What’s missing?
Our chapel speaker today was Dr. Ken Elzinga, Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia. He introduced his lecture with a crowd-pleasing list of ten things he knew about Covenant from talking to current Trinity Fellows and Covenant alums Jenny Fearnow and Wilson Whitaker. I’ll see if I can get that list! He didn’t actually speak about economics, per se, although he will over the next day or two he is on campus and he dropped a few terms that economics students would recognize as he framed his talk. He shared that his lecture was based on two assumptions: 1. that some students at Covenant think they are missing out by being here and 2. that some students at Covenant do not have faith in Christ or are moving away from that faith.
He encouraged the first group to recognize that in attending Covenant, there is something added to their experience, not something missing. They have the freedom to pursue questions that might be pushed aside or derided at another institution. In a Covenant classroom, for example, someone could bring up what the Bible says about debt and lending, or bring up the question of caring for the poor according to Isaiah. Here, students begin the integration of life and faith, instead of waiting until after college. He also encouraged them that the small size of Covenant is an added benefit as well in creating a sense of community and belonging. On a side note, Dr. Elzinga’s Microeconomics course at UVA is larger than our student body.
The second group of students he termed the “doubters,” those who are not sure they believe the gospel or are drifting from belief. Of any place, Covenant should be a community that welcomes these students in the midst of their doubts, is open to their questions, and is living and speaking in a way that gives a defense of our faith to those who live with us. Those who doubt test our own faithfulness and our own readiness to give a reason for the hope that is within us, in gentleness.
Dr. Elzinga reminded students to question not just “What will I do with my Covenant experience?” but also “What will my experience at Covenant do to me?”
For those who wanted to read the short story Professor Elzinga mentioned, here’s a link.
Published on 29 Sep 2008 by Christiana Fitzpatrick at 3:47 pm.
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