Pepperdine aims to equip students of all faith

(Photo by Andie Unson)

Pepperdine is a Christian institution. Students know this even before they decide to enroll.

But to what extent is Christianity a part of the university’s academic experience?

A fall 2013 survey of 60 undergraduates indicated all but nine had experienced discussions of Christian faith in their classes, and all but 11 had heard professors speak of vocation in religious terms.

“Faith is real and alive on this campus and no one should be surprised to find that when they join this community,” President Andrew K. Benton said.  

Most students surveyed agreed that Christian faith and values are not only alive in Pepperdine’s classrooms, but that they are presented respectfully. Some 42 students said they have never felt pressured to accept Christian beliefs in class, while 17 students said they have and one declined to answer.

Junior Andrea Viñas, a self-described atheist who participated in the survey, said Pepperdine’s religious affiliation was not exclusive nor intimidating to non-Christian students like herself. Pepperdine’s Christian values correspond with her personal set of morals and she considers both as universal, ethical practices.

“The morals they teach here are often very positive things that I can agree with,” she said in an email. “My parents taught me to be a good person, I treat others the way I wish to be treated, these ideals are logical with or without religion.
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Junior Zahra Madraswala, a Muslim, also said Pepperdine’s Christian core beliefs complement her own religious principles.

“Most of the time the (teachers) have global ideas that, if you listen carefully, everyone can connect with,” she said.

Being a Muslim attending a Christian university has not been a problem for her, either.

“You should be able to distinguish why you are at this school,” Madraswala said. “If you are here for the education, then appreciate the knowledge the professors give you. If you are here for the faith, then get involved in campus ministries. If you are here for both, you can get both.”

About 20 years ago, Pepperdine began new efforts to strengthen its standing as a Christian university with great success, Benton said.

“In my inaugural address, more than 13 years ago, I spoke of resources, diversity, heritage, community and scholarship,” Benton said in an email. “There was a reason for placing our heritage of faith in the middle, anchoring all points.”

Creating an environment of faith that promotes spiritual growth within a Christian worldview for all students, staff and faculty alike required a process of religious transformation that would encompass all areas of the university.

Benton and professors traced Pepperdine’s religious transformation to the creation of the Center for Faith and Learning, inaugurated by former religion Professor Richard T. Hughes in 1999. Lilly Endowment Inc., a private, Christian philanthropy, provided Pepperdine with a $2 million grant to start the center.

The center’s mission, according to the official website, is to “offer support for faculty, staff and students in all five schools of the University as they seek to engage in cutting-edge, original scholarship and classroom teaching within a framework of Christian values and beliefs.”

The point was to go beyond just “denomination” and start sharing the core beliefs the institution considers to be non-negotiable, said Juanie Walker, communication professor and Pepperdine alumna, who was a freshman in 1981.

“When I got here it was just a value-centered institution and conversations about religion didn’t go further than ‘what denomination are you?’” Walker said.

Walker, who has been teaching at Pepperdine for 19 years, said she has witnessed the institution’s big transformation toward a deeper, more integrated Christian academic tradition.

Gary Selby, communication professor and center director, said the university’s approach is far from simplistic.

“It’s not Sunday school — it’s deeper than saying a prayer at the beginning of class,” he said.

Selby said the center’s programs, events and services aim to nurture both faculty and student spiritual formation and faith. The challenge, he said, was doing this in a way that was hospitable to everybody.

“We want faculty to encourage students to struggle with questions of vocation, not force them to think a certain way about things,” Selby said.

Madraswala said Pepperdine’s faith and learning approach is a great learning opportunity. Her Muslim faith hasn’t diminished since she started attending Pepperdine, it has grown even more.

“I take this learning experience as an opportunity to widen my knowledge on other religions,” Madraswala said. “This way, I will be able to connect with another huge population of people.”

Provost Darryl Tippens said hiring faculty who believe in Pepperdine’s Christian vocation has also helped fulfill the university’s mission.

“Over the last 13 years since becoming provost, I have dedicated myself to supporting faculty search committees and deans in identifying and hiring talented faculty who are also persons of deep Christian conviction,” Tippens said. “I think this team effort has been remarkably successful.”

The Center for Faith and Learning then helps “equip them further in discovering how faith impinges on their disciplines,” Tippens said.

The center’s most important programs for faculty and staff development are the Faith and Learning workshops and retreats. The center designs these programs to provide the attending faculty with an experience that will encourage a stronger sense of community and inspire a deeper reflection of their Christian identity in relation to their role as professors.

“Our big event is an annual retreat for new tenure-track faculty in one of our overseas campuses,” Selby said.

Professors attend a week-long intensive retreat to talk about personal vocation, the integration of faith and learning and how they can implement all of these aspects into their profession.

“We discuss the possibility that faith offers for understanding who God is, what the nature of the world is and how we believe this is going to impact how we see ourselves as teachers and the way we approach our content,” Selby said.

Originally only for incoming faculty, the center will host its first retreat this December for mid-career faculty – those who Pepperdine hired before initiating the retreats in 2002. Selby introduced the new retreat as part of his “Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind” proposal last year at the September President’s Briefing.

The center’s associate director, Professor Paul Contino, said his biggest project for the center right now was the mid-career retreat.

“Gary (Selby) and I are helping lead a retreat in Florence that will help tenured faculty think about their vocations mid-career,” Contino said.

The center also offers year-round seminars and events for faculty and, in many cases, for the students as well. The center sponsors club convocations, guest speakers, reading groups, workshops and retreats.

Through these events the center aims to encourage integrating faith in the classroom, rather than simply provide a guided list of methods, Selby said. Professors have the freedom to choose their own approach for integrating a Christian framework in the courses they teach.

Contino, who also teaches Great Books, helped create the ‘Faith and Reason Seminar’ for freshman students just a few years ago. The semester-long course covers texts ranging from St. Augustine’s “Confessions” to Charles Darwin’s “On Natural Selection,” and aims to provide students with historical pieces that invoke questions about vocation, purpose and faith in an informative and knowledgeable way.

Contino said he’s tried to set an example and encourage other professors to ask themselves “if they want to simply dispense information or if there is a transformative goal in the teaching we are all doing.”

International Relations Professor Robert Lloyd, who has been teaching at Pepperdine for 16 years, said he incorporates the Christian faith through discussion in his classes on culture and negotiation.

“It’s part of the corporate culture to encourage the integration of faith and learning,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd said his method for bringing faith to the classroom relies mostly on having his students think about Christianity’s role in our understanding of cultures and cultural expressions.

“In Pepperdine, we consider the human condition as part of a way of understanding,” Lloyd said. “There is a greater openness to ask questions that are more off bounds and unimportant in other places.”

Walker said her Christian teaching method is essentially an attempt to guide students through the inquiry of investigating who they are, first by inviting them to discover their own perspective and, secondly, by asking them how their perspective is related to the Christian worldview.

Walker also said a big part of her method is working with non-profit, transformative Christian organizations as a class requirement. This semester, for example, Walker’s students were involved with the Joni and Friends International Disability Center, an organization of Christian ministries that reach out to the handicapped and disabled to evangelize these groups and promote Christian worldviews.

“I make sure that there is always a community engagement piece to my teaching method,” Walker said.

Selby said he tries to engage his students in the practice of meditation and self-awareness, especially during the most mundane daily practices, like eating.

“One of the things I have my students do in class is practice awareness while eating a ‘MilkyWay,’” he said. “This ‘mindfulness’ is a key practice for developing gratitude and it connects to a way of living that is Christian.”

Professor Thomas Vandergon, co-adviser of Pepperdine’s Catholic Student Association, said he  regularly brings faith into his biology classes.

“I see God in every aspect of my life and my profession; if we’re learning about something puzzling I always like to say ‘well, that’s gonna be my first question when I get to heaven,’ ” Vandergon said.

He said he always makes sure to explain his Roman Catholic faith to students so they know where he comes from. Mainly, Vandergon said he tries to get his students to see that science and faith are not antagonistic and in fact go hand in hand.

“The university hasn’t really dictated how or how much we should bring our faith to the classroom, but they certainly do encourage us to do it,” Vandergon said.

Carolyn James, political science and international relations professor, teaches “The International Relations of Middle-earth,” a class based on J.R. Tolkien’s literary works. James said she uses Christianity as a starting-point comparison for introducing other religions and cultures to her students. Having a Christian common ground has helped her present class material through a deeper, more personal approach.

“I think it’s obvious to the students that I’m a Christian addressing a predominantly Christian audience,” she said.

The center, faculty and administration’s efforts to engage Christian values and faith in the classroom and community reflect Pepperdine’s unique idiosyncrasy, Benton said.

“All of this tells our story,” he continued. “We must tell our story or others will without the knowledge or insight to do so.”

Maria Prada completed this story in Dr. Christina Littlefield’s fall 2013 Jour 241 class.