Impact of Community on Integration of Faith and Learning

Abstract

The primary endeavor of this paper is to provoke the Christian university to arise to its mandate as a transformative agent (Sabin, 2010). The transformation focus of the Christian university is drawn from the view that as an institution of higher learning, it is not only an opinion shaper but is duty bound to facilitate man in his divine responsibility to replenish and subdue the earth (Genesis 1: 28). The environment in which the Christian university is doing business is generally characterized by factors far removed from the Eden aura reigning as God uttered the words in Genesis chapter one. Rather, the environment has degenerated and the poor can hardly subsist. In the words of Sabin (2010, p. 11) the rural poor are in a dehumanizing state of living hidden from the outside world. "Land is scarce and severely degraded. The poor are left with the most marginal land: steep hillsides, rocky ravines, edges of forests, and borders of national parks. Many families cultivate hillsides so steep that they are often injured falling out of their fields" (Sabin, 2010, p. 11). Similarly, urban poverty is equally depriving and even uglier. However, owing to its proximity to the leadership, it often gets more attention and the population can be said to have relatively better access to the basics of life