Faith, Learning & Scholarship

Faculty Commitment to Scholarship & Academic Excellence

Grace faculty are committed to fostering an institutional culture where scholarship and academic excellence are brought together with thoughtful reflection on the Christian faith. These values are advanced through the Office for Integration of Faith, Learning and Scholarship

We work towards:

• Reflecting Tradition

  The academic community at Grace College is nurtured by several streams within the Christian tradition. The Evangelical, Pietist, and Anabaptist movements have all valued the synthesis of intellectual creativity and Christ-centered faith.

• Integrating Faith

  Integrating Faith and Learning means engaging the professional disciplines with thoughtful and biblical reflection, pursuing the highest standards of academic excellence, and then challenging students to do the same.

• Promoting Scholarship

  Scholarship takes many different forms; but all of it enhances the academic community, models professional involvement, and contributes to our understanding of the world which God sustains and all of us inhabit.

The Office for Integration of Faith, Learning and Scholarship sponsors regular events that contribute to its mission. These include:

• Faculty Scholarship Forums

  Held once a month, the Faculty Scholarship Forums provide opportunities for faculty members to discuss their ongoing research and writing projects.

• Faith and Learning Forums

  Faculty forums sometimes give special emphasis to issues related to the integration of faith and learning.

• Communitas

  Held in the spring, Communitas is a day that is set aside for the celebration of student scholarship, artistic expression, and community worship.

• Summer Book Discussions

  Each summer, faculty members have the opportunity to grab a cup of coffee and enjoy an informal book discussion on a topic relevant to our calling as Christian scholars and educators. Previous books have included Minding the Church: Scholarship in the Anabaptist Tradition (E. Morris Sider, David Weaver-Zercher and Richard T. Hughes) and Renewing Minds: Serving Church and Community through Christian Higher Education (David Dockery)

Jared S. Burkholder is the Director of the Office of Faith, Learning and Scholarship.

Burkholder received an MA in Church History from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a PhD from the University of Iowa in American Religious History. He embraces both the evangelical and Anabaptist traditions and has a deep appreciation for the integration of faith and learning.

For more information,

please email Jared Burkholder or contact him at 574-372-5100, ext. 6006.