Christian Theology and the Secular University

If the secular university by definition is non-sectarian or non-denominational, then how can it accommodate a discipline like Christian theology (which hereafter I will refer to simply as 'theology')? Furthermore, doesn’t the traditional goal of theological study, which is to attain knowledge of the divine, fundamentally conflict with the main goal of secular academic study, which is only to attain knowledge about ourselves and the world in which we live? Why, then, should theology be admitted or even care about being admitted within secular academic life? And even if theology were admitted, what contribution to secular academic life could it make? Drawing on prominent figures in the Christian intellectual tradition like Newman, Augustine, and Aquinas, and working from a Christian philosophical and theological perspective Christian Theology and the Secular University argues that Christian theology belongs in the secular university because it provides distinct resources that the secular university needs if it is going to fulfil what should be its main epistemic and even broader educative ends. The book offers a fresh and unique perspective to scholars working in the disciplines of theology, religious studies, and philosophy, and to those in other academic disciplines who are interested in thinking critically and creatively about the place and nature of theological study within the secular university.

Paul A. Macdonald, has an endowed chair in the Department of Philosophy at the United States Air Force Academy