When the Higher Learning Commission visited Grace in the 2021-22 academic year, they affirmed Grace’s strong mission and dedication to integrate biblical truth into every academic school but encouraged the institution to take it a level deeper. President Dr. Drew Flamm and Provost Dr. Kevin Roberts took this to heart and launched a three-year integration of faith and learning initiative to more formally define program learning outcomes for every major on campus. They placed Dr. Tom Edgington and Dr. Christy Hill at the helm of the charge. Now, in their third year of leading the initiative, they discuss their passion for faith integration, the creative ways Grace faculty are embracing it, and the great joy found when we love the Lord with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength.
How have you seen the integration of faith and learning impact students in the classrooms that you have taught, and how has it impacted you personally?
Edgington: I’ve been passionate about bringing the Bible and psychology together from the very beginning. I majored in psychology here at Grace College, and then I went to Grace Theological Seminary, and the idea of Christian counseling was in its infancy. I was reading everything I could find by Dr. Larry Crabb and Dr. Jay Adams. I just loved what I was reading, and I wanted to find a way of bringing that material into the classroom. That’s when I first developed and taught a course entitled Integration of Psychology and Theology, which eventually evolved into Biblical Psychology and Theological Foundations of Counseling. I found that when I was teaching this material, 1. It was what I needed for my own life, and 2. It was the reason many students came to Grace — to learn the discipline from a Christian vantage point. So that’s why I’ve always been excited about it. With the present faith integration initiative, I’m really enjoying coming alongside other professors and helping them develop their curriculum based on a biblical view, because it all comes from God. He is the one who created all of these disciplines. And while some disciplines might be a little harder to integrate, it’s good to have the perspective that all of it is part of God’s creation.
Hill: My particular background is in Christian education, which in and of itself is theology and education integrated. It’s always been pretty intuitive with my discipline. I also attended a Christian college, where there was a strong emphasis on worldview integration. I remember reading for my sociology class, and then I’d be reading something for another class, and then I’d be reading for my Bible class, and I almost couldn’t keep track of which class the material was for because there was such a robust faith integration. I came away from college with this sense that all truth is God’s truth. Not all things professed to be true are true. But if it’s really true, it will fit within a biblical worldview. College gave me the confidence that I don’t have to check my brain at the door to become a Christian and that I can have relevant conversations with people in their disciplines, using faith as my lens. I want to give that to other people. If I can help support that coherence across the academic disciplines, then everyone wins. If students graduate from college with a sense that their faith is coherent, it sets them up for life where their Christianity is not compartmentalized. Their faith and their discipline are in conversation.
When some people hear the phrase “faith integration” in an academic context, they might assume this means beginning a class with a devotional. Can you tell me how this initiative is more nuanced than that?
Edgington: When we talk about academic faith integration, we want to help professors think about their discipline in a way that really is Christian. So, that’s part of our work, helping professors realize it’s not just adding a nice devotional at the beginning of class, which is great if they want to do that, but when they are talking about the subject matter in their class, what does the Bible actually have to say about it?
Hill: This is what distinguishes us from a secular school. Students often pay more money to attend a Christian school, and it’s not just for chapel, dorm life, or to avoid the party scene. Those things are great, but ultimately, the distinction of a Christian education is the discipleship component. Our classes should be discipling our students in their intellectual engagement and showing them what it means to love God with all their minds. (Mark 12:30)
Edgington: I tell people that at Grace, you’re going to get everything you’re learning at a secular university, but you’ll also get it from a Christian perspective. So you’re getting more here. If we don’t give you everything students get at secular institutions, we’re not doing what we’re supposed to do in terms of your discipline. So our approach is actually a more intensive education.
What about our Christian peers? Are we approaching faith in the classroom in a different way or to a different degree?
Hill: I would imagine most Christian colleges were like us before we started this initiative. Grace has always emphasized biblical integration, and most professors were doing it organically. Because of this initiative, there is more communication and intentionality in each academic program. Professors are working together to accomplish a program learning outcome connected to faith integration.
You both get a front-row seat as you walk these faculty members through this. Practically speaking, what does the process of training faculty look like?
Hill: We host lunch and learns for faculty to come in over lunch and watch Dr. Paul Kaak’s video. After that, we’ll come to a departmental meeting and discuss where the rubber meets the road. So some of these meetings are more of a workshop where faculty work on curriculum mapping and think through specific learning outcomes for their programs. They start with a goal of what they want students to know by the end of their studies and work backward to think about how specific classes will help play a formative role for the student to reach the desired outcome.
Have there been any especially thought-provoking ideas or applications of this as you’ve gone through the process with different schools?
Edgington: In the School of Behavioral Sciences, Sharon Dutkowski highlighted the approach we take in counseling individuals who are suffering. How do we view suffering from a biblical perspective? It’s through a redemptive framework. A Western view sees suffering as only a negative thing and seeks to eliminate or minimize suffering. Yet a biblical view says, “Yes, this is difficult, and I want this to end, but God is going to use this suffering for something positive — there is a purpose to my pain.” (Romans 5:3-5)
Hill: Another great example is from Professor of Mathematics Dr. Ryan Johnson. He talks about helping students do hard things because math is a discipline that’s hard. So if you can help students grow in their capacity to be resilient and persevere, that’s relevant to faith too. Faith isn’t quick and easy. He’s helping develop a character quality through math that then helps students display a long obedience in the same direction. I think he’s very insightful.
How do you approach the School of Ministry Studies with this initiative, where the Bible is already the main textbook?
Hill: Our students come in with baggage they don’t even know about just because of the way culture has shaped them. As a result, Christianity gets morphed into something that is not biblical. This is called syncretism. The School of Ministry will be working to analyze and deconstruct malformed worldviews and then to reconstruct a biblical worldview within the Grace Core. In the major, we desire to equip young people pursuing ministry to be able to engage relevantly in a culture that is growing more hostile to Christian faith and ideas. We want them to be able to live within those tensions and model Christ full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
Edgington: In my day as a student, we often fell off the truth side. Today, there is a tendency to fall off the grace side. As long as you’re loving and kind, you can choose the truth you like. But actually it’s both. We want our students to hold firmly to the truth of Scripture and do it in a way that’s gracious, kind, and caring.
You mentioned this initiative is about creating a legacy. How do you see this shaping the culture of Grace College over the next 5, 10, 20 years?
Edgington: We can’t assume that because professors have a doctorate and have been going to church all their lives, they will know how to effectively integrate biblical truth into their discipline. I think we just have to be intentional to help them so they, in turn, can help others. That’s the legacy we’re hoping and praying for. That way, we don’t risk having the experienced faculty retire and the young ones come in unsure of how to do it effectively or even how to do it at all.
Hill: Yes, we want it to be woven into the very fabric of our academics. The Bible is not a tack on; it’s central. Academic faith integration is part of new faculty training, it’s embedded in the curriculum, and deans have the tools to support their faculty in this way. After all, that’s why we teach here. This is legacy work because the program learning goals will live long after those who created them leave. It makes the day meaningful — being a part of this overarching movement is pretty exciting.
Learn more about how we do faith integration at Grace.
Dr. Tom Edgington serves as professor of psychology/counseling at Grace, where he has taught for more than 40 years. He founded the Grace Counseling Center in 1992 and launched the graduate counseling program in 1995. Students benefit from the blend of theological knowledge he learned in his M.Div. with the clinical wisdom he gained in his counseling degrees (M.A. and Ph.D.) and his work in the field.
Dr. Christy Hill serves as the professor of spiritual formation and women’s ministry at Grace. She has a passion for facilitating the holistic development of men and women into mature disciples of Jesus Christ, who are transformed by the experience of God’s love and truth. She has taught for Grace Theological Seminary and the School of Ministry Studies for 19 years.
