Note to Self. Remember the Vocation of Teacher-scholars.

Note to self. 

It is the beginning of the new academic year, and I feel that I need to remind myself of something. This is not a criticism of my institution; my provost and president are very supportive. 

LeTourneau University, where I work, is a tuition-dependent institution of higher education. This is our reality--and the reality of most universities in the US. Almost all of our operational funding, including the cost to instruct students, comes from matriculation fees. We have very little margin for error with regard to recruiting students. Faculty members are very aware of this, and they work hard to do all they can to attract and serve students. 

As important as it is to attend to this reality, I think it is equally important to remember that a university like ours, a university that is trying to not only form students but also to have a positive influence in our academic disciplines, does not only exist for students. While we are primarily  a teaching institution that focuses on student outcomes, part of our mission is to embody "faithful presence" within our own academic guilds.  Said in another way, our work is not only teaching but also faithful scholarship--the stewarding of  our academic disciplines,  the cultivating of the garden of our field of knowledge--understanding its history and development, how it contributes to the ongoing rebellion and brokenness of our world, but also attending to the ways in which our academic disciplines can participate with God in His reconciling work, and how are fields of knowledge can help promote human flourishing for the good of communities. 

We cannot faithfully serve our students if we do not support teacher-scholars and empower them to fulfill their vocation.

Scholarship is a life-long project; in many ways it is a way of life that could be characterized as a "long obedience in the same direction". It is a craft that takes patience and discipline through many years of preparation, and even more years of practice. Scholars have invested an inordinate amount of time developing skills necessary for their craft, habits of mind and heart that are concomitant with the task of scholarship; they have spent countless hours reading, writing, thinking, discussing,  reflecting, and analyzing with the goal of bringing order to the seemingly never-ending mass of information that we have accumulated in this digital age--all so that we can better understand (and live with the grain of) the world that has been given to us as a gift for communion with God.

That "so that" is what makes LeTourneau University, and other Christian universities like it, different.  At a place like LeTourneau University, teacher-scholars see their academic callings as a way of serving the church and the world. The telos of our scholarship is not understanding in and of itself, as important as that is. Rather the goal is service; understanding for the sake of facilitating faithfulness, delight, gratitude, awe, wonder, worship, and communion. 

For scholars to develop their craft in this way, they need institutions and administrators that support their calling; because careful, thoughtful, insightful scholarship that is intended to serve others requires time, patience, and hope. It is not efficient. There is not an immediate ROI. It is not practical in the way we expect most things to be these days. But that is not the same as saying that there is not a return on the investment and that it is not practical. It's just that the benefits of flourishing teacher-scholars don't manifest themselves easily on a spread sheet. 

My concern is that our calling is undergoing severe hostility and threat. For a variety of reasons, some of which have to do with the technological age that we live in, the conceptual framing of our calling has been morphed into that of a machine, or a conveyor belt. 

It is my privilege and pleasure to serve as dean for the School of Theology and Vocation at LeTourneau University. And as dean I want to remember that I must not only serve our students, but that I also must find ways to serve our teacher-scholars, to help them become what they are called to be--for the sake of church and for the life of the world. Amen.