January 29, 2004
professorship as a calling
Nicholas Wolterstorff is a professor of philosophy at Yale who was kind enough to send me an article of his called Professorship as a Legitimate Calling. It discusses some of the ways a university professor is a distinctive calling for some Christians. Highlights…
The work of a professor is something to which some of us are called by God – in the classic sense of Luther and Calvin, such that if we did not do it, we would be acting disobediently.
I think one of the fundamental callings of the Christian community, which translates down to some individuals, is to engage in that contest over meaning and interpretation – and to engage at its most fundamental levels, to engage in a spiritual struggle.
The church needs scholars to assist in the task of seeing precisely how the biblical vision applies to our present social realities…and to give scholarly and intellectual development to the vision of meaning found in the gospel.
Ultimately, scholarship done creatively and redemptively is in the service of shalom, in the service of human fulfillment.
A great start, and in fact it seems more needs to be done to aid those, like Wolterstorff, who are engaged in representing Jesus in our universities. Here’s an idea: Every September set aside a moment of the Sunday service to pray for professors, and other professionals who devote themselves to such a high calling.