In an increasingly homogeneous higher education landscape, does organizational identity still matter? Specifically, church-related higher education has experienced seismic shifts since the mid-1960s. Framed by emerging research on organizations and theories of isomorphism, this book traces the forty-year narratives of three colleges of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America--Concordia College, Gettysburg College, and Lenoir-Rhyne University. Are these schools seeking to preserve their religious identities, and if so, what organizational strategies are supporting these efforts? In-depth personal interviews, rigorous document analysis, and thoughtful observation give voice to the three stories detailed in College Identity Sagas. For those interested in distinctive colleges, religiously affiliated higher education, and organization and institutional theories, this book is a vital resource.
Lutheran colleges and universities occupy a distinctive space in American higher education. In an age where the dividing line between sacred and secular has become blurred, Brian Beckstrom argues that their "rooted and open" approach, combined with adaptive theological leadership, could be the best hope for faith based higher education. To do so, he provides an overview of Lutheran higher education, its history, and identity, and combines surveys of students, faculty, and staff at Lutheran institutions with leadership theory and theological reflection. Leaders at Lutheran colleges and universities will find it to be helpful in understanding their mission, identity, and vocation in a secular age, and navigating the changing cultural environment that challenges the church and higher education alike.
This book explores the importance, and construction, of ethnic identity among college students, and how ethnicity interfaces with students’ interactions on campus, and the communities in which they live. Based on qualitative interviews with White, Latina/o, African American and Asian students, it captures both the college context and the individual experiences students have with their ethnicity, through the immediacy of the students’ own voices.The authors observe how students negotiate their ethnic identity within the process of becoming adults. They identify the influences of family, the importance of socio-historical forces that surround students’ educational experiences, and the critical role of peers in students’ ethnic identity development. While research has begun to document the positive outcomes associated with diverse learning environments, this study emphasizes and more closely delineates, just how these outcomes come to be. In addition, the study reveals how the freedom to express and develop ethnic identity, which multicultural environments ideally support, promotes student confidence and achievement in ways which students themselves can articulate. This work is distinctive in eschewing an ethnic minority perspective through which Whites are the primary reference group, and the standard from which all ethnic and racial identity processes evolve; as well as in considering the influences that growing up in a multi-ethnic context may have on ethnic identity processes, particularly where the “other” is not White. This perspective is particularly important at a time when students entering universities are more likely to come from highly segregated high school environments, and will confront ethnic and social differences for the first time in college.This book is intended as a resource for researchers and practitioners in psychology and higher education. It offers insights for student affairs and higher education administrators and leaders about the ways in which their campus policies and practices can positively influence the development of more supportive campus climates that draw on the strengths of each ethnic group to create an overarching pluralistic culture. It can also serve as a cultural diversity text for upper division or graduate courses on pluralism. Moreover, understanding students’ ethnic identity, their personal growth, and adjustment to college, it is central to preparing individuals for life in a pluralistic society.
The institutional history of Ginling College is arguably a family history. Ginling, a Christian, women's college in Nanjing founded by Western missionaries, saw itself as a family. The school's leaders built on the Confucian ideal to envision a feminized, Christian family—one that would spread Christianity and uplift the family that was the Chinese nation. Exploring the various incarnations of the trope of the "Ginling family," Jin Feng takes a microscopic view by emphasizing personal, subjective perspectives from the written and oral records of the Chinese and American women who created and sustained the school. Even when using more seemingly ordinary official documents, Feng seeks to shed light on the motives and dynamic interactions that created them and the impact they had on individual lives. Using this perspective, Feng questions the standard characterization of missionary higher education as simply Western cultural imperialism to show a process of influence and cultural exchange.
The spiritual decay of nominalism threatens the established church worldwide. While spiritual lethargy is often addressed from the perspective of theology and discipleship, little attention has been given to the role of homiletics in revitalizing a congregation’s spiritual health. In this study, Dr. Johnson Raih explores the impact of preaching on members of Baptist churches in Imphal, Manipur, India, from 2000 to 2015. He utilizes interviews and questionnaires from pastors, church leaders, and lay members to assess the presence of nominalism within church congregations, along with the effects of various preaching methods on increasing or decreasing spiritual vitality. Combining this qualitative research with scriptural and theological insight, Raih suggests that expository preaching has the power to confront, and even eradicate, nominalism within the church. He draws on biblical examples, along with the methodology of John Stott and Timothy Keller, to offer ten practical recommendations for countering nominalism homiletically – whether in Imphal, India, or around the world.
From the founding of Harvard College in 1636 as a mission for training young clergy to the landmark 1968 Supreme Court decision in Epperson v. Arkansas, which struck down the state's ban on teaching evolution in schools, religion and education in the United States have been inextricably linked. Still today new fights emerge over the rights and limitations of religion in the classroom. The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education brings together preeminent scholars from the fields of religion, education, law, and political science to craft a comprehensive survey and assessment of the study of religion and education in the United States. The essays in the first part develop six distinct conceptual lenses through which to view American education, including Privatism, Secularism, Pluralism, Religious Literacy, Religious Liberty, and Democracy. The following four parts expand on these concepts in a diverse range of educational frames: public schools, faith-based K-12 education, higher education, and lifespan faith development. Designed for a diverse and interdisciplinary audience, this addition to the Oxford Handbook series sets for itself a broad goal of understanding the place of religion and education in a modern democracy.
This book highlights the strategic deployment of a straight identity by an LGBT organization. Cortese explores the ways in which activists strategically use a "straight" identity as a social movement tool in order to successfully achieve the movement objectives.
More than simply a vital collection development tool, this book can help librarians help young adults grow into the kind of independent readers and thinkers who will flourish at college.
