Center for Faculty Development

2007 New Faculty Orientation

Found in Union University Core Values > Christ-Centered

Randal S. Schwindt, Assistant Professor of Engineering 

In theory, “Christ-Centered” is the primary, organizing Core Value.  The others (Excellence-Driven, People-Focused, Future-Directed) follow from it and are subordinate to it. 

But what does it mean? 

First of all, I would say that “Christ-Centered” is the Core Value that is the hardest to define, that it’s the most alien to us in the context of our discipline and therefore the hardest to live up to.  We are called to think deeply about Christ being the center of everything, including our discipline, and the ramifications of that for theory and practice. 

It might be good to start with thinking about what it should not mean.  A couple things come to mind. 

It should not merely be a marketing slogan.  Former art professor Michael Mallard phrased this as “branding vs. being.”  In reality, there is always this tension between the institution marketing itself and the faculty, staff, and administration living up to the marketing with integrity: “truth in advertising.”  Am I saying that Union is not really “Christ-Centered”?  No, but I am saying we need to strive for the ideal while being honest and humble about where we really are. 

Nor should “Christ-centered” (or “integration of faith & learning”) mean merely a scripture on the syllabus, prayer in class, spiritualized analogies from your discipline, being “nice” to people and your students, etc.  These are all fine things – some of them are necessary, and some can be good ways to start, but they are not sufficient. 

So what does “Christ-centered” mean?  I see two main facets:

1. Christ as the foundation of my discipline
2. Christ as the guide to the practice of my discipline

By “Christ as the foundation of my discipline,” I mean developing a theology of my discipline.  We are called to be lay theologians to some degree.  Granted, this is not easy for most of us, since almost none of us studied our disciplines in this context.  But we don’t have to start from scratch.  There are some people who have thought long and hard about this, including people here at Union. 

So: what about my own discipline of engineering?  Engineering is an applied discipline, a profession.  One definition of engineering is “the intersection of science and business.”  A more general definition is “the application of science, math, and economics to solve technical problems facing society.”  So engineering has a scientific base and a social application.  How is it “Christ-centered”?  On the science side, engineering is Christ-centered in the same way mathematics and the natural sciences are.  Christ, God the Son, was the agent of creation and is the sustainer of creation.  He is also the goal of the created order.  God is intelligent and orderly, and His creation reflects that.  Man, made in the image of God, is able to understand creation to some extent.  While the sciences glorify God through the study of His creation, engineering additionally glorifies God through the harnessing of creation to solve problems.  Engineers imitate God in building with a purpose and not only for beauty.  To engineer is human because God the builder made man in his image.  It is a fulfillment of God’s command to have dominion over creation.  Finally, to design and build solutions to problems is morally good.  It is a way to love our neighbor. 

As the agent of creation, Jesus knows engineering.  (So I think it’s okay to pray for help on an engineering problem.) 

There are some other Christian doctrines which help us understand engineering.  For instance, the fall of man is critical.  Engineering solves problems in a social, human context.  Many of the problems engineering addresses have their root in sin -- the brokenness of the universe due to human sin, the satisfaction of a sinful desire, or mitigation of the natural consequence of specific sins.  Our engineering solutions are imperfect due to our own finite minds and due to our sinful, corrupt minds and motives.  We can solve problems poorly or solve the wrong problems or both.  Engineering solutions are also marred in their implementation by the human interactions involved. 

God’s purpose for man also bears on engineering: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. 

Finally, on the theological side, as all creation is centered in Christ, all the disciplines are centered in Christ.  Christ gives them all meaning and order.  All disciplines are subordinate to Him, and mine is not better than yours. 

What are the ramifications?  How is Christ the guide to the practice of engineering?  In countless ways.  The other three Core Values follow naturally:

• Excellence-Driven: excellence glorifies Christ
• People-Focused: serving and loving individuals made in the image of God
• Future-Directed: joining in God’s redemptive mission

Specifically with regards to engineering:

• The projects we work on: missions, business, government, etc.
• Why we work on them: wealth, prestige, curiosity, fun, service, honor to God
• How we work on them: diligently; with integrity, kindness, humility; respectfully, joyfully

God reconciled the tension between his holiness and his mercy in Christ.  On a vastly smaller scale, in our teaching we must hold in tension:

“holiness”                                 ← Tension →             “mercy”

Excellence                                                                   People-Focused

high academic standards                                              grace-filled community

fairness                                                                        kindness

truth                                                                             love 

Our finiteness and sinfulness and Christ’s pre-eminence call for humility with respect to ourselves and with respect to our disciplines.  We should take our discipline seriously, but not too seriously.  We should not take ourselves very seriously at all.  Intellectual pride is the bane of academics, and teaching can be an ego trip.  Christ excludes that. 

We must respect, honor, and serve our students, but we must also honor the position of leadership with which we have been entrusted.  We cannot lord over our students, but neither can we abdicate our responsibility. 

We are role models for our students, whether we like it or not. 

Ultimately, we do not answer to our students, our colleagues, the chair, provost, or president. 

Finally, while on the one hand, Christ-centered teaching requires conscious, focused effort, it will also tend to flow naturally from a Christ-centered life.  Just as our individual lives will never be perfectly Christ-centered and there is a progressive aspect to our sanctification in Christ, the Christ-centeredness of our work will always be a work in progress.