians who live around the Pacific rim and on with you into your home, wherever it might be. Will they be the Pacific islands is what I had thought had been the esoteric romanticescapist prints or paintingsof sailboatsand mountains, issue of globalwarming. For, if the atmosphere heats up and the inspired perhaps by the Hudson River School? And if so, will polar ice continues to melt, the level of the oceans will rise and you recognizethem for what they areand forwhat they say about their homes will be washed away. Everything is related to you? everything else. That is a principle of life and death that the

Intersections/Summer 1997 4 Is thisthe case? You want to get a liberal arts educationso you education and who, by now hopefully, have instituted can get a good job. That's not an unreasonable aspiration, and interdisciplinarycore curriculashaped forthe sake ofecological your teachers will surely wantto help you to achieveit. But to understanding? what end? Consider the urgencyof ecologicalunderstanding on the part ofall. Why shouldn'tany liberal arts college worthits I amthinking here in termsof what Herbert Marcuse once called name today as a matter of course have a required thepower ofnegativethinking. This is the idea. If you let your interdisciplinm:ycore curriculum shaped by ecologicalthinking? mindbe carriedaway to livein theworld of Plato's Republic, for If not, why not? example, you will have a vantage point -- good, bad, or indifferentas it may be -- fromwhich you canlook back on your B. A Community thatLiberates theSocial Imagination own world. You can then say No to your world as the only world. And that rejection can then prompt you to consider This thought follows from the preceeding construct, and is alternativesocial worlds, ifnot Plato'srepublic, then some other. predicated on the assumption that normative human life has Without the power of negative thinking the liberation of the urbancenters, theway the bloodstreamhas a heart. Can anyone social imaginationis hardlyimaginable. evenimagine how a massivelygrowing globalpopulation that is now increasingly trapped in gargantuan urban shanty-towns C. A Communitythat Offers a Cosmic Liturgical Praxis aroundthe world can finda social existence on thisplanet that is ecologically sustainable, fundamentally just, and genuinely I am well aware that going to church, or practicing religion of participatory? Is therea dreamersomewhere who can invent and anykind, is not muchin fashionon thecampuses of many liberal portray new environmentally and socially humane visions of arts colleges today. Nevermind how intellee;tually indefensible urban life? Can such a dreamer, ifhe or she exists, survive in religion sometimes appears to be. Nevermind how morally our oftenhyper-specialized academic environments, never mind corruptit alltoo often has been. You just do not have time even be considered for tenure? Why is it that intellectualgiant such to explorethe matter, since you are too busy either teaching or as Lewis Mumford, who in the first half of this century learning: so thatstudents can get jobs and so that the instructors imaginatively assessed economic and social megatrends and cankeep theirs and so thatalumni/ae will support theinstitution issued dire warningsagainst the human megamachine: and who after they have found the jobs they so desperately worked to imaginatively proposed a new kind of communitarian urban attain. existence, green and fair andjoyful -- whywas it that he never "made it" in the Americanacademic environment? Consideryour "career"for a moment, or the careerto whichyou aspire. Are you aware that the word career comes from the I was involved at the edges ofa research project at M.LT. and French for race-track? Is that theworld to which you aspire, WellesleyCollege manyyears ago, involving politicalscientists, either in academia or out there in the so-called "real world?" philosophers, urban planners, ecologists, and biologists. It Goingaround and aroundin circles, racing at the highestspeeds focusedon thethen dramatic challenge of cleaning up the Boston you can imagine so that you can "make it" ahead ofeverybody Harbor. Aftertwo summers ofinterdisciplinary study, drawing else? Maybe you will allow yourselfa pit stop now and again, on all theirspecializations and expending sizeable grant monies a spring break in Florida or a trip with the family to in the process, this elite team of scholars concluded that you Disneyworld. But then it is back on to the fast track all over cannot clean up the Boston Harbor. again, is it not?

The reason theyoffered was essentially political. When you ask These days,remarkably, you don't even have to leave your room all the Boston power groups, the Irish, the Brahmins, the if you want to work yourselfto death. You may have seen the Italians, the African-Americans, the Asians, and others whether New York Times story about Blitzmail at Dartmouth College. theywant the Boston Harbor to be cleaned up, they all willsay Thanksnow tothe worldwide web andyour computer com1ection Yes. But when you examine theirparticular political priorities, in your own room, you can race around in the circles of your cleaningup theHarbor for almost all of them ranksfourth or fifth careertwenty-four hours a day,if you want to, and you will never or lower. Theteam ofscholars concluded that politicallythe city be forced to meet another real hun1an being. Nor will you ever needed a majority of ones and twos ifit were ever going to be haveto venture off campus into theurban jm1gle that seems to be able to take effective steps to clean up the Harbor. Call it everywherearound us. realism, perhaps. But it sounded to me at thetime as ifit were a colossal failureof social imagination. Liturgy is just the opposite. You can't do it alone. Your computer cannever serve you bread and wine. Further, you do To whom, indeed, is this society going to be able to look to haveto take the time away fromthe fast track to do weird things dreamsuch dreamsif not to thatstrange collection of irrelevant that you will not want to put on your resume, like being academics who still cherish the traditions of the liberal arts immersed in waterfor a newbirth, like lifting up your hands and

Intersections/Summer 1997 5 heartsto givethanks to an invisibleDeity as you breakbread and blood of the cross. (Colossians l: 15-20) drink wine. Not everyone has to worship in such holy array, by any means. But l would hope that at a Lutheran liberal arts Contemplating thiscosmic Christology,we see a Christ-figure college, rooted deeply in theCatholic traditions of the West, whose resurrection from the dead is comparable in scope and some remnant community,if not themany, would stilltake the depth,in power in mystery,only with the creation of the world time to practice the Liturgy. This, in my experience, is the fromnothing. The Resurrection, as thebeginning of the ending fountainof the liberated imagination par excellence. This,in my and the :fulfillment of all things, is a new creation, of experience,is where you most powerfully learnnot just to stand incomparableglory. Whathappened before theBig Bang, if that apart from the established order with a prophetic No, a la indeedwas the temporal beginningof this cosmos, here happens Marcuse, but to dream dreams and see visions of a totally new anewand all the more powerfully and glorious ly in thisparticular order of things, inspired by biblical traditions: where you can event which encompasses and unites all things. learnto say yes to Being as well as No to the worldas it is, and claimthe Spirit of hope as your own. The God attested by this theological movement is the God attestedalso by the Letter to theEphesians, the God and Father In our time of global ecological crisis, universal cosmic of all, who is above all and in alland throughall, who together pessimism, and popular academic deconstructionism, the with the Christ, the cosmic center, in the power of the Spirit theology of hope that is celebrated in the Church's classical Creator, energizes all things, visible and invisible. This is the liturgy is perhaps needed as never before, at the heart of the God to be magnified and adored in the cosmic Liturgy of the liberalarts experience. Where else is anyoneto hearthe word of Church Catholic, in Baptism and Eucharist and in thehearing hope thesedays? Where else is one to participatein a ritualof anddoing of theWord. In communionwith this cosmic Godof hope thatbuilds up the habits of hope in one's soul? To be sure, righteouspower and graciousl ove, thefaithful are transformed otherreligious traditions must have a place in the academy, and to be participants in thewhole lifeof God, as they, in turn,seek their adherents doubtlessly will also seek to address to leadlives that give testimony to, and reflect,the cosmic scope environmental and justice issues in their own terms, some of of His Grace. Likewise, since God is the Lord ofjustice and them resonating with fundamentalChristian convictions, some liberation,who callsall humans, created in His image, to image­ not. But thereis reason,I believe, in a church related college, to forthhis eternallife of equality in communityand communityin makea particulareffort to foster the cosmic Liturgy ofthe church equality, the faithful are thereby shaped to be practitioners of itself,in a waythat itself is informed by the creativeimagination justice and an1bassadors of mercy, especially for the which theacademy, at its best, regularlyencourages. downtrodden, the meek of the earth, who are one day to be gatl1ered with peoples of every time and every nation in to the I haveexplored the parametersof a cosmic liturgicalpraxis in a embrace of God's eternal glory and freedom for life in the recent essay"How Does the Liturgy Relate to theCosmos and transcendentCity of God,set in the midstof a new heavens and Carefor the Earth?" Thisessay represents but one expression of a new earth. an ecological paradigm shift that has been underway in one ,::;, tradition in American theology during thelast thirty years. For Tue cosmic Liturgy of theChurch Catholic is thusa school forJ thistheological m ovement, the primarybiblical text is no longer cosmic hope and care for the earth, situated, hopefully, at the.:;? the one that was so critical for Luther, Romans 1: 17, "the heartthe of liberal arts experience in Christiancolleges. Thisis ?f righteous shall live by faith," although that text is surely and therite that inculcates faith , hope, and love in the heartsof those Ji securely presupposed. The primarybiblical text in thiscontext who participate. This is the rite that builds up an ecological]i; is the christological vision of the Paulineauthor ofColossians moral character in all who choose to be shaped by it. They,i and the primaryvision of the cosmic Christ who is at once the turn, can serve as ministers of the ecological imagination an creative unity and the redeemer ofall things in thecosmos: servants of the common environmental good, in an exemplary wayfor the entire academic community. He is the image of the invisible God, thefirstborn ofall creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were D. An Academy that ModelsEcological Responsibility created, things visible and invisible... all things have been created through him andfor him. He himselfis before all Those who practicethe cosmic Liturgyof theChurch will th things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of hopefullyjoi n with like-minded representatives of other faith the body, the church; he is the beginning, thefirstborn from andwith a varietysensitive of souls to help transformthe libei; the dead, so that he might come to have first place in arts college into an exemplary environmentalcommunity. everything. For in him all thefulness of God was pleased to dwell, and throughhim God waspleased to dwell, and through Recycling for such a community is not an obligation but him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, opportunity. Theuse ofenvironmentally friendly products in whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the kitchens and the laboratories ofthe college is not a duty but

Intersections/Summer 1997 6 · down payment on a dream. The clarificationof valuesand the support fora surrogate group of quasi-professionalathletes. transfonnation of values in the processes of interdisciplinary ecological learningis not a fadbut an investment in the future. The promotion of hmnan sexuality in conjunction vvith interpersonal fidelityand social responsibilityl ikewise goes to Hands on participation by students and facultyin the study and theheart of the matter: the development of intellectual and moral the bettem1e11t of urban ecology is not necessarily an act of character. An institutional biasin favorof sexualitybonded with patronizing philanthropy. It can readily be an expression of fidelity and responsibilityis not an expression of prudishness, solidarity of the academy and the city for the sake of social but a rejectionof the sexualescapism that is symptomatic of the justice and envirolllllental integrity. The environmentally sociopathic Anlerican back to nature spirituality. Can we not sensitive and diversified design of, and care for, the campus ask the Student Services staffsat our colleges not merely to train buildings and grounds, moreover, is not necessarilya waste of donn counselors in the logistics of condom use, the dangers of badly needed funds, but hopefully can be an investment in the sexually transmitted diseases, and the definitions of date-rape, establishmentof a holistic environmental community. The field but also how to offer support groups that are aimed both at tripsto wildernessareas, perhaps in companionship with classes clarifyingand transfomnng values? Are we in factcommitted to of urban school children, to experience the interconnectedness "education the whole person?" and the glories of wild nature firsthand need not be a diversion from relevant learning, but a far more illuminating kind of Inaddition, the cultivation ofalUlllllaeand almnnias people who irrelevant learning than the drab careerist exercises that take can participatein thisoverall academic process of modeling, and place in some classrooms and in some laboratories today. who thereby can establish networks that will not only help to m1dergird the whole process financiallybut alsolink graduates Theemphasis on holistic health forall members of theacademy, with positions that promote a society that is just, sustainable, including training in nutrition and self-care and the availability andparticipatory is not some pipedream. It is a real possibility. ofexercise programs for all and support groupsfor smokers and Alumnae and almnni might even support their colleges more othersubstance abusers, is not a quaint luxury of the affluent, it enthusiastically with financial gifts if they were allowed to be is rather an essential expression of commitments to hmnan genuine participants in a modeling process of social integrity and wholeness in God's good creation. Physical transfonnation and not merely treated as sources of monetary education is an essential component of the liberal arts support. experience: and thismeans physical education forall, not merely

Intersections/Summer 1997 7 AN ARISTOTELIAN TWIST TO FAITH AND REASON Gregg Muilenburg

INTRODUCTION In all other respects it is absolute.

Aristotle taught us much of what we assume about intellectual A closely related assumption reminds us that knowing, lik methodology.He maintainedthat any well-designedinvestigation believing, is an activity in which people engage. It is no must determine the nature aud scope of the subject matter, genericallyhuman, as theEnlightenment had us believe. Nor is ' establish its end or purpose, examine theexisting wisdom on the inert and sterile, as modernscience had us believe. Knowingi matter and argue for that which under critical scrutinyremains actingin pursuitof a goal,and as such, is to be understood in te essential to the proper understauding of the phenomenon. This of the knower's precipitating desires and beliefs. Aristotle w brief investigation of church-related highereducation will follow rightto insiston this interpretation of knowledge as action; but, h a similarpattern. Inthe first section, I will brieflycharacterize the was wrongto restrictit to merely practical knowing. All knowin traditional categories forunderstauding therelationship between involvesa patternof action which must be practiced, perfectedan faith and reason. In the second, I will examine the epistemic habituated through a constant commitment to it. Perhaps Plat structureof values audargue that one understaudingof faithsees was right in describing learning as more like loving than lik it as sharing thatstructure. In the finalsection, I will propose a seeing. new view of the relation of faith to learning in the context of churchrelated higher education aud draw some initial conclusions concerningthe nature of thateducation. APPROACHES TO FAITH AND LEARNING

Since anyinvestigation must proceed with the aid of assumptions, Over the centuries there have been many different ways o and, since the disclosure of such assumptions is essential to understanding the relationship between faith and learning (fai responsible scholarship and critical assessment, allow me to and reason). Ignoring for the moment subtle variations and a. confessthe following operational assumptions: First of all, recent historyof muddled terminology, the Christian tradition presents developments in epistemology have shown it philosophically four main models: conflict, independence, dialogue and undeniable that all of our knowledge is perspectivalin character. integration. Knowing aud learning take place in contexts aud unavoidably reflectthose contexts. That there is no Archimedean point is now Conflict, in its early expression, assumed that faith, based on as obvious in epistemology as it is in physics. The debt forthis divine revelation, is a translational process defying justification change in epistemic attitude is owed to the philosophers and and hostileto reason. "I believe because it is absurd." (Tertullian} historiansof science who argued persistentlyaud painfullyfor a Inits modernexpressions, conflict takes the formof assuming that position that often alienated themfrom theircolleagues aud their both faith aud reason (e.g. religion and natural science) ar tradition.As a consequence, we arenow "invited" to see faithaud speaking of the same material world and speaking in the sam� learning as much more intimately related (owing to the shared positivistlanguage. So scientificmaterialism aud creation science, qualityof perspective) than any self-respectingscholar would have forexample, square off assuming thatboth cannot be right. In th · admitted during the prior two centuries (in the so-called one case, natural science has been uncritically extended int foundationalistera, a timewhen knowledge was thoughtto have an natural philosophy and, in the other, biblical faith has bee indubitable base). presented as natural science. Both extensions are confuse because they assume there is only one project, only o That few, if any, persist in theerror that is foundationalismdoes perspective, and only one set of tools. This confusion involves not, however, entail that the new perspectivalism is immune to both a philosophical categorymistake and a failure to undertake error. Very often the truth of the dictum, "All knowledge is theself-critical hermeneuticaltask. perspectival", is confused with its fallacious converse, "All perspective is knowledge." A proper investigation of the Independence is clearly an advance over conflict for it differencewould requireanother forum, but thereare at least a few acknowledges the integrityof both faith audreason and assumes earmarks. Perspective is usually unassailable. Knowledge that each has its own inviolate realm of discourse, subject matte( is defeasible (falsifiable), audwelcomes, evendemands, rational and language. Faith involves divine revelation which is challenges. Perspective is relative. It is its essence to be such. independentof human reason even if not contradictingit (Barth Knowledge, on theothe r hand, is relativeonly to itsperspective. Faith and reason pose no problems left alone to their propel' spheres. Today this view is expressed in a strict separation of Gregg Muilenburg is professor and chair of the department of religious from scientific thought. One purports to deal withthe Philosophy at Concordia College. objective material world and the other with the subjectiv personal one. Science deals with facts and religion deals wi

Intersections/Summer 1997 8 values. However this approach is· also confused. There is no one "thing" to be better than another, and thus have the general fact/valueseparation. All facts are theory laden and all theories form: 'x is better than y.' Of course values never display just this involve value judgments. Knowledge is contextual and form, forvalues are never devoid of content andrarely absolute. perspectival. The knower cannot be completely separated from Virtually anything can be the object of a value. People, events, thatwhich is known. It isthis awareness that leads to the finaltwo physical objects, situations, ideas; all are objects of assessment waysof relatingfaith and Jearning, both of which presuppose that beliefs. Consequently, any assessment willhave to be relative to the relationship between faith and learning is a close and the nature of thething being assessed andthe purpose to which complementaryone. that thingis put. For example, one does not actually say that one values cats. Ratherone says thatcats areto be valued over dogs, Dialogue assumesthat each sidehas much to learnfrom the other. orcats arebetter than parrots; or more properly, thatcats are nicer This becomes especially clearwhen certain types of fundamental pets than dogs or parrots. So also, values will be relative to the questions or methodological parallels are considered. While individualholding thebelief. We may differ with regard to cats, disciplinary integrity must be maintained, there are questions of or disagree about what makes a good pet. But all of this is well ultimate significance which both sides canapproach from their understood, so well understood thatwe rarely consider values to respectiveanalyses. Dialoguefosters the sortof interdisciplinary have a structure at all and presume all matters of valuing cooperation necessaryfor dealing withthe complex issues of our completely relative and beyond rational debate. emerging global society and the sort of self-criticalexamination necessary for intellectual honesty and humility. Such dialogue If thebasic structureof a value ( x is better than y with respect to preserves disciplinary integrity while also accommodating the some purpose for some person) is somewhat pedantic, the wider human condition in and through which it takesplace. characteristics associated with values are anythingbut. Most of the world's great tragedies are constructed around the lives of This understanding of the relationship of faith and learning is individuals struggling with values. From Oedipus to Lady particularly at home in the Lutheran tradition where faith is Macbeth to Willy Loman, the drama recurs. There are simple understoodas trust in the justifyingpower of God's grace brought reasons for this to be found in the character of valuing. I will into criticalrelationship with the other realms of human experience mention only two. Values arebeliefs that people hold most dear and thought. The dialectical pursuit of truth in such a fashion is to them. They are thebeliefs we will least often give up; for they clearly a viable expression of a doxologicalvisioil. are thesource of our identity, ourcommunity and arereflective of our sense of purpose. Whiledialogue may be themost realistic goal in relatingfaith and learning, it is not the only one reflective of the Reformational Values are also protected from examination by elaborate heritage. There is a fourth option, that of integration. In this psychologicalmechanisms desi gned to foolothers, but as often, to understandingof theintimate connection of faithto reason, the two fool ourselves. Yet, despite all the secrecy and subterfuge, the areseen to functionin intrinsic complementarity,each disclosing nature of our values is painfully obvious through our actions. unique dimensions of reality and connecting them through a Values are the guides for the living of our lives. They are the commonmetaphysical vision. Integrativerelationships stimulate objects of our pursuits. There can be no such thing as a latent or bothfaith and reason to reach out throughthe educative activityto inactive value. If something is valued, it is pursued. If it is not a common confession of a universe seen as an integrated whole. pursued,it is not valuedin thosecircumstances or valued less than Such wholeness is said to be the ultimate goal of education. something else. Thus, our actions are inerrant records of our values. They, like the oracles of old, are not always easily There is, however, little agreement on matters of method and interpreted,but theywill never lie. Herein lies life's drama: What practice evenamong thosecommitted to such integrated education. shouldwe value? How do we responsibly pursue it? Why do we As there is little to be gained, beyond endurance, by plowing not pursue thatwhich we believe we value? In short, the ultimate throughthese well-tilled church/college taxonomies, and as these question of both life and learningis: How then should we live? schemes appear to place theplow beforethe horse by restricting education beforeunderstanding it, our timemight be better spent It seems to me that the answer to this question is itself the inspeculating directly on the character of integrativeeducation we statement of a value and therein lies the connection of value to seek. faith. We ought, of course, to live our lives responsibly and with integrity. All othervalues andthe pursuits they occasion oughtto be subservient to thishigher value. But why value responsibility THE STRUCTURE OF VALUE AND FAITH andintegrity in one's life? There appears to be no furthervalue to which one can appeal in answer. There appears no value There is nothing philosophically perspicuous about saying one demonstrablyhigher, no principle fromwhich it can be deduced. values something. The term 'value' is as vacuous as it is This is no mere philosopher's dilemma, no idle logician's puzzle. ubiquitous. Upon reflection, however, it is clearthat values are There can be no more fundamental demand. But how can we beliefs, albeit beliefs of a special sort. It seems to me thatvalues answer it? By faith. By our faith we might answerthat a lifeof are assessment beliefs. That is to say, they arebeliefs assessing responsibilityand integrity is required of us as a response to God's

Intersections/Summer 1997 9 self-revelatoiy acts of creation and redemption. We have no Goodeducation, then will help students to understandtheir values, higher valueto justifythat belief. It has no goal beyond itself, it is trace those values to their implications and effectively pursue theparamount value. them. Moreover, since the pursuit of goals alone, will not, no matterhow effective, produce wholeness except thatthe pursuitis It may seemunconventional, even odd, to speakof faithas a value. a responsible one, good education must be directed toear� the Faith is a relation between a believer and the object of that respOllSlblepursuit of values. Finally, since the activating forcein • believing. The oddness attending the term 'faith' so used, is, I allaction is desire,the core of educationshould be education of the suspect,veiy much thesame as that whichattended the use of the desire. term 'value' initially. Valuing, as we have seen is also a relation betweena personand a thing. One speaks loosely when one calls As desperate as therealms of value and action may seem, they somethinga value. That looseness is transferredto the claimthat haveas theircommon element the uniquehuman facultyof desire. faith is a value. The only difference is that faith is an ultimate Those things we call values are the patterns of desire we use as value. In all but this respect, it shares the structure of lesser guidesfor our lives. Moreover, it is only by virtue of the power of values. desire that we act. We may plan our actions with the aid of practicalreason. We may evaluate them withtheoretical wisdom. If what has been suggested here is correct, in other words, if faith We may encourageourselves to act with emotion. But we only act is tobe understoodas ultimate value; then two implications follow fromdesire. Thus our actions are as well judged by our desires as for the investigation of faithand learning. Each is rooted in our ourdesires aresurely evidenced by our actions. This relationship, prior assumptions and each will be treated briefly in the not unlikethe oracles of old, never lies but always stands in need subsequent section. Firstof all, learningis action, andaction, as of interpretation. Therein lies life's drama and education's Aristotle taught us is caused by desire. Knowledge and belief mission. If we ask the timeless question "How then are we to condition our actions making them feasible or useful. And the live?", we are asking what is worth valuing and pursuing. To emotionshelp us to findthe courage to act. But only desire causes know the answer to this question is to know how to desire well. us to act. We are motivated to act by our desire forthe objects of Education can help us to learn to live responsibly and with our values. Thus, it would seem to followthat learningcannot be integritybut it canonly do soif we are encouraged, challenged and fullyunderstood withoutfirst understanding the process of desire guided todesire aright. If the ultimate goal of education is rightly thatmoves it. Moreover, iffaith constitutesan ultimate value, our described as wholeness, then its core must be the education of ultimate object of desire, then faith must be intimately, perhaps desire. causally,related to knowledge. But these are not new contentions. Theyhave always been part of theclaims of the church, though not The nature of education, I would like to suggest, is to be seen as couched in Aristotelian terms. perspectival faith directed action. If learninghas been properly characterized as a human action activated by desire then the core Secondly, the perspectival character of knowledge leads one to of edncationis theeducation of desire. Ifone's faith is the ultimate expectthat faith will be the focalpoint of a believer's perspective. value or object of desire forthe Christian (or for any person of Therewould seemto be no reason why one's faithwould function faith), then the core of Christian education is the education of peripherallyif it constitutesone's ultimate value. One need not be Christiandesire. Such aneducation involves reflectionon the life apologetic about the situation. Perspectives are to be expected. offaithunderstood as directing one's desiretoward the realization Perspectives are like interchangeable camera lenses. Each is of one's ultimate values. Such reflection will necessarily designed to focus our attention on some aspects of thescene by investigate theproper relationship between these ultimate values eliminating other foci from our field of view. Telephoto lens (including, but not restricted to, our confessional roots) and our enable us to make clearer and more precise images of distant proximate values (including, but not restricted, to our ethical things by eliminatingany panoramic potential in thescene. We do concerns). These relationships are not obvious, but they are not criticizethe lens for doing so. That is simplyhow it works. So imperative, if we areto retain our identityin a changing culture. it is withepistemic perspectives. Theyare unavoidable. They are All thedisciplines in a college must contribute to theeducation of desirable. desire. Some will contribute to the store of empirical knowledge necessaiyfor effective and responsible action. Otherswill help us see the implications for our faith and life of the actions we AN ARISTOTELIAN APPROACH TO FAITH AND contemplate. Othersstill will help us understand our natures, our. LEARNING failingsand help us accept our limitations graciously. But all w be united in thecommon task of helping students andourselve The ultimate goal of all education should be the production of understand what it is to desire aright andlive well. It must b wholeness in the lives of human beings. Wholeness involves emphasizedthat desire requires freedom and is individual. So als integrity--the integrity that accompanies a life wherein actions is the action resulting fromsuch desire. Thus the enemy of reflectprofessed values. Consequently, thenature of education, so education is indoctrinationand regimentation. constructed, is value-directed and action-directed, the nature of education, so contrued, is value-directed and action-directed. The situation is no differentin thecase of Christianeducation.

Intersections/Summer 1997 10 · one's faithis theultimate value or object of desire, then thecore of faiths" and shallow commi1ment; and those who strengthen Christian education is the education of Christian desire. Such through doubt. We will need thosewho nurse "damaged faith;" education requires both understanding and commi1ment, both and those who encourage through devotion. As there is not one reflectionand cultivation. One must reflecton the life of faithand path to commi1ment,so there is no one guide. virtue forthe demands are by no means obvious. How we are to live our lives is not made plain by the mere holding of admirable By way of recapitulation and recommendation, it has been values. It demandsdifficult investigations into thecharacter of that suggested that we need no longer apologize for the pursuit of which we hold dear. Such reflection will necessarily investigate knowledge in the context of faith. We cannot avoid the the proper relationship between our ultimate values (including perspectival character of learning, andthe perspective of faith is those we call our confessional roots) and our proximate values a perfectly legitimate one. It has also been suggested that we can (including our present ethical concernsand personal ambitions). begin to understandthe perspective of faithseeking understanding -- theintegration of faithand learning -- if we come to see faithas Allthe disciplines of the college contributeto this reflectivetask. theultimate object ofdesire. Correspondingly, since learning and Some will contribute to the store of empirical knowledge living are activities, they are brought about by the interaction of necessaryfor effective and responsible action. Others will help us desireand belief, it seemscorrect to see Christianeducation as the see the implications for our faith and life of the actions we education of Christian desire. Finally, thatthis project consists of contemplate. Otherswill challenge us to see the world afreshand two distincttasks in tension -- reflectionand commi1ment -- is no give us thepower to exceed our egocentric ambitions. Others still accident. It mirrors the tension of trust and assent comprising will help us understand our natures, our failings, andhelp us to faith, the tension of desire and belief precipitatingaction, and the accept our limitations graciously. But all will be united in the tension offaithand learningessential to Christian life. When these commontask of helping us to understandwhat it is to desire aright tensions are utilized productively, they provide the climate in and live well. That not forour own sake alone but also in praise which education flourishes. of the one that made us. Ifthe trip to thispoint has beentortured but safe forLutherans; the The education of Christian desire requires reflectiveactivity but it recommendationsit producesare straight-forward,but threatening. also requires cultivating activity. If reflection tells us how to If wholeness is the goal of education, it does not seem to me that desireand act, cultivation helps us to desireand act. What we are thetraditional Lutheran understanding of education as dialogical cultivatingin this aspect of the education is commi1ment. This is issufficient. As is obvious fromthe preceding, wholeness comes much more difficult and time consuming work. Again, all the throughcommi1ment to integrateddesire and action. Dialogue is disciplines will contribute to thistask in their own way. Little is involved in thatprocess but it is no substitute forit. Thus, it is know about how thishappens, but we have all seen it in thelives paramountfor church-related higher education to findand nourish of studentsand facultywho possess such commi1mentand are not scholars who are devoted to the active integration of faith and affraidto admitto their stuggle withthe life of faith. This situation learning. As Plato taught us, the enemy of true learning is may onlybe right,for one does not teach commi1ment. It has to be hypocrisy. The integrationmodel is the only one thatsafeguards exemplified, nurturedand ecouraged in the context of a community it. of those who take it seriously. It is important work even forits nebulousness. Reflectionwithout commi1mentis otiose as surely The otherenemy of learningis narrow-mindedprovincialism. The as commi1mentwithout relfectionis obtuse. educationof desirefollows no privilegedpattern. It is the province of no cultureand surely no denomination. In fact, the education of It is imperative to see that the task of educating students to desire is facilitatedby as many andvaried a set of examples as Christian desire is a multifarious one. The sort of reflection possible. The examplesmust, however, be lived examples,since described demands competencies no one sort of individual can desiring aright is a practiced art not a theoretical one. What this possess. We needto understandthe natural world throroughly that means for church-related higher education is that we have an better we can appreciate the magnitude of God's self-revelatory obligation to make our campuses, and especially our faculties act of creation. So also, we need to understand thehuman world morediverse. On theeve of themillennium, we cando no better thoroughly that better we can appricieate the magnificence of forourselves and our future, than to genuinelycommit ourselves God's redemptive act. No less mutifarious is the task of to integrationand diversity. cultivating commi1ment. We will need thosewho challenge "easy

Intersectioris/Summer 1997 11 TWOPOEMS Gary Finke The Dark Angels the brownedcrosses of holy rolls. To the sidewalkin frontof my father's Threetimes, the flag of celery Razedbakery I return. To the patch andcarrots, the field of coconut Of burdock where the stackedovens deep-browned holdingforty-eight walnut stars. The crusts of a millionloaves of rolls. Andonce, as God's duty, we hosted To the cinderblockcracked like thesoot-pocked ourformer pastor, who had returned Windows where I watched, in Etna,the dark to Pittsburghto declaimthe death Angels escape thecoal smoke as if they of God. He sat, so heavy, atour table, Wantedto swoop back to chimers. To shards thepinwheels of sweet peppersseemed and splinterswhere I hated thesauerkrau t to churn on thecucumber cogs. Inthe cramped,next-door kitchen, the boiled He unrolled,while we passed bread, Shank endof porkwhich clustered filesagainst four slices of hamand beef; The latched screen door. To the steep, shaledownslope he unfolded, while we pouredmilk, Where the wallsof the bakeryare landfill, three cheeses, andformed the stack Where the first bulldozedsoil coats wallboard of a child'ssimple sandwich. And lumberas if coalwere refueling My fatherwaited for him Industry's return,covering the spot to swallowone bite,and then Where I was careless,once, with Saturday's he gave thanksfor thecare with which Trash fire. Whereit followedthe easy weeds ourfood was prepared, directing To thebrittle boards of the bakery. his message to theli\-ing God Where that neighborshook freethe tiles andsprayed andhis resurrectedson while His hose and a set of obscenities the pastor held his sandwich inboth hands. Keyed to my foolish name. Where my father An thenwe decorated ourbread Thankedhim and led me to thelast eclair, witharrangements of tomatoes Settledme on the workroom's foldingchair andonions and lettucebefore And said nothingexcept "think,"and I thought we added the roll-ups of meat That theneighbor was listeningat the window andcheese, each of themarranged WhileI held chocolateand custard until like the pipesof the churchorgan My fathersaid, "You eat that,"and I did. I listenedto, this morning, forthe first time in thirtyyears, Decorative Cooking thatfat pastor and my motherdead My mother repeated the story ten of them, my fatherdriving us of St. Julitta,whose shed blood to her grave nearthe unmarkedsite spelledthe name of God. My father where the minister'sashes, insisted the name of God was work, accordingto my father halfor more of each day but Sunday. werescattered likethe hopeless. There was timefor food, God's bounty, reinforced, fromthe radio, WhereGod is working,my father byBetty Crocker, who explained lays wreathes. Where God is working, The New Design forHappiness, meals my father pullsweeds andhand-trims that showed love forthe families thetopiary of heavenly hosts. . inAmerica's homes by working All morninghe wove pineboughs carmedsoup and cakemixes into whileI read, and thenhe calledout the miraclesof ready-to-eat. thepassing of each mileto thirteen, In her cookbook,in fullcolor, the rightturn through the open gates she probedthe pictorial charm to theplot in the Gardenof Dreams. of foodby stuffingpie shells He laidthose evergreen crosses and peppers,filling tomato halves bythe headstoneof my mother andsculpted pastry,creating, andthe four nearest neighbors on my father'sfavorite page, in asymmetry of remembrance, mock steakfrom ground beef and Wheaties, andthen he removed whathe'd left a stripof carrotfor the bone. for last month'sanniversary, addingthose branches to theborder So pretty,yet economical, of woven designsso they couldextend andon ourtable, each Sunday, thed ecorativework of God were decorativedinners prepared the night before: theshimmering, shapedJellos; the rank andfile GaryFinke is professorin thedepartment of English of peeledand sliveredapples. at SusquehannaUniversity. Yearly,the anise Magi cookies,

Intersections/Summer 1997 12 DISCUSSION: MISSION AND HIRING POLICIES IN THE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE BruceR. Reichenbach

1 TueChristian or Church-related college is a visible witnessto favorlife-long fitness. They should be helped to develop social thepresence of God throughthe ministry of education. Here the and emotional skills that will enable them to get along with Gospel is presented in diverse languages: of free and others, and to satisfy their own emotional needs and those of responsible academic investigation; of preparationof students others in ways thatfoster growth, maturity,and satisfaction. fortheir vocations; of worship and witnessto theacts of God; of love and caring, honesty and integrity in a community h1 effect,in definingthe purpose of thecollege as educating the directed toward maturation; of the beauty and wonder of whole person, 2 focus must be placed on every dimension of aesthetic appreciation; of service to others and outreachto the student life. Since education takes place in diverse campus community. settings,not only facultybut othermembers of thecollege staff functionas "educators," thoughnot everyone educates in all of If acollege has any reason for existing and correspondingly any the above dimensions, or in the same way. Hence the entire way to measureits accomplishments,it must be in terms of how collegecommunity should be knowledgeably committedto the successfullyit educatesits students. The buildingsit erects, the college's· mission as the college attempts in its diverse curriculum it adopts, the requirements it institutes, the social educational roles to assist students in their education. and cultural events it sponsors, all are justified by this. Educationsometimes is conceived verynarrowly to apply only to the education of the mind. Thus, colleges typically and Implementation of Mission appropriatelyemphasize classroom experiences, teaching, texts, courses, libraries, and the like. In this arena faculty:function If this assessment of education is correct, then the college's most comfortably, for they have been trained to contribute mission should inform all aspects of the college's educational through classroom, research and laboratory. Though this endeavors. Its implementation should occur at all levels of constitutesone facetof education, emphasis on thisdimension college life, to create a particular kind of community. The to the neglect of other factors can lead colleges to cultivate mission will shape the way the administrators operate the intellectual giants and moral and social dwarfs. Much more college. It will inform the way the faculty educate, both in goeson at college thanthe education of themind. Indeed, were individualcourses and in theoverall college curriculum. It will studenteducation measured in increments of time,the business govern the way staffinteracts with students in counseling, offormal education would not predominate. Learningoccurs in residential life, job and career placement, and social and thedorm, in the athleticcenter or on the field,in the music and business activities. It will shape theextracurricular dimensions dramapresentations, in the work experience in thecommunity. of the college and the way students work and serve in the community. Hence,ifwe areto speakabout education as the raison d'etreof thecollege, we must address educatingthe whole person. The Thesame holds truefor the Christian dimension of a Christian mind shouldbe trainedto think critically, clearly, andcreatively. or Church-related college's mission statement. The Christian Students shouldbe introducedto newideas and data bases, with character of the college cannot be relegated to the chapel which to both deepen their understanding of particular areas worshipprogram, the religion department, required courses in and broaden their horizons andperspectives. The intellectual religion, or the Church Relationsoffice. Christian faith and skillsinvolved in learuingand research should be honed. Moral values should permeate every aspect of the college. They charactershould be shaped andstrengthened. Studentsshould shouldinform the ways the administrationoperates the college. be taught to think about virtue and encouraged and given They should shape the entire curriculum through their opportunity to develop qualities of character that will serve integration at relevant points with other subject matter. They themand society well during theirlifetime. Students should be should help determine the kinds of outcomes the college wants taught to use their physicalattributes, to develop interests and forits students when they graduate. They should be a lively skillsthat willlead them to patternsof actionthat topic for educated discussion and civil debate. They should govern how the community members relate to each other. hi Bruce Reichenbach is professor of Philosophy at Augsburg effect,they should pervade the campus's study, work,social life, College. worship, andspiritual life.

Intersections/Summer 1997 13 Hiring Faculty, Administrators, and Staff this respect. Institutions commonly seek some evidence of religious affiliation in prospective teachers, but too oftell Perhaps the most critical factor in the college's successful nominalChurch membership is regarded as sufficient. What is achievement of its mission is the composition of its faculty, lacking is the expectation that the faculty member will be an administration, andstaff. This groupof individualsprovides infonned, thoughtful Church[person] and relate his [or her] direction both to the college as a whole and to the students subject to the Judeo-Christian tradition.... This is one of the particularly. Faculty play a direct role in college governance most basic problems of Church institutionstoday." 4 and in students' education. They become role models for students, establishdepartmental and course curricula, and set Commitmentto effectivelyimplementing the missionstatement theclassroom agenda andcontext. Theadministration hires and means more than that those hired will be sympathetic to or oversees the development and direction of programs. Staff comfortable working in an environment that makes such a playsa criticalrole in setting theatmosphere for dormlife and Christianstatement. Since these same facultysubsequently will the relationshipsof studentsto college offices. Their counseling be responsible for malcing hiring decisions, they significantly ofstudents reflects their own valuesand emphasizes what they determine the direction of the institution. Hence, not only think is important in students' own development. should thenature and mission of theinstitution be put up front in the hiring process,, but prospective employees should be Consequently, it is in the staffingof theinstitution, more than asked to address how they see the mission of the college, anywhereelse, thatthe character of the institution and its ability including the integration of Christian faith and values with to shape theeducational experience of students will be felt and learningand teaching. This should not be merely an academic ultimately effective. Unless theadministration, facultyand staff exercise, but an opportunity to share how in thepast theyhav e of theChristian college areknowledgeable about theChristian integrated Christian faith and learning, and how in thefuture faith. have critically reflected on the integration of faith and they would like to contribute to the Christian mission of the learning,and areconsciously committed to and affirma role in College. Since thepast is oftena harbinger of the future, the implementingthe Christian dimension of thecollege's 1nission, wayprospective employees have integrated their Christianfaith the Christian or Church-related college that takes seriouslyits and values with their prior professional lives will provide Christian mission cannot succeed in achieving that stated evidence (though obviously no guarantee) that they will mission. continue such patternsat the college.

This is analogous to what occurs within individual academic Administrators, faculty, and staff who come to teach at a departments. Unless theindividual members are committed to Christian college should choose to teach and work at such an thedepartmental educationalobjectives, thoseobjectives cannot institution. This choice expresseswillingness to participate in be achieved. A departmentdesire s more than members who are a Christian community, fulfilling to tl1e best of their ability a merelycomfortable with the departmental objectives. It wants particulartask centered around a mission that embodies, among memberswho intentionally work in their own teaching to carry otherdimensions, a commitment to conducting education from out thedepartment's mission. the perspective of the Christianfaith and values. This being said, several caveats must be made. First, Accordingly, themost criticaldecisions willinvolve thehiring commitment to the Christian faith should not replace of faculty, administrators, and staffwho possess a thoughtful professionalpreparation and expertise or pedagogical ability. commitmentto the missionof providing students an education Sometimesthe discussion of hiringqualifications is couched in shaped by Christian faith and values. Though written thirty termsof a radical disjunction: departments hireeither persons yearsago, the words of theDanforth Commission still ring true. with academic expertise or persons who manifestcommitment "Ifa college intends to be a Christiancommunity and to conduct to the Christian faith and are active, knowledgeable its workwithin a Christiancontext, the appointmentof faculty Churchpersons. Thedichotomy is false. Facultysatisfying both memberswho are sympatheticwith this purposeand canmake academicand religiouscriteria generally can be found. a contribution to such a community is an important factor in selection. From the point of view of academicintegrity, it is Second,should religiousrequirements apply to all persons hired essential to make the additional qualification explicit to to work in the community? A college that emphasizes 3 everyoneconcerned. " intentional diversity as part of its mission statement thereby provides grounds for hiring persons who can not only be Atthe same time, the Commission noted the resulting difficulty. creative teachers and articulate spokespersons for various "In the staffingof Churchcollege and universities, one of the discipinary and social views, but represent and present non­ difficultproblems is that of appointing personswho have the Christianperspectives in ways thatprovide an opportunityfor requisitereligious commitment... In general, we findthat most serious, internal dialogueon theimportant issues thatface the Church institutionslack firm and well-formulated policies in college. When hired, they shouldbe encouragedto effectively

Intersections/Summer 1997 14 and constructively raise the kinds of questions that both persons who identify with Christianity, Islam, Judaism or Christiansand non-Christians should face. They can challenge atheism, but by hiring persons who are knowledgeable, the ethos of the institution, raise questions about its integrity thoughtfuland articulate spokespersons oftheir positions. and consistency, question its directions and programs, and provide constructive models fors tudents who themselves are Fourth, in a specifically Lutheran college the matter of skepticalabout the Christianfaith. intentional hiring might apply at times to being specifically Lutheran. Lutherans have a distinctive theological andsocial How wouldthis concern for diversity be implemented? George perspectivewithin the Christiancommunity. Hence, Lutheran Marsden has introduced the notion of a critical mass. On his perspectives should be well represented in theadministration, view,the Church-related or Christiancollege would be a place faculty, and staff to provide informed dialogue within the wherethere is a criticalmass of faculty, administrators and staff academiccommunity and with the college's church constituency. who maintain strong Christian commitments, in consonance with the stated mission of the college.5 Clearly the notion cannot be m1packed simply in tern1s ofdefinite numbers, as if At thesame time, Lutherans affirm that Lutherdid not intend to some givenpercentage would achievesuch a goal. The notion separate from but reform the Catholic Church. As such, ofcritical mass is less a matter of pure numbers thana matter Lutheran institutions should manifest a clear ecumenical of presence,power, and influence in creatinga communitywith component, one that welcomes diverse Christianperspectives a particularidentity. Thus, administrators and departments,in to the academic enterprise. Thus, what is sought among the attempting to maintaina critical mass of those committedto Christian faculty is a balance between those who would help implementingactively the college's mission statement, have to preserve the Lutherantradition and theology andeducate their assess the intellectual and governmentalmilieu of the campus, colleagues about such, and those who would integrate faithand so as to provide assurances ofthe continuingliving identity of learningfrom a broader Christian perspective. the college as a Christianor Church-related college. At this juncture being a Church-related college and being a The criterion of"critical mass" should apply not only college­ Christian college can take on differentroles. The firstdefines wide, but to individual departments as well. The latter is a more narrowtheological/historical/cultural context; thesecond especiallyimportant where hiring is initiatedand complete_d at participates in thebroad Christian community. In a Lutheran thedepartment level,for the faculty hired todaywi ll conduct the college, the ideal findsan intentionalbalance between the two, hiring in the future, and thus directly or indirectly affect the where Lutheran traditions are allowed to enrich the broader direction of the department. Applicationof "critical mass" at Christiancommunity and its spirituality,while courtingits own the departmentallevel would insure thatthe Christian faith is in ecumenical spirit. dialogue with every aspect ofthe educational curriculum. Finally, hiringdecisions should be supplemented by on-going faculty and staffdevelopment programs that foster continued To help accomplish this,those makinghiring decisions could educationand thought regarding the incorporationof Christian be broadened to include members of the larger college faithand values into the various dimensions ofcommunity life. community, so that, in the case oftl1e faculty,more than mere This can begin for new faculty and staff with orientation departmental concerns can be addressed. The questions of programsthat feature constructive and educationaldiscussions "campus fit" and "mission fostering" should play roles in the about ways to integrate concerns about Christian faith and hiring process. I want to be careful here lest I be values into various aspects of service to the college's misunderstood. By"campus fit"I do not mean homogeneityin community. These can be tied into on-going programs that politics, gender, race, denomination, or outlook. What I do promotefaculty development - symposia,lectureships, informal meanis thatin addition to diversity issues,the questionof how conversations,convocations, seminars withfaculty from other prospectiveadministrators, faculty and staff see theirrespective institutions -- here with the purpose of considering ways of roles in activelyintegrating faith and learning in thecommunity integratingfaith andlearning. 6 should be animportant consideration. Marsden's warningabout thecentrality ofintentional hiring is Third,diversity is not best served by simplyignoring religious clear. "So faras thefuture is concerned,the most crucial area conunitment or perspectives when hiring administrators, where these issues [of diversity] play themselves out is in faculty,or staff Not benignneglect but intentionalityrules. If faculty hiring. Once a church-related institution adopts the the purpose of religious diversity is to provide a variety of policy that it will hire simply'the best qualified candidates,' it carefully considered and articulate perspectives leading to is simply a matter of time until its faculty will have an fruitful and stimulating dialogue, the hiring should be done ideological profile essentially like that of the faculty at every intentionallyin thatregard. The religious diversityappropriate other mainstream university. The first loyalties of faculty to the academic enterprise is not achieved simply by hiring members will be to the national cultures of the professions

Intersections/Summer 1997 15 rather than to any local or ecclesiastical traditions. Faculty correctness into silence. If either of these occurs, the colle members become essentially interchangeable parts in a will fragment, and the dialogue between faith and learningtl( standardized national system. Atfirst , when schools move in was integralto theinstitution will dissipate into silence or resul thedirection of open hiring, they can count on some continuity in carpingand suspicion between the two sides. "v:iththeir traditions based on informalties and self-selection of thosecongenial to their heritage. Withina generation, however, Rather, each person in the community -- Christian and non there is bound to be a shift to a majority for whom national Christian -- should be able to address how he or she relates to professionall oyaltiesare primary. Since departmentalfaculties all aspects of the college's mission, including its Christian typicallyhave virtual autonomy in hiring, it becomes impossible mission. Those who espouse the Christian emphasis as a to reverse the trendand the church traditionbecomes vestigial. matter of their own faith perspective should reflect on how it The Protestantexperience suggests thatonce a school beginsto can impacttheir teaching, learning, and community life. Those move awayfrom the religious heritageas a factorin hiring, the whodo not espouse it as a matter of personal faithperspective pressures become increasingly greater to continue to move in should reflect on how they can creativelyfunction in dialogue that direction. "7 with their colleagues and students, including with regard Christianfaith and learning.

Community with Diversity Thegoal is not to createclasses of college citizens, but to create a Christian community that incorporates integrally both Privilegingqualified Christiansin hiring so thatthe character Christiansand non-Christians. Insuch a conm1unity there is no and tradition of the college is maintained with integrity, yet room fortokenism -- and likewise no room forthose who would maintaining a conunitment to intentional diversity, raises two simply opt out of the dialogue. Engagement, disagreement, serious issues: how to create meaningfulcommunity and how conversation, reflectionshould supplant apathy. The diversity to preserveacademic freedom. In this sectionwe will deal with shouldbe incorporated into the community life, so that there is the former, postponing the latter until the next section. welcoming,open, creativedialogue between all present, without at thesame time losing or compromising theChristian character If one intentionallycreates a college communitywith diversity, of the institution. one faces several challenges. First, one confronts the danger In short, a college that espouses a mission that includes both thatin makingdiversity a goal, the college becomes essentially being based on the Christian faith and diversity or indistinguishable from its secular counterparts. Though inclusiveness, facesa situationfraught with tension. The task diversityplays a veryimpor tantrole in thecollege , it should not is to tum the tension into creative education. a situation -- indeed cannot -- be directed toward representing every providing potential for growth for both students and faculty, possible view in society. Neithers hould the goal be to create and a place where issues of faith are raised with renewed a mere smorgasbord curriculum that presents a diversity of vibrancy, recognizing the legitimacyof diversity, while at the unrelated individual menu items to students treated as same timemaintaining the integrity and Christian identity of the consumers. Otherwise, the college will lack unityand a central institution. core that is Christian and deliberatively liberal arts. In short, thegoal in hiringshould not be diversityas an end in itself, but diversity as a means to further broaden the educational Freedom and Commitment perspectivesof students and provide opportunitiesfor growth within the context of a particular community. What should It goeswithout saying that what we have suggested creates the result is a community with diversity, or perhaps better, an possibilityof tension betweena particular commitmentrequired inclusive community. of a criticalmass of faculty and the academic freedomto think say and do what one believes is true and right. "A carefully­ Second, a Christian college that embraces an inclusive definedinstitutional purpose is, in the verynature of things, a community faces the challenge of integrating the diverse restriction on freedom. It molds the institution. In effect it members of the communityin ways that avoid polarizationof precludes some courses of action. . . .It demands that certain the community and treatment of either non-Christians or thingsbe done. "8 Christians as second-class citizens or resident aliens. One danger is that those who are not Christians might either see Academicfreedom, the freedomto pursue ideas, is germaneto themselves or be viewed by Christian members of the a liberal arts college, whichconceives as its task the liberation communityas less valuableor significant to thecommunity, not of students to encounter new or different ideas, methods, contributing seriously to the on-going life and mission of the cultures and persons in the pursuit of truth. Not only must college. The correlative danger is that Christians become a studentsbe giventhat freedom, they must be empowered to use defensive, embattledminority on thecampus, cowed by political it. The faculty responsible for the empowering need that same

Intersections/Summer 1997 16 freedomto investigatefor themselves and to open new doors for anargument precisely in part about the goods which constitute 9 students. that tradition."

The debate that rages concerning the tension between faith commitment and freedom often begins with some kind of The Legality ofPreferential Hiring absolute commitmentto oneor theother of these, at theexpense ofthe other. An absolute commitment to some faithstatement One persistent worry is whetherincorporating knowledgeable can precludeinvestigation and can lead to mere dogmatism. An commitment to the religious mission of the college as a absolute commitment to freedomdenies the commitments of the consideration in hiring is legal. Can a Christian or Church­ institution and the responsibility one assumes when one joins related college legally give preference to candidates who a community that affirmsa shared mission. espouse a particularreligious perspective?

The key is not necessarily removing the tension, for tension is The 1964 Civil Rights act exempted religious organizations not always bad; it can provide the needed catalyst for growth. from its nondiscriminatory provisions regarding religious Rather, the key is realizing that freedom and commitment preferencein hiring. "Thistitle shall not apply to ... a religious always are located within a context. Absolute freedom is a corporation, association or society with respect to the Sartrean myth; freedom to act is conditioned by the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform circumstances of the agent and the possibilities that exist. work connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association or society of its religious activities or to an Oneimplication is that faculty, once appointed, should be free educational institution with respect to the employment of to exploreideas creativelyand responsibly. This entails a risk individuals to perform work connected with the educational on the part of the institution that those whom it hires will not activities of such institution.'tIO The original draft was continue to maintain that original sympathy with and strengthened by the inclusion in the act of the Purcell commitment to the goals of the institution. It also entails a amendment,which allowed religiousbackground as a bona fide responsibility on the part of the faculty and staffto maintain occupational qualification (BFOQ) in the hiring of their integrity and the integrity of the institution. At some administrators, faculty, and certain staff (Purcell gave as point, it might even require faculty, administration, or staff examples"the dean of students, director of a dormitory, or even persons ofintegrity to resignfrom the college because they can the supervisor of library materials"11). Both the exemption no longer conscientiouslysupport the mission of thecollege. provision and the BFOQ indicate that administrators, faculty Thepoint hereis not to witch-huntthose who disagreewith the and staffrelated to the educationalenterprise are exempt from Christianfaith, but to have all at thecollege take seriously the thecivil rightslegislation prohibiting religious discrimination. mission statement. Some institutionsask persons to affirmthe What was left unclear was the extent to which the college's mission when they sign their contract. The signing nondiscriminatory provisions of the act applied to staffmore should not be proforma, but provide opportunityfor personal tangently connected to the educational enterprise -­ reflection on how that mission, including its Christian groundskeepers, maintenance,secretaries, etc. dimension, affects one's teaching and campus life, and how one's teachingand campus life affects the on-going Christian The 1964 Civil Rights Act was amended in 1972 to remove mission of thecollege. manyof the loopholes thatmilitated against endingthe gender and racial discrimination that continued in educational In the:final analysis, a Christianinstitution should not be afraid institutions. However, while gender and racial discrimination of either truth or freedom. This is particularly appropriate was expresslyforbidden in educationalinstitutions by the 1972 within the Christian context, which has emphasized that all act, religious institutions were not forbidden to use religious truthis God's truth. Those committedto Christianity need not preference in hiring. "This title shall not apply to a religious fearthe exploration ofissues. Rather, withinthe Church-related corporation,association, educational institution, or societywith . college Christian faith and values should be in continual respectto theemployment of individuals of a particular religion dialogue with all the disciplines, each enriching the other. to perfom1 work connected with the carrying on by such "Whena tradition is in good order it is partiallyconstituted by corporation,association, educationalinstitution, or societyof its 12 an argument about the goodsthe pursuit of which givesthe activities." tradition its particular point and purpose. So when an institution-- a university, say ... -- is thebearer of a traditionof To date,to my knowledgethe United States SupremeCourt has practice or practices, its common life will be partly, but in a nottaken or heard any case regardingreligious preference with centrallyimportant way,constituted by a continuousargument respect to hiring by an institutionof higher learning. In three as to what a university is andought to be... A livingtradition cases dealingwith the relation between Churchcolleges and the 4 thenis a historicallyextended socially embodied argument, and government -- Tilton v. Richardson, 13 Hunt v. NcNair; and

Intersections/Summer 1997 17 15 Roemer v. Board of Public Works in Mruyland -- the issue employment practices extended to employees performing was whether the government could providefun dsfor f acilities nonreligious functions, in this case a janitor. 22 What is or givenoncategorical grants to Church-related colleges. In all noteworthy in all these cases is that tl1ey have to do with three cases the courti s ded with the institutions. authorizing employmentpractices subsequent to hiring, thatis, with issues federal aid to religiously affiliated colleges. The issue of having to do with wage inequities or termination of preferentialhiri ng wast ouchedon only tangentlyin these cases. employment. in each case the emphasis being that religiousmi ssion did not hinder the" secular" functions ofthe i nstitution. In theca se of Insum, theconsensus position seems to be that TitleVII of the Americans Unitedfor the Se.paration of Church and Stat y. Civil Rights Law and its amendments exempt religious 16 e Blanton, a case granted summary affirmance by the U.S. organizations in such a way as to permitusing considerations Supreme Court, a federal court held thatstudents at sectarian of religious preference in hiring administrators, faculty, and colleges, even those "with religious requirements for students staffpersons whose activities relate to the educational program and faculty and admittedly permeated with the dogma of the and carrying out of the college's mission. Where there is sponsoring religiousorganization," could receive public funds significantunclarity is how far this exemption extends to issues for student aid. This was furtheraffirmed in the 1980 .Grove such as the firing of employees (particularly as it impacts City Collegev. Bell, in which federal student :financial aidwas matters of gender and racial discrimination) and whether considered a loan to the student, and hence in no way was religious preference considerations apply to the hiring of all jeopardized by a college's failureto comply withgovernmental employees of the organization. Our emphasis in this article, regulations (in this case Title IX). In their survey of the however,has beenon thehiring of individualswho play a more relevant cases, Moots and Gaffhey conclude, "A policy of directrole in theeducational life of thecollege community,and religious preference in the selection of administrators and herethe legal situation allowing discriminatory hiring based on faculty members which results in a preponderance of these religiouspreference seems clearly provided forby Title VII and employees belonging to the sponsoring religious body would the relevantcourt cases. endanger neither institutional assistance nor aid to students attending thati nstitution. And what may safely be concluded from the Supreme Court's summary affirmance in Blanton is Mission Possible thata policyof'religious requirements' forfaculty members -­ the court did not specify whether this meant some or all When I was a teenager I was an avid watcher of "Mission membersof thefaculty -- wouldnot endanger the eligibilityof Impossible." By means of a tape that self-destructed in ten 17 studentsto participatein a generalizedp rogramof assistance." seconds, the group was given a seemingly impossible task. Lower court decisions, Executive orders, and government Throughhard work, creativity, courage andnot a littleluck they regulation rulings on issues not directly related to hiring by always succeeded in their impossible but exciting mission. Church-related colleges have tended to cloud the issue of the Lutheran colleges too have a mission that includes a extentto which religiousinstitutions are exempt fromTitle VII commitment to conduct education, understood in thebroadest 18 withrespect to employment practices. Whereas some circuit sense,from the perspective ofthe Christian faith and Christian courtshave interpreted the exemptions in the 1964 Civil Rights values, in the context of the liberal arts, which gives the Act and 1972 amendmentnarrowly, othershave interpretedit freedomto explorethe worldas widely and deeply as possible. broadly. 19 The3rd CircuitCourt agreedthat exemptions should It is the mission to make God visible in a concrete, fallible, "enable religious organizations to create and maintain diverse, relational community. It is the. mission to assist communities composed solely of individualsfaithful to their students to develop theirown intellectual, moral and spiritual doctrinal practices, whether or not every individual plays ,a life. In our era, themission oftenalso incorporatesintentional directrole in the organization'sreligious activities. " 20 The9th diversity, including integrally in the community those who CircuitCourt emphasized consistency withthe overall mission would teach non-Christianfrom perspectives, but who welcome when considering matters relating to the nondiscrimination andcontribute to the dialogueoffaith and values. Possible? I clause of TitleVII, whilerestricting exemptions to cases where hope so. Butonly if administrators, facultyand staffundertake governmental interference would conflict with the religious thedifficult challenge of constructinga communitystaffed by a beliefs of the organization.21 In a recent case regarding a criticalmass ofpersons who by theirown Christianfaith, hard MormonTemple the Supreme Court held that the exemption for work, creativity, courage, sensitivity and joy work with the 23 religious organizations in giving religious preference in mercy andprovidence of Godto changelives.

Intersections/Summer 1997 18 NOTES of a particularreligion." Moots, pp. 57-60.

11 1 In what follows I will use "Christian" and "Church-related" 110 CongressionalRecord 2585 (Feb. 8, 1964). interchangeably. Though I thinkone might distinguishbetween the two, 12 as I willnote later, delineatingdifferences here willnot furtherthe overall Pub. L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 255, as amendedby Pub. L. 92-261, 86 Stat. discussion. 103, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-l. The 1972 Amendment did not remove the BFOQ. The SupremeCourt and subsequent EEOC rulingshave tended 2 "The mission of the LCA colleges is to develop through education all tointerpret BFOQ exemptions quite narrowly. See Laura S. Underkuffler, aspects of the human character -- e.g., the intellectual, the personal, the "'Discrimination'on theBasis of Religion: An Examinationof Attempted moral and the religious -- and to maintainthrough their concernwith all Value Neutrality in Employment," William and MaryLaw Review 30 humandisciplines the wholeness of the humanpersonality." "Statement (Spring, 1989), 593.

of the Council on the Mission ofLCA Colleges and Universities," The 13 MissionofLCA Colleges andUniversities (New York: LutheranChurch Pub. L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 255, as amendedby Pub. L. 92-261, 86 Stat. inAmerican, 1969), 7. 103, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-l. The 1972 Amendment did not remove the BFOQ. The Supreme Courtand subsequent EEOC rulingshave tended 3 Pattillo,pp. 62-3. tointerpret BFOQ exemptions quite narrowly. See LauraS. Underkuffler, "'Discrimination'on theBasis of Religion: An Examinationof Attempted 4 Pattillo,pp. 87-8. Value Neutrality in Employment," William and MaryLaw Review 30 (Spring, 1989), 593. 5 Though he has yet to spell out his notion of critical mass, in a 14 forthcoming book [The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship(New 402 U.S. 672 (1971). York: Oxford, 1997)], Marsden writes, "Schools that have a Christian 15 heritagemust alsotake some concrete steps to counteract thepressures to 413 U.S. 734 (1973).

conform to the secular standards of the dominant university culture. 16 Historically, the crucial issue has been faculty hiring. Without at least 426 U.S. 736 (1976).

some faculty committed to integrating faithand learning, no amount of 17 administrative rhetoric cansustain the enterprise. Manychurch-related 433 F Supp. 97 (M.D. Tenn.), summarily affrrmed , 434 U.S. 803 schools areso openin their hiringthat they have little hope of retaining (1977).

any aspect of theirreligious heritage. Once themass of their faculty are 18 attuned only to thestandards of the nationalacademic culture, they will Philip R. Moots and Edward McGlynn Gaffuey, Jr., Church and continue to hire people likethemselves, thus obliterating loyalties to any Campus: LegalIssues in ReligiouslyAffiliated Higher Education (Notre distinctive religious heritage. It is just a matter of time." Dame: University of Notre DamePress, 1979), p. 39.

19 6 "Soli Deo Gloria: Faithand Learning in the Concordia Community: A See King'sGarden, Inc. v. FCC (1974 and Vigars v. Valley Christian Report to the Faculty." (Moorhead, MN: ConcordiaCollege: 1995), 49- Center (1992). 50. 20 Treavor Hodson, "The Religious Exemption Under TitleVII: Should 7 GeorgeMarsden, "What Can Catholic Universities Learnfrom Protestant a Church Define Its Own Activities?" Brigham YoungUniversity Law Examples?" in The Challenge and Promise of a CatholicUniversity, ed. Review 1994, 571-99.

by Theodore M. Hesburgh (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame 21 Press, 1995). Little v. Wuerl, 929 F.2d 944, 951 (3rd Cir. 1991). Also EEOC v. MississippiCollege (5th Cir. 1980). 8 Pattillo,p. 71. 22 EEOC v. Pacific Press Publishing Ass'n, 676 F.2d at 1279 (9th Cir., 9 Alasdair Macintyre, After Virtue (Notre Dame: University of Notre 1982). DamePress, 1981), pp. 206-7. 23 Corporation of the Presidingbishop of the Church of Jesus Christof 10 Section702. Section703( e X2), which allowsfor discrimination based Latter-Day Saintsv. Amos, 483, U.S. 327 (1987). on religious preference, applies more narrowly to institutions that are 24 "owned, supported, controlled, or managedby a particularreligion or by I wish to thank John Benson, JeanneBoeh, Brad Holt, DalePederson, a particularreligious corporation," or that are"directed to thepropagation Diane Pike, Sharon Reichenbach and Roman Soto for their helpful commentsand suggestions, and Karen Mateer for her researchassistance .

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Intersections/Summer 1997 19 A CALL FOR CREATIVE EDUCATION Wendy J. McCredie

An absolutecommitment to somefaith statement can preclude It is perhaps a truism to say iliat Lutl1erans hide ilieir light investigation and can lead to mere dogmatism. An absolute under a bushel. We remain embarrassed about "tooting our commitment to freedom denies the commitments of the own horn." Such modesty, while admirable, does not serve us institutionand the responsibilityone assumes when one joins well. The ELCA-related colleges and universities have great a communitythat affirmsa shared mission. giftsto sharewiili the world. We are called to do so. We must, however,do a betterjob of educatingnot just our new hires, not We owe Bruce Reichenbacha debt ofgratitude for so succinctly just our students, not just our natural constituency, but all the statingthe radical extremesevery Lutheran desiring to remain public about tl1e giftsilie Luilieraneducation brings to the late true to his/her tradition and community must guard against. twentieili century. Our mission should not be, ilierefore, to These two absolutes, when they remain absolutes, stymie interrogate prospective employees about their own faith discussionand paralyze movement. When, however, inforn1ed commitmentand knowledge of our tradition, but to educate ilie faiili and responsive individual freedom are in conversation world (and ilie church) more adequately about that tradition. with oneanother, the conditionsfor community building exist. Yes, we must expect all members of ilie community to be · Thesequalities offaith and freedom are theones we shouldseek willing "to effectively and constructively raise ilie kinds of to foster in all members of our church-related college questionsiliat boili Christians andnon-Christians should face:" connnunities. Reichenbach's essay focuses on aspects of the about the institution, ilie church, education, andour actionsin hiring process at church-related colleges iliat might help us ilieworld. We must also be willing to listen to such questions createor maintain mission-based communitiesofleaming and and to handle productively challenges to our own faith. understandings.

Reichenbach's most importantstatements deal with the need to Reichenbachstates that "theentire college community should be be intentional about hiring practicesand withthe need foron­ knowledgeably committed to the college's mission." This going development programs for faculty and staff. Each statement containsfour ideas wiilioutwhich colleges related to institution must decide, based on its own community and its iliechurch cannot describe iliemselves: community, knowledge, relation to the church, what its hiring practices will be; commitment, and mission. The questions resulting from our however, as Reichenbach states, it is not in keeping with self descriptions go sometlring like tlris: "How do we define academic integrity, or wiili honesty, to hide the Lutheran community?" "What must we be knowledgeable about?" characteroftheinstitution and the expectationfor engagement "What counts as commitment?"and, "How is our mission with that character from a prospective employee. In order for articulated and mauifested every day?" Each institution must such engagementto be as productiveas possible, it may also be answer iliese questions for itself, which is perhaps one reason necessary to institutionalize "constructive and educational presentations, articles, and conference papers articulate only discussions about ways to integrate concerns about ...faith broad andultimately dissatisfying generalities. values into various aspects of service to the college's community." These discussions should not be limited to Reichenbach assumes that all members of tl1e community particular constituencies of the college, but could function as should know what ilie mission of iliecollege is and be able to meansto fosterdiscussion across sub-groupsin thecommunity. eiilieraffirm it (if one is Christian)or to engage it productively These discussions should help build community on campus. (ifone is non-Christian). Such anassumption means, first, tl1at The ELCA' s annualconference on "The Vocation of a Lutheran we must articulateour missionsbetter and, second, tllatin our College" represents one wayin which we currentlyfoster such day-to-day businessit is manifest. But, what about discussions discussions. Individual colleges have instituted similar about ilie mission? Can Christians also interrogate it? Can discussions on their campuses. It remains to be seen how non-Christians also affinn that mission? In order for a effectivewe arein articulatingfor ourselves and oilierswhat we community based in faith and learning to tllrive such are all about. Canwe reach others outside our community of possibilities must not just exist, but be encouraged. If ilie believers or arewe doomed to converse onlywith iliosewhose question of mission is "offlimits" fordiscussion, we cannot conversationalbase resembles our own? maintain the kind of free inquiry we value so deeply. If ilie mission is not offlimits for discussion, ilien ilie community Wendy J. McCredie is associate professor of Modern and responsible fordiscussing it must be knowledgeable not only Classical Languages and English and Communications about the current situation of highereducation, but also about Studies at Texas LuilieranUniversity. its roots. It must be knowledgeable about ilie role of ilie universityin thevery genesis of ilie Lutheranchurch, the role of

Intersections/Summer 1997 20 disputation in the academic community, and the appeal of the here. The merger of the predecessor church bodies into the freeRenaissance human individual. Essentially, what it means ELCA was perhaps inspired by God, but it remains a human is that our community must be interdisciplinaryin spirit. We work. Withinit we cannotagree on particular social, economic, must look into other disciplines; we must not become sexual, ecclesiastical, liturgical, etc. values. Perhaps such perspec tivalin our approach, except insofar as perpectivalism agreement is fundamentally antithetical to the Lutheraness of serves as a heuristic measure, as a means to the end of our church. Would we say instead that critical attention to understandingand respect. gospeland law, to God'sall-encompassing love and our limited human roles, should be manifestin all our work? The answer to our need for clearer definition is not to wall ourselves offfrom those who do not think like us, who do not Ifwecannot agree on whatmight constitute Christian values or belong to our conversationalcommunity. One of thestrengths how one appropriatelymanifests Christianfaith, how can we ofthe Lutheran tradition is its unwillingnessto become separate determine preciselya "criticalmass" of people manifesting such fromthe world; we arein the world andare called to engage it. qualities? Must all members of this "critical mass" be One of the ways in which the colleges have engaged the world Christians? Reichenbach seems to suggest so when he is to respond positively and inclusively to cultural diversity. describesthe "challenge of constructinga communitystaffed by Such a response is in keeping with our mission to be a criticalmass ofpersons who by theirown Christian faith, hard communitiesoffaith and learning. "The goalin hiringshould work, creativity, courage, sensitivity and joy work with the be diversity as a means to further broaden the educational mercy and providence of God to change lives." But his perspectives of students and provide opportunitiesfor growth arguments for diversity within the community might suggest withinthe context of a particularcommunity," let us add to the that it is not so much whether one is a Christian, or even a educational the spiritual, and let us hope we broaden the Lutheran, but whetherone is informedabout thattradition and educational andspiritual perspectives of all members of the willing andable to engage it well in order to buildcommunity community, not just thoseof students. thatshould be theprimary criterion for inclusion in that"critical mass." Perhaps, as I suggested earlier, these qualitiescan only Oneresult of thecolleges' varied responses to theculture is that be defined within community and not in a part destined for we, along with other groups, struggle with our own identity multiplecommunities. politics. Intentional diversity within a community can, �s it fosters discussion, provide a productive milieu in which to Is it true that "commitment to effectively implementing the discover anew who and what we are and might become. mission statement means more than that those hired will be Reichenbach suggests that "a college that emphasizes sympathetic working in an environment that makes such a intentional diversity as part of its mission statement thereby Christianstatement." It is also importantthat those who come provides grounds for hiring persons who can not only be to work at colleges such as ours should "choose to teach and creative teachers and articulate spokespersons for various work at such an institution." However, I do not believe allof disciplinaryand social views, but represent andpresent non­ us, even all of us committed to the kind of educational and Christianperspectives in ways thatprovide anopportunity for spiritualenvironment the ELCA - related colleges canprovide, serious internaldialogue on the important issuesthat facethe . did, in fact choose to teachor workat theseinstitutions because college." He is right. It is part of our double tradition of their church-relatedness. The church-relatedness may even grounded in faith and informed by the results of disputation have beena red flagto thosemembers of ourcommunities who withinthe academy that we should seek out and listen to people hadlittle or no knowledgeabout Lutheran education; forothers differentfrom what we perceiveourselves to be. If we are to be an institution'sLutheranness may have provided a perceived trueto our heritage, we must hear challenges bothfrom within level of comfort, a bit of the known along with the greater thewalls of the academy and church and fromthe outside. Like unknowns associated with joining a new community; many all humans, we have difficult time with challenges that might more ofus, perhaps, came to theseinstitutions assuming that result in change. We do however, have sustaining faith that thespecific religious aspects of theinstitution were (and should should allow us to face challenges and take risks, not be) takencare ofin areasoutside our own academic disciplines. thoughtlessly,but withfaith that by God'sgrace we participate I hope that we were/are allwrong in some degree. It is only well and forthe good in God'screation. after working in such an institutionfor considerable timeand educatingoneself about the mission of that institutionthat one Reichenbachmakes some important statements, but we are left comes to appreciateboth the ways in which we fallshort of our with little idea about precisely what mission, community, goalsand the ways in which those goalsmatter enormously. Christian values, knowledge, etc. are. "Christian faith and values should permeateevery aspect of the college." Canwe In short, a college that espouses a mission that includes both agreeon whatsuch valuesmight be? Even among thedifferent being based on the Christian faith and diversity or Protestant denominations we do not seem to have consensus inclusiveness, faces a situationfraught with tension. Thetask

Intersections/Summer 1997 21 is to turn the tension into creative education ... theology. As members of commmritiesrelated to the Lutheralli church, we have, therefore, a faith perspective that both Reichenbach's phrase "creative education" attempts to motivates and facilitates participation in that tension. The encapsulate the dialectical tension inherent in our mission of tension is never resolved; it does not go away. Creative faith and learningin a diverse world. Thistension is perhaps education inculcates the ability to live in thistension betwee .. analogousto thetension betweenthe two kingdoms of Lutheran and with God's love and our rules.

HITTING A MOVING TARGET HarryJebsen

Anytime we wish to define our institutions and their missions Thisissue maybe evenmore vital today than ever. This,,w,um,., .. , and lriring practices we have to remember that we are dealing delegates to the ELCA convention in Philadelplria consiae:r} withseveral moving targets, not just therole of thefaculty. We formalizing relationships with fellow Protestants frequentlymemorialize a past that mayor may not have existed. Presbyterian, Refonned, andEpiscopal traditions. Some fear Those of us who are graduatesof sister institutionsmay have a blurring of distinctions. Most of ourinstitutions wouldnot relatively fixedmemory of that institutionand its nuances. We solvent if we depended upon a preponderance of Lu1tne1·an, fixin our nrindsthat institution'spersons and ambiance as the students and Lutheranfaculty members. We have adapted to "rolemodel" by which we measureother Lutheran institutions as less exclusive environment and become part of a larger well as our currentinstitutions. During my years as Dean and eduational program. Provost, theVice President of Resource Management and I were both Wartburg grads and I know that if Capital people heard, Most of our colleges were founded by immigrants to ,u�·"'""' "when I was at Wartburg," one more timethey would have had theirdescendants of Germanor Scandinavianbackgrounds involuntaryseizures. the "contamination" of the English-based ninteenth Americansocial sytem. Immigrantssought, with an ern.nu:sm:sac We must be verycareful in drawing such analogiesacross time. energy,to preservethe culture of thehomeland, to provide clergy The last time I visited Wartburg was to have myyoungest son and teachers for the now Scandanavian-American or German­ visit. Whilemuch was familiarand recognizable, it wasn't "my" America congregations,to maintaina bilingualism thatallowed Wartburg. Roy's place was gone, thePub House where I met the second generation to appreciate both the mores of my wifewas gone. Change is the norm at allof our institutions. homeland as well as that of the United States. Much like Turnervereins and Saengerbunds, the Lutheran college was Perhaps in contrast to our own personal fixed views are the oasis in which the moral, ethical, and theological norms phrases of currentmission statements which are vague andopen Europe could be taught to the offspring. to a broad range of personal interpretations. One university states clearly that they are "related to the ELCA," and Our colleges were founded as purposeful institutions with a "encouragesan environmentof respect forall people and diverse specificnrission. And that was accomplished unapologetically, beliefs." With perhaps a clearer focus, TLU states that "the with pride and enthusiasm. One of our colleges proudly College provides an education in the artsand sciences whichis proclaimedthat, "Having truth,we pass it on." While not seen given perspective by the Christian faith." My o"'n institution in the mid-nineteenth century as a boastful statement, the writes that it "promotes thinking, discussion, and debate that assumptionof truthas something we owncertainly couldnot be enhances ethical, moral and religious values essential to the focal point of modem Lutheran higher education in the leadershipin societyand the church ... " Each of these statements contextof theELCA Ourinstitutions today are proud of change are certainlyopen to interpretation by the as one of the hallmarks of our existence. Goal four at Capital Universitystate that it "must changeand grow in order to better Harry Jebsen, formerly Provost of Capital University, is serve changing student needs." prefessorin the departmentof History.

As one readsProfessor Reichenbach's article,the motto referred individual who reads them. Tuey were written to be inclusive toabove, and thegoal statement fromCapital, one realizeshow rather thanexclusive.

Intersections/Summer 1997 22 open and inclusive our instutionshave become headingtoward theirparishioners. I am a primee xampleof a person encouraged a broader and less specific mission which has less concerns by pastor and congregation to go to Wartburg. The previous about thecentrality of Lutheranismor even a broader Christian pastor in my congregation had been a Capital graduate and tradition. somehow thecollege bound members of thatcongregation then found theirway to Columbus, Ohio. Alvin Toffler in Future Shockwarned us about thepersistency ofchange. We see it in every aspect of our campuslife, making The ambivalencefrom the church body allows andencourages it far more difficult to remain as centrally focused as ambivalent attitudes on our campuses. It is quite difficult to Reichenbach would prefer. There is no doubt that what achieve any consensus on what it means to be an institution Reichenbach advoactesis legal andin some religioustraditions which is Christian, let alone, Lutheran. This year at a dinner possible. We see it in modern America in thepresence of the meetingarranged by thepresident to specifically discusswhat it evangelicalcolleges. Myyoungest son is on theadmissions staff means to be a church related institution, I allowed as how I at a Mennonitecollege. Attending a conferenceon admissions thoughtthat it would be difficultsince manyfaculty did not care tactics at "Christian" colleges, he was amazed, as a Lutheran about the centrality of that part of the mission. An award college graduate, of the fervency of the decidedly evangelical winning colleague, exclaimed how incorrect I was because approach to admissionsactivity. Capital was different because of its close atmosphere, she proclaimedthat "everybodyis niceto each other." Defining the role of our campuses and therefore therole of the facutly on our campuses is clearly a moving target. Just as Somehow we have drifted from thetheological implications of American society has changed, just as the Lutheranchurch and what Lutheran or Christian higher education stands for to its expectations for highereducation have changed, just as the "niceness"as thehallmark. While thatspirit of cooperation is a students who seek an educationat our instutionshave changed, valuedattribute of mycolleagues, I doubt thatit is thehallmark thecolleges ofthe Lutheran tradtition have evolved into different of a Christianinstitution of higher education. But a group of institutions. twenty handpicked faculty and administrators who have a real interestin thequestion wrestled in vainto come to a conclusion Today I receivedone of our Lutheran college's magazines. It is about what it did mean. beautiful, slick and filled with impresive approaches to improving education, obviously intended primarily for the WhileReichenbach andMarsden place centralresponsibility on consumptionof alumni. Yetthe magazine lacks any centrality to thefaculty, it needsto be notedthat our institutionshave evolved its Lutheranor for that matter Christianheritage. One reference significantly in recent years, bringing to our campuses persons is there to a $50,000 grantfrom Lutheran Brotherhood for its who have less natural affiliation with those institutions that chaplaincy program. But in a beautifully presented five page existedin anearlier strong bond withchurch, congregation, and updateon the institution's objectives for the future of thecollege ethnic society. Even those colleges that pride themselves on the word Lutheran appears as a subscriptin thesixth objective having maintained the strong liberal arts focus have seen the which focuseson the goal of encouragingservice andleadership demandfor professional educations and careerfocused learning opportunities for students. No mention is made in connection increasing in a rapacious manner. This has revised thefocus of with the typicalacademic functions. what we do at our institutions. Responding to themarket place hasbeen an economic necessityfor many Lutheran colleges and Let's face the fact that we ourselves become somewhat universities. ambivalentand that we focuson ourspecific Christian role when it is beneficial and elect not to focus on it when it may be Our campuseshave evolved outof thedesire to respond to the controversial or have a negativeeconomic effect. needs of our students. Most of our campuses have readily embraced multiculturalism and the impact of diversity has Yet it is easy to see why such ambivalence dominates our opened our institutions to include African-American and institutions. The ELCA has been ambivalentabout the role of Hispanic-American groups. Which of our institutions has the colleges. From the perspective of a former Provost now refusedto discuss gender andsexual preference issues. And by facultymember, my observation is thatthe colleges of theELCA theevolving nature of theworld in whichwe live, ourcampuses are viewed as tangential to the primary mission of the church house significantnumbers of international studentsfor whom the rather thanhaving a criticalor centralrole. religious conviction of the campus carries little cultural a:ffiliati on. Churches and pastors of thecongregations which we serve are increasingly distantfrom the colleges. Pastors come intotheir Most of our campuses are no longer teaching to those who ministriesincreasingly as second careerpersons who have been learnedscripture in Sunday School, Catechismclasses, andsang educatedin publicor non-Lutheran institutions anddo not value in the youth choir. In order to maintain academic quality, to the impactwhich Lutherancolleges have had or could have on maintain fiscal integrity, and to reach a broader audience, we

Intersections/Summer 1997 23 have to recruita broader range of student. Thisincludes many questionsfocus on theimpact thatthe Lutherantradition would. who could careless about thereligiou s natureof the university. have on their individualacademic freedom. Indelibly etched in In a required "Cultural Pluralism" classthis past semester, we my mind is a conversion with a potential sociologist.. We had surveyedthe religious diversity on theCapit al campus. Many of hadbreakfast across fromthe campus and while walkingacross these first year students forthrightly claimed that they did not thecampus we passed the religious lifecenter whichhas a large know or affirmedthat they did not care that our campus had a cross in frontof it. Toe candidate observed before we reached Lutherantradition. Even thoughthe second sentence of most of my office that she hoped that the cross really did not mean our brochuresand publications state thatwe are an institution of anything. Andshe hopedthat we did not expectfaculty to spend theEvangelical LutheranChurch, it was bothersometo hear both muchtime in theiroffice since she didnot look forwardto one on theirlack of knowledgeand their disdain for religious education. one meetingswith students. The candidate may as well not have been brought to campus. It is clearthat in the 1990's thatfaculty at Lutheran andChristian institutions are no longer teaching to the congregation. Toe A promotionreview committee once asked candidateshow their critical mass issue impacts not only the faculty but thestudent efforts promoted themission of the institution. I was amazed body as well. As students become increasinglythose who care that I as the Dean received complaints because some faculty little about religionand spirituality, those who have littleor no believed that the question was irrelevant to what should be educationin theologyor scripture, including manyfrom Lutheran considered forpromotion andtenure. congregations, and those who have some significant hostility toward theological education, has made the task of faculty in Manyof our institutions arenow universities,no longer liberal religion and philosophy departments as well as throughoutthe arts colleges. Many struggle to call themselves "liberal arts professorate to make a connection withstudents andtheir own universities," "liberally educated universities," or some such spirituality much more difficult. One could argue that it calls euphemism. Buta universityby anyother name is differentfrom upon the institutions to be more explicit about the religious theliberal arts colleges that are intimate. sometimesisolated, and nature of the college, others may find that dealing with the generally tightly focused. The modem Lutheran colleges and importanceof academic, disciplinaryissues is far more critical universities have extended their mission to include a broader toimproving thestudents who select our campusesas the place range of educational programs. to reach toward theirprofessional aspirations. Teacher education, nursing, athletic training may be related to As Reichenbach has noted, facultyhave similar characteristics. the liberal arts and the process of free inquiry, but they all are In themiddle of the l 980's I gave a talkat the LutheranDean's professionally focused and not a part of the trivium and Conference in which I talked about the changing nature of the quadrivium. Business schoolsand conservatories prefer to be as faculty. I used a retiredfaculty member as a primeexample of separate as possible. Toe Lutheran tradition there seems "Mr. Capital". University. It is alleged thathe was so dedicated irrelevent or certainly less relevant. The professional focus of to Capitalthat beforehe becameengaged to his wife, he let her bothprograms with an emphasis in the communityfor business knowthat Capital was, next to hisfaith, the number one priority andon playing"gigs" for the popular music programs, and very in his life. But what these "Mr. Chips" types brought to the littlewi thchurch music, allowlittle focus on the sacred traditions campusin theearly and mid-twentieth century was a deep seated of theLutheran college. commitmentto the mission of theinstitution, a TOTAL view of the campus,and a ferventagreement with the specific mission. Post graduate education is equally common. Even the smallest Strongdisciplinarians who wereactive and visible in the campus schools are bent on masters programs in Education. MBA congregation, athletic. events, committee after committee, and programs proliferate in order to keep up with the competing thoroughly imbued with the tradition and the trappings of the regional institutions. A few, like Capital andValparaiso, have institution, theybecame thepersonification of what Dana and added legal education to the curriculum. Adult education midlandLutheran stood for. programsfit into the mission but :further cause the shift away fromthe original foci of theresidential Lutheran campus. Each Dean who attended that session talked. wistfully about similar persons and how sorely they were missed on the The expansion of curriculum has necessitated bringing highly campuses. Each wondered how we would continueto maintain specializedfaculty members to thecampus. Whether they are a "criticalinass" giventhe dearth of candidates who wereboth committedto thedistincitive mission of theuniversity or whether solid academics and solidly representative of the traditions in their expertise in biochemistry meets acceptable standards whichthe institution was rooted. remainsof apoint contention. I suspect thatReichenbach wrote the article because he sees the expertise winning out over the I interviewedpotential many faculty in fifteenyears as Deanand allegianceto themission. Provost. It was indeed a· minority who really wanted to hear much about the religious backgrounds and persuasion. Many That indeed is at stake in the l990's, andit may be a central

Intersections/Summer 1997 24 question. But my point is that all phases and constituencies campus must be "critical" to maintining themission. relatedto theinstitution have alsoevolved and should be equally challenged. Pointing to the faculty as thestandard bearer is a But firstwe need to makesure what it is that themission is and valuable reference point, but to focus attention on only one withsome specificitywhat it meansin theday to day lifeof our constituency, however, critical, is to dismiss what has been campuses!!!! I sense that we are quite ambivalent about the occuring among theother constituencies. mission on �ost of our campuses. The self assured days of having truthand passing it on are gone. We as facultyand staff Mission must indeedbe bothacademic and cocurricular, it must have moved intoless self-assured waters andare paddling fastto be seen in faculty, administrators, hourly persons, andathletic maintain some ties to the original and revised mission as we personnel. To insist that the critical mass is particularly the charta new routewhich mayor maynot have close tiesto theold domainofhte faculty misses thebreadth of themodem campus. ethnic,church focused standards upon which our instituions were In anage of specializationboth in academic departmentsas well founded. as in the functioning of the modem campus, all facets of the

Intersections/Summer 1997 25 CONFESSIONS OF A COLLABORATOR Chuck Huff

I sit here in my officealone (as I ought)writing my confession. rightlydespise it Theyyearn to do theirmvn work. To standon TheDeans and the faculty have asked me to write; expect me to their own. They are independent, but I have tempted, even confess. I confessthat I am a collaborator. compelled, them to go astray. I have lured my students into collaboration. Piper. Pusher. Pederast. I confessthat I have always collaborated. In elementaryschool I talked with my friends and my parents about my report on I confess that I have attempted, in the safety of my office, to dinosaurs. Injunior high I readCliff notes on WilliamFaulkner. collaborate with my students in tutorials. In their independent In my weakness, I sought help. I perverted my individuality. I studiesI have collaboratedwith them . They study selfhood, self­ failed. Collaborator. Cripple. Cheat. reliance, self-esteem, self-righteousness, self-fulfillment, self­ flattery, self-employment, self-deception, self-assertion, self­ In highschool I showed my poems to othersand asked forhelp adjusting-self-feeding-self-congratulation. But, I confess to on algebra. To teach me independence my teachers and friends helping them, even to forcingmy opinions and help on them. gave me no help. They accused me (rightly, it is true, but I confess to hatingthem for it) of cheating. It is true. I fearto stand alone. My mother and my father, my classmates, my colleagues and my students influence me. But In college Icontinued to railthe American ideal by working with this is not their confession, it is mine. I cannot think alone. I a classmate on a project. My instructors showed me my error. circulate drafts. I ask forcomments. I have even borrowed my Theyexclaimed that my work couldnot be judged, and thattl1ey bootstraps. Thief Thespian. Fool. would not knowhow to grademe, but I persisted. And if all this were not shame enough, I confess that my I confess: I collaborate withmy colleagues. I ask theiropinion. colleagues andstudents have helped me to write thisconfession. I borrowtheir syllabi. The work I now publish in myown name I confess that I hoped for their praise and their criticism. I I have done withhelp. No matter thatsome have givenme this confess I changedmy words and writingbecause of their help. help freely. I stole it. The fault is mine. I should not have I could not even confess alone, but collaborated in my asked. No matter that I thanked them in acknowledgments. I conf�ssion. And, I confess; I enjoyed it. sullied my work with the thoughts of others. I used theirideas. Miscreant. Malefactor. Miscegenist. ChuckHuff collaborates in the department of Psychology at I confessthat I collaboratein my classroom. I invitesuggestions St. Olaf College from my students. Yes, I confess to enticing my students to collaborate. I have requiredthem to work in groups, thoughthey

Intersections/Summer1997 26 ELCA COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

Augsburg College Midland Lutheran College Minneapolis, Minnesota Fremont, Nebraska

Augustana College Muhlenberg College Rock Island, Illinois Allentown, Pennsylvania

Augustana College Newberry College Sioux Falls, South Dakota Newberry, South Carolina

Bethany College Pacific Lutheran University Linsborg. Kansas Tacoma, Washington

California Lutheran University Roanoke College Thousand Oaks, California Salem, Virginia

Capital University St. Olaf College Columbus, Ohio Northfield, Minnesota

Carthage College Suomi College Kenosha, Wisconsin Hancock, Michigan

Concordia College Susquehanna University Moorhead, Minnesota Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania

Dana College Texas Lutheran University Blair, Nebraska Seguin, Texas

Gettysburg College Thiel College Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Greenville, Pennsylvania

Grandview College Wagner College Des Moines, Iowa Staten Island, New York

Gustavus Adolphus College Waldorf College St. Peter, Minnesota Forest City, Iowa

Lenoir-Rhyne College Wartburg College Hickory, North Carolina Waverly, Iowa

Luther College Wittenberg University Decorah, Iowa Springfield, Ohio