Engaging the Culture, Changing the World

by Eaton, Philip W.

• ISBN13: 9780830839292
• ISBN10: 0830839291
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-07-30
• Publisher: Ivp Academic

Summary

Drawing on the social critical thinking of Lesslie Newbigin, Richard Hays, Walter Brueggemann, Richard Mouw, Richard John Neuhaus, Charles Taylor and James Davison Hunter, Philip W. Eaton proposes an alternative idea of the Christian university that aims to equip students for responsible engagement in our post-Christian context. Going against the mainstream of Christian higher education, Eaton envisions a place that considers engagement and interaction with culture to be a positive priority.Going against the mainstream of secular higher education, Eaton envisions a place where the grand narrative of the Christian gospel is affirmed as a life-giving response to the critical issues of our day.We need not resign ourselves to exile on the margins of society nor blend in with the pervasive secular society.Engaging the Culture, Changing the Worldforesees a third way: the Christian university that stands in distinction and compassion, a community that models human flourishing to the world.

Author Biography

Philip W. Eaton (Ph.D., Arizona State University) is president of Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington. He spent years in the classroom as a professor of literature, sojourned in business for a time and returned to Christian higher education in leadership. He has served on the national boards of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the Christian College Consortium.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	p. 7
Introduction: The Christian University in a Time of Exile	p. 11
Engaging the Culture, Changing the World	p. 21
The Stories We Tell: The American University in Crisis	p. 30
Negotiating a World of Colliding Maps	p. 40
What Happens When We Simply Don't Know What to Say?	p. 47
Campus Life Without a Guiding Story	p. 53
The Red T-shirt and the Dinner-Table Drama	p. 59
The Presumption of Unbelief and the Consequences	p. 67
A World Without Easter	p. 80
Something We've Never Seen Before	p. 92
The City and That Ever-Elusive Certainty	p. 98
Shattering Fixed Conclusions: The Power of the Imagination	p. 105
The Gospel and Cultural Engagement	p. 119
Paul's Explosive Vision	p. 128
Restoring Communities of Trust	p. 140
Embracing the Christian Story	p. 150
Modeling Vibrant Christian Community	p. 159
An Alternative History, An Alternative University	p. 170
A Story of Human Flourishing and the Work of the University	p. 180
Conclusion: Veritatis Splendor	p. 188
Bibliography	p. 198
Index	p. 205
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