Many college professors are not that different from other Christians when it comes to integrating their faith and their work. “They think that Christian work is church work,” says Terry Morrison, InterVarsity’s Faculty Ministry Director Emeritus. “Consequently, most faculty have not thought about their faith with the same seriousness that they’ve thought about their discipline,”
More than 50 faculty and faculty spouses from across the country gathered in mid-June at InterVarsity’s Cedar Campus Conference and Training Center on the shores of Lake Huron for InterVarsity’s Faculty Camp in order to give some serious thought to their faith and their discipline. The theme was i>In Thy Light We See Light, Theological Acuity and Academic Vocation. Faculty members spent the week focusing on how Christian theology relates to academics and deepening their own spiritual development.
Faculty came from as far away as the University of Alabama, though most were from the Great Lakes area. Many brought family, to take advantage of Cedar Campus’s recreational opportunities. They came from small colleges and major research institutions, as well as from Christian colleges and state universities. Their fields ranged from science to business to liberal arts.
Many of their discussions centered on shared experiences and dilemmas, such as how to let your students know you are a Christian, and how to deal with colleagues who are hostile. Building a more confident Christian witness on campus was a major focus.
Calvin DeWitt, a professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was the main speaker of Faculty Camp. With examples from his own career, he encouraged the professors to make every part of their professional life fluid with God’s revelation. His depth of melding biblical teaching with his field of Environmental Studies intrigued many of the professors and challenged them to consider more deeply how faith related to their own fields.
Cam Anderson, the director of InterVarsity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministries, called this year’s Faculty Camp “a real success.” It was the first time Faculty Camp has been held in a number of years. The dates for next year’s Faculty Camp are already set, June 16-22.
Audio copies of Calvin DeWitt’s presentations are available through Cedar Campus. Terry Morrison’s chapel talk titled Minding your Mind (delivered 6/28/06 at InterVarsity’s National Service Center) is this week’s InterVarsity podcast.
