All Faculty Common Read

GUIDING QUESTION

What comprises the soul of a Christian university and what is necessary to strengthen it, restore it, or maintain it?

September

Introduction - Chapter 5 (1-112)

• "Saving the soul of the university requires, we believe, understanding that the soul of the research university is not merely a purpose. It also includes its central identity and the story that connects that identity to the transcendent story of the universe and its Author. This identity and its story provide the source for the university's ultimate moral ideals and various purposes such as the moral ideal about what it means to be human..." (5)
• "Contemplating truth involves becoming reconciled to God and then learning God's wisdom through an intimate, loving friendship." (21)
• "What became lost as the medieval vision of the university developed was the need for the Christian story and Christian theology to undergird and inform the development of these virtues and practices for learning." (36)

October

Chapters 6 - 8 (113-160)

• "Since universities have been around for over eight hundred years, one would think that we would have a fairly stable understanding of the academic vocation and what constitutes a 'good' professor." (114)
• "This fragmentation is also exacerbated by another difficulty facing the contemporary multiversity. These institutions have largely discarded the Christian metaphysics and narrative for determining what a flourishing human being is and the way to achieve that end." (148)

November

​Chapters 9 - 11 (161-223)

• "If the professional administrator is an integral and necessary part of an institution fragmented by sin, what is his or her role in proclaiming and bringing about its redemption and the nourishing of its soul?" (176)
• "The rise of online/for-profit higher education has in part been a product of the university's development as a creator and dispenser of prestige and the costs and inefficiencies that have accompanied that model." (218)

January

Chapters 12 - 14 (225-271)

• "The contemporary post-Christian context, we contend, provides a wonderful opportunity for theology to be set free to fulfill a much grander role - being a servant that can nourish the soul of the university." (227)
• "...we contend that any approach to integrating virtue must not prioritize teaching over scholarship or service but should instead prioritize the role of the triune God and God's theological story in defining, directing, and empowering the virtues that sustain excellence in these practices and help promote flourishing academic communities." (245)

February

Chapters 15 - 16 (272-320)

• "The most beautiful reality...is that we do not define everything about ourselves. God, our Creator, defines who we are. If we wish to foster students' development, we need to remind them of who they are in God's eyes." (281)