Faculty Represents Soul Of Christian Liberal Arts Colleges

By Nicki Herlovich
Class of 2002

If the students at a college or university constitute the heart of the institution, then the faculty must represent the soul, especially at Christian liberal arts colleges like Erskine College, where faculty members integrate faith and learning in an environment of academic freedom with a wide range of Christian diversity.

Erskine is observing "Christian Higher Education Month" in October to celebrate the role of Christian colleges and universities in the education arena. Erskine’s effort to raise awareness and increase understanding of Christian colleges and their role in shaping culture continues with the team of scholars who help deliver the liberal arts education to the students on a daily basis.

The faculty tends to agree that Erskine has a niche within the spectrum of higher education institutions nationwide, but defining that niche varies from professor to professor.

"We seem to be in the middle — neither a Bible college, nor a secular institution," says Dr. Brad Christie, professor of English.

"The cliche difference between secular and Christian institutions is that there seems to be a relative impersonality at secular institutions," Christie said. "If you remove the relational aspect of learning, you come up with something mechanical. We may seem to be similar to Bible colleges in the relational realm, but we really aren't because our breadth of learning is not limited."

Dr. Sandra Chaney, professor of history at Erskine, said, "One thing we do here, in the context of a Christian environment, is add a new element to the educational process, asking in a more direct way about religion and how the knowledge in a classroom relates to one's faith.

"When the events of Sept. 11 occurred, we held a convocation where students were able to question how, as Christians, they should handle those events," Chaney said. "Then, in the classroom, we were able to discuss the politics of the events. Bigger schools tend to ignore the religious side to an event like that."

Chaney added, "I feel like I have the freedom to do as I choose in the classroom. Academic freedom is key in what we do here, so that for me is very important."

That freedom is important to many faculty members at Erskine.

English Professor Dr. Bill Crenshaw said, "A difference between Erskine and secular institutions is that students can feel free to explore the religious and spiritual sides to their lives, because there is a supportive atmosphere here."

Other faculty members at Erskine see the institution as differing from Bible colleges, and even other Christian or church-related schools.

"I believe Bible colleges are more of a professional school and are more vocational in character," says Dr. John Wingard, Erskine professor of philosophy. "This is why I don't think of Christian liberal arts colleges as middle ground. We are really a division of liberal arts colleges, a subset of liberal arts colleges where there is a biblically valued worldview with true integration of faith and learning.

"Merely church-related institutions are the schools that I see as the middle ground on the academic spectrum, and we are more than church-related, we are Christian," Wingard said.

Dr. Donald Weatherman, Vice President and Academic at Erskine, said, "Our faculty has a wide range of diversity in their Christianity. In the past two years since I have been with the college, we have hired more diverse professors, two of whom are Catholic. The way in which our faculty addresses and portrays Christianity within the classroom is diverse.

"We have a richness much like other schools," Weatherman said. "Our professors do have to be Christians in order to teach here, but we do not prescribe nor dominate what must be taught.

"We have no signing of behavior contracts," Weatherman said. "I think that has a very chilling effect on intellectual freedom. We are open and genuine in our desire to preserve intellectual freedom in the context that we have here."

Some of the reasons that Christian liberal arts schools are different from other institutions of higher learning are also reasons why the professors at Erskine chose the Associate Reformed Presbyterian school.

"Coming to Erskine was a true calling for me," Christie said. "I was leaning towards a larger university setting, but I felt called to the theological seminary here. There just happened to be an opening that matched my credentials in the English department of the college.

"I think Erskine today is a better place to work than when I came here 11 years ago," Christie said. "At Erskine there is no split identity, and that makes a much healthier environment to work and teach in."

Crenshaw said, "I like the environment here, its cohesive feel, where people really care. I had the same experience as an undergraduate at a school similar to Erskine, and I wanted the same environment in my teaching experience.

"There is a presumption about the nature of reality that you have to agree to before you can teach at a Bible college," Crenshaw said. "For me, that is antithetical to what a college is supposed to do. Erskine, in my experience, does not limit inquiry. I can challenge people in the classroom. I am here to make people question and explore their beliefs."

Wingard said, "I came to Erskine because the mission of the college seemed to fit my gifts and my set of passions. I must empower students to think critically, and push them to wrestle with secular and biblical truths. As a Christian college we must integrate the truths we find from secular schools, not fear them.

"I didn't know how long it would take me to adjust to being here, but I fell in love with the students after my first week," Wingard said. "One of the main reasons why I stayed here after my first year was the student body.

"Being here is my calling from God, and so I must do the best that I can do," Wingard said. "To be a real Christian college, we have to be willed to academic means. So we as Christians cannot settle for less than excellence, because it is our duty to be the best that we can be."

Professors at Erskine are encouraged to question foundations and make them stronger, Chaney said. "And some people are threatened by that."

Weatherman added, "Being at a secular institution, a professor may have to compartmentalize his or her life, leaving religion out of the classroom, and only being able to acknowledge that religion in his or her home life.

"You shouldn't have to slice up your life like that," he said. "Being a school that is not secular, but is not a Bible college either, gives us the best of all options."

While a Christian college may seem to have the best of both worlds, there is still room for improvement and caution, the professors say.

"The word Christian is a very loaded word with lots of misconceptions, so we need to be careful about the message we put out," Chaney said.

Wingard agrees. "The phrase Christian does mean that we have to be careful about who we say we are. I think a lot of Christians think you have to sacrifice your mind to be a real Christian, but if we are really sincere about Christian commitment, we should be leading the pack academically."