And Now a word of comment on David Dockery

From Chapter 8 of The Future of Christian Higher Education: on Professional Education

The author’s premise is that a secular worldview that has dismissed eternity, morality, accountability, and charity touches every aspect of life in the world in which we live. A distinctive of Christian Higher Education is to infuse these dimensions of life into education. The ability to contend for the truth in whatever sphere of influence one is called to is the critical foundation for life and living.

There are several implications of the Christian worldview for Christian Higher Education.

First, Christian teachers and learners have a higher motivation for learning than getting a good job. God’s purposes inform our learning. Secondly, the integration of Christian faith and learning can help restore the loss of morality and accountability Our will to do actions of righteousness will follow and that will impact our world. Thirdly, a Christian worldview will impact how someone is prepared to fulfill their calling, which is the original meaning of vocation. Thus the goals of Christian education is to prepare servant leaders to be salt and light for the marketplace and to act as agents of change and redemption in their sphere of influence. The Christian tradition holds that honest work is divinely ordained. This, in a nutshell, means that our learning, study and hard work are a means of glorifying and loving God with our heart soul, mind, and strength.Dockery’s final point is an important one: Promotions and prosperity come from God.

Here I will diverge with a personal comment. This is no name it and claim it theology that co-opts God’s blessings for temporal pleasures. I have see it at work at the highest levels. God is pleased at myriad times to work miraculously to advance the cause of the humble and contrite before him who intentionally seek to glorify Him in their day to day marketplace intercourse. One mark of this genuine blessing is that the one who is advanced becomes more humble, not puffed up by accomplishment. The world, the flesh and the devil would shut this form of righteousness down.