Mike Farris:
Dr. Walker, there are so many parents that are desirous of a Christian higher education for their young people but they show up at a supposedly Christian college only to find out that there’s a lot of erosion of Christian principles. What’s going on in that world?
Dr. Graham Walker:
I’m afraid what’s going on in that world is kind of a repeat of what we’ve seen before in higher education earlier in American history. All the great American higher education institutions were originally founded to promote the gospel of Christ and a Christian vision of truth. We know about Harvard and Yale and Princeton and others. Many of today’s crop of Christian colleges were founded to rectify that previous trend. Unfortunately when you look at the typical evangelical campus today you find that a lot of what I call nuance and ambiguity—some people praise that—I think it reflects a confusion about what truth really is. Whether it is objective truth and how we should respond to it.
Mike:
Why are professors abandoning the traditional approach to truth?
Dr. Walker:
I think there’s a certain spiritual psychology to it, Mike. Many professors, even evangelical colleges are trying to live down the fact that they’re born again Christians. I don’t know why that is, but they’re kind of the type of people that wish they could say, “Well, I could be teaching at Harvard although I’m teaching here.” They don’t want to be clear about their commitment to the inerrant Bible. They try and find ways of shading the edges. They just seem uncomfortable with identifying themselves with the Word of God.
Mike: I’m grateful for your leadership in this area of standing true for Christ. I’m Mike Farris.
