Higher Education c h u r c h f e l t t he impact. Many churches became more interested in building beautiful edifices than in building some of the more rug ged spiritual values of self-sacrifice and service. Theology did not escape the ques tioning which was one of the major c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the age. The movement labeled “Higher Criti cism” sought to apply the scientific method to textual criticism. Too often, the result was an attempt to explain away everything that was miraculous because of a predisposed prejudice against the supernatural. But it was an age of scientific achievement and advancement. The publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859 captured the im agination of the scientific world. Many of the leaders in other fields such as philosophy and the social sciences were quick to look upon evolution as the logical framework on which to build their theoretical structures without having to rely upon the operation of a higher pow er as a possible cause for any of the events having to do with man or nature. By accepting the theory of evolution many of them held that the concept of God was no longer necessary. But if God were allowed, it would be unthinkable that He would interfere with natural law. Such thinking had an intoxicating effect on the ego of the intellectual. Pragmatism, with its concept of workability as a test for truth, cap tured the popular imagination, but it was hardly compatible with the Christian emphasis on absolute truths and values; for with the new philosophy, all truth was relative to the particular situation. Interest in science was encour aged by industry, for demand for scientifically trained personnel was greater than the supply. The cry was for more scientists, more en gineers. The land-grant college made possible by the Morill Act of 1862 encouraged the rapid exten sion of higher education, mostly to supply the demand for personnel in these secular fields. It is possible that one of the major reasons for the success of naturalism was in the fact that the
continued
tral ( “ They can lead us to creative serenity or destructive chaos” ). The solution he suggests is using the wisdom of the past along with cre ative thinking in the present in re spect to value choices. Some Answers How can we be sure that even this will enable us to make the right choices? The answer to this question provides the first of many illustrations that could be made of practical and concrete ways in which the church can carry out a mission in higher e d u c a t i o n . Through Christian colleges and through devout Christians in the high levels of secular education,, young people can be trained for places of key leadership. TEACHING. Specific fields can be noted. Education itself is one of these. As a teacher, the Christian has the opportunity to influence boys and girls during their forma tive years. The challenge of the public school becomes more clear with the realization that only three or four out of every 35 students attend Sunday school. For what greater mission field could one ask? Of course religion cannot be taught in the public schools but Christ living in the life of a teacher will manifest Himself. And opportun ities for individual testimony will be legion. It is heartening to see that many of our evangelical Christian colleges are catching the vision of this op portunity and are instituting high level teacher-training programs in their schools. Public school officials testify to the superior quality of the work of many of these graduates. Especially great is the challenge of the Christian professor on the state college and university level. There have been too many of our young people who have lost their faith through the influence of bril liant but agnostic or naturalistic professors who felt it their duty to propagate their doubts and unbe lief. Not all are like this. The pres ent chairman of the department of education of an eastern university is also the faculty advisor for Inter- Varsity Christian Fellowship on
Christian church was demonstrat ing so little supernaturalism. The intellectual world began to look to science rather than to the church for the basic answers to life, and there developed a tremendous faith in mankind as the saving agent from the evils that had plagued the world for ages past. Education was to be the tool that would solve the problems of the world and their solution would but accelerate the process of evolution. There is no doubt that this faith was rudely shaken by the events which transpired from 1914 to the present. Two world wars of unpre cedented magnitude, a great depres sion and the development of forces by science which, unless held in leash by moral forces so obviously lacking, could lead to the extinction of mankind, were events which helped destroy this easy optimism of the evolutionary betterment of mankind. The New Viewpoint' There are encouraging signs of a change in direction away from the naturalistic, materialistic approach of the last few decades. In a recent article in The Atlantic, President Dickey of Dartmouth suggests that it isn’t enough to train for compe tence, we must also train the con science. Books such as Crisis in Ed ucation by Bernard Iddings Bell and Education in a W orld Adrift by Sir Bichard Livingstone indicate a cognizance that all has not been well in our educational approach. In an address before the Associa tion of American Colleges, D. Elton Trueblood pointed out that one of the most sobering thoughts that comes to the attention of modem students is that civilizations can pass away. For illustration he points to parts of North Africa and of Western Asia, once centers of flour ishing civilizations, but now cov ered by shifting sands. He went on to say that as great as our present wealth and security may be, they are not necessarily permanent. The historian, Arthur H. Moehl- man, clearly states the limitations of e d u c a t i o n and the scientific method in that they are only neu
18
THE KING 'S BUSINESS
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker