Andrew Whaley Essay

Challenges to Faith

Challenging preconceived ideas is one of the effects of a good liberal arts education. In college, students are forced to examine their ideas regarding politics, social structures, the natural sciences, fine arts, and religion. Some schools, like Rhodes College where I attend, require a particular study of humanities, with an emphasis on Western history, culture, and religion. With top scholars teaching these courses, students’ ideas about biblical formation, canonization, and doctrinal beliefs are regularly challenged. Many of these students, however, do not possess an outlet, as people of faith, to discuss and work through these faith issues, causing them to either reject Christianity or deny contemporary religious scholarship. An effective program would create partnerships between chaplains’ offices with departments of Religious Studies and local Presbyterian churches to provide opportunities for students to wrestle with their faith.

Students struggling with the Christian faith is common at most colleges. Some colleges however, possess a slight advantage in dealing with students’ crises of faith because of their religious heritage. In our case, our colleges can draw on their Presbyterian influence for guidance in dealing with students’ faith formation. While it continues to be the trend that Presbyterian colleges downplay their religious affiliation with the hope that this raises their status as academic institutions, it is exactly in this connection where school leaders can find a framework for a program to aid students struggling with faith. For example, in its 1993 covenant with the Synod of Living Waters, Rhodes College promises to “create a climate in which the Christian faith is reasonably and persuasively presented without pressing for acceptance; and to explore the relationships between religion and other facets of life.” Along with this, the college is to provide opportunities for corporate worship of students and educate students to be leaders in society and also in the church. Presbyterian Colleges, by their affiliation with the church, possess an obligation to work with students struggling with their faith.

This kind of program must begin with the chaplain of the college, the one official “religious” figure on many campuses today. Most professors in Religious Studies departments are no longer ordained Presbyterian ministers, nor are the presidents of these institutions members of the clergy. The only guaranteed “Christian” employee of a college is its chaplain, and as far as I know, at Presbyterian colleges the chaplains are all still Presbyterian. Chaplains’ offices are often joined with offices of community service, and while it is good to recognize our calling as Christians to serve our neighbor, the chaplain must also possess the time to care for the spiritual needs of students as well. Let me re-iterate that I do not wish to degrade the role of social justice and community outreach, for it is our Christian responsibility to help those in need, and many students do this out of a response to being brought “into an estate of salvation” by Jesus Christ. What this does, however, is move the role of the chaplain away from spiritual matters and instead makes him or her a community organizer. Beliefs and faith of students is secondary to service, a much more marketable recruitment tool by the college. Presbyterian colleges need to ensure that their chaplains are both spiritual leaders and servant leaders. The chaplain’s office should organize courses that encourage students to discuss their faith and learn from other students who have experienced similar struggles. Students who come from backgrounds which reject this kind of discussion, might find comfort that the religious leader of the campus “approves” of this discussion. This allows some students to talk more freely about their doubts.

It is in the facilitating of these discussions that members of Religious Studies departments and the wider faculty can be helpful. Professors should note when they might be discussing material that could potentially challenge the faith of their students. In forming discussion groups, professors would write to the chaplain, providing a course description and supplying him or her with the titles of the potentially controversial texts or outlines of the concepts. Looking at these offerings, the chaplain’s office could work with the professors to provide a way for students of faith to look at these issues and begin a discussion around them, calling on their Christian faith for guidance.

An example from my own college experience helps to illustrate this point. My friend Drury and I both took a class in our sophomore year titled “Sex and Gender in the New Testament.” In this class, our professor discussed the particularly apocalyptic nature of the early Pauline epistles and how this led Christians to reject familial relations for the sake of the heavenly family of God. It is not until the later epistles that the early church, recognizing that Jesus has yet to return for the last judgment, begins to struggle with ideas of how to remain faithful to Christ and continue in their earthly living. This particular lesson really shook the faith of my friend Drury, who had been raised in the Church of Christ tradition. For him, the Bible was supposed to be the literal truth of God that can be used to answer all of life’s questions. A discussion of the original context of these Pauline letters disturbed him because these letters were “wrong” in their prediction of the second coming of Christ. How could these “incorrect” texts, then, be useful for Christians today? Unfortunately, Drury’s question has remained a mystery to him. Had there been an opportunity for him to discuss this text, he could have arrived at a deeper understanding of faith by talking to students who had a different interpretation of the role of scripture, one that believes in the Holy Spirit to continue to work faith in us and unite us to Christ.

My experience at Rhodes College has also helped me to gain a deeper understanding on the necessity for Christian worship as a part of dealing with the questions of faith. The Westminster Catechism is correct in its emphasis on “keeping holy to God” those times that are appointed in the scriptures. Unfortunately, many students stop attending church regularly when they attend college. One of the best ways to rediscover and deepen faith can be through continued participation in the life of a church community made up of members of the local city as well as students. This is where particular Presbyterian congregations, often located close to Presbyterian colleges, can be a helpful resource.

The role of members of these churches does not need to be as discussion leaders but as a student support network. Churches could work with the chaplain’s office to provide students with mentors, life-long Christians who will support them while they are in college. These individuals would make sure these students have someone to sit with in worship, someone to come to their plays and concerts, and someone to have them over for an occasional meal. This helps to fulfill that part of the Presbyterian covenant many of these colleges have with their synods and the larger church, that the college will provide opportunities for worship. While discussion is vitally important for people who are struggling with their faith, continued worship practice can also help to revive and deepen faith. By continuing a life in the church and its worship, students can find those moments when they experience God’s grace anew, and move into a new understanding of what it means to be a follower of Christ. It is an opportunity to realize over and over again “God’s sovereignty over us, his propriety in us, and the zeal he hath to his own worship.”

I have found this connection in my college experience at Evergreen Presbyterian Church. Located across the street from Rhodes College, I attend choir practice each week and participate in worship each Sunday. The choir members of this church have “adopted” me as one of their own by inviting me to the annual Christmas party and beginning of summer party and always keeping up with what is going on in my life. One particular couple, Bob and Jane Patterson, have been particularly supportive, attending my choral concerts at the college, attending plays I have performed in, and coming to hear me present a summer research project I conducted in 2007. They even let me sleep at their house when I had to return to Memphis early for a trip and could not stay on campus yet. By being a church body that has shown me the love of God and connectedness of the Presbyterian Church, I am able to grapple with issues of faith because I know that I do not do it alone but with others. Therefore, every time we celebrate God’s majesty in singing, affirm our faith in the words of the Apostle’s Creed, or pray the Lord’s Prayer together, I know that God is working and can lead us all into a deeper faith in Him.

These ideas of student discussions, building relationships, and strengthening worship practices are all major institutional ideas for Presbyterian colleges to address. Do these colleges value their Christian foundation and church-related statuses as connections to be nurtured? Many colleges around the United States are now downplaying or rejecting altogether their ties to a particular denomination. Being a church-related school looks like a restriction on freedom of inquiry for professors, a strict code of living for students, and a possible atmosphere of indoctrination. It is in these apprehensions that the Presbyterian Church can step up to help these colleges. Our church does not reject the cultivation of knowledge, and even though students sometimes memorize the catechism, they are challenged to look into the meanings of the questions and answers. Being the Reformed church that is constantly reforming, we should encourage strong ties with our colleges, and reassure presidents, provosts, and deans that we are not a church that is going to try and “control” colleges. We are a church, however, that values faith formation in the lives of students and believe that a Christian spiritual guide should have a strong presence on our campuses.

By the church working to establish strong relationships between Presbyterian colleges’ chaplains, professors, and local congregations, students can have a support system to help them through the challenges of faith. For many students, college is the first time they examine their faith, looking at where they have come from and what they have been taught to believe. In discerning this, their college should supply them with some opportunities to seek spiritual guidance. This comes through discussion groups formed by the chaplain and faculty of the college, allowing students of faith to discuss challenging ideas. Secondly, a strong network of fellow Christians in the community can help students to continue the practices of worship and remind them of the connection we have with others in Christ. Seeing God’s love enacted can often overpower doubts we have in our faith. I believe that our colleges should honor their heritage and their present connection with the church, so that we can acclaim, as President Charles Diehl of Southwestern Presbyterian University proclaimed, that each of our colleges is “a Presbyterian college of liberal arts,” seeking to “furnish a sound, cultural education, enshrining the highest moral and intellectual ideals.” Spiritual development should be a major goal of our colleges, and I hope that after I graduate from Rhodes and move on to continue my Christian growth at Columbia Seminary, that my alma mater will institute a more intentional system of spiritual development, one that can be a model for all Presbyterian-related colleges.