Does BioLogos have a list of Christian colleges affiliated with BL, or at least cooperating with BL?
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I am not aware of any list, as I am sure that is a changing field, but there are many that teach science in such a way as to be supportive of the principles Biologos expresses. My daughter attended Baylor, and despite being Baptist affiliated, and had no problem with evolution in the science department. In fact, they regularly have speakers like N. T, Wright and John Walton speak at their affiliated seminary. And of course, Wheaton is home of John Walton, I believe.
I think the best thing is for visiting prospective students to ask specifically what the attitudes are on campus, and especially ask about any restrictions on faculty, or statements of belief they have to sign which restrict them.
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I might add that many students from more fundamentalist backgrounds do have difficulty when exposed to other interpretations of the Bible, and my daughter related how some of her classmates were upset when presented the historical grammatical view. Some Christian schools have worked to anticipate the deconstruction process that most students inevitably experience in order to guide them into a more mature faith, and might be something as a parent to ask about when making the rounds.
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Phil, I’m still trying to get past your daughter going to Baylor! JUST KIDDING. Two thoughts on your comments, last first. The LOG podcast highlights several people who went through deconstruction and are now espousing/embracing Evolutionary Creation. On your advice to parents and my request on a list, there are several work-arounds. 1) Several of the scientist guests on LOG come from Christian colleges; 2) the college teams that attended the recent BYU conference that Jim Stump noted several times in LOG and interviewed teams from several schools attending that conference; 3) several colleges and universities that mention BioLogos on their websites, especially in the biology area, either professors or coursework or BioLogos grants.
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Hi Dennis,
If you are trying to check on the way science is being handled at various Christian colleges, just ask there. We visited a few, when my daughter was looking at schools, and because of her interest in a science major, and the AIG nonsense that was being used at our church in Sunday school, I just decided to start asking. Calvin and Hope profs seemed to be expecting us to be YECers, because we asked. But I was really relieved that they just plow through and teach evolution and the science that goes with it.
Your work-arounds sound great, too. I know it helps to just eliminate places you know in advance wouldn’t fit your criteria.
Ask the college what textbooks they use for biology, etc. and then research them. You could even try to get copies from your library as an interlibrary loan. If the books are used at regular colleges you should be okay from an educational perspective.
There are actually relatively few accredited Christian colleges with science departments whose professors don’t teach the “BioLogos view,” if by that you mean the idea that scientific consensus can be harmonized with Christian faith. I’m pretty sure most top CCCU colleges do. Wheaton, Westmont, Calvin, Taylor, Seattle Pacific, Abilene Christian, Baylor, Dordt, and others.
You can always google the college name with BioLogos and see if they have hosted EC speakers or if their professors have written articles for BioLogos.
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We have not made an official, approved list of schools. AiG used to maintain such a list for YEC-friendly schools, but I can’t find it now (creationcollege.com now takes you to a list of articles about college). Makes me wonder if they got into trouble for it somehow. And that makes me wonder what all would be involved in maintaining such a list. Who would have to approve it from the institution, etc.? But as @Christy says (or at least implies!), the good ones are all on our side!
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The two Christian universities (one Southern Baptist-affiliated, the other ARP [I think]-affiliated) that I actually know fairly well at least have the evidence for their views that my father teaches at one (Gardner-Webb), and my uncle at the other (Erskine).
Jim, your response made me realize the error of my ways (my initial question). Several items come to mind, starting with a BioLogos initiative: reaching families and their children at a younger age with the Integrate curriculum. Many of our fundamentalist brothers and sisters recognize this need for their persuasion. I’m rooting for BioLogos to expand that program into a correlated Sunday school program for kids, with a remedial program for their parents. The knowledge is at the university and institutional level; the battleground is at the family and local churches. Second - By the time my daughter (now 36), my wife (also 36), and I (younger still) started looking at colleges, this issue didn’t matter. I went into music and wanted a small school, rather the “Big 2” for Kettering HS graduates: Miami of Oxford and OSU. Elsa was a PK and headed to a denominational school because she received a PK discount. Our daughter was good at volleyball, but too short for anything other than D3; she chose a denominational D3 school that recruited her for VB. Third - When a child starts looking at colleges, parents may have less influence than friends and dorms. I love hearing the deconstruction and regrowth stories on the podcast or reading about the Rachel Held Evans and Greg Boyds of the world. The chances increase that a Rachel or Greg simply walk away. Thank God they didn’t.
Last time I looked at it only a handful of the schools on their list had any accreditation at all and that accreditation was through TRACS, which is provided by ICR specifically to get around having to teach science. Lots of schools that used to be TRACS accredited (like Liberty U) have dropped it and pursued more reputable affiliations. Maybe that just got embarrassing. Then he wrote Already Compromised in 2010 after surveying 200 Christian colleges and finding out the “shocking truth” of what was really being taught in Christian science departments. Ken Ham now recommends that kids go to secular schools instead of “compromised” Christian schools. He also unironically wrote this in 2009:
The only major drawback of insisting on a Christian college is that it substantially reduces the number of possible choices. For a student wanting to major in a field of science at a university that has biblical (6-day) creation as part of its statement of faith, the options are very limited indeed! For a biology major there are only a handful of such schools; for a physics or geology major, only one or two; and for an astronomy major, there are currently none. So, students wanting to major in one of these topics may not have many (or any ) options.
I found an ICR list of Creationist colleges from 2003, so that might give you some colleges to avoid.
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I suspect also that with the attention focused on racial issues in recent years, it was somewhat embarrassing as several on the list he had were notorious for their racial segregation policies not so long ago.
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Not a single college willing to run with young-earth astronomy? Granted - that was in 2003; I wonder if anything has changed since.
But I guess it would be about like trying to find a geology major somewhere based on flat-earthism.
One would think they were long ago past being embarrassed about such things. I thought they wore their counter culture status like a badge of honor. So I am still a bit surprised that they don’t have more young-earth post-secondary education options now. You know there would be a handful of big funders willing to “make it happen”.
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Christy, thanks. Wow. I think several of those colleges have changed their position from YEC or are sending faculty to conferences focused on RTB or EC.
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What makes me think it was a factor is that it seems that AIG had several articles and a big push a couple of years ago about how evolution and Darwin were racist etc, which seems to correlate roughly to when they stopped pushing some of the YEC only schools openly. I seem to recall some chatter about how the some of the segregationist history of affiliates was an issue to that from a public relations standpoint. But maybe I am overthinking it. You know us conspiracy theorists and our outlandish ideas.
You confirmed it. I checked yesterday at their Creation Colleges link, and was returned their missing link page.
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That would be a good thing, and it invites a witty comment (but I don’t know what it is ; - ) .
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The Baptist churches are a very wide spectrum from the most fundamentalist (like Westborough) to the very liberal (like many of the American Baptist). To be impressed by a Baptist affiliation you need to specify what sort of Baptist it is.
Well I looked it up myself. Baylor was affiliated with the Baptist General convention which is connected to both the southern Baptists and the Baptist World Alliance and the latter fairly inclusive, including the American Baptists.
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Yep, within the Southern Baptist umbrella, the church politics are a mess. The Baptist General Convention of Texas tends to be pretty moderate as Baptists go, but the SBC while edging away from fundamentalism, is a battleground at present with the conservative faction working to solidify their power base. Baylor University is on the moderate side (which of course is called liberal by the conservative ranks) but a lot of smaller affiliated schools are more conservative. Most of the rank and file members really do not care.
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I would love to see something for church youth and kids groups, but really not for Sunday school. At least in (independent) Baptist churches (that I have gone to) it’s hard enough to get solid Bible teaching and basic age appropriate theology. Having grown up without a catechism, I never thought about it, but having raised kids without one, I realize what a huge hole there is. While I greatly value science and yearn for a clear understanding of harmony between science and Christian theology, I would like the Sunday school program to be organized primarily around the Gospel and sound theology.
(And yes, I am hearing loads or counters to every phrase I just used and underlying assumption I expressed.)
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