A phenomenology of the integration of faith and learning.(Report)

This phenomenological investigation examined how eight student-nominated faculty who teach at an evangelical Christian liberal arts university describe their understanding and practice of the Integration of Faith and Learning(IFL). Collected data via informal conversational, taped interviews led to the emergence if two primary themes: the Inseparability of Faith from Practice and the Outworking of Faith in Practice. The findings of the study highlight the need to create a more conductive context in which students can learn IFL and call for a re-examination of the already murky discourse surrounding definitional aspects of IFL. The study proposes to move the discourse forward by offering a new, yet to be discussed construct that emanated from the participants of this study, ontological foundation. A conceptual model describing its relationship with IFL is proposed.

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Numerous conceptual models for the integration of faith and learning (IFL) are present in the general literature (Farnsworth, 1982; Faw, 1998; Holmes, 1987) and in the counseling/clinical psychology literature (Carter & Narramore, 1979; Eck, 1996; Entwistle, 2004). What is less prevalent is a consensus definition for IFL (Faw, 1998; See Badley, 1994, for a review) and specific studies on how faculty members at religious universities actually do IFL.

The Current study seeks to fill that gap by phenomenologically investigating how eight Christian faculty members at a Christian liberal arts university actually live out IFL. These faculty members are unique in that were not the product of a board sample, or nominated by administrators or colleagues as exemplary integrators. Rather, these integrators were nominated by students as the professors from whom the students had learned the most about IFL.

Brodening Entwistle's (2004) IFL definition from a focus on psychology to general academic disciplines, we conceptualize IFL as a multidimensional scholarly yet holistic task. All italicized words were in Enwistle's original text. The integration of faith and learning(or integration) is a "multifaceted attempt to discern the underlying truths" (p.242) about one's liberal arts discipline and "Christianity (in theology, faith, and practice)" (p.242). "It will involve explicating the foundational presuppositions and histories of out disciplines. It will be a disciplinary and scholarly exercise when one attempts to integrate the findings of the.. [liberal arts discipline] and theology" (p.243). It will be "an applied integration" as men and women attempt to live out their findings (p.243)."Finally, it will be public and personal; it will be a shared responsibility and a personal quest for wholeness by individuals within their communities and in relation to God" (p.243).

We begin this study by briefly recognizing IFL models that exhibit a continuum of differing levels of interaction between the discipline and Christianity. Particular attention will be given to writers who explore IFL more holistically, specifically in regards to interpersonal and interpersonal dimensions. Next, research that focuses on how Christian faculty do IFL will be examined. Particular attention is given to the only currently researched model of how students learn IFL (proposed by Sorenson, 1997). Subsequently, the faculty participants in this study are introduced, and their phenomenological descriptions of IFL and its practice are presented. The findings are than explored in regards to their implications of IFL and its practice are presented. The findings are then explored in regards to their implications for defining integration and its task.

The IFL Continuum