The intended aim of this research project was to identify the exemplars and best practices of spiritual formation in online undergraduate programs among CCCU member institutions. In order to achieve that aim, a literature review of the precedent literature related to Christian education, spiritual formation, the CCCU, and online Christian education and formation was conducted. What emerged was a theological foundation that informed theoretical approaches to online education and formation and a gap in the literature related to online undergraduate spiritual formation.
Before exploring the gap in the literature regarding exemplars and best practices of online undergraduate spiritual formation, it is important to explore the theological foundations of both Christian education and spiritual formation. It is then necessary to explore the theoretical foundations of online spiritual formation. Finally, this literature review explores the gap in the literature related to online spiritual formation in an undergraduate context among CCCU member institutions showing the need for further research regarding best practices of online undergraduate spiritual formation.
Theological Foundations Starting Point of Christian Education
Christian education is notably distinct from secular institutions of higher education. Two of the most significant ways are (1) Christian education’s starting point and (2) the type of men and women Christian education aims to produce.1 Christian
1James K. A. Smith makes the case that more thought needs to be given with regard to the type of people Christian education aims to produce. His argument is that Christian education is more than mere
education is different for a number of reasons, and chief among them is where it begins.
Christian education has a starting point, an anchor, and a center around which everything else orbits. That starting point, writes Philip Graham Ryken, is not human wisdom but a self-revealing God who serves as “the basic premise upon which everything else in the entire universe is built.”2
Starting with God. The fundamental starting point of Christian education and the Christian worldview is that God exists, created all things, and has revealed himself.
The Bible begins with the fundamental assumption (or presupposition) that God exists and created all things. Genesis 1:1 begins with “in the beginning God.” This one phrase reveals that God exists and that he existed before all things. This beginning phrase in Genesis also reveals that God is the center of the story. The story does not begin with human wisdom, but with God as central, essential, and supreme. Francis Schaeffer aptly writes, “He is there and he is not silent.”3 Christian education is rooted in the reality of a Creator God who created a rational and knowable world. It is out of God’s rational revelation that Christian education finds its content and motivation to study both God’s general and special revelation. It must be remembered, however, that the aim of both God’s general and special revelation is always first and foremost about God.4 It is secondarily about God’s creation. Central to both is a real knowable God who created and owns all.5 Authentic “Christian thinking,” Albert Mohler contends, begins with “the
content knowledge; it is also about shaping a way of life. James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom:
Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009), 33.
2Philip Graham Ryken, What Is the Christian Worldview? (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2006), 11.
3Francis Schaeffer and Charles Colson, He Is There and He Is Not Silent, 30th anniversary ed.
(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 2013).
4Timothy Paul Jones, “The Quest For Wisdom” (class lecture, 97000-Theological
Anthropology and Human Development, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, December 2, 2015).
5Dutch theologian and politician Abraham Kuyper famously noted, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry,
existence of the self-revealing God of the Bible.”6 Christian education’s starting point, therefore, distinguishes and shapes it immediately from that of secular institutions of higher education.
Grounded in the Christian worldview. Beginning with God shapes a particular way of thinking about metaphysics, epistemology, anthropology, and axiology among other things.7 In this way, a coherent worldview emerges that is able to answer life’s ultimate questions.8 Robert Harris notes that a worldview is “a personal theory of everything.”9 Albert Wolters enhances this definition, asserting that a worldview is “the comprehensive framework of one’s basic beliefs about things.”10 In its simplest form, “a worldview is a set of beliefs about the most important issues in life,” according to Robert Nash.11 Mark Cosgrove argues that a worldview is one’s fundamental “assumptions or beliefs about reality,” and therefore, a person’s worldview shapes and informs one’s philosophies and
‘Mine!’” Abraham Kuyper, Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans;
Paternoster, 1998), 488. Kuyper’s assertion suggests that everywhere one turns is another unique learning opportunity in which God and his created world can be known. Rather than hindering learning, Christianity actually inspires, encourages, “expands and clarifies [learning].” Robert A Harris, The Integration of Faith and Learning: A Worldview Approach (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2004), 30.
6R. Albert Mohler, Jr., “The Knowledge of the Self-Revealing God: Starting Point for the Christian Worldview,” December 3, 2010, accessed April 18, 2015, http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/12/
03/the-knowledge-of-the-self-revealing-god-starting-point-for-the-chrisutian-worldview/.
7In Philosophy & Education, George Knight provides a helpful chapter outlining the influence of the Christian worldview on philosophical thinking.. He follows that chapter by articulating how the Christian worldview also shapes educational practices informing educators of the role of the teacher and the role of the learner, as well as the aim of Christian education. George R. Knight, Philosophy & Education:
An Introduction in Christian Perspective (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2006), 169-219.
8Mark P. Cosgrove, Foundations of Christian Thought: Faith, Learning, and the Christian Worldview (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2006), Kindle.
9Harris, The Integration of Faith and Learning, 77.
10Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1985), 45.
11Ronald H. Nash, Worldviews in Conflict: Choosing Christianity in the World of Ideas (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 16.
guides how one lives his or her life.12 Michael J. Anthony affirms that one’s worldview is
“at the core of any educational system” and “influences the formation of educational paradigms.”13
Every person has a worldview, but not every worldview is coherent or “logically consistent.”14 This is where the Christian worldview and Christian education distinguishes itself. Christian education is an approach toward education that is informed by underlying philosophical and theological foundations grounded in the Christian worldview.15 This is one of the chief arguments that James R. Estep, Michael J. Anthony, and Gregg R. Allison make in A Theology for Christian Education, namely,that this theologically grounded foundation distinguishes Christian education from secular approaches. Christianity is far more than simply a “private belief” argues Chuck Colson; instead, it is “a comprehensive life system that answers all of humanity’s age-old questions.”16 As such, the Christian worldview offers the Christian university its founding purpose and guiding story. Without the Christian worldview, Christian educators lack a unity of truth, “a seamless whole,”
from which to educate.17 Overflowing from his four decades of leadership in Christian education, prominent Christian educator Frank Gaebelein strongly asserts that the Christian worldview must be instilled in the student, the faculty, and the administration in order to bring the Christian faith to bear on all of life. Gaebelein clearly articulates that the
12Cosgrove, Foundations of Christian Thought, loc. 200.
13Michael J. Anthony, “The Nature of Theology and Education,” in A Theology for Christian Education, ed. James R. Estep, Michael J. Anthony, and Gregg R. Allison (Nashville: B & H, 2008), 19.
14Cosgrove, Foundations of Christian Thought, loc. 874.
15Estep, Anthony, and Allison, A Theology for Christian Education.
16Charles W. Colson, How Now Shall We Live? (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1999), loc. 96, Kindle.
17David S. Dockery and David P. Gushee, The Future of Christian Higher Education (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), 12.
worldview of the faculty and administration will influence and inform the worldview of the students and, therefore, faculty and administrators must be Christian in order to ensure that what is offered is truly Christian education, which distinguishes the Christian university from all other alternatives.18 Prominent Christian educator Arthur Holmes notes, “College is for learning, the liberal arts college for broad liberal learning, the liberal arts Christian college is for broad, diverse learning that is uniquely rooted in the Christian worldview.”19 Therefore, the Christian worldview cannot be an add-on idea; it must be a foundational commitment that is specifically and clearly articulated.20 It is the guiding narrative and comprehensive framework of the Christian worldview that
distinguishes and informs the educational practice of Christian universities.
Submitted to the trustworthiness and authority of the Bible. The Christian worldview is not arbitrary or self-determined. Instead, it is a revealed worldview found in and submitted to the Bible. Christian education is intended to reflect Christian theological beliefs and convictions. Those convictions are born out of and submitted to the Scriptures not independent from the Scriptures. Francis Schaeffer contends that the “true truth” that has been largely abandoned by a secular world, yet which every person longs for, is ultimately found in the Bible.21 In the pick and choose relativistic culture of post- Christianity, Christian education is distinct in that it builds educational purposes and pedagogy on the guiding narrative of the Bible.22
18Frank E. Gaebelein, The Pattern of God’s Truth (Winona Lake, IN: BMH, 1985), 37.
19Arthur F. Holmes, The Idea of a Christian College, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B.
Eerdmans, 1985), loc. 53, Kindle.
20R. Albert Mohler, Jr., “A Tale of Two Colleges,” November 8, 2011, accessed June 20, 2014, http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/11/08/a-tale-of-two-colleges/.
21Francis A. Schaeffer and J. P. Moreland, Escape from Reason (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2006), 21.
22Christian Smith argues for a more nuanced definition of post-Christianity, suggesting that the
“de facto religion” of emerging adults is “moralistic therapeutic deism (MTD).” Smith explains this as the
God’s special revelation provides the content of instruction that is “profitable for teaching . . . and for training in righteousness,” as well as the mechanism for sifting all truth claims allowing for “reproof [and] correction” (2 Tim 3:16). While Christian education is not limited only to the Bible, Edward Hayes asserts that it “is rooted [supremely] in the authority of God’s Word.”23 Therefore, Hayes further argues, “The centrality of the Bible forms a major plank in the platform of evangelical education.”24 From a Christian worldview perspective, God’s self-existing and self-revelation gives the Christian educator a firm foundation to both teach and learn.
Centered on Christ as King. Another foundational factor in Christian education that shapes and informs educational practices is the Christocentric nature of Christian education. Harry Poe, the Charles Colson Professor of Faith and Culture at Union University, argues, “What makes a Christian approach to higher education unique is Jesus Christ.”25 Duane Litfin, former president at Wheaton College, asks in Conceiving the Christian College, “When we say that the education we offer is centered upon the person of Jesus Christ, do we mean what we say?”26 His argument, like Poe’s, is that to be a
belief that a God exists, this God wants people to be nice to one another but is generally uninvolved unless one needs him, the goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself, and good people go to heaven when they die. Christian Smith, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), loc. 3292, Kindle. David Setran and Chris Kiesling explain this as a faith that is focused on forming oneself into one’s “own image of happiness” rather than according to the Bible or the image of Christ. Ultimately post-Christianity and Moral Therapeutic Deism are centered on self-improvement using religious language and man as the ultimate final authority. David P. Setran and Chris A. Kiesling, Spiritual Formation in Emerging Adulthood: A Practical Theology for College and Young Adult Ministry (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2013), 24.
23Edward Hayes, “Theological Foundations For Adult Education,” in The Christian Educator’s Handbook on Adult Education, ed. Kenneth O. Gangel and James Wilhoit (Grand Rapids:
Baker, n.d.), locs. 560-61, Kindle.
24Ibid., locs. 557-59.
25Harry Lee Poe, “The Gospel, Worldview, and Christian Higher Education,” in Faith and Learning: A Handbook for Christian Higher Education, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville: B & H, 2012), 73.
26Duane Litfin, Conceiving the Christian College (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004), locs. 419, Kindle.
Christocentric university is to acknowledge, among other things, that Jesus is King of the institution, the leadership, the administration, the board, the faculty, the decisions, the direction, the environment, campus life, and hopefully the students. A Christian worldview centered on Christ is foundational to the Christian university and must be filtered
throughout the institution. The notion that Christ is King guides the practice but also informs one of the chief goals of Christian education, namely shaping and conforming students into the image of Christ, which leads to the second major distinguishing mark of Christian education.
The Objective of Christian Education
Christian education is distinct for its starting point but also for the product it aims to produce. Beginning with God and allowing his revealed Word to shape and inform a comprehensive worldview will have consequences. As noted professor Stanley Hauerwas suggests, “If Christians are people with an alternative history of judgments about what is true and good they cannot help but produce an alternative university.”27 An alternative university will, consequently, also produce an alternative product. Christian education’s starting point is unique, but so too is the desired product. In Desiring the Kingdom, James K. A. Smith suggests that the distinguishing mark of Christian education from secular institutions of higher education is the type of people Christian education endeavors to create.28 Smith’s argument is that Christian education ought to provide both a call to think and a call to worship. In this way, Christian education exists for the dual aims of shaping
27Stanley Hauerwas, The State of the University: Academic Knowledges and the Knowledge of God (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007), 91; Lois E. LeBar and James E. Plueddemann, Education That Is Christian, new ed. (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 1998), 273-88. Lois Lebar and James Plueddemann make the case that one of the initial ways this alternative model of education will be observed is in the educators and curriculum that are informed and influenced by the Christian worldview and specifically Jesus, the divine teacher that came from God. Lebar and Plueddemann suggest that students will experience a distinctly different approach to education as the human teacher works with the divine teacher in shaping and transforming the student.
28Smith, Desiring the Kingdom, 29.
a distinctly Christian way of thinking (content) and living (character) with the ultimate objective of shaping the world (culture).29
Shaping a distinct way of thinking. The aim of instruction within Christian education is not merely to convey information, but to challenge students to cultivate a mind for Christ. David S. Dockery, president of Trinity International University and former president of Union University, argues that the world is in desperate need of serious thinking, in particular, thinking that is under the authority of God for the glory of God.
Dockery sees in this desperate need one of the chief roles of the Christian university, namely to help students learn to think critically and “think in Christian categories.”30 Christian intellectual thinking has a long history closely associated “with the written Word of God, with books, education, and learning.”31 Dockery argues that one of the goals of
29Gregg Allison calls shaping the thinking, living, and doing of students “the classic Christian education triad of head, heart, and hand,” where Christian educators educate students to “rightly [affirm]
the truth (orthodoxy), rightly [feel] the truth (orthopatheia), and rightly [practice] the truth (orthopraxis).”
Gregg R. Allison, “Humanity, Sin, and Christian Education,” in A Theology for Christian Education, 195.
Nicholas Wolterstorff uses the taxonomy of “cognitive learning, ability learning, and inclination learning.”
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Educating for Responsible Action (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 3-4. Michael Zigarelli suggests that the Christian university’s assignment, call, and responsibility is to “train, transform, and transition” students. The goal of Christian education, according to the Zigarelli, is shaping Christian thinking and Christian living that produces students who are prepared to enter and engage the world. It is transformation of the mind and heart and redirecting misdirected worship with the purpose of transitioning students into the world to do the same. Michael Zigarelli, “Training, Transforming, and Transitioning: A Blueprint for the Christian University,” Journal of Research on Christian Education 21, no. 1 (2012): 62- 79. Paul Hiebert argues that in order to shape the head and heart or the belief and behavior Christian educators must focus on transforming worldviews. He contends that conversion to Christ requires the transformation of belief and behavior but suggests this begins with the transformation of one’s worldview.
In other words, out of the overflow from one’s worldview the head and heart, thinking and living, beliefs and behavior are transformed. Hiebert argues, “Conversion to Christ must encompass all three levels [of]
behavior, beliefs, and the worldview that underlies these.” Paul G. Hiebert, Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), loc. 204, Kindle.
Worldview is one’s framework for prime reality that underlies, precedes, and informs beliefs and behaviors.
Additionally, transforming worldviews requires shaping the thinking and living, beliefs, and behavior. As will be articulated, this transformation begins with a divine act of inner transformation that results in outward transformation of thinking and living and simultaneously requires reorienting the loves and calling students to both mental assent and personal allegiance. See sections in chap. 2 on shaping a distinct way of thinking, shaping a distinct way of living, change, and restoration.
30T. S. Eliot, Christianity and Culture (San Diego: Eliot, 2013), 22.
31David S. Dockery and Timothy George, The Great Tradition of Christian Thinking: A
Christian higher education is to reclaim this tradition by teaching students a distinct way of Christian thinking.32 According to Holmes, this means giving more than simple
“prepackaged . . . questions and answers;” instead, it means teaching students to develop
“a disciplined understanding of [his or her] heritage plus creativity, logical rigor and self- critical honesty.”33
Christian education is full of content, vocabulary, facts, and principles that are essential to teaching and learning.34 Timothy Paul Jones and Michael Wilder, professors at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, argue the Christian faith and worldview
“requires propositional assent to specific content.”35 This content is rooted in and overflows from the reality of a Creator God who created a rational and knowable world. John Stott asserts that God’s self-revelation “indicates the importance of our minds. For all God’s revelation is a rational revelation.”36 Because man’s knowledge often requires serious rational energy to gather facts, think, and develop conclusions, Christian educators rightly
Student’s Guide (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), locs. 243-44, Kindle; Michael J. Anthony and Warren S.
Benson, Exploring the History & Philosophy of Christian Education: Principles for the 21st Century (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2003). Educators Michael J. Anthony and Warren S. Benson helpfully trace the history of education and Christian thinking beginning with the Hebrews all the way up to the present day.
32The CCCU symposium on spiritual formation agreed that teaching students “to think well, and thinking deeply about understanding faith” was an essential element of formation that is Christian.
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, “CCCU Membership Requirements of Members and Affiliates,” Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, 9, accessed July 29, 2015,
http://www.cccu.org/members.
33Holmes, The Idea of a Christian College, loc. 35.
34Robert J. Marzano and John S. Kendall, The New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2006), locs. 637-46, Kindle.
35Timothy Paul Jones and Michael Wilder, “Faith Development and Christian Formation,” in Christian Formation: Integrating Theology & Human Development, ed. James Riley Estep and Jonathan H.
Kim (Nashville: B & H, 2010), 180.
36John R. W. Stott, Your Mind Matters: The Place of the Mind in the Christian Life, 2nd ed.
(Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2006), 27.