Sensus Divinitatis

A REVIEW OF: Jonathan Pettigrew and Robert H. Woods, Jr. (eds). Professing Christ: Christian Tradition and Faith-Learning Integration in Public Universities. Pasco: Integratio Press, 2023, pp. xxxii +199, £13.67/$17.00 (ISBN: 978-0-9991463-3-0).

(A version of this review first appeared in the Society of Christian Scholars Book Review page.)

“If I fail as a professor to include religion and spirituality in my state-school syllabus, then I am doing a disservice to my students by omitting an integral aspect of the human condition and knowledge base” (117), writes editor Jonathan Pettigrew. He understands that with great power comes great responsibility. University teaching is not just training for a job, but educating for a lifetime, for citizenship, and for a response to our Creator. “Professing” in the halls of higher education is a high calling indeed, and we can do it either deliberately and creatively or unconsciously and poorly.

As a quick aside: Christian professors are not the only ones who profess a faith. Neither is it only the philosophy department professors. Every professor has basic commitments to metaphysics, ethics, and epistemology that steer their research, teaching, and writing. Whether atheists, theists, communists, pantheists, or agnostics, their faith will seep through. Maybe less so in mathematics than in social work, but both disciplines carry worldview commitments that are not derived directly from comprehensive evidence, the curriculum, or even conscious awareness. What is the nature of reality? What does it mean to be human? What is good, true, and beautiful? This cannot be dodged or feigned as objectivity anymore. I have written on worldview, Charles Taylor’s social imaginary, and James K. A. Smith’s cultural liturgies in other blogs, all making the same point: there is no such thing as a culturally and religiously neutral education.

This book reviewed here focuses on how Christian professors can be fully conscious and intentional about how their faith shapes their work, and ideally, makes the pluralistic university a better place to learn and grow for everyone. True Christian faith is bent towards shalom, and that is where justice and peace embrace for the benefit of the whole planet.

Christians in university faculty positions can profess the good news of Jesus through their pedagogy in the classroom, through faith-filled intellectual production, and in how they try to shape the culture of their institutions. Scholarship on the integration of faith and learning is growing, and of the making of such books there should be no end. ¹ We also have books featuring Christian professors’ testimonies.² The present collection of essays blends those two categories. It arises from the Christianity and Communication Studies Network (CCSN), which seeks to nurture “a free, interactive community of scholars, teachers, and others interested in exploring questions at the intersection between Christianity and communication.”

The contributors—all U.S. professors in communication studies or related departments—reveal a wide variety of approaches to faithfulness in the public academy. Prayer is a significant theme, as are a student-centred pedagogy and ministering to students. Some have intentional Christian influence in their departments, across campus, or with peers in their field; some have written key texts in the field. The resulting essays are embodied testimonies of professors’ lives, careers, and creative thinking. Consider the intriguing claim of Mark A. E. Williams, ruminating on the body of the crucified Christ: “If my faith and teaching are integrated, they are integrated there, in the solemn, mystical comedy of God’s navel lint” (152). This “most terrifying and funny thing” holds the divine and human together, a model for the Christian professor.

I was reminded of George Marsden’s comment in The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship (1997) that many Christian professors self-censor in the public academy, because self- identifying as Christian can be a career risk. There is tentativeness in some of the autobiographies; one contributor says he never “explicitly” invokes the name of Jesus (15). Some are blessedly open about their failures to bear witness (99). Others, though, display humble boldness, as one writer adamantly insists that her publications’ acknowledgement section must end with “To God be the glory.”

Since all the writers work in public universities, the chapters describe secular academic environments, including the naturalistic and postmodern challenges prominent in these settings. Responses include a critique of consumer society and self-godhood (104), the upending of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (117), and a description of the contemporary academy as “prodigal” to its Christian legacy (89). Such intellectual critiques show that at least some Christians are labouring to address the “scandal” of evangelicals’ tendency to resist rigorous learning.³

As Christians called to “love the Lord your God with all your mind,” we share the vision of universities to pursue both knowledge and the common good. I wonder if some endorsement of the pluralistic context of the university, as something that Christians should cherish and defend, could also grace a collection like this. Making room for one’s neighbour is always making room for oneself, and good theology suggests that this will be our lot until kingdom come. In this line of thought, Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Religion in the University (2019) is a stellar resource—in fact, a manifesto—for unapologetic Christian scholarly life in a necessarily pluralistic and now postmodern public academy.

On the other hand, we should not simply bow to the competitive “publish or perish” culture of the public university— its pressures, hierarchies, credentialing, and theoretical rivalries. Christians have a prophetic word to offer a world where “making a name for oneself” has become the epitome of professional performance.⁴ A few essays in this book offers such words. The chapter by Tyler and Elizabeth Spagley, for example, offers an account of the tremendous struggles related to graduate study and tenure-track pressure, especially when coupled with illness and other life complications. Their call to “struggle well” is inspirational and true to the hidden lives of many students and faculty. Carving out space for hospitality in a competitive culture is one way to bless the campus crowds.

When reading this book, I was struck by how professors, though deep thinkers capable of intricate and sophisticated theoretical exploration, still are often guided by personally meaningful proverbs. Whether it’s arguing that “silence is agreement” (119) or trying to “assume the best first” (125), and “err on the side of grace” (139), professors too have simple maxims that help them make decisions and give direction to their daily life. But they are also ready to critique such maxims; for example, the phrase “meaning resides in people, not words” (78) hides assumptions that deserve unpacking by conscientious students.

While the writers come from the same country and academic discipline, their diverse faith background includes Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Reformed, Mennonites, Baptists and evangelicals. All writers are white, one-third are female, one essay addresses racism, and one embraces a feminist worldview. Future volumes from Integratio are planned to include more diverse writers—ethnically, racially and nationally.

This collection is a welcome addition to the growing selection of texts on Christian faith in the public university.⁵ The work of CCSN is a model for other disciplines who might network internationally and mobilize themselves for an intentional public witness in the academy. These authors demonstrate a conscientiousness about their faith and a dedication to their craft that make the book worthy of any Christian professor’s priorityreading list, perhaps especially those in the early years of faculty service, where habits are often set for decades to come.

1. Just a sample: Arthur Holmes, All Truth is God’s Truth (1977); Albert Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview (1985, 2005); Harold Heie and David L. Wolfe, The Reality of Christian Learning (1987); David W. Gill, Should God Get Tenure: Essays on Religion and Higher Education (1997); Richard T. Hughes, How Christian Faith Can Sustain the Life of the Mind (2001); Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda H. Jacobsen. Scholarship and Christian Faith: Enlarging the Conversation (2004); Norman Klassen and Jens Zimmermann, The Passionate Intellect: Incarnational Humanism and the Future of University Education (2006); Mark Noll, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind (2011); Paul M. Gould. The Outrageous Idea of the Missional Professor (2014); Bob Sweetman, Tracing the Lines: Spiritual Exercise and the Gesture of Christian Scholarship (2016); Rick Hove and Heather Holleman, A Grander Story: An Invitation to Christian Professors (2017); Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher J. Devers, Public Intellectuals and the Common Good: Christian Thinking for Human Flourishing, (2021).
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2. Kelly Munroe. Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Christian Thinkers. Zondervan, 1996; Paul M. Anderson. Professors Who Believe: The Spiritual Journeys Of Christian Faculty. IVP, 2006;  ↩︎
3. Mark Noll. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. (Eerdmans 1995).
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4. This reference to the Tower of Babel is highlighted by Heather Holleman in her book with Rick Hove, A Grander Story: An Invitation to Christian Professors (Cru Press, 2017).
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5. As another review says, this book is a “welcome primer” for the young and a “salutary reminder” for the seasoned professor. The collection receives a good commendation: “Approaching teaching and research from a variety of perspectives—confessional, prayerful, sacramental, theological, and theoretical—the contributors demonstrate the continued significance of faith in secular, public university settings.” David W. Kling, Journal of Christian Teaching Practice, Volume 10 (January-December 2023). ↩︎