A Distinctive Christian University
SPRING SEMESTER OPENING SESSIONS – JANUARY, 2022
BRIAN STOGNER, PH.D.
As we roll headlong into 2022, Rochester Christian University is poised on the brink of some remarkable opportunities and faced with some daunting challenges. All around us we see sweeping social and cultural conflicts, and a populace polarized along political, ethnic, economic, generational, and about any other lines you can imagine. As we face this environment, Rochester Christian University stands in a unique place. We continue to steward and foster an institution that was founded by people of faith and vision over 60 years ago. In those six-plus decades, with the help of God, we have impacted and changed thousands of lives. We have weathered some horrific storms. We have grown and changed as an institution. Every reasonable person would
acknowledge that change and adaptation is vital for survival, for either a species or a university. However, not all would agree that the paths we have taken and the changes we have made have always been for the best. We’ve had some stumbles and some growing pains. But, we now find ourselves with opportunities and real hope for a bright future.
One key adaptation in the life of Rochester Christian University has been to become a more religiously inclusive institution. RCU was founded by members of the Church of Christ and for most of its history, all of those who led the institution, including administrators, full-time faculty, key staff members, trustees, and primary supporters were from that religious group. Students from the Church of Christ were the primary prospects for admissions counselors. We still owe, and always will owe a great debt of gratitude to those founding visionaries. However, as the institution developed to face a changing world, it became an organization less exclusively led by, taught by, and attended by individuals from the Church of Christ and, across the spectrum from
trustees to students, became more religiously diverse within the context of the broader Christian community.
This evolution has allowed RCU to grow and prosper in ways that it otherwise never could have, but it has left some feeling confused and unmoored from the traditions that guided us, defined us, and formed our identity. Some would go so far as to say that it has created an institutional identity crisis. Whether you would accept that extreme a description of our situation or not, it is clearly time now (perhaps past time) in the life of the institution to be more intentional and strategic in addressing, clarifying, and communicating our identity. How can we go forward, mindfully rooted in and honoring our heritage, while also dealing with new realities in the world around us that require us to move beyond that heritage? My remarks today are an attempt to begin the process of clearly and intentionally asserting our institutional identity, to begin to more directly and comprehensively answer the question, “Who are we?” Our goal is to be a distinctive Christian university. “Distinctive” is a dangerous word. (One of the great ironies in higher education is that everyone is trying to be unique in essentially the same ways.) To be truly distinctive in the ways that are important would mean for us to be:
- Nonsectarian and interdenominational.
- Rooted in a history and heritage that informs and guides us.
- Engaging constructively with the diverse and rapidly changing perspectives in our post-denominational and in many ways post-Christian culture.
- Firmly rooted in the commitment that Jesus is Lord and guided by the Truth of the gospel story.
Allow me to articulate the beginnings of what those things mean in our context. Our heritage (the heritage of the Church of Christ) is in the Stone-Campbell Movement, which had its beginnings on the United States frontier in the early 19th century. This movement conceptualized and proclaimed an arguably noble attempt to accomplish both unity and restoration of the church. Though I believe all reasonable people would agree that neither of those ideals has been realized, the best elements of that heritage still provide a helpful set of guiding principles for us today. One of those key principles is the theologically and socially profound notion of the Lord’s Supper as an open table. Because Jesus is the host, his hospitality is open to all who are willing to come. Consistent with that heritage principle, Rochester Christian University will strive to exemplify the spirit of the open table. RCU exists to provide “a rigorous and holistic education” that prepares students for personal and professional success as they serve and participate in God’s mission in the world. Such an objective entails with it (among other things) a relentless pursuit of truth (which makes the epistemic presumption that such a thing as truth both exists and is discoverable,) and devotion to practices of discernment that engage, involve, and respect the voices and perspectives of the entire community. So, at RCU, anyone of any stripe who is willing to sit at this metaphorical table with us, will be extended the hospitality and welcome of the Table of the Lord, as together we pursue truth, a rigorous and holistic education, and participation in God’s mission in the world.
That principle creates for us a foundation for our emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion. It means we will be welcoming and inclusive of all believers and unbelievers, all races and ethnicities, all political persuasions, all socioeconomic statuses, all orientations, and citizens of every nation. As we create and foster that inclusive and welcoming environment, we will strive to keep in front of us the reminder that it is because Jesus is Lord, that we emulate his model of hospitality, welcome, and inclusion. If we do this, we will encounter others (and already have encountered them) who embrace a life narrative that is different from the Christian story. That difference will produce deep variations in perspectives, values, and practices. Again, in the spirit of the open table (which reflects the Golden Rule and the greatest commandments) as an institution, we will welcome and value these differences and the people who embody them, while continuing to speak and live the truth as we understand it. We will treat these differences with civility, respect, and grace, and will leave the judgment to God. It will be this welcoming, loving, inclusivity, that will help us to establish a credible voice to speak into this polarized and post-Christian world. How we do that speaking and living can also be rooted in our Stone-Campbell/Restoration heritage. One of the foundational principles of that faith tradition was an emphasis on “the priesthood of all believers.” This precept carries with it the idea that even though God’s people are always intended to exist and thrive in community, we all bear an individual responsibility to “work out” our relationship with God. Wedded to that idea is the belief that scripture, rightly interpreted and appropriately discerned with the guidance of the Holy Spirit would serve as the primary guide for the formation and health of that relationship and would also foster the unity of believers. The implications of these principles and their connection to the inclusivity of the open table are particularly significant for us.
One major implication is that we will recognize that our view of scripture has itself been shaped and formed by our own religious and philosophical traditions and our traditions differ from those of others. Thus, we recognize that even though “sola scriptura” is a foundational principle for many of our traditions, it is difficult in the extreme to truly formulate our guiding tenets on “scripture alone,” in the absence of our respective cultural biases, ecclesial traditions, hermeneutical practices, and (as the psychologist in me cannot refrain from pointing out) our individual inclinations and personality differences. What all of this suggests is that our convictions about God and faith must be held dearly and firmly, but with humility. Further, our guiding principle must be, as one person put it, that there is one inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God, and his name is Jesus. It is to his authority and to his teachings and example that we will point and that will guide us in our pursuit of truth. If we truly are to be guided by the teachings and example of Jesus in the development and clarification of our institutional identity, we must face and embrace the compellingly “upside down” nature of the kingdom he established. Jesus stood with and for the poor, the marginalized, the ostracized, as one songwriter put it, “the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on.” So, we will strive to stand with and for those folks, too. A key element of what that will mean for us is to recognize that there is a fundamental incompatibility between calling a university “Christian,” while also creating institutional admission policies and pricing that prevent anyone but the socioeconomically and/or academically elite from entering. So, among other things, being a distinctive Christian university means we must do all we can to keep our price of attendance as low as we feasibly can. And we must ensure that we have avenues for admission and both curricular and co-curricular support systems that allow academically capable but underprepared and underprivileged or otherwise disadvantaged students to both gain access and have a realistic hope for success.
If we think carefully and communicate well, a clear sense of the core values that will guide us and how they play themselves out in our daily work in the service of the RCU mission and vision will emerge. To cite some examples, our emphasis on vocation springs from our conviction that life has purpose and meaning, and our participation in God’s mission calls us to find and develop that vocation in ourselves and others, that we may all participate richly. The importance of rigorous scholarship, inspiring pedagogy, and individualized attention to students flow from a calling to excellence in the service of God and love for his children. Valuing science, the humanities, professional studies, as well as biblical and theological studies arise from our recognition that these are all gracious sources and repositories of God’s truth. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to address the most recent graduates of our Master’s program. We talked about the biblical message that the kingdom of God is both a current reality in the present and an ideal not fully realized until some unknown future. It is both now and not yet. We all live in that eschatological tension, whether we know it or not, but there are some people, among them our MRE graduates, who are pushing the envelope of that coming kingdom, living into vocations that hasten the coming of a more fully realized kingdom, replete with those upside-down values, and open table hospitality that we’ve discussed today. I would suggest that RCU exists to develop and foster those kingdom envelope-pushers. And as part of this community, it calls you to be one, as well. I invite you to join me in the pursuit of that mission.
