{"id":323,"date":"2015-11-11T17:05:20","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T21:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/protestprotest\/?p=323"},"modified":"2015-11-11T17:05:20","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T21:05:20","slug":"the-problem-with-integrating-faith-and-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/protestprotest\/2015\/11\/the-problem-with-integrating-faith-and-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"The Problem with Integrating Faith and Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A mantra in evangelical higher education as long as I\u2019ve been around it (I no longer teach at one) is that born-again Protestant colleges offer a distinct alternative to secular institutions because evangelical faculty bring Christianity to bear on all teaching and subjects. <\/p>\n

Maybe. <\/p>\n

But the problem of such a boast is that it invites professors, some of whom have no more expertise about Scripture of theology, to apply their Sunday-school level understanding of the faith to a host of subjects.<\/p>\n

One such example comes from a recent story<\/a> about athletics at Baylor University. Granted, Baylor may not appreciate being lumped with evangelicals \u2014 some Southern Baptists used to grouse that \u201cevangelical\u201d is a Yankee term. But the justification for the D-1 athletic program invoked some of the same sort of fuzzy evangelical idealism that too often afflicts the integraters of faith and learning:<\/p>\n

Like his view on Baylor athletics, the d\u00e9cor of Starr\u2019s office is a congruence of faith and sports. Each windowsill is devoted to a different Baylor team. Championship rings abound, as do footballs and basketballs from notable games. Taking up nearly the entire length of his desk is a large wooden plaque featuring a Psalm printed in Chinese: \u201cThe Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Scripture, Starr noted, there are at least 22 references to athletics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what that tells us is that there is something fundamentally human about competition and that it is a vital form of human activity and, I believe, of human flourishing,\u201d he said. \u201cWe view athletics as complementary of spiritual formation. You have a moral obligation to be the very best you can be, but to do so with integrity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019d be hard pressed to marshal biblical support for college athletics generally. But the NCAA? Puh-leeze.<\/p>\n

Image by Kairos14<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A mantra in evangelical higher education as long as I\u2019ve been around it (I no longer teach at one) is that born-again Protestant colleges offer a distinct alternative to secular institutions because evangelical faculty bring Christianity to bear on all teaching and subjects. Maybe. But the problem of such a boast is that it invites […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2170,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,63],"tags":[350,348,352,351,353,349],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-in-american-life","category-evangelicalism","tag-baylor-university","tag-higher-education","tag-kenneth-starr","tag-kuyperianism","tag-ncaa","tag-university-athletics"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Problem with Integrating Faith and Learning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A mantra in evangelical higher education as long as I've been around it (I no longer teach at one) is that born-again Protestant colleges offer a distinct\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/protestprotest\/2015\/11\/the-problem-with-integrating-faith-and-learning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Problem with Integrating Faith and Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A mantra in evangelical higher education as long as I've been around it (I no longer teach at one) is that born-again Protestant colleges offer a distinct\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/protestprotest\/2015\/11\/the-problem-with-integrating-faith-and-learning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Putting the Protest in Protestant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-11T21:05:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"D. 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