Numerous recent studies have broadly examined topics related to Christian higher education and the role of faith in scholarship, particularly in light of contemporary trends of secularization. This volume offers a unique approach to the subject with two prominent historians reflecting on their own and each other's traditions.
Evangelicals and Roman Catholics have been responsible for the establishment of many colleges and universities in America, but they have historically taken markedly different approaches to education and viewed one another's efforts with some suspicion. Recent years, however, have seen the development of a more cooperative tone. In this volume, Mark Noll and James Turner offer candid reassessments of the strengths and weaknesses of each tradition.
Taking two distinct but complementary approaches to the subject, Noll and Turner provide enlightening essays that reconsider the present state of Christian learning, what the two most influential sections of American Christianity have to offer one another, and how they might learn from each other. The two authors then respond to one another's essays.
The insightful dialogue of these two influential scholars will be of great interest to anyone involved in higher education or concerned with the role of Christian faith in the modern university.
James Turner (PhD, Harvard University) is the Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, CSC Professor of the Humanities at the University of Notre Dame and the author of
Without God, Without Creed: The Origins of Unbelief in America.
Mark A. Noll (PhD,Vanderbilt University) is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of many books including A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, Turning Points, and Is the Reformation Over?
Thomas Albert Howard (PhD, University of Virginia) is associate professor of history at Gordon College and the author of Religion and the Rise of Historicism.
"Professors Mark Noll and James Turner offer in this small book an illuminating dialogue on the nature of Christian education as well as what and how evangelicals and Catholics may learn from each other. The editor, Thomas Albert Howard, provides an outstanding review of the issues at stake and the importance of the Noll-Turner dialogue. The authors suggest a bold and ambitious vision, one that embodies what should be an uncontroversial premise: scholarship and teaching at a Christian institution of higher learning ought to take seriously the philosophical tapestry of ideas, principles, and beliefs on which the Christian faith rests and from which it offers an account of what is good, true, and beautiful. If evangelicals and Catholics, in true cooperation, can offer this vision to the secular academy, perhaps this will plant the seeds that may result in the ultimate fulfillment of Christ's prayer, 'Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.'" -Francis J. Beckwith, Baylor University
"This volume is a sign of hope in the changing landscape of Catholic and evangelical relationships. And the dialogue it records is a model for many others that need to take place both in the academy and among the churches---candid, insightful, drawing on the wisdom of the past but looking to the future, marked by respect yet filled with hope. That such an exchange should be sponsored by a historic evangelical institution [Gordon College], while no longer surprising, does show how far we have come." -Timothy George, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University
"As they strive to contribute to the production of knowledge and reverse a 'scandalous' reputation for second-rate thinking, what can evangelical Christians learn from the experience of their American Catholic counterparts, who sponsor and staff 225 institutions of higher education in the United States? And how are Catholics usefully challenged by the evangelicals' insistence that 'Christian learning' be incorporated into research, teaching, and the (intentional or inadvertent) character formation that goes on in university settings? The Future of Christian Learning brings together in respectful but lively dialogue two prominent and influential historians of religion's various presences and absences in American higher education to consider these and related questions. The call-and-response format allows Professors Noll and Turner to put their considerable erudition and wisdom to lively and provocative use. They agree on much, but it is their disagreements that make this engaging and enjoyable volume a memorable chapter in a larger, vital conversation about the future of faith-based education." -R. Scott Appleby, University of Notre Dame
"Two formidable historians give generous and critical evaluations of the roles of Catholicism and Protestantism in American education. Living proof of what Catholics and Protestants can learn from each other, Noll and Turner are both personally and professionally invested in their subject. Their contributions---and Thomas Albert Howard's insightful introductory essay---not only explore, but model, the state of 'Christian learning.'" -Joshua Hochschild, Mount St. Mary's University
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