When Mission and Academia Collide

Dr. Anthony Le Donne’s departure from Lincoln Christian University has created quite a buzz on the internet.  The attempt is being made to make Dr. Le Donne a martyr for intellectual freedom.  I am not so sure that this is the heart of the matter, but in Dr. Le Donne’s own words:

“I am writing with disappointing news. After over a year of pressure from Lincoln Christian University donors, concerned citizens, and certain employees, the president of the university has decided to terminate my employment. I have been told that this decision is in direct response to the publication of my popular-level book, Historical Jesus (Eerdmans, 2011). I have no doubt that the LCU administration made a staunch effort on my behalf, but eventually needed to assuage the fears of (what I am told) is a largely anti-intellectual constituency.”[1]

Sometimes I am too flippant.  This can become a hindrance when I have the opportunity to do good and instead try to be funny.  At least two opportunities were presented to me during my time at Lincoln Christian University.  Both took place in group settings.  The first was a “think-tank” session where several seminary students, past and present, were asked to reflect on a possible change in the school’s name from Lincoln Christian College and Seminary to Lincoln Christian University.  We were asked by the school president what questions we might have.  My only question at the time was, “How much more per hour will it cost me to have the word ‘university’ on my degree?”  See?  Flippant.  (Although I was paying $500 a credit hour before I finally earned my MDiv!)  I should have instead asked, “What will this mean for Lincoln Christian’s emphasis on being a sending school and remaining true to her identity as a Restoration Movement institution?”

Another opportunity came during my exit interview from the seminary about this time last year.  This interview took place in a group setting (I guess in order to save time).  The usual questions were asked, the usual pat answers, for the most part, were given.  Finally, the inevitable closing question was asked:  “If you could be president of the university for a day, what would you do?”  My (paraphrased) answer to that question was:  “I’d be more interested in keeping this institution’s focus on being a sending school rather than in expanding its academic reputation and options.”  My response was met with instant opposition from several of my peers.  Generally speaking, the negative reaction could be summed up as (1) we need Christians in all vocations, (2) and Lincoln needs to pursue academic excellence.  To both of these assertions I agree.  Not just being flippant but also a people-pleaser, I refrained from elaborating on their responses with the two immediate thoughts that came to mind.

First of all, if someone wants to get a business degree and then actually get hired, one ought to go somewhere that offers a business degree that is respected in the business world.  Yes, we need Christians in every vocation (well, save for exotic dancing, pornography, telemarketing, and other unsavory entrepreneurial fields—only slightly joking about the telemarketing, by the way), but when we turn a school whose focus is preparing men and women for Christian vocation into a school that tries to “be all things to all people,” the school quickly loses its identity.  This has happened again and again to schools within our particular movement.  Bethany College is a prime example.  Founded by Alexander Campbell in 1840, it makes no claim to being a sending school or a Restoration Movement institution today:  “The College's program of classical liberal arts education prepares students for a lifetime of work and a life of significance. Bethany places particular emphasis on leadership and incorporates pre-professional education in dentistry, engineering, law, medicine, physical therapy, public administration, theology and veterinary medicine.” [2]  There’s also Butler University, Texas Christian University, and Pepperdine, to name a few other institutions founded by our movement but who have now all but lost their identity as a Restoration Movement schools.

There’s a reason we have Christian campus ministries, and it’s not just to evangelize students who do not know Christ.  Campus ministries ought to also exist in order to provide college students pursuing non-vocational ministries a place to preserve and nurture their faith while swimming the strong currents of secular academia.

So if a Christian is seeking a non-vocational ministry field, I would point them to a secular liberal arts school with a strong campus ministry presence, a Christian liberal arts school that has a reputation for generating graduates who excel in the particular vocational field the prospective student is seeking, or a Christian sending school that partners with a secular liberal arts school to provide its students with vocational diversity.  I would not recommend that a student who wants to be a businessperson go to a school known for preparing men and women for vocational ministry.

Secondly, pursuing academic excellence and embracing viewpoints that are destructive to one’s stated mission do not have to coexist.  Many of Dr. Le Donne’s supporters have accused the school of sacrificing academic freedom/excellence in making this move.  Any institution has the right to maintain standards by which it is able to carry out its stated mission, so academic “freedom” is limited in any institution of higher learning.  (Just ask intelligent design advocates who have been canned from secular schools!)  There has been a lot of dancing around the issue by these same people concerning Dr. Le Donne’s book, but the fact of the matter is he does implicitly challenge several key Christian doctrines when his position is taken to its inevitable conclusion.  John Hobbins says it well when he sympathetically responds to a pro-Le Donne blog post:

“LeDonne challenges the tacit (not necessarily the real: you will appreciate the distinction) epistemological foundations of broad swathes of Christendom. 

“Moreover, at least not in the book in question, he does not offer a cogent alternative epistemology whereby a believer in Jesus in the sense of Philippians 2, Romans 1, or John 1, to cite confessional statements from the NT, would have justified belief.

“Am I missing something? 

“LCU's mission statement is plain as punch. Whereas I am convinced that LeDonne is an excellent scholar, it is not clear to me that he was contributing well to the objectives of the institution which hired him unless he also articulated a religious epistemology (a rationale of justified belief) compatible with his findings as a NT scholar.

“Since I have some knowledge of the tradition LCU represents, I would add that this would appear from the outside to have been a train wreck just waiting to happen.

“Here's hoping that an institution that relates to a more post-modern polity (in the positive sense!) picks up this fine scholar.” [3]

I was one who expressed my concern about Lincoln Christian University’s direction when approached by an official representative of the school.  The interesting thing about the conversation is that Dr. Le Donne was not even on my mind, but his was the name that popped up in immediate response to my concern.  But Dr. Le Donne’s position in the historical Jesus conversation was only a symptom of what I saw as a larger concern.  It appears to me that the institution seems far more interested in gaining the world of academia’s approval than it is in preparing men and women for vocational ministry.  I was as much told so when the remark was made by the representative that there isn’t a need for preachers like there used to be.  If that is indeed the case, fine, but don’t ask churches and other donors who for years have given their support for the express purpose of preparing men and women for vocational ministry to be happy when you shift your focus to something else.  And when your shift includes the tacit approval of perspectives on what we can know from the Bible that clash with the perspectives of those same churches and other donors, only the naïve would see no inevitable fallout.

I believe Dr. Le Donne is a fine scholar, possesses more intellectual firepower than I can ever hope to have, and will leave a bigger mark in the world of academia than most.  That’s why I see this as a win-win situation both for him and for the university.  I have no doubt he will be able to find a place where he can continue to exercise his intellect and promote his ideas, and Lincoln has taken a positive step in retaining the identity that the majority of her supporters and alumni want her to keep.  But there is still work to be done in this latter endeavor, and only time will tell if this was only a speed bump on the road to "progress" or a turning back to values the school was founded upon.

If you want to lose my respect, all you have to do is call me “anti-intellectual” “fundamentalist,” or someone holding to a “sectarian, obscurantist view of Christianity” (all comments recently posted in response to Dr. Le Donne’s departure from LCU) merely because I disagree with you on how to approach the Bible from epistemological, historical, hermeneutical, and theological perspectives, or because I disagree with you as to what LCU’s emphasis should be.  I don’t see name-calling as very helpful in this dialogue.  Just because my worldview conflicts with yours does not give either of us license to bash the other.

Did LCU's administration cave to pressure from donors, concerned citizens, and certain employees?  I imagine there’s some truth there.  But the greater question is, was it right for them to do so?  In my eyes, LCU is offering a product, a product funded, supported and carried out by those same donors, concerned citizens, and certain employees.  If those entities are unhappy about the product being produced, then they have every right to make some noise and threaten to take their support away, or give it to an institution that will produce the product they are seeking.

Bottom line on this whole issue is this:  if you are unhappy about this move by Lincoln Christian University, do something about it.

Stop merely writing angry blogs.  Stop signing your name on petitions.  Start writing generous checks, and when you do, sign your name on them.

In other words, don't be upset because people put their mouths where their money was; instead, put your money where your mouth is.

If you think LCU ought to be a place where someone like Dr. Le Donne can have the academic freedom to explore and promote whatever ideas he wishes, then give the institution the financial freedom to be such a place.

Convictions that cost nothing aren’t worth a whole lot.