The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak understanding racial diversity on a Christian college campus /
THE SPIRIT IS WILLING BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK: UNDERSTANDING
RACIAL DIVERSITY ON A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE CAMPUS
by Alvin Edward Sanders Jr.
This dissertation is required by the Ph.D. program in Educational Leadership at Miami
University. It consists of five chapters that discuss how racial diversity is understood
among faculty and staff at an evangelical Christian college.
Hunter (1991) defines contemporary evangelical Christians as people who
adhere to the belief that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God; the belief in the divinity of
Christ; and the belief in the efficacy of Christ’s life, death, and physical resurrection of
the salvation of the human soul. Emerson and Smith (2000) describe evangelical
Christians as a mosaic socially, politically, economically, and regionally who share the
defining feature that the final ultimate authority for truth is the Bible. The primary
research question of the study was how do evangelicals in Christian institutions of higher
learning understand racial diversity? There were two subquestions: (1) What prevents a
Christian from taking the moral action of embracing racial diversity within their
institution of higher learning; and (2) What social identity is primary when evangelical
Christians think about the subject of racial diversity on campus?
School Location:USA - Ohio
Source Type:Master's Thesis
Keywords:racism church colleges race relations united states
Date of Publication: