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Lecture Exhorts Graduate Students to be Ambassadors

By Catherine Elvy, Staff Writer

Science is hyped as the definitive authority for modern society, leaving many secular researchers with the potential for greater platforms – and more credibility – than their pastoral counterparts.

As such, Christians who labor in scientific fields need to pause to consider the spiritual and cultural responsibilities tied to their roles as ambassadors for Christ.

That was one of the themes from Matt Farrar when the post-doctoral associate in Cornell University's neurobiology and behavior department spoke on campus at a lecture hosted by the Graduate at Christian Fellowship Roundtable and the Chesterton House.

Farrar, Cornell Ph.D. '12, appeared at The Big Red Barn Graduate and Professional Student Center on April 12 to deliver a presentation entitled "Regnant Priests of a Neo-Orthodoxy: Science, Faith and Authority in the 21st Century." Farrar, a physicist who focuses on the development of nonlinear optical tools in studies of spinal cord injuries, based his presentation upon the writings of a series of Christian scholars, including Mark Noll, a historian who specializes in Christianity.

Farrar noted that many leading voices in Western Society question whether religion is a valid source of knowledge. And this perception is at the core of the issue for believers who work in secular fields.

"If knowledge of God no longer counts, what does count for knowledge?" Farrar asked rhetorically. Taking his concerns a step further, Farrar also rhetorically questioned whether Christianity should be cast aside to the realm of astrology, witchcraft, and mythology.

As for the scientific arena, the field is highly revered and features formidable barriers to entry – making practitioners, in effect, the modern clerics of the secular world. As well, much of what the public knows about science originates from "received tradition," and even fellow scientists have limited abilities to test claims, access complete texts of scholarly articles, and fully understand highly specialized research.

"We accept a lot because we receive it," said Farrar.

Glancing through history, Christianity has fallen from a place of
esteem – and source of legitimate knowledge, according to Farrar – because of wars and political conflicts carried out under the banners of religious motivation. Other sources of reputational damage stem from clashes between religion and science dating back to the so-called Galileo affair and from the marked separation of church and state within the constitutional framework of the United States.

The upshot is the undermining of the value of Christianity in governance and as a worldview.

On a positive trend, younger scientists appear less likely to be identified as atheists than their older counterparts, an observation echoed by some Christians in academia.

"That has been my sense for many years," said Karl Johnson, Cornell '89, Ph.D. '11, founding director of the Chesterton House.

"The militant secularism in the academy peaked more than a decade ago," Johnson said. Younger scientists are "a little more open to the possibility of religious beliefs" offering some benefits.

Also impacting the intersection of faith and scholarship, some Western churches have shifted from pursuing seminary-trained pastors to instead embracing preachers trumpeted for their energy, magnetism, and communication skills.

"You see a shift from moral knowledge to charismatic authority," said Farrar. "Historically, pastors were educated experts on matters vital to the world."

As for believers who labor in the sciences, Farrar strongly encouraged them to relish their worldly platforms and professional esteem.

"Develop a thoroughly informed faith that is congruous with your level of education," Farrar said. "You're going to be someone's professor, coworker..."

Farrar, who will join the faculty of Messiah College in fall 2015, urged Cornell graduate students to peruse materials related to faith in their chosen fields and to investigate voraciously key apologetics.
"Hold knowledge not just as a weekend hobby," he said.

Likewise, "support and encourage pastors.... Encourage them to share their knowledge," Farrar said.

Ultimately, scientists who are believers should embrace their roles as spiritual ambassadors, even within the rigorous world of scientific inquiry.

Farrar said he sides with St. Thomas Aquinas, the philosopher priest who embraced the existence of God as a self-evident truth. With that comes a call for like-minded believers to decide how to shape the culture of their professional spheres.

"Christians in the sciences have a vital part to play in presenting Christianity as a true body of knowledge," said Farrar.

Organization Denies Membership to Choose Life at Yale

By Matthew Gerken, Yale '11

Editor's note: The following article originally appeared in First Things. Reprinted with permission. (Photo: Members of Choose Life at Yale with Amherst College Professor Hadley Arkes at the 2013 Vita et Veritas Conference.)

In April, Yale's campus pro-life group—after a year in which they participated in meetings and even helped raise money for the organization—became the first group in living memory to be denied membership in the Social Justice Network of Dwight Hall. Billing itself as an "independent" and "nonsectarian" center for public service and social justice, Dwight Hall at Yale is a group that seeks "to foster civic-minded student leaders and to promote service and activism in New Haven and around the world." Though legally independent, it is the university umbrella organization for service and advocacy, encompassing dozens of member organizations that address almost every conceivable issue, from the environment, to gay rights, to Palestinian statehood.

Membership would have given Choose Life at Yale (CLAY) access to a variety of resources, including coveted meeting locations, use of Dwight Hall's vehicles for service projects, and a seat at the table during Dwight Hall's freshman recruiting events. But most of all, it would have affirmed the conviction of CLAY members that the cause they served, whether by marching in D.C. or volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center, was a legitimate component of social justice.

Social justice is a term that has perhaps been used too indiscriminately for its own good, and members of Dwight Hall's Social Justice Network might be surprised to learn that the term arose from the writings of a reactionary Italian Jesuit. But regardless of the history, it seems to me that if social justice means anything, it has to recognize the social nature of the type of justice it describes. Social justice is about our relationships with one another and with institutions, not our individuality and autonomy. That's why, contrary to many of my friends on the right, it makes a good deal of sense to me to describe inescapably communal issues such as environmental degradation as the proper subjects of social justice.

There's a deeper truth that can be expressed in the term, though, in an age in which justice simply expressed is so often seen solely as a matter of individual autonomy. Social justice helps to remind us that humans are social by nature, and that nearly all of our decisions carry social consequences, often far greater than we can see. It can express the truth that the presence of the homeless on the streets of one of the wealthiest universities in the world is not merely a matter of the right to a hot meal and a roof, but is also the breakdown of a relationship between members of a community. Social injustice is a communal failure to love.

It's this sense that made Choose Life at Yale a natural fit for the social justice hub of Yale. Pro-lifers at Yale have long gotten over the idea that they'd get anywhere arguing with their peers about whose right to autonomy trumped whose, and so they charted a new direction. They took up their cause as a matter of social justice. They realized that abortion has never been solely a matter of a baby's life and liberty. It's about the desperation and hopelessness of the mother that walked into the clinic. It's about the grandfather who will never put that little girl in his lap. It's about the classmates who will never sit next to her, and the boy who will never work up the courage to write her that awkward poem. It's even about that friend whom she would drift away from over the years, the successful sister who would make her insecure, and the God she'd curse when she lost her job and then her mortgage. The biggest lie in all this is that the choice to end (or to save) a life is a solitary one.

We don't know why Dwight Hall denied membership to the pro-life group. The ballot was secret and the count unannounced, and the established procedure (perhaps ironically for a social justice organization) allotted only sixty seconds for CLAY to make their case, while strictly banning any further discussion. We know it couldn't have been perceived religious differences, since Dwight Hall already contains Christian, Jewish, and secular groups. We know it couldn't be CLAY's political advocacy, because Dwight Hall endorses advocacy—even legislative advocacy—as part of its mission and a core component of many of its groups' activities.

Perhaps it is because CLAY's work cuts too close to the core. Perhaps it makes many of Dwight Hall's leaders uncomfortable to be challenged by the witness of pro-lifers taking time from their week to serve women in need, whether in order to ease their choice for life or to help them heal after they have chosen otherwise. Perhaps it challenges their comfortably individualistic assumptions about abortion because it is too close to what they themselves do when they feed the hungry, clothe the poor, or care for the sick. Perhaps it makes some of them—if only for a brief moment—rethink the meaning of the call to love and serve. That would explain why they have to push it away so quickly and quietly, because they know that this is how social justice movements begin.

Matthew Gerken is a former president of Choose Life at Yale.

Serving the Common Good

By Tim Keller

Editor's note: The following article is reprinted with permission from The Center for Faith & Work, the cultural renewal arm of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.

I am often asked: "Should Christians be involved in shaping culture?" My answer is that we can't not be involved in shaping culture. To illustrate this, I offer a very sad example. In the years leading up to the Civil War, many southerners resented the interference of the abolitionists, who were calling on Christians to stamp out the sin of slavery. In response, some churches began to assert that it was not the church's (nor Christians') job to try to "change culture," but only to preach the Gospel and see souls saved. The tragic irony was that these churches were shaping culture. Their very insistence that Christians should not be changing culture meant that those churches were supporting the social status quo. They were defacto endorsing the cultural arrangements of the Old South. (For more on this chapter in American history, see Mark Noll, The Civil War as a Theological Crisis.)

This is an extreme example, but it makes the point that when Christians work in the world, they will either assimilate into their culture and support the status quo or they will be agents of change. This is especially true in the area of work. Every culture works on the basis of a 'map' of what is considered most important. If God and His grace are not at the center of a culture, then other things will be substituted as ultimate values. So every vocational field is distorted by idolatry.

Christian medical professionals will soon see that some practices make money for them but don't add value to patients' lives. Christians in marketing and business will discern accepted patterns of communication that distort reality or which play to and stir up the worst aspects of the human heart. Christians in business will often see among their colleagues' behavior that which seeks short-term financial profit at the expense of the company's long-term health, or practices that put financial profit ahead of the good of employees, customers, or others in the community. Christians in the arts live and work in a culture in which self-expression is an end in itself. And in most vocational fields, believers face work-worlds in which ruthless, competitive behavior is the norm.

There are two opposite mistakes that Christians can make in addressing the idols of their vocational fields. On the one hand they can seal off their faith from their work, laboring according to the same values and practices that everyone else uses. Or they may loudly and clumsily declare their Christian faith to their co-workers, often without showing any grace and wisdom in the way they relate to people on the job.

At Redeemer, especially through the Center for Faith and Work, we seek to help believers think out the implications of the Gospel for art, business, government, media, entertainment, and scholarship. We teach that excellence in work is a crucial means to gain credibility for our faith. If our work is shoddy, our verbal witness only leads listeners to despise our beliefs. If Christians live in major cultural centers and simply do their work in an excellent but distinctive manner, it will ultimately produce a different kind of culture than the one in which we live now.

But I like the term "cultural renewal" better than "culture shaping" or "culture changing/transforming." The most powerful way to show people the truth of Christianity is to serve the common good. The monks in the Middle Ages moved out through pagan Europe, inventing and establishing academies, universities, and hospitals. They transformed local economies and cared for the weak through these new institutions. They didn't set out to "get control" of a pagan culture. They let the Gospel change how they did their work and that meant they worked for others rather than for themselves. Christians today should be aiming for the same thing.

As Roman society was collapsing, St. Augustine wrote The City of God to remind believers that in the world there are always two "cities," two alternate "kingdoms." One is a human society based on selfishness and gaining power. God's kingdom is the human society based on giving up power in order to serve. Christians live in both kingdoms, and although that is the reason for much conflict and tension, it also is our hope and assurance. The kingdom of God is the permanent reality, while the kingdom of this world will eventually fade away. 

Tim Keller, a best-selling author and apologist, is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.

The following audio presentations were recorded in Sandy Cove, Maryland.

Dr. Bruce Ware:Empowered Messiah / 1 (54:01)



Dr. Bruce Ware: Empowered Messiah / 2 (54:01)

Other Talks from the 2014 Conference

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A Note from Founder & President Matt Bennett

The majority of America’s most strategic universities were expressly founded as Christian colleges. But over the years these gradually shed their religious affiliation and became secular institutions. I love these universities (I directed a ministry at Princeton for many years before founding Christian Union), including my alma mater, Cornell.



It grieves me to see where they are today, spiritually and intellectually. In addition, these institutions, and the ideologies they promote, will shape American culture for decades to come.

Our Leaders Matter video was created to show the remarkably disproportionate impact just a handful of universities have in America.

If we are going to change the world, we need, by God's power, to see these campuses radically changed. The Lord put on my heart to seek an increasing and dramatic spiritual revival at these very schools. So, in 2002, I launched Christian Union at the campus I knew so well by that time, Princeton. The Christian leadership development ministry would take a strategic approach to national culture change; by bringing sweeping spiritual transformation to the nation’s most influential universities and to key cities that shape American culture.

Everything in our university ministry is tailored to the academically intense and secular environments of these schools. The ministry faculty we hire is of a caliber that can teach and train students who are bright and motivated, and who take readily to leadership development, yet often know very little about Scripture. The programs tested and refined at Princeton were rolled out to additional campuses in the years that followed.

We have since launched our first city ministry in New York, to begin developing networks of influential Christian leaders, and more recently a web-based ministry with a much broader scope, Christian Union Day & Night.

What is the long-term goal? Christian Union envisions a country in which the Gospel has penetrated every people group and where Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit, are seeking God as the defining characteristic of their lives. Our desire is that this spiritual vibrancy is ongoing. 

Scripture and more recent history make plain the intimate connection between widespread, heartfelt revival and social reformation. Reformation includes rolling back destructive ideologies and reversing the harm they inflict on a society. Reformation involves men and women embracing and promoting what God loves; there is renewed emphasis on life-giving social norms that benefit all, especially the most vulnerable.

Would you join me seeking the Lord with great energy, asking God to soften our hearts and move us to desire Him more than we do today? Please explore this website to learn more about the ministry. I've unpacked our mission in five parts below. You also might enjoy this interview I did with CBN, which they ran in 2017:


We need partners like you to accelerate this exciting work, and I invite you to join Christian Union to bring God greater glory in the United States, to develop godly leaders, and, God willing, to use a transformed America to truly bless the world. 


Matthew W. Bennett 
Founder and President

 

Learn More

Christian Union is: (1) developing leaders; (2) with spiritual depth; (3)  in strategic places; (4) for cultural engagement; (5) to change the world.
  

Five Crucial Aspects 

Christian Union was founded in 2002 to develop and connect transformative Christian leaders. There are five elements of the Christian Union mission, the fourth is cultural engagement.

Christian Union exists to develop men and women who are prepared and inclined to champion Christ in their positions of leadership. Our country, and the world, need Christians who are ready and able to embody the gospel and pursue cultural change that reflects biblical values. It is the call of all believers to pursue justice, to stand for the oppressed, to govern with humility, and to bring the good news to the ends of the earth. But students at these prestigious colleges are uniquely poised to engage our culture because they will find themselves in significant positions of power and influence. The goal of cultural engagement is nothing less than cultural renewal and national revival.

Inspiring Examples

Working with passionate and gifted students, Christian Union ministry faculty members have coached and developed students to lead in profound ways.

• Courtney McEachon '15 organized what is now the annual Pro-Life Conference at Yale which aims to make the pro-life vision intelligible on college campuses that rarely hear this position.
• At Harvard, students involved with Christian Union annually engage the atheist/humanist student group on the nature of God, goodness, and suffering, in debates that attract hundreds of students.
• At Columbia, some required classes engage Scripture but teach it as mythology or a work of fiction. A ministry fellow was invited to teach from his doctoral thesis on Ecclesiastes in a class. This is a massive opportunity to meet non-Christian students on their turf and directly confront their biases.
• Owing to the high level of student-athlete involvement in the ministry, Christian Union ministry faculty have served as chaplains to sports teams at Columbia, Cornell, and Stanford.
• A student at Harvard Law School, Trenton Van Oss, penned an article for Harvard Law Review addressing religious liberty issues.

God is at work at these universities and major cities. Christian Union wants to be there as well, fervently seeking the Lord, equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, sharing the gospel, and giving glory to God.

 

You Can Make a Difference

1. Pray for the hearts of those poised to lead society would turn to the Lord.
2. Connect others to the ministry of Christian Union.
3. Give generously to develop more godly leaders to transform American culture.

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To Change the World >

Seeing an Opportunity, Praying & Working to Bring Change

 In 2002, Christian Union launched its first leadership development ministry at Princeton, one of the nation's foremost universities. The ministry's founder and president, Matt Bennett, had long observed the influence that top secular universities possess when it comes to producing many of the nation’s most prominent leaders. He had a conviction that US culture could and would be changed as the Gospel influenced these schools.

As a student member of Cru in the 1980s and later as a staff member and director at Princeton for more than a decade, Bennett (’88, MBA ’89), a Cornell alumnus himself, saw firsthand the impact a campus ministry could have if it were tailored to the spiritual, intellectual, and relational needs of highly intelligent, goal-oriented students.

The ministry launched its first Bible course at Princeton University with just three students. Today, the ministry at Princeton engages more than 400 students in its weekly Bible courses. 

On each campus where it operates, Christian Union’s highly credentialed ministry and teaching fellows mentor students and lead challenging, academically oriented Bible courses designed to help students develop a robust understanding of Scripture and Christian worldview. The ministries also host conferences, leadership lecture series, and evangelistic outreach events as they seek to change the spiritual climate at very secular institutions.

Thanks to the early lessons learned at schools like Princeton, and God's gracious provision at every step, each campus launched in the years since 2002 has experienced steady, fairly predictable growth patterns.

The natural progression of supporting alumni of the ministry as they transitioned into careers in major cities such as New York and the strategic impact of such cities led to the launch of the Cities ministries, which serve alumni and professionals.

Christian Union's most recent ministry, Christian Union Day & Night, now called Christian Union America, was launched in 2016. Christian Union America's mission is to promote spiritual strengthening in Christians across America, helping them thrive and impact an increasingly secular culture by covenanting together for successive spiritual initiatives. Given the nation's spiritual state, nothing less than the full power and presence of God will enable Christians to glorify him in all his splendor.

To view our partnerships, you can click here.

Historic Timeline 

Christian Union Founded	2002
Princeton ministry launched	2002
Harvard College ministry launched	2008
Yale ministry launched	2010
Columbia ministry launched	2011
Dartmouth ministry launched	2011
Christian Union New York launched	2012
Cornell ministry launched	2012
Harvard Law ministry launched	2013
Penn ministry launched	2013
Brown ministry launched	2014
Stanford ministry launched	2016
Christian Union Day and Night launched	2016

Learn More

Visiting campus ministry or city ministry pages, signing up to receive campus or city-specific prayer requests, and supporting the ministry financially at a specific campus or in the city.