|
The Society: A Deeper Look and a Vocational Challenge
The purpose of the Society of Christian Scholars is to equip missional, Christian academics to have a redemptive influence for Christ among their students, colleagues, institutions, and academic disciplines.
What do we mean by “missional”? To be missional with respect to academia is to understand and perform our academic work as Kingdom work, as participating in God’s drama of redemption. It is to understand that we have a calling, or “vocation” (vocatio in Latin), that our task to accomplish, work to do, or part to play has been given by Christ according to his purposes. It is an understanding that our life is characterized by the “Missio Dei”—that all of life is part of God’s mission. It is an understanding that all of our gifts (natural and spiritual) and opportunities (including obtaining an advanced degree and a university post) are stewarded well in his service as part of the community of faith––the Church. It eschews the “sacred-secular” dichotomy by seeing God’s call, hand, and redemptive work in not only evangelism and discipleship but also in research, teaching, committee work, and administrative positions. In all these ways, we can bring God’s understanding of the true, good, and beautiful to full bloom in a university context.
|
