Julian Rivers on Christian Service in the Secular University

The latest Cambridge Paper from the Jubilee Centre is available online, this one by Julian Rivers:

Julian Rivers, ‘The Exile of the Mind: Christian Service in the Secular University’, Cambridge Papers 24, 1 (March 2015).

Here is the summary:

‘British higher education is increasingly secular in outlook. This paper identifies three aspects of that secularity: specialisation, instrumentalisation and globalisation. As Christians, we can respond by observing the intellectual, moral and theological inadequacy of the university life this generates. But we are also called to take practical beneficial steps to address its weaknesses as well. We can prevent slippage into hostile forms of secularism by promoting Christianity as an object and framework of study, as well as resisting petty forms of oppression. We can improve the quality of our common life by promoting intellectual virtue, scholarly community and the pursuit of public goods. This may not always sit comfortably with current criteria of scholarly “success”, but by promoting such qualities, we can hope to make even the modern secular academy serviceable to Christ.’