blogs :: Ex Veritate Vita :: November 17, 2009

Christian education

by Jasmine Wilson

This is something that I have been pondering for quite a while now: months, if not years. Is it better to have a Christian institution that has a specific denominational affiliation, or to be interdenominational? This was the most pressing question I had when I decided on what college I would go to, because although most Christian institutions would seem to favor the former since the majority does affiliate with a denomination, I had gone to a Christian school that was interdenominational, and I loved it not in spite of being interdenominational, but because it was. The teacher that really inspired me to be like Jesus, more than anyone else I have ever met, had also gone to an interdenominational Bible school, and I wanted to be like him and do that too. But then Calvin College came into the picture, and I loved what was being done here, but I am not CRC (Christian Reformed Church). So I have been exposed to both worlds, and yet I am still more confused than ever. Calvin College sticks to its roots quite unswervingly, which I should have guessed they'd do from the name of the school. But in a way, that allows them more freedom to get into depth than if they hadn't had those common fundamental assumptions that everyone agrees on. Yet, at the same time, when I was in high school, teachers very clearly tried to give a much more even playing ground for all Christian traditions. It was appreciated when students who were of a different background shared with the class on a given subject. At Calvin, it usually turns into an "us vs. them" mentality, where you have the CRC position on the one hand, which the professor holds to, and on the other hand you have the minority of students who have been brought up differently. This is possibly not the ideal situation because the professor is the one with power in the classroom and most of the students who were not CRC most likely do not really have a strong reason why they were brought up the way they are. They have not been exposed to any alternative that forces them to choose for themselves if they appreciate their own tradition. My high school happened in a more dialectic fashion of learning, where the main alternatives were presented and we learned them better by viewing them in tension with one another.

That being said, the colleges I have encountered that do not hold to a specific tradition often do not have much depth, and usually they are so focused on getting students in and having fun then really having a strong dialectic conversation.

So, would anyone like to weigh in? Is it better for a Christian educational institution, whether at the college level or below, to affiliate itself with a particular denomination? I did not even really tap in to the ramifications this has on the church, but that should be considered as well. What role does the Christian university have to play in the church?