The Idea of the University is a Faculty Learning Community taking place in the Adams Center over the course of the Fall 2015 semester. Purposeful teaching and research at ACU is dependent upon sustained and serious reflection upon the idea of the Christian University within our context. Along these lines, the group will explore the theological and philosophical rationale for the idea of ACU. The four sessions will be open to all faculty and administrators. The readings will be a springboard for discussion and will include theological and philosophical accounts of the idea of a university and of the relevant conceptual issues (e.g., the aims of education).

Please refer to the following for the assigned readings for each session:

Session 1: September 24

  • R.S. Peters, Education as Initiation (London: The University of London Institute of Education, 1964), pp. 7-48.
  • Basil Mitchell, “Religious Education,” in Faith and Criticism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), 131-150.

Session 2: October 19

Session 3: October 26

Session 4: November 9

  • Nicholas Wolterstorff, Educating for Shalom: Essays on Higher Christian Education (Eerdmans, 2004), pp. 155-171