What Is Faith Integration?
Theresa Tisdale, Ph.D., chair of the Faith Integration Task Force, presented the following overview to the graduate nursing faculty. She noted that the APU Mission Statement provides the foundation for faith integration at APU:
Azusa Pacific University is an evangelical Christian community of disciples and scholars who seek to advance the work of God in the world through academic excellence in liberal arts and professional programs of higher education that encourage students to develop a Christian perspective of truth and life
Faith Integration at APU
"Faith integration at APU is understood as a lifelong process that encourages the dialogue between academic knowledge and Christian faith with the goal of reclaiming and applying the unity of God’s truth."
The Faith Integration Task Force was established in 1998 to explore ways to support and enhance the university’s mission relative to students developing "a Christian perspective of truth and life." These are the program goals for faith integration at APU:
- Increase the emphasis of faith integration for new faculty
- Support for developing a culture of faith integration with existing faculty
- Develop a center for faith integration (future initiative)
Resources and programs:
- Graduate-level courses in the integration of faith and learning (funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc.)
- Seminar series for new faculty members
- Faith integration mentors
- Resources such as bibliographies and lists of scholarly societies
- Website devoted to faculty development http://groups.apu.edu/cynosure/cynosure/
- Feedback received from IDEA evaluations of classroom teaching
In her comments, Tisdale cited these benefits of bringing faith to life in the classroom: transformation of ourselves as faculty members, transformation of our students, and transformation of culture.
Craig Boyd, Ph.D., joined Azusa Pacific University in August 2005 as director of faith integration. He comes to us from Greenville College, Illinois, where he taught courses in religion, philosophy, ethics, and Christianity and science. He stated, “I encourage students to think creatively with respect to how we come to understand the place of faith in a secular world.” We look forward to collaborating with Boyd to develop additional resources for faculty and students in this vital topic.
