This book offers examples from both Christian and secular democratic institutions of higher education and then responds to possible criticisms about how moral education in a comprehensive humanist moral tradition may short change diversity, autonomy and critical thinking.

In 1975, Arthur F. Holmes published The Idea of a Christian College. At the time he could not have imagined his book would gather such a large following. This work's thoughtful yet accessible style made it a long-standing choice for reading lists on Christian college and university campuses across the country and around the world. Countless numbers of first-year students have read and discussed his book as part of their introduction to the Christian college experience. However, enough has changed since 1975 in both the Church and Academy to now merit a full-scale reexamination. In this book, Todd C. Ream and Perry L. Glanzer account for changes in how people view the Church and themselves as human agents, and propose a vision for the Christian college in light of the fact that so many Christian colleges now look and act more like research universities. Including topics such as the co-curricular, common worship, and diversity, Ream and Glanzer craft a vision that strives to see into the future by drawing on the riches of the past. First-year students as well as new faculty members and administrators will benefit from the insights in this book in ways previous generations benefitted from Arthur Holmes's efforts.

Has the American university gained the whole world but lost its soul? Christian universities must reimagine excellence in a time of exile, placing the liberating arts before the liberal arts and focusing on the worship, love, and knowledge of God as central to academia. This pioneering work charts the history of the university and casts an inspiring vision for the future of higher education.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. The teaching of ethics and the transmission of values once performed an integrative function in the Christian college curriculum; however, they have gradually become relegated to a subspecialty status within the philosophy or religion department. Arguing that ethics is everybody's business, Arthur Holmes presents in this book a concise survey of moral education -- its goals and methods -- in the Christian college. Arising out of a three-year Christian College Consortium project, Shaping Character reflects the insights of a rich variety of experts, writers, and faculty members. Holmes first orients his readers to the present ethical climate, to theological dimensions and distinctive in ethics, and to moral development theory. He then poses three overall objectives of ethics education -- forming the conscience, making moral decisions, and developing character -- and fleshes out each objective with particular goals. Throughout the book Holmes makes suggestions about the role of faculty and staff, paying special attention to teaching methods and noting the context and dynamics of college life in general. The final chapter summarizes how the Bible functions in ethics. Shaping Character is meant for all Christian college teachers, professors, and administrators concerned about student values and the moral condition of our society. The book will serve as a valuable and practical guide for teaching ethics in every department.

American higher education—historically and inherently—is a morally formative endeavor. Yet, in order to respond to America’s moral pluralism, higher education has increasingly taken a reductionistic approach to moral formation. Consequently, it abandoned the effort to supply students with moral expertise. Current approaches help students learn how to be excellent professionals and citizens, but they fail to provide the necessary tools for living the good life—in college and beyond. Identity Excellence: A Theory of Moral Expertise for Higher Education addresses this problem by setting forth a multi-disciplinary theory of moral expertise for fostering moral excellence in an array of important identities. To this end, it teases apart the essential elements of what it means to be excellent in an identity before discussing the philosophical, sociological, psychological, and educational processes necessary for students to internalize traditions of identity excellence as part of their own moral identities. Overall, the emergent theory exposes the shortcomings in contemporary general education, professional ethics, and co-curricular education. Finally, this book sets forth a bold but compelling vision for a more hopeful future for American higher education. As outlined within, such education involves teaching students’ excellence in the Great Identities, as well as how to prioritize and integrate their pursuit of identity excellence.

This book offers a fresh report and interpretation of what is happening at the intersection of two great contemporary movements: the rapid growth of higher education worldwide and the rise of world Christianity. It features on-site, evaluative studies by scholars from Africa, Asia, North America, and South America. Christian Higher Education: A Global Reconnaissance visits some of the hotspots of Christian university development, such as South Korea, Kenya, and Nigeria, and compares what is happening there to places in Canada, the United States, and Europe, where Christian higher education has a longer history. Very little research until now has examined the scope and direction of Christian higher education throughout the world, so this volume fills a real gap.

American educators have consistently splintered our humanity into pieces throughout higher education’s history. Although key leaders of America’s colonial colleges shared a common functional understanding of humans as made in God’s image with a robust but vulnerable moral conscience, latter moral philosophers did not build upon that foundation. Instead, they turned to shards of our identity to help students find their moral bearings. They sought to create ladies and gentlemen, honorable students, and finally, good professionals. As a result, fragmentation ensued as university leaders pitted these identity fragments against each other inciting a war of attrition. As the war of identities raged, its effects spilled out beyond the bounds of the curriculum into the co-curricular dimension that struggled with moving beyond being en loco parentis. The major identity they cultivated was that of being a political citizen. Thus, the major identity and story of students’ lives became the American political story of democracy—what I call Meta-Democracy. In higher education guided by Meta-Democracy, students lose their autonomy to administrators who reduce the student identities they try to develop along with the range of virtues that comprise the good life. The Dismantling of Moral Education: How Higher Education Reduced the Human Identity explains why and how we arrived at diminishing ourselves.

This book provides new insights on the unique role of doctoral students and new faculty as they join other stewards of the academy working within Christian higher education. Weaving together a variety of voices—graduate students, pastors, and seasoned scholars—the book examines the Christian university’s relationship to the Church and how faith and stewardshipcan guide the pursuit of teaching and scholarship.

"Colleges today are filled with talk about identity and identity politics. But Glanzer shifts the conversation in Identity in Action by focusing on something one rarely hears anyone mention--the idea of identity excellence. In various professions, identity excellence means becoming an excellent accountant, biologist, historian, social worker, or teacher. But professors rarely go farther to talk the identities that really matter to students. What does it mean to be: an excellent friend? a good neighbor? a steward of one's body, possessions, or the environment? And what about social identities? How does Christianity impact: how I think about race? or gender? or citizenship? Students are often unaware of how to resolve conflicts between these identities on their own. Identity in Action, empowers readers to be excellent--and think deeply about the "why" questions of life in a practical, theologically informed manner. With personal stories and expert research, Glanzer explains how students can untangle the confusion and integrate their core identities with excellence."--

The author examines the "cultural and literary identity among Western Christians which the centrality of 'the Book' has helped to create, and the Christian use of the phrase 'People of the book.'"--Preface.