Bill Davis's In All Things Christ Preeminent

Before coming to Eastern, I attended a Christian School for a majority of my life. When I entered high school the first thing we learned about was a Biblical Worldview. We were taught using the same main points: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration (one added by my school). After understanding what that worldview was we were challenged with the “Now What”. We were taught that our purpose was to Glorify God which was possible by Seeking Truth, Stewarding Creation, and Serving Others. This has become the foundation of my faith and what I see as my life purpose. Since these beliefs are so important to me, I wanted to further my education somewhere where these ideas were accepted, but could also be grown upon. When Ostrander talked about unity throughout the entirety of a school that related to why I wanted to go to a Christian college.

The word “Christian” in Colorado Christian University is more than just a belief shared amongst the Faculty and Student Body. It is the foundation on which all aspects of the educational experience are built. Beginning with a strong Statement of Faith, which aligns with core beliefs of the National Association of Evangelicals, the University proclaims its belief “in the Bible as being the only authoritative Word of God, that God exists in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as belief in the salvation and resurrection that is only found in Christ Jesus” (Statement of Faith at Colorado Christian University, n.d.).

The first fifty years of the 20th century proved to be hard on Cedarville. The college’s trustees tried several times to revitalize the college before realizing Cedarville was not sustainable any longer. The trustees had to choose between finding a college to merge with and closing down entirely. While Cedarville’s trustees were facing this decision, the trustees at Baptist Bible Institute in Cleveland were looking for a

“On a Christian Mission to the Top” by Laurie Goodstein and David Kirkpatrick deals with the controversial topic of religion, primarily the rise of evangelicals to the top of the social classes and their influence. The essay opens with a description of the differing religious groups in Brown University, originally a Protestant Christian school. After evangelicals surpassed other denominations of Christianity, the societal and political perspectives of America shifted to support Evangelism views. Goodstein and Kirkpatrick examine the attempt to sway colleges to evangelist perspectives. While I wholeheartedly encourage the freedom of religion, I do not support this attempt at mass conversion or the refusal of accepting of other cultures.

In reading Bill Davis’ book, In All Things Christ Preeminent, it is evident that receiving an education at Covenant College will be a unique spiritual and intellectual experience. With Christ present in all areas of the school, the structure of the college and what it as an institution aspires to accomplish varies greatly from that of the high school I attended. Based on the Christ-like goals, instruction, and student body of Covenant College depicted in In All Things Christ Preeminent, receiving an education from Covenant seems vastly different from my secular experience at LaFayette High School.

This semester, as a class, we have peeled away the layers of what evangelicalism and fundamentalism means throughout history, especially in our Western culture. I am intrigued with them both and their very presence in many of our modern-day congregations, as well as the secular parts of our society. After visiting Grace Covenant Church of Austin, Texas, many of the attributes that have been emphasized in books such as Rediscovering an Evangelical Heritage by Donald Dayton and American Apocalypse by Matthew Sutton, I experienced while visiting Grace.

TWU argued that contrary to the LSUC’s belief, the school’s Covenant does not obstruct anybody’s Charter rights; as a private institution TWU it is not required to follow Charter obligations which means that the Covenant does not infringe upon human rights legislation. Therefore, the LSUC must protect and accommodate the Charter rights of TWU and the members of its religious community. Since it is operating in the private sphere, TWU has the right to incorporate religious views into a student’s education and provide a learning environment that prioritizes religious freedom.

Every Sunday my mother would force me into my church dress with the itchy lace, and white ankle-socks with the big, puff bow. We would walk into St. John A.M.E. Church and sit in age-old pews, singing Negro Spirituals that I had not yet learned to appreciate. Growing up, church consisted of sermons, praise, and family. For years I would automatically participate in the church activities and youth-group service projects, taking the many lectures about education a grain of salt. However, I never understood the true meaning of service and the importance of education until I learned about the history of Huntsville, Alabama. The founder of St. John African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, and the founder of Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AAMU), William Hooper Councill, truly exemplified what it meant to serve his community.

The first important concept for Ridgeview Christian School is their mission statement (p. 164). Without their values and mission they would not be set apart from a public school. They have several components of their mission statement and some are as follows: Biblical Worldview-“We aim to teach our students to see the world as God intended, through the lens of the truth of the Bible through every academic subject” (Ridgeview). A second component of their vision is to train students to use their critical thinking skills and not just memorize information. Ridgeview also likes to partner with the families of their students so that their Biblical principles are supported and reinforced at home as well. Like Worth says “Mission is everything to a nonprofit organization” (Worth, 2014) and that is why it is so important for not just Ridgeview but any non-profit.

This paper explores the history of Charleston Southern University located in the heart of the Lowcountry in Charleston, South Carolina. With its core Christian values, Charleston Southern achieves an atmosphere that most universities cannot. The history of this school can be pinpointed back to 1964 when it was initially founded (University History and Milestones, 2015). The early years were fairly rough, with low enrollment rates and very few majors being offered (Joslin, Merkling, & Strubel, 2014). However, the university went through countless changes that drove it to be the successful school that it is today. Now, Charleston Southern University is an academically excellent school and also a member of the NCAA Division I Big South Conference. This school started as merely an idea and expanded into a thriving university full of thousands of students.

A school in the colony follows specific standards to teach children reading and writing in order to understand the bible. In the forthcoming years these children will become the ministers. Colleges such as Harvard named after John Harvard were a priority in this society. Laziness towards schoolwork or anything is frowned upon as well. One should work their hardest in order to achieve what is best for the community and future to come.

According to Littlejohn and Evans (2006), “The purpose of Christian education is always twofold, we want our students to grow spiritually, intellectually, and socially, and we want them to foster similar growth in society” (p. 18). This sums up the Christian liberal arts philosophy. Therefore, a Christian liberal education should be useful and practical. The goal of every Christian is to be like Christ and to serve others just like Christ did. While a traditional liberal arts scholar serves others out of duty to community, a Christian liberal arts scholar serves out of love for the Lord. So, the Christian liberal arts education should build the human person by fundamentally changing who they are and what they, preparing and equipping them for the good work.

In Langston Hughes 's autobiographical anecdote, “Salvation,” the author reflects on his childhood, and also examines the basis on which his religious views were founded. Hughes 's nonfiction piece, written in adulthood, allows him to look back on his past and reconsider what he learned about salvation, as well as organized religion and conformity, as a child. Because of this inquiry, he begins to question the ways in which adults pressure young people to conform to their views of religion, even without having the deep feeling of faith required. When people are young, they are often asked to conform to roles that they don’t really understand or think deeply about, and religious duty is thus carried on without a lot of free will. Langston Hughes divulges the hypocrisy and the fraudulent faith of the Church and its indoctrinated members through irony and his own indoctrination into his damning salvation. The church service pressures and bullies young Hughes into falsifying his salvation. This ceremony proves that the church values tradition over faith.

Catholic Schools are educational institutions that are devoted to teaching and developing young individuals under the faith and guidance of Jesus Christ (Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia, 2009). Central to the vision of Catholic schools is the belief that Jesus is in the heart of all young Catholic believers (CECWA, 2009). Therefore in order to fulfil the mission and proclaim the gospel students are required to learn about how to live out the life that God intended through the lessons of Jesus Christ (CECWA, 2009). This paper aims to outline unique features that distinguish Catholic education from that of other educational institutions through linking peer-reviewed sources to a school based analysis. The school that will be

Achieving high grades and doing well in school has previously been attributed to knowledge of Biblical learning. In his article “The relationship between Biblical literacy, academic achievement, and school behavior…,” William Jeynes talks about how a study was completed by 160 students who were grades 7th through 12th. The student’s Biblical knowledge was tested. The end results proved to be that the students with the highest level of Biblical knowledge also had the highest grade point averages and portrayed the best behavior of students from both public and Christian schools (p. 102-106).