One of the most distinctive aspects of our program is the unique opportunity you will have to integrate your personal faith with your studies in Environmental Education. Below, you can read what the faculty have to say when asked:
"What does it mean to integrate faith and learning?"
Dr. Jim Shores
“It means that Christ is the Lord of ALL knowledge and ALL truth – so we learn not to compartmentalize our faith. Christ has everything to do with chemistry, everything to do with limnology. This is God’s world we’re studying, so as we learn about his creation, we learn a lot about the One who created it. God is very detailed and creative!
Also we bring our Christian faith to bear on HOW we go about our work – we learn to ask what does it mean to study and learn with excellence – as unto the Lord?”
Dr. Brad Daniel
“Education is not inculcation and it is not indoctrination. Education should teach students how to think, not what to think. I want my students to learn how to think for themselves, to examine the assumptions and presuppositions behind their beliefs, and to have a reason for why they believe what they believe (I Peter 3:15).
“Integrating faith and learning goes beyond simply offering a devotion in class or opening in prayer. It involves understanding the Christian worldview lens and how it is brought to bear on various academic disciplines and theories. Integration of faith and learning also involves how one teaches in addition to what one teaches. The love of Christ should be demonstrated both in and out of the classroom.”
Dr. Brian Joyce
“I believe that the integration of faith and learning involves discovering the relationships that exist between the Christian faith and human knowledge. I began to question the nature of this relationship in my particular discipline and realized that these relationships already exist (i.e., they are inherent) and that my task was to help students discover and develop them.
“The first step for me in achieving this task was to demonstrate to students that their scholarly thinking should not be independent of their Christian beliefs and Christian worldview. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with their vision of the world being influenced by understanding gained from scholarly activity (i.e., scientific research).
“For example, in teaching a biology course, I may talk about why it is wrong to try and know God only through the scientific method, and why it is also wrong to hope to understand the natural laws governing biological systems by relying only on God’s revelation.”
Dr. Andrew Bobilya
“Knowing, owning and sharing my faith with my students as well as always interpreting what we are exploring in light of the truth found in the Scriptures.”
Dr. Dottie Shuman
“Faith and learning, to me, means approaching topics of study with an opportunity to ask questions about theories and concepts in light of scripture and to look at scripture in light of the theories and concepts we study. This strengthens our faith as well as the practice of our field of study.” |