Rising from the Rubble: The Vital Significance of Christian Research Universities in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

This essay begins with a framing from Vaclav Havel, suggesting that the modern age is exhausted. Havel suggests that something else, still indistinct, will rise from the rubble. I propose that a vision of a robust “Christian Research University” will be central to what rises from the rubble in higher education. This is because of the richness of each of those three key terms, understood in their intersections. The essay unpacks each term and shows why such a university is positioned for transformational leadership in the twenty-first century. The essay concludes with suggestions for the key commitments that the stakeholders in such a university need to have in order for the university to be sustained and flourish.