By
Emmanuel Olusola Fasipe (Ph. D.)
+2348061248220; +2348065261258
The Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
Any man or woman of faith who loves to study, do research, gather evidence, and write in order to communicate what he or she has understood is confronted with the issue of combining faith and scholarship. The paper focuses on Christian faith in relation to scholarship. Some of the questions that confront a person of faith who engages in scholarship include whether one can pursue scholarship and still remain and abide in the faith or whether faith will clash with scholarship, whether faith and scholarship can be combined, or whether one has to abandon his or her faith in order to pursue scholarship. This paper claims that faith and scholarship do not contradict each other. Instead, faith enhances scholarship while scholarship does not jeopardize faith. A person of faith must be equipped with knowledge and be able to teach others what he or she has learned. The paper engages pertinent scholarly literature. It also employs significant passages of the Scripture. The paper concludes that a person of faith can pursue scholarship and still remain in the faith. When a person of faith pursues scholarship, he or she must be guided by his or her faith.
Key Words:
Faith, Scholarship, Christian, Equipped, Knowledge.
Introduction
Combining faith and scholarship has been an age-long concern of scholars, theologians, Christian educators, and theological institutions. The primary concern has been whether one can pursue scholarships and still hold allegiance to one’s faith. While some argue that one must resent and resist claims of one’s faith in order to pursue scholarship, others contend that men and women of faith must integrate and encourage the integration of faith and scholarship. For some, the exact opposite is the case. On the one hand, some have completely abandoned scholarships for fear of losing their faith. On the other hand, others have divorced their faith and surrendered wholly to commit themselves to pursuing a scholarship.
It is evident these days that any man or woman of faith who loves to study, research, gather evidence, and write to communicate what he or she has understood is still confronted with the big issue of faith and scholarship. Some of the questions to grapple with include whether one can pursue scholarship and remain and abide in the faith, whether faith will clash with scholarship, whether faith and scholarship can be combined, or whether one has to set aside their faith to pursue scholarship.
This paper, therefore, will answer some of the agitating questions and argue that faith and scholarship do not contradict each other. Instead, faith enhances scholarship, while scholarship does not jeopardize faith. A person of faith can pursue scholarship and remain in the faith. As Piper notes, “All scholarship of every kind exists ultimately to discover and display the glory of God that is the glory of Jesus Christ in his word and his world.”[1] Every scholarship exists to open the eyes of men and women to the wonders of God. Scholarship without faith leads to pride and ungodliness.
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