Kethoser (Aniu) Kevichusa
I want to begin by asking two questions.
The first question is: What is a university or a college?
According to the great nineteenth-century thinker, John Henry Newman, a university “is a place of teaching universal knowledge.”
For Newman, a university is not just a place of learning but a place of teaching. It is not just a place of advancement in learning and discovery in knowledge. If it is just that, then scholars and researchers can just go about their work of study, research, and inquiry, and there would be no need of students. It would be a seat of learning, but it would not be a seat of teaching. But a university is a seat of teaching.
And it is a seat of teaching of universal knowledge. A university is not just a place for religious or moral teaching. If it is so, then a university would not be a seat of teaching universal knowledge, and disciplines such as the sciences, literature, the arts, law, politics, economics, philosophy, etc., would not be necessary.
If that is what a university is – a place of teaching universal knowledge – what, then, is a college?
The word college comes from two Latin terms that mean “selected together.” So a college, as we commonly understand it, is a collective and selected body of scholars and students in an institution of teaching and learning – an institution that is a constituent part of a university.
If that is what a university is, and if that is what a college is, the second question that I want to ask is: What is a Christian college or a Christian university?
The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) is the most reputed and influential global association of Christian colleges and universities, with over 185 Christian colleges and universities from around the world.
And this is the CCCU’s mission statement: “We are committed to supporting, protecting, and promoting the value of integrating the Bible – divinely inspired, true, and authoritative – throughout all curricular and co-curricular aspects of the educational experience on our campuses, including teaching and research. We support a coherent approach to education in which the development of the mind, spirit, body, and emotions are seamlessly woven together in the quest not just for knowledge but also for wisdom.”
Having answered these two preliminary questions – What is a university or college? And, What is a Christian university or Christian college? – I want to integrate these two preliminary answers to now get into the main substance of my speech, which I have titled “The Integrity of a Christian College.”
By integrity of a Christian college, I mean the integrated wholeness of a Christian college – an integrity that lends credibility to a college when it calls or considers itself a “Christian college.”
And I want to submit to you that a college maintains its integrity as a Christian college when there is an integration in three particular areas.
I. THE INTEGRATION OF CHRISTIAN THINKING WITH UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE
First of all, a college is a Christian college when there is the integration of Christian thinking with universal knowledge.
If you go to a standard “Christian college,” whether in Nagaland, India, or indeed the world over, you will find these things:
Smoking and drinking alcohol will be prohibited; chapels and prayer meetings will be regular, if not compulsory, features of college life; there will be a vibrant Evangelical Union; perhaps even choral groups, and a host of other Christian activities; there will be an annual camp and a couple of spiritual retreats; perhaps among the subjects taught in the college, there will also be a subject called Scripture, where the chaplain of the college would impart scriptural knowledge to students.
There is no doubt whatsoever that countless students will come to know Jesus Christ personally and grow in the Christian faith through the many Christian activities that take place in the college and the exemplary Christian witness of the faculty members.
But if you look carefully, you will notice that there is something conspicuously missing in the typical Christian college. And it is this: There is little or no integration of biblical truth and Christian thinking with any of the subjects that are taught in the curriculum. In other words, in many a Christian college, we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength – but do not love the Lord our God with all our mind.
Subjects such as Philosophy, Education, Economics, Politics, Literature, and so on, are taught completely independently, autonomously, and secularly – and there is often very little of Christian thinking about these disciplines, subjects, and topics.
But what is Christian thinking or thinking Christianly? In order to answer this question, we have to first talk about what Christian thinking is not: Christian thinking is not simply any thinking by any Christian. Very often, Christians think in non-Christian or sub-Christian ways.
Christian thinking is not simply thinking about Christian topics. Christian thinking is not just thinking about topics such as the Bible, Trinity, the Cross, the Resurrection, discipleship, mission, and so on.
Christian thinking is not about explicitly bringing in “Christ” in every topic. It is not about simply saying “Jesus is the answer” to every question in economics, philosophy, or politics. Or saying that everything will be solved if only everyone believed in and accepted Jesus as Saviour and Lord.
Christian thinking is not simply about using “Christian language” or “Christian concepts” in every topic. It is not about bringing in the “Bible: or “sin” or “salvation” or “holiness” or quoting a Bible verse here and a Bible verse there, while discussing issues in politics, economics, philosophy, and so on.
Christian thinking is not about having a “Christian agenda.” It is not about how we can convert the world or bring the world to Christ or about imbuing the whole of social reality with a so-called Christian culture or civilization.
According to one of the great living public intellectuals, Os Guinness, “Thinking Christianly is thinking by Christians about anything and everything in a consistently Christian way – in a manner that is shaped, directed, and restrained by the truth of God’s Word and God’s Spirit.”
And the best place for Christian educators to teach students to think Christianly about anything and everything in a consistently Christian way is not the Church. Neither is it the Bible college or seminary. It is, I submit, the Christian college.
I am quite aware that there are encumbrances and limitations that syllabi and curricula and university rules place on the integration of biblical truth and Christian thinking in college education.
I am also quite aware that it requires hard work and deep thought to integrate biblical truth in the different domains of knowledge.
But if we are to be a Christian college, we must strive to think about our subjects and teach our subjects from a perspective that is shaped, directed, and guided by biblical truth and Christian thinking.
How, for example, should we think about politics? Should we simply accept uncritically completely secular and naturalistic understandings of politics? Or should we bring Christian understandings of politics into our thinking and teaching too – not so that we blow away or trump all other understandings of politics with a simplistic Christian understanding; but so that there is healthy, dialectical conversation and dialogue among various approaches to politics, with a robust biblical understanding of politics also in the conversation table, such that the resultant understanding and approach to politics is also imbued with and informed by a deeply Christian and biblical flavour.
How indeed should be think about the Naga political problem? Should we only let some detached policy makers or actors only with political or opportunistic calculations monopolize and dominate the conversation? Or could we also let our political considerations and political proposals be continually interacting with and informed by Christian thinking?
So the first integration that is necessary for the integrity of a Christian college is the integration of Christian thinking with universal knowledge.
II. THE INTEGRATION OF THE WHOLE PERSON
The second integration is the integration of the whole person.
The CCCU mission states that Christian higher education is about having a coherent approach to education in which there is the development of the mind, spirit, body, and emotions.
In many respects this holistic and integrated approach of Christian higher education is not very different from the goal of higher education in general.
In the recently-published National Education Policy 2020 of the Government of India, we find this: “In view of the requirements of the 21st century, the aim of a quality university or college education must be to develop good, well rounded, and creative individuals. It must enable an individual to study one or more specialised areas of interest at a deeper level, while at the same time building character, ethical and Constitutional values, intellectual curiosity, spirit of service, and 21st century capabilities.”
In some ways the mission of CCCU and the vision of the National Education Policy map neatly into the way our Lord Jesus Christ himself grew and developed.
In the Gospel of Luke, there is a passing verse on how Jesus grew. It says, “And Jesus grew in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour with God, and in favour with men” (Luke 2:52).
If we are to incorporate how Jesus grew with the growth of person in a Christian college, we can put it this way. In a Christian college, there must be a coherent, holistic, and integrated growth of the student in four areas.
First, growing in wisdom – growing intellectually. This is the place where we are exposed to wonderful and exciting new ideas that transform us forever. But this is also the place where we expose ourselves to new ideas and allow our pet ideas to be assessed and critiqued by peers and colleagues. This is the place where we develop intellectual virtues such as studiousness, humility, docility, courage, and charity. This is the place where we learn to read, think, and write, critically, courageously, creatively.
Second, growing in stature – growing physically. This is where we develop healthy physical habits; where we develop bodily self-control; where we develop our physical prowess in areas such as manual and motor skills, artistic skills, aesthetic skills, musical skills, sports and kinesthetic skills; where we learn how to use time and learn to work well, eat well, sleep well; where we learn to groom ourselves and present ourselves well in the world with confidence and elegance.
Third, in favour with men – growing socially. And we grow socially by growing and becoming more and more stable emotionally stable. This is where we learning social skills, relational skills, soft skills; this is where we develop civic virtues, duties and responsibilities, and cultivate the ideal and practice of citizenship. This is the place where we learn to live together as fellow human beings. If we do not learn how to be a society of fellowship and friendship in college, we will never learn it anywhere.
Fourth, growing in favour with God – growing spiritually. College, especially a Christian college is not just a place to grow socially, physically, and intellectually. It is also a place where we realise that reality is not just a this-worldly reality; that there is reality that transcends but interacts with our physical, intellectual, and social realities. And this reality is a spiritual but personal reality, which is the reality of God. And just as we grow in other areas of life we are also to grow in the spiritual area of our life where we relate and interact with God.
So the integrity of a Christian college calls for the integrated development of the student – intellectually, physically, socially, and spiritually.
III. THE INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM
Finally, the third integration that must take place in a Christian college is the integration of knowledge and wisdom.
Many decades ago, the poet T. S. Eliot wrote this:
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
These words are more true today than any other time in the history of the world.
We have all the information in the world but no knowledge. All in the knowledge in the world but no wisdom. As a result, we are living, but we do not have life – true life.
And it is also absolutely possible for us to go to college and to have information but not knowledge; to have knowledge and not wisdom.
And what is the difference between knowledge and wisdom?
Well, the difference is this: Knowledge sees and identifies a beehive; wisdom knows not to throw stones at the beehive.
Knowledge knows how to use a dao; wisdom knows not to chase your neighbour with a dao.
Knowledge knows it is easier to cheat in an online exam than an offline exam; wisdom refrains from cheating in an exam, whether online or offline.
Another way of thinking about the difference between knowledge and wisdom is this: Knowledge is about reflection and asks the question, “What is the truth?”
Wisdom is about deliberation and asks the question, “How must we live and what must we do in the light of the truth?”
If knowledge is about reflection, wisdom is about deliberation. If knowledge is about reclined contemplation, wisdom is informed action. Wisdom is about acting rightly and productively on the basis of your knowledge.
But wisdom is not just about acting rightly and productively for your own good, but for the common good.
Knowledge is about knowing that knowledge is good; wisdom is about knowing that knowledge is for the common good – and then rightly applying that knowledge for the common good.
Knowledge knows what sociology, political science, history, physics, or electronic engineering is; wisdom knows how to use and apply them appropriately and productively in real life for the common and public good.
Knowledge knows the Ten Commandments; wisdom obeys the Ten Commandments.
Knowledge knows and believes that there is a God; wisdom fears the God that is there.
And the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!
(This speech was delivered at the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Japfü Christian College on November 27, 2021)
