By Don Thorsen, Professor of Theology Azusa Pacific University, 8 April 2011

1. Moving Forward by Looking Backwards: How Christian Higher Education Balances Religious Values and Academic Freedom By Don Thorsen, Professor of Theology Azusa Pacific University, 8 April 2011

2. Balancing Act Religious beliefs, values and practices (or ethos and values) & Academic freedom

3. Mutual Challenges & Boundaries • Religious beliefs, values and practices challenges to academic freedom • Academic freedom challenges to religious beliefs, values and practices

4. Additional Challenges • Complex institutional ethos and values (e.g., liberal arts, diversity, assessment) • Accreditation (e.g., regional, national) • Academies (e.g., conferences, publications) • Economics (e.g., students, parents, constituencies) • Culture (e.g., culture-wars, political correctness) • Politics (e.g., government, ecclesiastical)

5. Institutional Amnesia? • James Tunstead Burtchaell, The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from their Christian Churches (Eerdmans, 1998) • Thesis: “This book is an attempt to narrate and understand the dynamics of these church-campus relations, the ways they have tended to wither, and the whys” (ix) • The Evangelicals: Azusa Pacific University

6. Initial Responses • Public summary (e.g., Dr. Richard Slimbach; see Appendix) • Benign neglect: No ‘withering’ of Christian roots because of no formal ‘church-campus’ connections • Burtchaell: Does denial of the data confirm the loss of Christian roots?

7. Languishing Theological Roots & Academic Freedom • Wesleyan-Quaker-Holiness heritage • Superficial fidelity to theological roots? • Mixed messages: Be faithful or be diverse? • Irony: Criticism of School of Theology for being too Wesleyan? (Examples: Historical-criticism; inerrancy & infallibility; exploring developments in Wesleyan theology, e.g., open theism; eschatology)

8. Thesis Although religious institutions may have a general understanding of their history, more critical studies of their history will strengthen both their religious and academic values because such studies encourage religious institutions to become more intentional about integrating faith and reason, religious fidelity and academic freedom.

9. Benefits of Recovering Theological Roots • Critical-historical clarification of self-identity • Religious self-identity complements academic freedom • Effective representation of institutional ethos and values, internally and externally

10. Critical Historical Study • Institutional timeline of self-identifying statements (e.g., Don Thorsen; cf. select bibliography) • Theological roots (1899-) • Quakers & Wesleyans: Holiness Movement connection • Evangelicalism: National Association of Evangelicals • Elimination of Wesleyan references (1989, 1991)

11. Theological Drift Burtchaell’s assessment of Azusa Pacific University (Dying of the Light): • “Market-driven” (776) • “Generic biblical Christianity” (776) • “Conservative secularization” (780)

12. Twofold Threat to Evangelical Institutions of Higher Education • Progressive trajectory: Characteristic of most of the seventeen case studies in Dying of the Light • Fundamentalist trajectory: “But as the later-founded evangelical colleges were being drawn away from their primarily religious thrust, it was in a conservative direction, to seek the advantages of class and power of a conservative clientele. They would manifest the possibility of an at least initially conservative secularization” (780).

13. Resurgence of Interest in Institutional Ethos and Values • Board of Trustees & President  Task Force: Three charges (next three slides) • Challenging issues? • Homosexuality • Diversity

14. 1. Historical Narrative • Understanding of roots of religious heritage • Understanding of developments in religious heritage • Understanding of present religious heritage in light of historical narrative

15. 2. Dialogue & Engage • University-wide dialogue & engagement • School-wide dialogue & engagement • Department-wide dialogue & engagement • Cf. student dialogue & engagement

16. 3. Opportunity to Affirm • Consistency with Azusa Pacific University beliefs, values and practices • Fulfill University roles & responsibilities

17. Progress • In process… • Azusa Pacific Online University (APOU) • Proposal: Paucity of University’s ethos and values • Website: Generic references + hyperlinks to APU ethos and values (e.g., Four Cornerstones)

18. Constructive Steps • Institutional Balance: Maintain balance through ongoing dialogue between the historical Christian roots of an institution and freedom from it • Administrative Accountability: Need to hire leaders who will held accountable to the historical Christian roots of an institution • Integrity in Governance: Institutional governance must not extricate itself from the historical Christian roots of an institution

19. Constructive Steps (cont’d) • Teaching & Celebrating: Ongoing attempts must be made to teach, remind and celebrate the historical Christian roots of an institution • Institutional Rhetoric: Beware of rhetoric (and imprecise wording) that creeps into institutional statements that hinder, rather than help, fidelity to foundational beliefs, values and practices • Critical Thinking: Critical thinking needs to be used in assessing one’s fidelity to an institution’s ethos and values

20. Constructive Steps (cont’d) • Faith Integration: The promotion of faith integration in academics strengthens both institutional confessionalism and academics • Pietistic Risks: Pietistic tendencies are unstable; they can be used to promote rationalistic and secular education, and they can also be used to promote non-rationalistic and spiritualized education • Institutional Apathy: Beware of indifferentism both with regard to one’s institution and to service to others, lest the institution become to self-centered

21. Constructive Steps (cont’d) • Risk of Judgmentalism: Use reserve in judging compliance with the institution’s beliefs, values and practices • Extreme Caution in Changing Self-Identifying Statements: Use reserve in modifying key self-identifying statements, lest they become detached from the historical Christian roots of the institution

22. Final Comments • ‘Know yourself’ (Temple of Apollo in Delphi; cf. Socrates) • Complementarity of religious confessionalism and academic freedom (cf. academic b0undaries) • Inward + outward implications • Internal unity (ecumenical value) • External unity (value of dialogue and cooperation)

23. Select Bibliography Burtchaell, James Tunstead. The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges & Universities from their Christian Churches. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998. Slimbach, Richard. “Managing Modernity: Secularization at Azusa Pacific University.” Paper Presentation (unpublished). Faculty Retreat. Azusa Pacific University. Azusa, California, 10 January 1999. Thorsen, Don. “Timeline of Azusa Pacific University’s Self-Identifying, Published Statements.” Paper. Azusa Pacific University. Azusa, California, 2 September 2010.

24. Appendix: Slimbach Quote “Richard Hughes (Messiah College) has commented that the greatest threat to deeply Christian education is not an encroaching secularism and moral relativism, but the shallow ‘pop’ spirituality that pervades much of contemporary evangelicalism. Writes Latin American missiologist Orlando Costas in Christ Outside the Gate: ‘The content of this gospel is a conscience soothing Jesus, with an unscandalous cross, an otherworldly kingdom, a private, inwardly limited spirit, a pocket God, a spiritualized Bible, and an escapist church. Its goal is a happy, comfortable, and successful life, obtainable through the forgiveness of an abstract sinfulness by faith in an unhistorical Christ’.” —Richard Slimbach, 8