Cultivating a Climate Without Fear
A Review of
The Fearless Christian University
John W. Hawthorne
Paperback: Eerdmans, 2025
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Reviewed by Elizabeth Koning
The premise of The Fearless Christian University is that academic curiosity is not possible with fear, and Christian universities have a culture of fear due to the way they are embedded in evangelical culture. John W. Hawthorne offers a “reimagining” of what Christian universities of the future could be: academic institutions willing to take risks and engage with complexity (xi). In 152 pages, Hawthorne describes the circumstances defining Christian universities and proposes that a willingness to take risks will mean they are able to fulfill their primary purpose and meet the needs of their students.
As someone who graduated from a Christian university in 2020 and, for many years, hoped to one day teach at a Christian university, the future universities Hawthorne envisions are ones where I would love to learn and teach. However, as Hawthorne describes, the present is a long way from that future. The book is specific about what it would require for Christian universities to embrace their missions and become fearless, and though the book is a blueprint for that change, the process of becoming fearless will not be a simple task due to the complex social factors at work. I would recommend the book to those invested in the future of Christian universities, though I am skeptical that Christian universities will decide to become fearless.
The book begins by describing the way that fear limits a university. When “the brand” comes before learning, the university is not living its mission. When the university teaches students the correct position to hold, rather than how to engage with the wider world in all its complexity, it is failing them.
The university’s mission is more than the “brand,” and, in chapter 2, Hawthorne analyzes thirty mission statements, identifying the common themes and coming to the conclusion that the universities should be more focused, particularly on what is occurring during the student’s time at the university, rather than defining themselves by what happens after graduation. Specifically, he advocates for the “transformational model,” which would require students to engage with and develop their values and beliefs.
The transformational model shifts the focus from job prospects, which are not specific to a Christian university, to transformation and the ways that students’ beliefs will develop as they enter adulthood and are exposed to more of the world. The solution is “anticipatory deconstruction” (43). Rather than students deconstructing their faith in spite of the dogma pushed by university leadership, the university should facilitate this process and engage with the complexity that is part of making sense of faith and of the world.
Building on the role of deconstruction, Hawthorne visits the culture wars. As with “anticipatory deconstruction,” he suggests that the university should not be participating in the culture war, but instead focus on dialogue and complexity. The points of conflict are real, and they are not solved through an answer from leadership but through sincere civic dialogue.
A common relationship of conflict is that of the faculty and administration. The relationship has been a contentious one, but this section suggests how it could be collaborative, with the groups fostering understanding of the work of the university. Another casualty of the culture wars is seen in the student body. Christian universities are facing a downturn in enrollment due to demographic changes, including the overall population of college-aged students. Gen-Z, though, finds the current state of Christian universities less desirable than previous generations did, and a more fearless university could appeal to a larger group of prospective students.
The solution to these conflicts, Hawthorne suggests, is listening to the needs of the current generation of students. Specifically, “administrators should regularly demonstrate to students that they fully endorse the university’s commitment to the liberal arts even in the face of difficult issues” (109). There needs to be two-way communication between students and administrators in order for “fearlessness” to be a cultural shift in the institution. This shift also requires an examination of the relationship between the university and the church. Importantly, the university is not the church. The exact relationship between a denomination and a university varies, but, in general, the university can be a “mission outpost” (chapter 8).
Finally, The Fearless Christian University describes what the process could look like at two example universities. The descriptions of these universities include the relationships between the trustees, administrators, faculty, and students. Exemplary universities endorse the research of the faculty, removing the fear of professors participating in the scholarship of their fields. These examples are ones that many who attended or work at Christian universities will find appealing. They are places of curiosity, rather than of fear and fighting. Hawthorne sees this as a roadmap for Christian universities looking for change, saying, “I’ve argued throughout this book that the shifts required for an institution to become a fearless Christian university are clear and ready to hand for any university willing to face change boldly.” (127).
I hope that people of all relationships to Christian universities will read The Fearless Christian University. Whether they are trustees, administrators, or students, they are invested in the future of Christian universities. If we want to continue to have Christian higher education, and moreover if we want Christian higher education that participates in academic scholarship, we need to define what sets it apart, and how its academic commitments relate to its religious ones. As Hawthorne reiterates in each chapter, the process of becoming fearless cannot come from a single group at the university. It has to come from every level working together to prioritize becoming a place that engages with the questions of most concern to today’s students.
Due to my own experience at a Christian university, I am skeptical for two reasons. First, the culture of fear, passed from churches to trustees, through administration and faculty all the way to the students is severe and pervasive. If those that appoint trustees had the desire to create fearless universities, I believe that could empower the rest of the institution to become fearless. I am less optimistic because Hawthorne does not address the financial fear. Donors would wield the purse strings in order to push their agenda, and the trustees would either have to solve the financial problem or yield to the fear caused by the threat of withheld donations. Finances are one of the few things that can determine whether an institution can even continue into the future. During my time as a student, the financial stress and fear of the administration loomed over the university’s culture. Some of the university’s financial difficulties are particular to its circumstances, but many of them are true of other universities. If faculty do not believe their jobs are secure, they cannot teach in a fearless way. If administrators are afraid of donors ending their usual giving, they will not approve programs that encourage nuance and dialogue. Financial fear leads to the attitude of focusing on “the brand” above education.
I am also skeptical because, as I look at the decisions made by Christian denominations and churches, I doubt that Christian universities want to be fearless. Being fearless, as Hawthorne describes it, means being willing to engage with the complexity of the world rather than insulating oneself and holding to the group’s statements of belief. The reasons that many faculty members are cautious about their publications or their course teaching is because of fear: they are afraid of push back from the administration, or maybe they have already been scolded. The evangelical church, too, is often fearful, but of those on the outside that are seen as the threats. Because fearlessness will mean discussing topics that are complex and will question the values of those in authority in the churches, unfortunately, some leadership will have no interest in that.
Unfortunately, what we have seen so far in 2025 is not Christian universities becoming more bold in their academic pursuits, but secular universities becoming more fearful. For those outside the world of Christian universities, when you look at what is happening to universities such as Columbia and Harvard, the same spirit of domination and fear, rather than learning and curiosity, is what has dominated Christian universities. As the US executive branch is meddling with Harvard and withholding grants from universities across the country, the denominations, trustees, and donors of Christian universities have been asserting the importance of holding to their theological and political statements for decades. At Christian and secular universities, there have always been faculty and students resisting this fearful culture, but that is often despite those using the power of the purse to align the university with their goals, rather than allowing the university to pursue academic goals and the stated missions of the universities.
Yet Hawthorne is clear that not every Christian university needs to be a fearless one in order for us to see a difference in the educational landscape. A forward-looking set of Christian universities could transform what students and faculty expect from their universities. Instead of being told to fear because of their questions or their scholarship, they could be told that they are doing what they are meant to be doing as students and as faculty. If a university, though made up of many parts, wants to be a fearless Christian university, it can be.
Elizabeth Koning
Elizabeth Koning is a Computer Science PhD student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a graduate of Calvin University. Her research focuses on parallel computing for biology, and her other interests include studying the intersection of faith and technology.
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