Christian researches/professors

[Davidius]

I've been reading Greg Bahnsen's book Always Ready and he spends a fair amount of time in the first few chapters discussing the myth of neutrality and the need for Christians to place Christ at the center of everything they do, including scholarship, etc. We can't pretend to be "objective" and separate ourselves from what God has revealed to us in scripture; when we do so, we are attempting to serve two masters and will end up betraying our principle convictions.

My question has to do with the application of this in the real world. How do Christian intellectuals make it into the departments at secular universities? From what I understand, approaching something from the angle of Christian Theism is a sure way to lose grant money and/or a job in many fields. I'm not saying I want to embrace the myth of neutrality and divorce myself from my Christian presuppositions, but does this mean that I will be confined to working in Christian universities (most of which being, if what I hear is correct, sub-par academically) if I go into a field like German Studies or Linguistics? Or are universities not as antipathetic toward Christian scholars as I am supposing? I know that men such as Os Guiness and Alistair McGrath work in secular universities and even write Christian literature without getting fired but am interested to know whether they are anomalies.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

It depends on the subject area and where you want to work, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem. It also depends on what your specialty is within your field of choice.

 

[Davidius]

It depends on the subject area and where you want to work, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem. It also depends on what your specialty is within your field of choice.

Is not evolutionary theory beginning to dominate nearly every field except maybe Mathematics, Physics and Literature?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Is not evolutionary theory beginning to dominate nearly every field except maybe Mathematics, Physics and Literature?

I guess it really depends on the field. With philosophy for example, one can be well respected and not be an evolutionist.

 

[weinhold]

Teaching positions in higher education are highly competitive. One's faith may or may not be a factor in any given situation. I think the whole market contains too many contingencies to really make any sort of general statement about how one's faith may or may not influence a hiring decision.

 

[SRoper]

I just had this discussion with some guys at lunch this past week; one of them is assistant professor of physics. He mentioned Guillermo Gonzalez, the researcher in astronomy who was recently denied tenure for suggesting that the universe is designed. I think it matters which field you are in. This friend seems more concerned about the consequences his faith might have on his advancement than another friend of mine who is assistant professor of philosophy.