By Sarah Karns · Contributing Writer
Psalm 16:6 says, “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.”
Grove City College is, I believe, one of these pleasant places. We have a rich community that educates men and women in our heritage, roots us deeply in a beautiful kingdom and lets the light of that kingdom shine into our respective fields. If this school is to continue equipping men and women with a truly Christian education, then the new statement of faith is exactly what Grove City College needed.
In an article entitled “Go with God,” Stanley Hauerwas expresses the way in which college education and Christian calling intersect: “Physics, sociology, French literary theory: All these and more — in fact, everything you study in college — is bathed in the light of Christ. It takes the eyes of faith to see that light, and it takes an educated mind to understand and articulate it.”
There is so much of Christ’s light and beauty covering every field of study. It is the Christian’s calling to proclaim that light to the rest of the world. Every major can, in some way, shape or form, be used to further the kingdom of God and shine the light of Christ.
Grove City College is a very unique institution. The education here not only prepares men and women to excel in their fields, but also to proclaim God’s dominion over that field.
This intersection between higher education and the Christian calling is part of the very nature of what this college stands for, and it would not be possible without hiring professors who believe in a truly Christian education.
This school has professors who are not only experts in their fields and good at teaching, but who are also dedicated to their faith and bring that faith into everything they teach. There is an expectation that professors will be spiritual mentors as well as professional mentors, which is why it is so important that professors have a standard to which they and their beliefs are held; they are not just instructing on the mind, but on the soul and the spirit as well.
The new statement of faith provides this standard. It is Grove City College putting into a physical document the ideals and beliefs that this college has affirmed as true since the beginning of the school’s existence. To have professors who do not affirm these truths teaching here at Grove City would undermine the very idea of a Christian education.
Our faith ought to create a lens through which we view any field of study, whether that be politics, economics, physics or business. Each one of these fields has a part to play in the kingdom, and having professors that guide and direct students in how to play that part is crucial to a Christian education.
Therefore, this statement of faith is an encouragement to the kinds of professors who will bear this job well.
C.S. Lewis draws from Plato and many other philosophers to make the argument that intellect without virtue is worthless. If a man has all the knowledge in the world but does not have the virtue or morals to use that knowledge the right way, then that knowledge means nothing.
Lewis believed that virtue and morals are housed in the chest, which is why he explains in “The Abolition of Man” that many educational systems are creating “men without chests,” men who are not trained in moral virtue.
Grove City College is the opposite; this school is raising up men and women with chests — men and women with virtue, who know how to combine this virtue with their intellect to proclaim the light of the kingdom. This training of the chest would not be possible without professors who share the foundational views of Christianity outlined in the statement of faith.
We live in a society today that views Christianity in a very negative light and hates what is true and beautiful. Therefore, an institution like Grove City College, one that stands for the truth and beauty of the kingdom, is bound to be attacked.
A Christian education, one that proclaims the King’s dominion over every field, is destined to be condemned. By adopting this statement of faith, Grove City College is taking a difficult but necessary stand to protect the Christian education that many of us chose to come to this college for.
