Understanding Your Campus Culture

The academic world has a rich Christian heritage. Most colleges and universities founded in the 1700’s and 1800’s were explicitly Christian in nature and purpose. For instance, one foundational document of Harvard University states that “every student should be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well that the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ.” The very words of Jesus, “The truth will set you free,” are also inscribed in the walls of many campus library and administration buildings.

So, the world of the mind and intellect is not inherently antagonistic to Jesus’ cause. Of even greater significance, though, is the great commandment itself, which directs us to love the Lord our God with all of our mind, as well as our heart, soul, and strength. Putting this together, one major point of identification with our mission field is that we as Christians also place a very high value on the things of the mind and on truth.

Unfortunately, campuses today are not guided by Christian truth. They are dominated by a relativistic pluralism. Pluralism by itself is not bad, as it is basically a manifestation of the diversity and free-will that God has given to His creation. As Christians, we want people to be able to freely choose to follow the Lord. We also want the freedom to persuade people of the necessity of this choice. We have nothing to fear in placing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in competition with anything else.

However, relativistic pluralism only allows for ideologies that make no claims of absolute truth. Robert Bellah says in Habits of the Heart, “People aren’t bothered by other people’s value systems as long as they don’t infringe on their own.” Tolerance is the greatest virtue on campus today. And the greatest sin is to believe that you might know what is best for someone else.

Now most of your friends probably don’t consciously think of themselves as relativistic pluralists, except when they deal with issues of morals and lifestyle. Is it okay to sleep with your boyfriend or have a homosexual encounter? A relativist says “yes,” as long as both parties agree no one gets hurt. A Christian says “no,” because immorality as defined in the Bible offends God and brings harm to the individuals involved — even if that harm is only experienced on an emotional and/or spiritual, rather than physical, level.

Speaking up about truth in a climate where tolerance is the highest virtue is difficult. Each of us fears being labeled as narrow-minded or intolerant. In order to lovingly and persistently bring the claims of Christ to our campus, we need to be persuaded daily of Christ’s love and the truth of the Gospel.

Other parts of your campus culture that are not hospitable to Christian faith are an individualistic materialism and a physical hedonism. If you are like most college students, your possessions, grade point average, and physical appearance/performance are what is most important to you. But all of these things are external, consumer-oriented values that hinder rather than help faith in Christ.

I could go on to describe campus culture, but I’m sure you can do an even better job as you look around your campus and see what is important to people there. In fact, you may want to take an informal, or even formal, inventory of campus values and opinions. This will not only inform you of what your classmates are thinking, but it will initiate conversation with them on topics other than cafeteria food!