This volume of Prologue consolidates the submissions from two successive Calls for Papers to CUAC members over the past two years. As such, it is indicative of the current concerns of the Anglican colleges and universities.
Furthermore, this volume reflects upon some of the issues to be explored at the coming CUAC Triennial Conference to be held in Canterbury-York in June 2005, on the theme CUAC Across the Communion: Learning Through Each Other’s Living. This volume of Prologue is published prior to the Conference so that these papers can be contributory to the Conference. Some papers, such as those by Sagovsky and Goodlad, are fully refereed, while others are less formal "position papers" for discussion at the Conference and beyond.
Each paper of this volume is driven by a question(s) that the author and/or his/her university feel is critical at this time, and thereby of likely interest to other institutions. As the reader will observe, there are significant thematic interconnections between the submissions.
Nicholas Sagovsky, who will be presenting a keynote address at the Conference on "Modern Culture and Christian Faith", submitted a helpful paper on The Idea of an Anglican Higher Education Institute. This paper was initially written as to assist the Church of England's Board of Education in their exploration of a government White Paper on the future of education, and the subsequent development of the Higher Education Act (UK) of 2004. Sagovsky, recalling J. H. Newman's The Idea of a University, goes back to first principles, and reflects on the way in which God is known in the world, and how that knowledge generates and supports human existence. He raises issues of how the subject matter of education gets determined, whether it includes openness to Christian values and truths, even when some faculty may not see it as their role to raise such matters. He presses the question of who are the providers of modern education, and whether government policy or market realities really should determine the function of a university.
Still on the broad university theme, Sinclair Goodlad takes a conceptual look at the evolution of church college or university in the past hundred years. Examining both the US and UK, he notes that the high proportion of educational institutions founded by the Church for the public and social good have gradually dropped their ecclesial affiliations as they have expanded and become in need of new resources for expansion (public financing). The church colleges that did maintain their church ties have since been faced with real struggles for survival in higher education, both from government bureaucracy and also from competition from much larger regional and research-oriented institutions. Goodlad advocates that church colleges build on what is unique in their identity, their commitment and mission to society. With such orientation, Goodlad proposes their future as being functionally "nested" within other larger colleges or universities.
The issue of Christian education in a secular society in Australia is at the core of Raymond Heslehurst’s questioning paper What is the enterprise? Colleges and Anglican Identity. Within Australia there is no longer a recognition of the role of "godly learning" as a strain of state-supported secular education. This means that surviving church colleges are largely residences, but have started to become known Christian college communities of students and scholars within their larger secular universities. But such Christian and Anglican colleges must be clear about the place where they stand, argues Heslehurst. Such a place is to be concerned with integrating education into the communities which they serve, to be collegial in their common Christian life, and to seek in everything to be, as the apostle Paul wrote, "good to all people".
The issue of where a Christian college stands with regard to its ministry to the society is very much the concern of British Chaplain Mark Chater in his provocative paper, Where truth is told. Mark calls us to pay attention to the political implications of the life, activities, and allegiances of our universities. He cites the example of the University of Central America where the particular role of the Jesuits in that university and that society have had the effect of propelling the university into a place where "truth is expected to be told". The Jesuit martyrs, in defense of human rights, reoriented the university to its humanitarian and spiritual purpose – a purpose not so evident to those outside the country and unaware of the societal issues. For the Salvadorians, truth telling becomes the real way of re-thinking of how academic excellence is achieved, and a more radical way of conceiving university education.
The next paper, Thomas Mhuriro’s, Theological Dearth in Evil Times, raises the provocative issue of social responsibility in a different context and in a different country, Zimbabwe. Noting that a significant population in Zimbabwe is both Christian and Anglican, he regrets that the colonial Anglicanism of that church has taken the stand of social passivity and non-involvement. He proposes taking up the liberation theology of Gustavo Gutierrez towards a radical prophecy capable of challenging the exploitative self-centeredness of Zimbabwe’s politicians and entrepreneurs. Based on insights of human dignity, all of the resources of Zimbabwe, including its valuable minerals, need to be circulated back into society for the well being of the people, rather than exploited and exported by the rich with no regard to the sacred character of God’s creation. This calls for a leadership of courage from Anglican schools and universities, as well as the international help of the member institutions of CUAC.
Another painful social reality is in the focus of Janet Trisk’s article from South Africa on HIV/AIDS. Reflectively titled Healthy Learning, it calls attention to education in a time in her society when there are such a large number of infected people, with huge numbers of new infections taking place daily. What value is placed on education, when its potential students will likely die within 10 or 15 years? Does education for those with HIV/AIDS warrant all the educational opportunities that a healthy man or woman might have? How does the ministry to the victims of HIV/AIDS re-shape the curricula of the theological schools? And how the idea of "health," both spiritual and physical, is redefined in the settings of the epidemic? Trisk suggests that AIDS and the poverty in which it is set to represent the new crucible for a reorientation of education in South Africa, a call to be healthy, to celebrate the goodness of life, to live with hope, and yet…to live with the virus. It is a challenging mandate indeed.
The shift to Asia in the next article by Chaplain Andrew Ng from the Chinese University of Hong Kong transports us from a largely Christian society to one in which Christians are the minority. What is a Christian college to do in such a setting, and how does it live its life? The formula that seems to work at Chung Chi College focuses one the role of the weekly Assembly and the Worship Service set within it, when all faculty and students gather under the leadership of the Chaplain. This sets the tone for the "spiritual aspect" of education, even though a good proportion of the students are not Christian. The author emphasizes the often overlooked objective of the higher education, formation of character. The assembly experience provides an invaluable help in that crucial process. Finally, he asserts that this regular gathering, especially beyond the university and in retrospect, becomes a way by which God is gradually known and recognized.
Similar reflections come from Maher Spurgeon, Chaplain to Madras Christian College in India. The typical Indian chaplaincy model emerged from the role of ship’s chaplain from abroad, who – whether the ship’s captain or only simply the chaplain - , had to address the well-being of the whole ship’s community. Such a heritage, in the highly pluralistic society of modern India, calls for chaplains to be more broadly rooted. This calls on chaplains of colleges to address the socio-economic realities of both students and their societies, to build community, and to address the needs of campuses as a whole.
A final reflection on the role of University Chaplain comes from Sam Portaro, recently retired as Chaplain to the University of Chicago. He sees the shift in the current generation of students on American campuses from being socialized or controlled, to being much more free and consciously on a journey. As a sort of exiled "Whole People of God", this generation looks for integrity and authenticity in its version of the life journey. That means that the Chaplain is going to be engaged in matters of formation, vocation, and in "mentoring" – all as part of a journey in which both the mentor and the mentoree share in discovery from the journey yet contribute their mutuality to contribute to it.
A fascinating journey of reflections this edition is indeed! We look forward to discussing them more through the community of CUAC, the coming Triennial, and the on-going journey we share in being colleges and universities of the Anglican Communion.
Don Thompson,
Editor
Easter, 2005
