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The Idea of a Christian College
This revised edition of a classic text provides a concise case for the role of the Christian college and its distinctive mission and contribution. Holmes has extensively revised several chapters and included two new "Liberal Arts as Career Preparation" and "The Marks of an Educated Person."
131 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1975
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133 people want to read
About the author
Arthur F. Holmes
24 books15 followersArthur Frank Holmes (March 15, 1924 – October 8, 2011) was Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College, Illinois (1951–1994). Before his retirement in 1994, he had served for several decades as Chairman of Wheaton's Department of Philosophy. Thereafter, he held the title of Professor Emeritus. After his retirement, he returned and taught half of the yearlong history of philosophy sequence, particularly the medieval (Augustine to Ockham) and the modern (Descartes to Quine) quarters in 2000-2001.
He became widely known for his body of work on topics related to philosophy, including ethics, philosophy applied to Christian higher education, and historical interactions between Christianity and philosophy. Holmes also has served as a guest lecturer at many colleges, universities, and conferences on these topics.
Holmes was a graduate of Wheaton College, where he earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy. He earned the Ph.D. in philosophy from Northwestern University in Chicago. Reportedly, before he immigrated to the United States in 1947, he had flown for the Royal Air Force in England during World War II.
Holmes died in Wheaton, Illinois, on October 8, 2011, at age 87.
He became widely known for his body of work on topics related to philosophy, including ethics, philosophy applied to Christian higher education, and historical interactions between Christianity and philosophy. Holmes also has served as a guest lecturer at many colleges, universities, and conferences on these topics.
Holmes was a graduate of Wheaton College, where he earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy. He earned the Ph.D. in philosophy from Northwestern University in Chicago. Reportedly, before he immigrated to the United States in 1947, he had flown for the Royal Air Force in England during World War II.
Holmes died in Wheaton, Illinois, on October 8, 2011, at age 87.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 20, 2021
I thought this book had certain parts that were very good, a paragraph or even a sentence that you could pluck out and say "that phrasing is so helpful to my thinking". And then other parts were either silly or trite. (It really isn't a good sign, perhaps, that the revised edition literally opens by saying that some of the language has been revised to placate feminists, and it is unfortunate that the author's own Wheaton College seems to be losing its way as a distinctively Christian institution.)
That said, helpful things to be found here. Perhaps the chapter I most appreciated was the chapter on academic freedom, also about why academic freedom is something Christian and to be valued by the Christian university. If you, like me, see public academia slowly (or not so slowly) restricting academic freedom these days, then the idea that actually, it's an idea with Christian roots, has some explanatory power.
Good thoughts also on the nature of education and its particulars... just what are we trying to do with our Christian school? I'll leave you with two quotations I liked.
"The question to ask about education, then, is not 'What can I do with all this stuff anyway?' because both I and my world are changing, but rather 'What will all this stuff do to me?' This question is basic to the concept of liberal education."
"Reading is of course prerequisite to informed conversation, an art that is often sadly underdeveloped today. Writing is prerequisite to exactness of thought and expression. Together they accomplish what 'discussion' alone can never achieve, unless it is constantly monitored and analyzed by an unusually competent teacher..."
That said, helpful things to be found here. Perhaps the chapter I most appreciated was the chapter on academic freedom, also about why academic freedom is something Christian and to be valued by the Christian university. If you, like me, see public academia slowly (or not so slowly) restricting academic freedom these days, then the idea that actually, it's an idea with Christian roots, has some explanatory power.
Good thoughts also on the nature of education and its particulars... just what are we trying to do with our Christian school? I'll leave you with two quotations I liked.
"The question to ask about education, then, is not 'What can I do with all this stuff anyway?' because both I and my world are changing, but rather 'What will all this stuff do to me?' This question is basic to the concept of liberal education."
"Reading is of course prerequisite to informed conversation, an art that is often sadly underdeveloped today. Writing is prerequisite to exactness of thought and expression. Together they accomplish what 'discussion' alone can never achieve, unless it is constantly monitored and analyzed by an unusually competent teacher..."
August 19, 2013
If you are looking for a book that infuses the idea of what Christian thought/living and scholarship should look like, look no further. This defining piece of work will stretch, challenge, and change the way the Christian scholar had previously gone about their business. At only 104 pages, it is a slim book. However, that is not to say that it is light. This is a heavy read that requires reflection, introspection, and foresight for one's own scholarly journey.
Some of the main themes explored are: the value of a liberal arts education; the value of combining a liberal arts education with Christian thought; the idea of community; the importance of academic freedom (not indoctrination and not strictly empirical data); the importance of not making decisions on experience alone; the importance of a worldview; and, what an educated person looks like after they have combined a liberal arts education with Christian thought.
If you are an educator, I challenge you to read this book. Even if you teach at a secular college, this slim work is valuable if you keep an open-mind.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Some of the main themes explored are: the value of a liberal arts education; the value of combining a liberal arts education with Christian thought; the idea of community; the importance of academic freedom (not indoctrination and not strictly empirical data); the importance of not making decisions on experience alone; the importance of a worldview; and, what an educated person looks like after they have combined a liberal arts education with Christian thought.
If you are an educator, I challenge you to read this book. Even if you teach at a secular college, this slim work is valuable if you keep an open-mind.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
December 1, 2011
This is a very helpful book in thinking through Christian education and its purpose. The chapter on academic freedom was worth the price of the book itself.
April 25, 2019
The Idea of a Christian College by Arthur Holmes is considered a must read in the classical Christian education world. So it was only a matter of time before I got around to reading it. This was given to me, along with a stack of other books on the subject by a family in the town I live in, who at one time were considering planting their own Classical Christian school.
The book lays out a very logical and sequential argument for the Christian College that builds chapter by chapter. In certain chapters there is thought given to describing the differences between what one might assume the author is talking about when he says, “Christian College”, and what being a Christian college should be. He frames the argument with a short discussion on the cultural mandate as laid out in scripture to “rule and subdue” the earth. This provides a biblical justification for the involvement and shaping of culture and further then to bring all thoughts, and governing ideas to the “obedience of Christ.” This walking back of the ideas that form what a Christian college can be, and has been at times— mainly when many Western colleges were founded— is where I found this book most helpful. He often provides an overview of topics such as “Academic Freedom”, or “The Liberal Arts: What and Why”, by giving the popular interpretation of those phrases, where their root came from, why they are important, how they are relevant to our society, and how they can be reformed based on the ideal, and then why they should be incorporated in the Christian college.
The author does a really nice job of showing how contemporary society has strayed from the original intention for some of the wise practices that have been historically associated with colleges. He breaks down how our societal norms have contributed to the loss of the original intentions and how and why they should be recovered.
As someone who teaches at a college and has seen immense changes in them — even in the short span of about ten years — I found this book incredibly encouraging. I’ve also been awakened to hope about what reform could look like in Christian schools. I’m often disheartened by what is occurring in American schools and as an at teacher, what is happening in the liberal arts generally. I’m saddened that our society has lost some of the philosophical frameworks in popular rhetoric about why the liberal arts are important, how they are different from vocational training, and how liberal learning is more foundational to the formation of a person. Arthur argues in the last chapter on the premise that by being trained for a specific career, one is not given the appropriate tools to navigate life as an “educated” person who is able to learn and shift with a society that is forever changing. He writes on the importance of needing instead: spiritual, moral, and intellectual virtues, along with “responsible action.” Responsible action is characterized by conscientiousness, helpfulness, a servantly manner(not servile), decisiveness, self-discipline, persistence and the ability to maintain ones personal and corporate relationships. (Pg. 103)
We’ve all heard the popular quip, “if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense,” and we instinctively know that’s a ridiculous thing to say, but when pressed to give an explanation against the point, many have a difficult time articulating why the liberal arts are valuable. In my estimation this will only become more prevalent as the culture becomes more materialistic. With this in mind, the book “The Idea of a Christian College” may bring hope to those who believe in the liberal arts, the Christian college, academic freedom, and their place and relevance to the contemporary American.
The book lays out a very logical and sequential argument for the Christian College that builds chapter by chapter. In certain chapters there is thought given to describing the differences between what one might assume the author is talking about when he says, “Christian College”, and what being a Christian college should be. He frames the argument with a short discussion on the cultural mandate as laid out in scripture to “rule and subdue” the earth. This provides a biblical justification for the involvement and shaping of culture and further then to bring all thoughts, and governing ideas to the “obedience of Christ.” This walking back of the ideas that form what a Christian college can be, and has been at times— mainly when many Western colleges were founded— is where I found this book most helpful. He often provides an overview of topics such as “Academic Freedom”, or “The Liberal Arts: What and Why”, by giving the popular interpretation of those phrases, where their root came from, why they are important, how they are relevant to our society, and how they can be reformed based on the ideal, and then why they should be incorporated in the Christian college.
The author does a really nice job of showing how contemporary society has strayed from the original intention for some of the wise practices that have been historically associated with colleges. He breaks down how our societal norms have contributed to the loss of the original intentions and how and why they should be recovered.
As someone who teaches at a college and has seen immense changes in them — even in the short span of about ten years — I found this book incredibly encouraging. I’ve also been awakened to hope about what reform could look like in Christian schools. I’m often disheartened by what is occurring in American schools and as an at teacher, what is happening in the liberal arts generally. I’m saddened that our society has lost some of the philosophical frameworks in popular rhetoric about why the liberal arts are important, how they are different from vocational training, and how liberal learning is more foundational to the formation of a person. Arthur argues in the last chapter on the premise that by being trained for a specific career, one is not given the appropriate tools to navigate life as an “educated” person who is able to learn and shift with a society that is forever changing. He writes on the importance of needing instead: spiritual, moral, and intellectual virtues, along with “responsible action.” Responsible action is characterized by conscientiousness, helpfulness, a servantly manner(not servile), decisiveness, self-discipline, persistence and the ability to maintain ones personal and corporate relationships. (Pg. 103)
We’ve all heard the popular quip, “if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense,” and we instinctively know that’s a ridiculous thing to say, but when pressed to give an explanation against the point, many have a difficult time articulating why the liberal arts are valuable. In my estimation this will only become more prevalent as the culture becomes more materialistic. With this in mind, the book “The Idea of a Christian College” may bring hope to those who believe in the liberal arts, the Christian college, academic freedom, and their place and relevance to the contemporary American.
May 8, 2018
It was enlightening to read this and see so much of my own college education down on the page. That was encouraging, as I really think that Holmes has narrowed in on a philosophy of Christian education in this work that is edifying and beneficial and absolutely right in its foundations and where it sees those foundations as leading. This is overall an encouraging, challenging, and useful look at what it is to be involved in Christian education from both student and faculty perspectives. Implementing Holmes's recommendations is not easy--my own educational experience can attest to that--but I believe it is absolutely necessary, and so even though this book does not provide step by step instructions for how to work to change the lives of students, educators, and institutions, the ideas presented here offer glimpses into just how that process might work. Throughout the book Holmes argues that the mark of an educated person is their ability to think creatively for themselves, and the book sets you up well to do just that.
May 18, 2014
I’m still not convinced there is such a thing as “Christian scholarship.” A weak version of the definition of such a thing might be that it is simply the recognition that all scholars carry presuppositions and assumptions into their work. The Christian’s will be Christian and should have the same bearing as a materialist’s, as long as such presuppositions are acknowledged. A stronger version of the definition of Christian scholarship would be that because all truth is God’s truth, all real scholarship is Christian scholarship. Both of these seem to me so wide as to be non-definitions. At the end of the day, Christian scholarship is simply that which is produced by Christian scholars. Much of it cannot be (and should not be) distinguished from the scholarly work of a secular scholar. The only real difference is the life of the person creating it.
In this respect, to me it seems that more important than the question of what is Christian scholarship are questions of what a Christian scholar looks like, what the role of scholarship in the life of the Christian is, and what sort of environment can best cultivate and articulate answers to these questions. It is the last of these questions that Arthur Holmes, a philosopher who spent the majority of his career at Wheaton College, sets out to explore in his book on the nature of Christian education at Christian colleges. (The cover of my edition says that this is a “Philosophy of Chr. Ed for Laymen,” but the cover also looks like it was designed by a seven-year-old, so I’m not sure how seriously to take that designation.)
For Holmes, Christian scholarship depends on the integration of faith and learning. This can happen in many different contexts, but Holmes is writing specifically for one context: that of a Christian liberal arts college. The distinction between a liberal arts college and vocational schools—seminaries or Bible colleges, for instance, in the Christian tradition—is a very important one. A liberal arts education, Holmes explains, is specially suited for the cultivation of Christian scholarship, because it is here that careful philosophical thought is nurtured and Christians develop the tools for a critical examination of both their own assumptions and those of others. A Christian liberal arts college needs to be a place where the virtue-forming aspects of education are emphasized: not “what can this education do for me?” but “what will this education do to me?”
This is a slender, highly accessible volume, similar in size and scope to the more recent “reexamination” of the topic (with the same title) by Reams and Glazer that I reviewed not long ago. Perhaps because I read the Reams/Glazer work first, there was much of the Holmes volume that did not seem new (though Holmes’ prose is sharper, and his philosophical training shows through to good effect in comparison to the latter volume). The primary point of departure between Reams/Glazer and Holmes is that Holmes focuses on a very specific type of institution, while Reams/Glazer attempt to update and expand this to the “Christian research university.”
Holmes’ book, though originally written in the 70s, remains a very relevant challenge and warning to Christian higher education today. This is encapsulated in a quote that Reams and Glanzer re-use as an epigram for one of their own chapters:
A community that argues ideas only in the classroom,
a teacher whose work seems a chore,
a student who never reads a thing beyond what is assigned,
a campus that empties itself of life and thought all weekend,
an attitude that devaluates disciplined study in comparison with rival claimants on time and energy,
a dominant concern for job-preparation
—these can never produce a climate of learning.
At least from my experience, these warnings ring very true.
I found his articulation of the purpose of a liberal arts education most compelling:
The question to ask about education, then, is not, “What can I do with all this stuff anyway?” because both I and my world are changing, but rather “What will all this stuff do to me?” This question is basic to the concept of liberal arts education.
I want my students to understand this. The goal of education is not to present certain bodies of information by the most entertaining, engaging, and effective means possible. There’s nothing wrong with doing this, but that’s vocational training. A liberal arts education is about beginning a conversation—with scholars and texts and ideas—that will continue for life. Not with the goal of getting a certain type of job or certification but with the goal of becoming a certain kind of person.
Holmes also has vital things to say about academic freedom at Christian colleges and the balance between remaining a community of faith and yet not existing to indoctrinate students into a particular school of thought: A college is Christian in that it does its work in a Christian way, not by encouraging an unthinking faith to counterbalance faithless thought. Students and faculty must have the freedom to question and explore with diligence, reason, and humility. In a Christian college this ideal takes place in the context of community. Liberty without loyalty is not Christian, but loyalty without the liberty to think for oneself is not education.
I’d like to think most Christian college administrators and faculty are familiar with this book. I’d really, really like to think that. In the meantime, I’ll be asking my honors students to read portions of it in the fall.
In this respect, to me it seems that more important than the question of what is Christian scholarship are questions of what a Christian scholar looks like, what the role of scholarship in the life of the Christian is, and what sort of environment can best cultivate and articulate answers to these questions. It is the last of these questions that Arthur Holmes, a philosopher who spent the majority of his career at Wheaton College, sets out to explore in his book on the nature of Christian education at Christian colleges. (The cover of my edition says that this is a “Philosophy of Chr. Ed for Laymen,” but the cover also looks like it was designed by a seven-year-old, so I’m not sure how seriously to take that designation.)
For Holmes, Christian scholarship depends on the integration of faith and learning. This can happen in many different contexts, but Holmes is writing specifically for one context: that of a Christian liberal arts college. The distinction between a liberal arts college and vocational schools—seminaries or Bible colleges, for instance, in the Christian tradition—is a very important one. A liberal arts education, Holmes explains, is specially suited for the cultivation of Christian scholarship, because it is here that careful philosophical thought is nurtured and Christians develop the tools for a critical examination of both their own assumptions and those of others. A Christian liberal arts college needs to be a place where the virtue-forming aspects of education are emphasized: not “what can this education do for me?” but “what will this education do to me?”
This is a slender, highly accessible volume, similar in size and scope to the more recent “reexamination” of the topic (with the same title) by Reams and Glazer that I reviewed not long ago. Perhaps because I read the Reams/Glazer work first, there was much of the Holmes volume that did not seem new (though Holmes’ prose is sharper, and his philosophical training shows through to good effect in comparison to the latter volume). The primary point of departure between Reams/Glazer and Holmes is that Holmes focuses on a very specific type of institution, while Reams/Glazer attempt to update and expand this to the “Christian research university.”
Holmes’ book, though originally written in the 70s, remains a very relevant challenge and warning to Christian higher education today. This is encapsulated in a quote that Reams and Glanzer re-use as an epigram for one of their own chapters:
A community that argues ideas only in the classroom,
a teacher whose work seems a chore,
a student who never reads a thing beyond what is assigned,
a campus that empties itself of life and thought all weekend,
an attitude that devaluates disciplined study in comparison with rival claimants on time and energy,
a dominant concern for job-preparation
—these can never produce a climate of learning.
At least from my experience, these warnings ring very true.
I found his articulation of the purpose of a liberal arts education most compelling:
The question to ask about education, then, is not, “What can I do with all this stuff anyway?” because both I and my world are changing, but rather “What will all this stuff do to me?” This question is basic to the concept of liberal arts education.
I want my students to understand this. The goal of education is not to present certain bodies of information by the most entertaining, engaging, and effective means possible. There’s nothing wrong with doing this, but that’s vocational training. A liberal arts education is about beginning a conversation—with scholars and texts and ideas—that will continue for life. Not with the goal of getting a certain type of job or certification but with the goal of becoming a certain kind of person.
Holmes also has vital things to say about academic freedom at Christian colleges and the balance between remaining a community of faith and yet not existing to indoctrinate students into a particular school of thought: A college is Christian in that it does its work in a Christian way, not by encouraging an unthinking faith to counterbalance faithless thought. Students and faculty must have the freedom to question and explore with diligence, reason, and humility. In a Christian college this ideal takes place in the context of community. Liberty without loyalty is not Christian, but loyalty without the liberty to think for oneself is not education.
I’d like to think most Christian college administrators and faculty are familiar with this book. I’d really, really like to think that. In the meantime, I’ll be asking my honors students to read portions of it in the fall.
January 18, 2022
This is a helpful introduction to Christian liberal arts education. Holmes argues how a Christian liberal arts education should be neither rigid indoctrination nor license for relativism. All truth is God’s truth, and students ought to cultivate an appreciation of beauty, truth, justice, and goodness. The liberal arts seeks to produce a living human being, not just a worker design for skills. The Christian student in the liberal arts is to cultivate a strong mind committed first to God. I recommend this book to anyone interested in confessional and critical Christian education.
June 29, 2021
Some might not like Holmes’s approximation of Christian education with liberal arts education, but I see no other logical conclusion. A great quick read that develops a strong vision for the cultivation of the individual from biblical principles and presents them in very clear fashion. This idea of a Christian college is rapidly becoming extinct today, but it should serve as a major wake-up call for anyone who reads it today.
March 18, 2020
An unbelievable defense of the importance of Christian Liberal Arts Education. The book lays out the perfect theory of what education is meant to be. The philosophy behind the arguments is mind-blowing. Reading this book will greatly enrich any reader.
November 7, 2017
Most of the chapters are great. The first four are home runs. You can read the final, six-page chapter by itself for a concentrated shot of Holmes' exciting vision of a good education.
Read
October 23, 2023Read for school.
April 16, 2024
Very dense, thought-provoking, and inspiring.
April 30, 2012
This is a book from a clearly conservative perspective. The author sees college in its primary educational role and does not much address the social or personal maturation role of college. This is ok, because it seems to me that most of what a college should do is developt the education and not the social or emotional person, though these cannot be neglected. The author knows he is writing for a limited audience, but he does not kowtow to the prejudices of that readership. He, for example, strongly emphasizes that the college is not the church and does not serve the "defense of the faith" function of the Church.
I like Holmes' insistence that the college needs academic freedom both to teach and to learn, to explore the world and report on what it finds, not so much to judge as to evaluate. In this regard, he is typically idealistic as an academic. Since so many of our children are expanding the borders of their families to attend college in the first place, we cannot expect their non-college educated parents to understand the nuance of the difference between a class in theology and their own church-based theological experience. This seems to me to be a constant tension the Christian College will face.
His insistence on a liberal education, a generalist approach to learning is very good in that it does have as its aim to develop in a humanist way, but not in a secular way. Rather, he constantly revisits the moral, ethical, spiritual and biblical responsibility of the Christian educator to nurture an intellectual framework that accepts not just empirical but revelatory knowledge, an epistemology that is difficult to maintain with a consistent integrity.
Read it if you are a Christian educator or aspire to be one, even if you are not in a Christian institution. I could only wish that a book that introduced the student to the idea of liberal and Christian education as a value the way this one does for educators.
I like Holmes' insistence that the college needs academic freedom both to teach and to learn, to explore the world and report on what it finds, not so much to judge as to evaluate. In this regard, he is typically idealistic as an academic. Since so many of our children are expanding the borders of their families to attend college in the first place, we cannot expect their non-college educated parents to understand the nuance of the difference between a class in theology and their own church-based theological experience. This seems to me to be a constant tension the Christian College will face.
His insistence on a liberal education, a generalist approach to learning is very good in that it does have as its aim to develop in a humanist way, but not in a secular way. Rather, he constantly revisits the moral, ethical, spiritual and biblical responsibility of the Christian educator to nurture an intellectual framework that accepts not just empirical but revelatory knowledge, an epistemology that is difficult to maintain with a consistent integrity.
Read it if you are a Christian educator or aspire to be one, even if you are not in a Christian institution. I could only wish that a book that introduced the student to the idea of liberal and Christian education as a value the way this one does for educators.
February 4, 2015
Interesting read. Holmes makes some helpful points. I wish I had read this before I had begun my liberal arts education.
“The educated Christian should approach life as a reformer, not just standing around wringing her hands in dismay, nor marching out in disgust to set up a separate Christian enclave, but working within the structure of things to change it for the better. She has learned that justice and compassion, the makings of social righteousness, belong in the work place where she stands as a representative of God’s kingdom.” (p. 41)
“The Christian scholar is likely to be a better scholar for being a Christian than one would be otherwise. The comparison is . . . between the one individual as Christian and the same person as non-Christian. The reason, says Trueblood, is motivation, for the Christian faith is the sworn enemy of all intellectual dishonesty and shoddiness.” (p. 48)
“The educated Christian should approach life as a reformer, not just standing around wringing her hands in dismay, nor marching out in disgust to set up a separate Christian enclave, but working within the structure of things to change it for the better. She has learned that justice and compassion, the makings of social righteousness, belong in the work place where she stands as a representative of God’s kingdom.” (p. 41)
“The Christian scholar is likely to be a better scholar for being a Christian than one would be otherwise. The comparison is . . . between the one individual as Christian and the same person as non-Christian. The reason, says Trueblood, is motivation, for the Christian faith is the sworn enemy of all intellectual dishonesty and shoddiness.” (p. 48)
July 9, 2011
A classic book on how Christian education ought to be. Holmes does a great job balancing philosophy with application. This book is a must read for both students who attend a Christian College and the professors who teach them.
CB
CB
September 20, 2013
A really helpful book for understanding the purpose of the Christian liberal arts education.
Not a super-enjoyable read, though. A little dry. I took issue with a few of his claims, which came across as too absolute or elitist... Or maybe just western-centric.
Not a super-enjoyable read, though. A little dry. I took issue with a few of his claims, which came across as too absolute or elitist... Or maybe just western-centric.
Read
June 24, 2015I'm teaching Christain Mind this fall :)
Read
November 21, 2009None
August 12, 2010
I had to read this my Freshman year at UMHB. I didn't necessarily agree with everything in it, and it seemed to slant history toward backing its arguments. That's all I remember about it, though.
July 26, 2014
Great argument for what a Christian college should be--why it exists, why it is necessary, how it should relate to things like academic freedom.
January 13, 2015
This is a superb, well-argued case for a Christian liberal arts education. Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews