Finding Our Way: Lessons for Christian Universities

In the midst of the ongoing challenges of a pandemic and the financial ramifications of uncertain enrollments, more and more Christian colleges and universities are making short-sighted decisions that prioritize the university’s bottom line over the well-being of students, staff, and faculty. In this volume of the journal, all four articles offer a glimpse into a different way of moving toward the future, but do so by critiquing current practice and encouraging leaders to ground their decisions in foundational elements of the Christian faith. In each article, Christian principles provide a foundation for practical suggestions to address contemporary issues. In their article “The Possible Infusion of Ubuntu and Padeia Values into Neoliberal Tendencies in Higher Education Institutions,” South African authors Johannes L. van der Walt and Izak J. Oosthuizen apply a problem-historical method to their critique of the neoliberal tendencies currently on full display in higher education, particularly in the United States. Neoliberalism is a view of the world in which economic and business principles are valued above all others and are applied indiscriminately to all aspects of life, including education. One consequence of neoliberalism is that education becomes a commodity rather than a common good; as a result, the financial viability of educational programs becomes more important than the communities served or the contribution to society. The authors note that care and compassion have been replaced by self-centered individualism, competition, achievement, and performance. Emphasizing market forces also causes social inequities to be overlooked. As a way of moving forward, they suggest keeping the best principles of neoliberalism, such as stewardship of resources, but infusing principles of ubuntu and padeia into the decisionmaking processes of higher education. The concept of ubuntu developed in sub-Saharan African communities as a guiding ethical principle for being in relationship with one another. Sometimes translated as “I am because we are,” the concept involves a belief in a universal bond that connects all humanity. The authors note that the values incorporated in ubuntu include “human dignity, humanism, empathy, respect, interactive dependency, collective responsibility, peace, friendliness, forgiveness, sharing, a sense of connectedness, altruism, understanding, respect for individual differences, knowledge of self and others, goodness, generosity, and benevolence” (p. 350). When applied to Christian higher education, the principle of ubuntu encourages a shift from individual good to communal good, from competition to collaboration, from exploitation to inclusion, and from economic capital to social capital available to all. The concept of padeia from Greek philosophy, which focuses on the education of the whole person in order to meaningfully serve their community, would lead Christian colleges and universities to not only be good stewards of their resources, but to develop their students as whole persons called to serve Christ in the world. Such institutions would be equally committed to their faculty and staff, as well as the communities they serve, prioritizing flourishing communities and people over a flourishing bottom line.