Abstract
Education
Christian educational institutions can often be a protective bubble keeping us away from dealing with them. This is not the goal of the Christian college, but while hiring faculty and staff who agree with a statement of faith and admitting students with the same criteria, the bubble emerges. Evangelical institutions teach the need for being witnesses to the world with the reconciling message of Jesus Christ, yet their hiring and admissions policies present a challenge how to interact with those outside one’s orbit.
Bubble to Bridge is much more than the product of two members of the Bethel University community. It includes short testimonies of many individuals who are living proof that dialog with the world is a necessity for living in the twenty-first century. Bethel is a Baptist school founded by Swedish Baptists in 1871 as a seminary. The university slowly emerged from this humble, pietistic beginning. Today Bethel has over 4,600 students. Larson and Shady introduce the need for going outside the Christian college bubble to move into interfaith dialog—not to compromise one’s beliefs but to have a healthy dialog that would lead to greater understanding of each other and remove the fears and distrust of those outside the bubble.
The world is changing rapidly with movements of many peoples leaving their war-torn homelands and seeking a new home where they can live in peace. There are an estimated 65 million refugees in the world today and half of them are children. Often refugees’ arrival can trigger fears, distrust, and the need for building walls or stronger bubbles. This works against the mission of bringing Christ to the world, but fear prevents one from seeing the larger picture.
The authors carefully explain that having interfaith dialogue does not mean compromising beliefs, but rather it is important for us to understand one another, to care about each other, and to work together. There are several testimonies/case studies in the book. April Lenker wrote the final testimony. While she was a student at the University of North Carolina, April was an active member of Campus Crusade (Cornerstore) and a member of the Muslim Student Association. She developed deep friendships and eventually was behind interfaith dialog between both organizations. Ola Mohamed, a graduate of UNC, wrote about Lenker’s pioneering work in interfaith dialog: “April embodied the values of Evangelical Christianity in such a way that she simultaneously upheld the integrity of her faith while welcoming the faith of others” (181).
This book challenges the reader to move beyond the Christian college bubble and build bridges to the world around us so that we might better fulfill our mission of bringing hope, trust, and reconciliation to improve our common social places building understanding between communities.