CHI TIẾT NGHIÊN CỨU …
Tiêu đề
Civic engagement at faith-based institutions
Tác giả
Eby J.W.
Năm xuất bản
2010
Source title
Handbook of Engaged Scholarship
Số trích dẫn
0
DOI
Liên kết
Tóm tắt
One does not have to believe in a particular religion or be religious at all to recognize the important role religion plays in society. Many individuals use religious values to make important decisions. Society looks to religion for a moral base. Religious institutions exert significant influence on society. Nevertheless, higher education doesn't know how to deal with religion. Lee Schulman, retiring president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, said in a recent interview, "Secular institutions have not yet come to terms with the central role of religion in society. They just pretend that religion is not there" (Selingo, 2008). Faith-based colleges and universities do not have this dilemma, though the overt presence of religion creates others. Because of their particular character and mission, faith-based colleges and universities intentionally bring together things that the rest of the academy separates. They include spirituality and religion in their educational approach and community relationships in ways that open opportunities for holistic and integrated educational philosophies and effective community partnerships. There are a number of ways this happens. Faith and religion inform understandings of service and civic engagement. Students serve because of the call of their faith and grow in maturity and commitment to their faith through their service. Because many community organizations share a faith perspective, faith-based colleges and universities develop deep, broadly rooted connections and relationships. They can be intentional about spirituality in teaching and learning as well as about the role spirituality plays in motivating students and community partners for engagement in service and social change. Faith and faith-based organizations form important parts of the social capital that makes communities strong and vital, and when absent weak and vulnerable. The term "faith-based" is used here to refer to institutions that reflect a relationship to a particular faith and religious tradition or perspective. These institutions are sometimes called "religiously affiliated," "church-related," "religious," "denominational," or "Christian" colleges and universities. They vary greatly in the way they operationalize their faith perspective. Each brings a particular understanding of civic engagement, service, and learning and particular understandings of human nature, the world, the church, social issues, evil, and the meaning of faith. Together, they represent a rich diversity. The activist social justice emphasis of the Jesuits contrasts in interesting ways with the contemplative tradition of Naropa University and its Buddhist tradition. The optimism of the Reformed tradition regarding the possibility of transforming social structures is balanced against the Anabaptist awareness of "two kingdoms" and its pessimism about how realistic it is to expect to incorporate Kingdom values into secular society. The emphasis on a social gospel of the Catholic tradition and of some Protestant traditions challenges the individualistic perspectives of others. The rich history of significant scholarship in the Catholic tradition contrasts with the suspicion of learning and education in some Evangelical traditions. Communal traditions balance more individualistic ones. Biblical traditions interact with philosophical ones. Some emphasize individual salvation and others social justice. Most faith-based institutions would identify themselves as Christian and relate to Catholic or Protestant communities. There are several Buddhist and Jewish institutions in the United States. Some faith-based institutions identify with particular denominations or religious orders, whereas others are interdenominational or nondenominational. Some are owned and controlled by a denomination. Others show little specific influence from their denomination. There has been a general trend to move away from direct denominational influence. The thing that distinguishes these institutions from others is that their organizational culture and approach to education include an overt religious and spiritual dimension. Jacobsen and Jacobsen (2008) give an overview of religiously affiliated colleges and universities based on statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics within the U.S. Department of Education. In 2004, according to their analysis, about one in eight undergraduate students attended religiously affiliated colleges and universities. Of the total undergraduate population, 27 percent attended public institutions, 40 per cent private nonreligious institutions, 9 percent Catholic institutions, 23 percent other Christian institutions, and 1 percent Jewish institutions. They compiled a breakdown of church-related colleges and universities that offer bachelor's degrees (Table 1). Although this table identifies larger institutions, most faith-based institutions are relatively small. More recent statistics from 2006 indicate that there are 925 institutions listed in the IPEDS list as religiously affiliated. The median size was 1,008 students. About three hundred institutions listed enrollments of fewer than five hundred students.Many persons in the academy have an unfortunate stereotype of faith-based institutions as institutions that isolate students from perspectives they do not share and indoctrinate them with narrow beliefs and doctrines. Certainly, some have that orientation, but the vast majority promote a value-based liberal education that is respectful and accepting of others. They help students define and develop a sense of vocation that includes engagement and involvement in social needs and problems. At their best, they help students make meaning and develop a commitment to the common good within an intellectually stimulating environment that asks hard questions and examines foundational presuppositions. Braskamp, Trautvetter, and Ward (2006) in a study of ten faith-based colleges found "a rigorous intellectual challenge in which the head and heart are integrated in the search for truth, meaning and fulfillment" (xii). They also found that service-learning went beyond just doing good to become a way for students to express their faith. Students develop a service ethic that affects their life choices not only in college but throughout their lives. Faith-based institutions have exemplary programs in civic engagement and service. In 2006, Elon College received the President's Higher Education Community Service Award for General Community Service, and faith-based colleges were represented in numbers higher than their national proportions on the President's Honor Roll with Distinction for Hurricane Relief Service and the President's Honor Roll with Distinction for General Community Service. Faith-based programs of service and civic engagement share most perspectives with similar programs at other kinds of colleges. Good practices have universal application. However, as with other types of colleges and universities, faith-based ones develop a particular character and fill a particular niche in the broader movement. They provide an opportunity to work at some of the cutting-edge issues being discussed and debated in higher education. © 2010 by Michigan State University Press. All rights reserved.
Từ khóa
Tài liệu tham khảo
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Nơi xuất bản
Michigan State University Press
Hình thức xuất bản
Book chapter
Open Access
Nguồn
Scopus