Christians In Tertiary Institutions

Thinking maturely about the Christian faith

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Christians In Tertiary Institutions

By Rowland Croucher and others ⋅ January 3, 2003 ⋅ Post a comment

From: "Ken Smith" <>

Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian,nz.soc.religion,alt.religion.clergy

Subject: Re: John Stott [1]

> "Rowland Croucher" <> writes:

>

> >"Bill Ramsay" <> wrote in message

> .

> >> On Thu, 11 Jul 2002 15:58:34 +1000, "Rowland Croucher"

> >> <> wrote:

> ><>

> >> >When I was working full-time on the campuses on Australia - back in

the

> >60's

> >> >and 70's I discovered that the proportion of committed Christians in

> >> >tertiary institutions was significantly higher than in the population

at

> >> >large. Ken Smith or someone active in tertiary education today might

> >offer

> >> >an opinion on the present situation...

> >> >

> >> >The point I'm making is that it ain't necessarily so that lack of

> >education

> >> >equals lack of an informed faith...

> >> >

> >> >If you mean by first world standards, _material_ standards, yes, you

> >might

> >> >have a point. Materialism is probably the greatest enemy of Christian

> >> >commitment (or commitment to any religion, probably)...

> >>

> >> I will say what i like,  if you do not like it that is your

> >> perogrative.

> >>

> >> re your last two para's,  no i did not mean that at all,  the people

> >> who are going to africa as missionaries,  are  just swapping the local

> >> religion for the current Xtian fad.  As the locals come to develop a

> >> more enlightened view to the myths of religion,  like those in the

> >> west,  they will drift away from it.

> >>

> >> as for your point re the tertiary education system,  you are basically

> >> dealing with young people who are still developing their philosophy on

> >> life and are testing the water as it were.

>

> >Not just undergraduates: there were more Christian graduates and staff

per

> >capita than in the population at large...

>

> Let me add something to my previous post.

> The situation has changed a bit now, but around 15 years ago at the

> University of Queensland there were so many ordained Anglican priests

> hold down academic positions from lecturer up to professor and head of

> department that they formed an organisation called the Fellowship of

> St John (after the Anglican Cathedral in Brisbane).  They met

> regularly to share ideas about witnessing and to encourage critical

> thinking about issues from a Christian perspective.

>

> And one of the very strong societies in UK is the SOS - Society of

> Ordained Scientists, consisting of people who, in general, reached

> some high position in the academic world but were then called to be

> ordained.  Some continued their university work and combined it with

> part-time pastoral service, others turned mainly to pastoral work with

> part-time academic involvement.

> One member of this is Arthur Peacocke - see my current .signature

> (also on my last post) for a brief quotation from him.

>

> >> for me on the other hand,  i was forced to attend Sunday School [i am

> >> a child of the late fifties early sixties] at a very young age i saw

> >> it [religion] for what it is:  a fairy story.

>

> >I hope you're able to distance yourself from the coercion here and look

at

> >Christianity objectively...

> >>

> >> kind regards

> >>

> >> bill

> Dr Ken Smith - Christian, husband, unpaid mathematician, skeptic, ...

>    `The activities of cosmologists and theologians have at least this in

>     common: both are assuming that some sense can be made by man of the

>     universe he inhabits ...' Arthur Peacocke