Can the Christian University Thrive?: Baylor 2012

BreakPoint with Charles Colson ^ | July 20, 2004 | Charles Colson

[Richard Kimball]

I-53, I just pinged you to because it's impolite to speak about other posters without pinging them, you really don't need to reply to me.

Mr. Silverback & Cowgirlcutie,
First, don't worry about I-53, posting back just encourages guys like him. Second, I've had some contact with Baylor and can tell you a little about what's going on, but I don't work for them, so I can't really give you an inside view. Sloan isn't very popular with faculty, and they've had two "no-confidence" votes on him. He barely held onto the Presidency in a vote from the board of regents about a year ago. The building program is very expensive, but he is turning the campus into a beautiful facility.

The religious clause is fairly simple, and is aimed at ensuring that Christians are teaching. Non-Christians don't like it, but it's a reasonable goal, I think, for a college that seeks to be a Christian university. I debated theology pretty heavily for a while with one of the students at Truett Theological Seminary, and they are liberal theologians. For example, they teach the JEDP theory as fact. We didn't discuss New Testament much, but I suspect they toe the line to liberal theology on that as well. The basketball murder shook the entire campus, and made Baylor rethink it's athletic program. Except for football, Baylor is competitive in Big 12 athletics. I don't see Baylor ever being very competitive in football. They actually wouldn't be in the Big 12, except Ann Richards and Bob Bullock (both Baylor grads) refused to let the other old SWC schools leave unless Baylor was included. Personally, I think if Baylor had a chance to bolt to the Ivy League, they'd leave the Big 12 in a minute. They aspire to be Harvard, not Nebraska.

Baylor has worked hard to mend fences with the Texas Baptists, but there is still quite a bit of tension. A lot of Baylor's future will hinge on whether or not they get the Bush Presidential Library. Many here think they are strongly in the running because they've overhauled the campus and Bush lives close by. This would launch them into the top tier of college campuses. With the LBJ Library in Austin, and the Bush I Library at A&M, I think they've got a good chance, although SMU might also have a shot, since Bush is a Methodist and they're in the Metroplex. I'm hoping for Baylor, because the Library will mean much more to Waco than it would to Dallas Fort Worth.

Baylor will survive, but it's treading some tough waters at this time. However, they are also making significant progress. Hope this info helps.

RK

[I-53]

Okay. I'll come clean. I'm a recruiter for Harvard and I'm really worried because Baylor has been nipping at our heels. Can you blame me?

[sawmill trash]

On a lighter, slightly OT note, do they also have a plan to improve in Big 12 athletics?


Who cares what they do in sports as long as they keep the academics at the level they do.
I have one child with a degree from Baylor and one child starting third year there.
In my opinion they have both recieved wonderful educations from Baylor.

(Neither of them plays ball...and I'm OK with that)

[I-53]

I hear the President will be back at the ranch on Friday.

[aruanan]

Some suggest that “top tier” scholarship and an “unapologetically Christian worldview” are mutually exclusive.

And some people just want to persist in being dolts. You may also want to consider Spring Arbor University.

[I-53]

Some suggest that “top tier” scholarship and an “unapologetically Christian worldview” are mutually exclusive.

And some people just want to persist in being dolts.

Agreed; one should not exclude the other. The problems come when different factions define those goals differently and aggresively. Then you end up with infighting.

[aruanan]

The problems come when different factions define those goals differently and aggresively. Then you end up with infighting.

Such as when, beginning especially in the mid to latter 1800's, the naturalists set out to take over academe. If you look at the hubris that is Andrew White's "The History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom" you'll see how, by the beginning of the 20th century, they thought they had won.

[I-53]

they thought they had won.

But, with very few exceptions, haven't they? People's minds are as free as they want them to be, but it seems the institutions of academe' are almost seamlessly un- if not anti-Christian.

[I-53]

You may also want to consider Spring Arbor University.

I looked at the link. I don't know anything about SAU, but if they are truly centered on serving the STUDENT without unnecessary distractions, I believe they can be successful. The great Universities focus on what is best for the STUDENTS and let greatness fall where it may, instead of trying to claw themselves to some lofty tier. No pun intended.

[aruanan]

SAU is a great place. It was where both Albion College and Hillsdale College had their beginnings. SAU and Hillsdale have gone in one direction, Albion, in the other; think Haverford of the middle west.

As far as how naturalism has taken over much of the intellectual world but for few exceptions--it's the difference that makes the difference. At one time the intellectual world was pagan; then for about 1500 years it wasn't. It's demonstable that science and technology, though known to the ancient pagans, lay fallow until they blossomed in a Judeo/Christian worldview that posited a real world that could be truly known. It's been the success of science that has served to keep naturalism alive, not vice versa. Some tales, such as naturalism, seem to think that they wag the dog. That's okay. They don't. And the degree to which they're unaware of their own history is the degree to which they're vulnerable. The danger, though, is that when they feel threatened, they'll attempt to use the power of the state, rather than argument, to defend their bailiwick and end up aping the church that they claim kept mankind in intellectual bondage.