Quo Vadis, U?

When Christian Universities Lose Faith

Just what is a Christian university? The question is as complex as it is pressing, in no small part because of the increased secularization of higher education. As historians James Turner and Jon Roberts argue in The Sacred and the Secular University (Princeton University Press, 2000), Protestant universities founded on religious principles in the early days of America had, by the late twentieth century, largely abandoned these convictions. This change occurred in the span of about 200 years, a relatively short window of time. Institutions once dedicated to the faith now serve as contemporary temples of secularism.

One would hope that Catholic universities would have a different story....