An academic community of Christian scholars facilitates opportunities for concerted interdisciplinary discussion and research. Ford[18] has noted the great difference between the amount of energy, intelligence and publications being invested in specialist fields and the comparatively small amount being done in academia to address the interrelations and interconnections of these fields. The latter can be privileged in a Christian university. A Christian university also makes possible a shared level of community. Markham[19] has contrasted the 'family' model of organization, found in a Christian university, with the 'hotel' model found in a secular university. In a family, there are expectations of shared values and cultures. In a hotel, allcomers are free to conduct themselves almost as they wish in the privacy of their own rooms, and the shared space is neutral.
A Christian university provides the opportunity for greater impact and public visibility, including being a challenge to other institutions. There can be more overt outward-looking Christian mission, besides other service to the church and the world.It can embrace the two commissions of the Bible, that of the creation mandate and the priority of the gospel.[20] In the United States, some small Christian colleges have made an impact out of all proportion to their size. Some of their graduates have gone on to have significant influence within the secular academy. The philosophy programme at Calvin College produced thinkers like Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff, who spearheaded the revival of Christian philosophy in the second half of the twentieth century. Calvin and Wheaton College also provided a base for influential Christian historians like George Marsden and Mark Noll. Scholars in Christian colleges and universities are positively encouraged to write books and articles about how a Christian perspective changes the way a subject or discipline looks. Many of the key resources of this kind have emerged from American Christian colleges, with books giving a Christian perspective on areas such as the arts, literature, economics and philosophy. Christian scholars in secular universities are often too busy writing more specialist books or articles to find time to do this.
A Christian university can provide an important launching base for Christian social action. For example, a vision for sustained Christian witness in a pluralised world, put forward by the Dutch theologian and politician Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920), gave impetus to the foundation of the Free University of Amsterdam in 1880.[21] Kuyper helped to inspire a world-encompassing view of God's saving action and a world-engaging understanding of the Christian calling which is still being worked out in various institutions, such as Calvin College in the United States.[22]
Arguments against a Christian university
A Christian university can unintentionally ghettoise its students, rendering them ill-prepared for life and influence in a largely secular society. This can be associated with a corresponding spiritual vacuum elsewhere in higher education in the country. It can be questioned whether the scale of a Christian university makes it more effective than smaller Christian colleges for nurturing lifelong disciples of Christ.
It diverts substantial Christian funding away from other important causes, while its relatively small scale adds to the challenges of meeting government standards applicable to all universities. It can be argued that many of the qualities of a Christian university can be achieved with much less effort and expense by Christians functioning elsewhere in Christian higher education or within the secular academy.
It is questionable whether such a university can begin and continue to be staffed with enough Christians. If not, there is great risk that the whole enterprise will be rendered counterproductive because of having non-Christians purporting to model Christian values. The example of specifically Christian political parties in continental Europe illustrates the difficulties of collectively holding a moral or ethical line in a complex and public environment.
It is questionable how long the original vision of a Christian university can be sustained, given the ongoing need for Christian staff and other resources, and the challenges arising from political interference and the dominant intellectual spirit of the age.
A Christian university can be perceived to be divisive in a way that any university is which selects staff or students with notice taken of their adherence to an ideology or religion. It is likely to draw some direct opposition from militant atheists. The concept of a Christian university can seem an oxymoron to some, as noted by Scott-Joynt[23] and Carson,[24] even though the first universities were Christian in their origins. A Christian university may also be charged with increasing division in society by indirectly justifying the foundation of new universities loyal to other religions such as Islam.
A possible model for a new Christian university
Having asked the question 'Can there be a Christian University?' in his paper with that title, Carson concluded 'Of course. But there is much work to be done, many things to be learned, and many commitments to undertake...'.[25] Therefore, if another meaningfully Christian university is to be founded, and certainly such aspirations for this exist across the world, careful thought needs to be given about what it would be like.
Its overall vision could be to be a university which studies, teaches and researches at the frontiers of knowledge while giving wholehearted allegiance to the revelation of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It will need some well-defined priorities, and these will undoubtedly reflect those of its founders and sponsors. Some candidates for this list of priorities include: use of the Bible within all its courses, the pursuit of excellence, equipping students for leadership in all walks of life, a relational emphasis (as reflected in its ethos, curriculum and goals), confessional integrity and fidelity, and maintaining the vision of the university.
As part of my preparation for my thesis on organisational identity and core values,[26] I worked through the whole Bible, looking for all evidence available of what could be considered to be centrally important in a Christian university context. As a result of that process, I identified the possibility of eight core values; a brief explanation follows in each case:
The pursuit of true knowledge, wisdom, understanding in a Christian community dedicated to learning.[27]
