As I’ve been reading the book of Colossians, I’ve been struck by the scope of what God calls us to as professors. It motivates me to think beyond the confines of my natural inclinations and previous models of what it means to be a Christian professor.
A Comprehensive Mission
The Apostle Paul says, “For by Him all things were created…all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Col. 1:16-17). The Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’” You can’t get more comprehensive than that!
This mission is echoed in the FC Mission statement: “Faculty Commons wants to help you bring the resources of the university…to the world for the advance of the loving rule and reign of Jesus Christ.”
The mission God has called us to goes beyond our departments and our campuses to the whole world!
A Constraining Campus Culture
Later, Paul lets loose one of his “zingers”: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus…” (Col. 3:17). “All” means all – yet we as Christian faculty often struggle to grasp Christ’s call on campus. Why?
One reason is the deformative influences of campus culture. Like a culture of identity capital not rooted in Christ, leading to overt careerism or covert pragmatism (“I just need to keep my head down right now”). Or the culture of professed busyness. As NY Times essayist Tim Kreider said, “[Y]ou’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are… It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint.”
A Compelling “Wardrobe”
How can we fight these influences? Paul encourages us to ask three key questions.
First, what are we wearing?: “holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with…and forgiving each other…just as the Lord forgave you… put on love… the perfect bond of unity.” (Col. 3:12-14)
That imperative is in the second person plural. This is a community exercise.
Francis Schaeffer said, “love is the ultimate apologetic”. How countercultural this is in an increasingly polarized, cancel-driven, fractious campus culture!
Second, what rules us? Col. 3:15 says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body…” Anxiety plagues the academy. In response, one campus has created a “pedagogical wellness specialist” position to assist faculty.
How countercultural is supernatural peace in a campus culture wracked with crippling anxiety!
Third, what dwells in us? Paul next says, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you…” (Col. 3:16). As Princeton physicist Bob Kaita once put it to me, faculty are often world-class scholars with 4th grade understandings of the Christian faith. As the sweep of the biblical story seeps into our research, teaching, and service it will make a difference.
How countercultural in a campus culture starved for meaning!
A Captivating Vision
The Faculty Commons goal is that we would “willingly wrestle with the ever-challenging question: ‘As Christ-followers, what should we do in the academy?’”
What a vision!
Jeff Hardin
Integrative Biology
University of Wisconsin