GroshLink

Stepping into the Stream
I have come to follow Christ and be nurtured by the people of God within the Augustinian-Reformed tradition which embraces the principle that faith precedes and conditions understanding (Marsden, 1997, p. 9). For this reason, my philosophy of education issues from what Middleton and Walsh (1995, p. 173) term a "second naivete," a renewed encounter with the historic Christian faith that takes seriously where we have come historically. As such my role on the campuses which I serve involves both a personal and a communal indwelling of the Biblical narrative in response to what God has done in the story (Middleton and Walsh, 1995, p. 174). By God's grace, I have been gifted with the ability to draw together people and resources to prophetically challenge the larger campus community and Christian subcommunity to consider our way of life. I offer this as service to Christ the King.

In the Beginning . . .
God created. And it was good. In the image of God, man and woman were created very good. They were to steward the garden given to them, flourishing in a loving relationship with one-another and God, expressing unique gifts and personalities to the blessing of all of creation, and offering the fruits of their labors back to God as an expression of their love (Genesis 1:26, NRSV). They were creating heaven on earth.

But the LORD God called . . .
Where are you (Genesis 3:9)? Adam and Eve decided to look at the world through a different set of lenses. Instead of indwelling the true story, of which the very creation gives testimony, they exchanged it for a fiction from Satan. This choice drove a wedge between God and his stewards, the stewards and the creation entrusted to their care, and the interpersonal relationships of the stewards. This enmity called for One who would restore these broken relations and conquer the works of the evil one. The clouded set of lenses worn by Adam and Eve were passed down across time, concealing the plain revelation of God's work in creation, and except by God's grace human beings fail to honor or give thanks to Him. Our thinking became futile and our minds darkened. Human wisdom became but foolishness as we choose to worship the created instead of the Creator (Romans 1:18-32). Many in the university have come to realize the lack of proper direction and it leads some to the brink of despair, others to a state of denial, and few over the edge into the abyss.

God's Educational Counter-Narrative
God has not sat idly by as His creation groans under the rebellion of its stewards (Romans 8:19-30). Instead He graciously extended His hand and called a people to walk alongside and learn from Him (Acts 7, Hebrews 11). His journey with us reached a climax when the very Word of creation came in the flesh so that we might know the true light of the world and by Him receive grace and truth (John 1:1-18). The coming of Jesus provided the opportunity to receive new prescriptions, enabling the People of God to glimpse God's creational purposes and to live in light of His supremacy over all creation (Romans 1:19-20, Colossians 1:15-17, Philippians 3:21, Hebrews 1:2-3). By Jesus' teaching, the power of the Spirit, and the inauguration of the Kingdom of God we understand more fully and embrace more richly our call to love God and neighbor.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life (Ephesians 2:8-10). Our purpose is to declare the glory of God by loving God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:37, Mk 12:30-1, Luke 10:27). We do such by serving where we have been placed, using the gifts that we have been given. In the university, there are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, Greeks and geeks, teachers and students, administrators and cafeteria workers. Those of us who are part of the Body of Christ are called to draw together as a learning community, growing in the wisdom of the Biblical story, i.e., not only to know more deeply and richly the creational structures but also to live by faith in a proper response to God's call to steward them. As Middleton and Walsh (1995, p. 140) summarize our role, human beings are gifted by God with royal-priestly status and dignity . . . and called by God to represent his rule as Creator and Redeemer by the manner in which they use their power.

The Messiness of Common Grace
If, as Clouser (1991, p. 5) asserts, All knowledge depends on the right God, then how does one participate in educational venues such as Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) which reject the supremacy of Christ? The follower of Christ must be willing to bear the daily cross of loving our neighbors in our pluralistic University of exile by presenting our thoughts and actions in a way that blesses and builds a bridge of understanding across the Antithesis. This can be accomplished only by God's grace, but our call is not unlike that of the Jewish scholars in the time of the Babylonian captivity. We enunciate and model an alternative, grace-filled vision of a reality charged with the glory of God.

Key first steps involve confessing that God is in charge and I am not. I will fail; other members of the Christian community will fail. I am to admit error, ask for forgiveness and seek reconciliation. Second, I affirm that individuals and institutions have the capacity to offer limited hope because God has ordered creation in such a way that the meaning, satisfaction, wholeness, which are found in Him alone, are dimly reflected all around us. Furthermore, I affirm that God shines in all that is fair in higher education even when not directly tied to the acknowledgement of the Lordship of Christ, e.g., verbal skills, quantitative skills, personal self-discovery, cultural identity, appreciation of the arts, opportunity, upward mobility, new knowledge. In short, common grace is dispensed as God-invested capacities are played out through the proper uses of the university.

But I never lose sight of the fact that sin corrupts and God's power alone transforms and sustains. So although higher education has much to commend itself by, followers of Christ are neither to worship it nor follow its teachings without reservation. The blessings experienced by those within and without, past and present, individual and corporate are mixed but it is part of our call to seek the welfare of the university of our exile. To maintain proper balance and perspective we can most profitably contribute to this endeavor long term as we are part of an interdisciplinary learning community which yearns for the university that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. I perceive this task, messy in both theology and practice, to be my vocation (note: this section indebted to Mouw, 2001, p. 87).

In the final day
Our aspiration is for the heavenly city, where we will offer the gifts of our labor before the very throne of God. Although our efforts on earth now do not usher in the new millennium, they are a piece of how God's grace extends in the world today. Our love for God, love for his people, and care for the creation participates in the leavening the dough (Matthew 13:33, Luke 13:20-21), casting the seed (Matthew 13:18-23, Mark 4:13-20, Luke 8:11-15), and dragging the net (Matthew 13:47-50) of the Kingdom of God.

As members of the university community, we must be wary not to fall into a marriage of nation and Kingdom building, as our predecessors in American higher education. Instead we must remember to keep a critical, even prophetic eye, on our culture and subculture, even our very persons remembering that common grace does not make us perfect as we seek after The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship. I desire to hear from the Master, Well done, good and trustworthy slave (Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:11-27). To press on toward that goal I have sought to follow Christ's charge to love God and love our neighbor by seeking to serve and bless God and those whom God has placed in my midst. I have sought to grow in wisdom and discernment, accept my failings, embrace service over heroics, and call together communities of people who seek to indwell the Biblical story in their daily University activities.

Service to God's agenda involves costly hospitality, hours of listening to the stories, and researching campus life to engage in a daily ministry of encouragement and prophetic challenge. I find great joy and fulfillment in facilitating interdisciplinary conversations, arranging for guest lecturers to speak prophetically, and maintaining deep and meaningful relationships across a broad spectrum of the campus community. For some this may not appear to amount to much today, but it is my talent to offer and I pray it, combined with other Kingdom workers and common grace ministries (see Mouw, 2001, pp. 80-81), will spread to leaven much of the university community in Pittsburgh and beyond as we participate in an ongoing drama in which we by God's grace improvise an ending (Middleton and Walsh, 1995, p. 182).

References
Clouser, R. (1991). The Myth of Religious Neutrality: An Essay on the Hidden Role of Religious Belief in Theories. Notre Dame: Notre Dame.
Marsden, G.M. (1997). The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mouw, R.J. (2001). He Shines in All That's Fair. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Middleton, J.R. and Walsh, B.J. (1995). Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

Note:  As some of you know, this was previously posted in another location.  It requires some updating and specific illustrations.  If you have suggestions/testimonies, let me know.