Practical Wisdom for Navigating the Future of Faith-Based Learning

The Advances in Church-Related Higher Education series provides resources for collegiate educators committed to those time-consuming processes in ways that discern the opportunities and challenges that define the age in which they find themselves serving.

For more than nine centuries, the church viewed the university as a critical venture in the cultivation of wisdom and formation of leaders in concert with the gifts of the Spirit. Social upheaval, whether fostered by shifts in culture or political instability, posed challenges to the church-related university’s mission and to its commitment to offer the church a partner to which the church could turn for advanced thought and discernment.

Reflection on its mission emerged as the most critical practice in which the university could invest when seeking not only to persist in that commitment but ideally advance it. 

At the outset of the third millennium, the challenges with which the church-related university finds itself engaging come faster and with greater intensity than even previous generations imagined. The promotion of new forms of technology alone plays a key role in accelerating shifts in culture and political instability. At times, what those platforms often extend in terms of the democratization of information is lost by absences of editorial oversight. Pursuits of the true, the good, and the beautiful are often obscured, creating challenges for institutions historically committed to the time-consuming processes of wisdom cultivation and leader formation in community.

Each volume in this series is framed by a collaborative and ecumenical appreciation for the riches found in the church’s theological and liturgical practices and, in turn, insights from across the disciplines. These efforts offer frameworks for practice and further research on topics relevant to all educators including, for example, the roles hope, mentors, and public intellectuals play when serving in Christ’s name.

Praise for Books in the Series

"A Mission Held in Trust is a timely and insightful guide for leaders committed to preserving and advancing the distinct mission of Christian higher education. The contributors offer wisdom, clarity, and practical pathways for stewarding institutions with both courage and conviction. This book is a valuable resource for all of us entrusted with shaping universities grounded in faith and purpose."

—Candice McQueen, president of Lipscomb University

"Faith is not a deterrent to scholarship. Rather, it is the very motivation for discovering the richness of creation. It compels us to engage with issues spanning the intellectual and ideological spectrum, ultimately bringing our discoveries to bear in tackling the most complex problems of today. From Mark Noll's influential The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind in 1994 to the thoughtful essays included in The State of the Evangelical Mind, we are reminded—and indeed challenged—to continue cultivating leaders who devote their training and God-given talents to generating solutions and shaping ideas at the highest levels of the academy and society—from the sciences to the humanities, politics to education, business to the arts."

—Linda A. Livingstone, president of Baylor University

"In a time of cultural collapse, [Habits of Hope] inspires hope as faithful obedience but also an antidote for a weary age. This hope is not a fleeting wish, but a purposeful, spiritual assurance that can be cultivated in practices for teaching, writing, learning, conversation, and considering the other. In these inspiring habits of hope, we see the vital contribution Christian education might offer the world."

—Michael D. Hammond, president of Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts