In this paper, we, members of a dharmic* scholars collective, share the outcomes of our discussions over the last three years centered on the question: what shifts in research and practice are necessary to enable higher education to address the concerns of dharmic* (Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu) students in the US? Topics we have focused on in…

In our ever more connected and open-access world, the vocation of teaching continually strives to rearticulate its significance. This study contributes to such ventures by drawing upon recent theology, psychology, philosophy, and literary theory to envision instruction as a uniquely narratival and virtue-formative practice, especially in Christian…

Moral philosophy in early American collegiate education founded its understanding and pursuit of virtue on the theological truth that humans are made in God's image. Therefore, to fulfill our purpose, we need to acquire creaturely analogues of God's virtues. Later American moral philosophy scholars and texts, however, began to use a different…

Teaching and promoting multicultural competence at Azusa Pacific University, diversity and social justice at a Christian university, can result in a paradoxical intersection of higher education. There is often tension associated with graduate students exploring diversity and Christian faith. Specifically the unbiblical nature of Christian…

Theologian Paul J. Griffiths has argued that thinking about Christian learning "must begin from thinking about the liturgy." This comparison between learning and liturgy invites reflection upon the nature and ends of Christian higher education, particularly how pedagogy might be informed by liturgy. This interdisciplinary symposium…

"The Soul of the American University" is a classic and much discussed account of the changing roles of Christianity in shaping American higher education, presented here in a newly revised edition to offer insights for a modern era. As late as the World War II era, it was not unusual even for state schools to offer chapel services or for…

This article examines how the field of religious education informs religiously based colleges and universities as they teach about their institutional missions. A discussion of the audiences, languages, and the temporal orientations of institutional mission education is intended to provide insights and parameters as mission offices chart their…

This article argues that a coherent and inspired general education program, infused with a deliberate vision of the liberal arts, is crucial to the flourishing of Christian higher education. This article begins by describing the context and status of general education, emphasizing how this element of the educational program falls short in…

This is a story of the intertwining of moral education with religious education in a professional lifetime. It is told episodically. Instead of the purported intellectual respectability of total separation of one from the other, even elimination of one by the other, it favours their mutual critique. It begins with strong sentiment, inspired in…

Although character formation has always been a central goal of education, efforts to promote character education in schools have, in the last century, always been hampered by an inability to adequately define character. We offer the concept of the flourishing life as the appropriate context for defining and developing character. This concept,…

In this set of two articles, the authors summarize the history of the practice of character instruction in Christian higher education. They examine character education beginning with the founding of Harvard in 1636 to contemporary times. They note that virtually every historian, theologian, and social scientist acknowledges that character…

This article examines how institutions of higher education conflate moral and descriptive terms for good, bad, remedial, and basic writing students. It outlines some of the social and historical developments that have led to exclusionary admissions and curricular requirements, and identifies how Christian institutions are complicit in these…

This qualitative study addresses the issue of the cultural transition of Arab women who for the first time leave their secluded villages and traditional society in the Northern Galilee to access Western-style Israeli institutions of higher education located in the region in which they will study in Hebrew, their second language. This study uses…

American higher education has never been more expensive. Its continued excellence and accessibility depends even more today on charitable subsidy. As previous beneficiaries of that charitable subsidy, alumni are the most logical benefactor of its sustenance. The relatively few alumni who can give most generously make the difference in the success…

The goals of higher education often entail the development of students' character. Rarely, however, are these character development goals connected to the unique design and delivery of distance education programs. Additionally, the research literature that explores the character development aspects of distance education is sparse. Thus the purpose…