Faculty Attitudes on Integrating Faith and Learning at Religious Colleges and Universities: A Research Note

Abstract

Reflecting the broader secularization debates, considerable research and disagreement exists over the degree to which religious higher education is distinct from its secular counterpart. One crucial and controversial way in which religious colleges and universities can differ from the secular academy is to integrate faith and learning by including faith-based perspectives in the core curriculum. Faculty surveys from six religious colleges and universities reveal a separatist camp and an integrationist camp. We use logistic regression to examine faculty positions on integrating faith and learning. Among the most powerful predictors of faculty attitudes are the type of institution (research university or liberal arts college) and the denomination of the faculty member (same as the denomination that sponsors the school or different).