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Worldviews in tension
The majority of Trinity Western University freshmen are evangelical Protestants with limited or no theological training. Maybe we’ve taken a catechism class or talked to our pastor during youth group, but generally speaking, a limited understanding of the Bible alone is the foundation of our faith and our studies at TWU.
In their first or second year, most TWU students take three clases: IDIS 102, RELS 101 and RELS 102. The first half of IDIS teaches students about progress, technicism, individualism, rationalism and all the other “isms” of the enlightenment. This part of the course reveals assumptions that culture and a secular worldview have nurtured through public school and essentially all social institutions (including the church). For the first time, many students are able to step outside the Western worldview and evaluate it for what it sometimes is: the pursuit of comfortable self-preservation based on autonomous human reason.
The second half of IDIS covers a modern version of Reformed theology and dispensationalism. The biblical story is told within the context of six acts or epics, with God establishing his Kingdom in the first act (creation) and Christ coming again in the sixth. This lesson is an attempt to affirm the theology learned in Sunday school. It is offered as a replacement for the secular worldview that had been deconstructed in the first half of the course.
At the same time, freshmen are required to take RELS 101 and 102, which introduce students to modern biblical scholarship. The Reformed theology taught in IDIS is challenged through exposure to historical biblical criticism and an anthropological reading of Scripture. The dispensationalist take on the Christian messages suddenly seems improbable at best. Students feel the tension between the conservative and liberal camps, wondering how apparently inerrant scripture could make so many false claims. Consequently, the student is left to wander in a theological wasteland.
If students feel that these RELS classes work to deconstruct their faith it is because they do not have a strong understanding of what it means to be evangelical. The evangelical church contains aspects of the full liberal – conservative spectrum. Both sides are dangerous in their extremes but at the same time, are beneficial as counter-weights to each other.
Many (if not all) RELS professors do attempt to guide students into a better understanding of their faith. Faith seeking understanding is a process that continues throughout university and life. The conflict that is felt between these classes and the churched backgrounds of students is a perfect example of the conflict between liberal and conservative evangelicalism.
Reconstructing our faith after the enlightenment is a monumental task. I am sometimes guilty of viewing the conservative side of the argument with vile
disdain, wishing only the worst for its simplistic type of theology. The unfortunate truth to this disdain is that the historicism to which my own more liberal wanderings have led is equally as vile and deserving of condemnation.
The uniting path between these two positions has to be built on a foundation that neither rejects nor fully embraces the enlightenment. The path is a moderate one in the sense that it must not worship history or the Bible. It must maintain the divinity of God and Scripture while considering the
consequences of the enlightenment project.
The danger of subjectivity that conservatives constantly war against is real. Yet, this subjectivity is not the route that necessarily needs to be taken. The path to truth is a winding one that must be trod carefully to avoid all the pitfalls of both modern science and anti-intellectualism.
The conflict students feel at TWU is indicative of where the evangelical church finds itself today. An evangelical identity is exceptionally difficult to define.
At TWU we are both conservative and liberal. We struggle to define ourselves as a liberal arts university because we find value in our conservative Bible college tendency and heritage. The path forward cannot be one that further divides the Church; it must be one that brings the Church closer together. Trinity is in the process of forging out what it truly means to be a Christian liberal arts university.
TWUSA will be hosting a forum entitled “Is TWU Still an Evangelical University?” in March. Contact CalebRatzlaff@gmail.com for more
information.
Brilliant piece Caleb. Thanks for sharing it.
“Many (if not all) RELS professors do attempt to guide students into a better understanding of their faith.”
And thank you for pointing this out as well. I’ve heard far too many students complain and blame their profs for their loss of faith. I’ve heard far too many students say that profs are purposely deconstructing students’ faiths.
Those people have never had a one-on-one conversation with professors who pray for us, for our lives, and even if we walk away from the faith, they still pray for us.
After finishing 90% of my Christ and Culture minor IDIS and HKIN 190 feel like a bizarro land of fundamental evangelicalism.
In the article “A Spiritual Perspective of the Body,” which all HKIN 190 students must read, it provides a list of sources of revelation. However, it fails to mention the importance of Tradition. Then at the end of the article it asks why there is error and confusion in the churches perception of the body. Why do you think? you’ve forgotten Tradition!
If CAUT was to evaluate TWU on the basis of these two courses, TWU would be found in violation of academic freedom.