Response to 2008 Faculty Orientation Presentations Dr. Ed Robinson August 15, 2008

Response disclaimers  I’ve been thinking about this for a long time (even before July 2005).  I purposefully didn’t prepare it ahead of time.  I formulated most of it while listening to Rick Ostrander’s presentation.  These are thoughts in process … not a presidential presentation nor mandate.

Foundations for Integration  Revelation … how God makes himself known  Special and general revelation  Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience  Divine initiative … human discovery  “Descriptive” and “Prescriptive”

Foundations  Epistemology … how we come to know God, truth, ideas, reality  Developing the practices of “knowing”  Spiritual, intellectual, social, scientific disciplines

Foundations  Hermeneutics … the formation and development of a particular lens through which we interpret and discern truth, reality, data.  worldview(s), paradigms, ideological constructs. Christian worldviews vs. The worldview

Foundations  Worship of God with the intellect …  Vocational calling in teaching (including scholarship)  Providing an offering of “first fruits” in our calling

Foundations  Salvation Narrative and its Telos  Optimism of Grace  The Resilience of Truth  The Imminence of the Holy Spirit

Particularities of Integration for MNU  Confessional commitments that define rather than constrict  Our educational history  Wesley and the Holy Club at Oxford  Nazarene liberal arts vs. Bible school or institute  In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty and charity

Particularities of Integration for MNU  Freedom to explore and engage in scholarship ( truth isn’t brittle )  Compelled to engage the world ( the world of ideas as well as the world of human need ).  Integrative studies is in our educational and theological DNA

What now?  Reaffirm and strengthen our commitment to the essentials  Assert the opportunity of freedom to explore and engage individually and collectively with humility  Diversity of worldview(s), cultures, histories, gender, academic disciplines, etc.  Charity  Creative Conflict of Ideas

What now?  Develop a vocabulary and consistent patterns of integrative dialogue ( starting with faculty and extending to students )  Consider integrative thinking, teaching, and scholarship in faculty development, course evaluation and professional development ( as a part of performance management )

What now?  Revisit and reform Gen Ed curricula to reflect the potential of our best integrative thought, our inherent educational and theological motivation to explore and engenders a commitment to life-long integration

What now?  Pursue denominational and theological distinctives  Catholic – sacramental principle  Reformed – Kingdoms in conflict  Anabaptist – Living counter-culturally, challenging power structures antithetical to God’s “peaceable kingdom”  Nazarene - “vocational” servant leadership … partnership with God.

What now?  Nazarene/ Wesleyan Holiness  Authority of Scripture and its relationship to creation (including the human experience spiritually, historically, socially, psychologically, intellectually)  Reality of sin and optimism of grace … a comprehensive soteriology (universality of God’s purposes)  The integrity of belief and experience  The call to personal holiness (Christlikeness)  The call to social responsibility and corporate ethics as redemptive justice  The international nature of the Church, its mission, and its commitment to egalitarian nature of knowledge, wisdom and worldview(s).