Regent College Foundation USA

Stanley Fish’s book, Save the World on Your Own Time, has both an intriguing title and a provocative message. He argues that the task of the college and university is two-fold: first, students should be exposed to new information, knowledge and traditions; and second, they should learn analytical skills so they can work within these new traditions and engage in further research after they graduate. To those who argue that an education should produce social, ethical and political virtues, Fish acknowledges that an education might lead to some of these outcomes but they are simply “contingent effects” and as such “they cannot be designed and shouldn’t be aimed at.” In his words “it’s not a good use of your time to aim at results you only have a random chance of producing.”1

Fish takes on various institutions for having questionable mission statements, including Michigan State who, within their mission statement, declare they would like their students to be “productive citizen(s)…through sensitivity and faithfulness to examined values.”2 Such a goal, according to Fish, is inappropriate, because it is not clear how faithfulness would be measured, nor is it clear who would be qualified to measure it.

A superficial reading of Fish might lead those of us who are engaged in the world of theological education to negate his argument entirely. But his warning is important: if we turn education into an outcome-based endeavour, we run the risk of measuring the benefit of any education by what it produces rather than seeing it as having value in and of itself. His warning gives us pause: “Beware…of doing something for a reward external to its own economy. Do it because it is its own reward and look for no pleasures beyond the pleasure of responsible, rigorous performance. In short, and for the last time, just do your job. The world of grand and ambitious ends will take care of itself, and if it doesn’t, you can always save it on your own time.” 3

“Save [the world] on your own time.” As I read those words, I could not help but venture a guess at Stanley Fish’s view of Regent’s global mission: Regent College cultivates intelligent, vigorous, joyful commitment to Jesus Christ, his church and his world.

“Intelligent commitment” would resonate with Fish, I think, in that the acquisition of knowledge, information and tradition is important to those of us who teach at Regent College. We want our students to be thoughtful and insightful about the Christian faith, its history and its documents—we see value in that pursuit. But to have that “commitment,” oriented first and foremost to Jesus Christ probably moves us into what Fish would see as an inappropriate sphere of trying to “save the world.”

“Vigorous commitment” would probably not impress Fish, as we want our students not only to have intellectual rigor in their academic work but also to have their work produce an outcome that is expressed in doing, acting and behaving. If our students understand the indicatives of the Christian tradition, they will inevitably want to follow its imperatives, again because of their commitment to Jesus Christ.

“Joyful commitment” would also be a problem for Fish, because we want those who study here to have an attitude characterized by joy as they engage in substantive intellectual work and live that out in the world because of Jesus Christ. Joy is inextricably linked with the intellect and ethics, as the heart behind an activity is as important as the activity itself.

Regent College wants to be an international graduate school characterized by intellectual depth, where students acquire knowledge and learn analytical skills. But while we respect that orientation, and Fish’s viewpoint, we do not want that to be the end of the story. We want to be a place where students do that intellectual work so that they can engage the church and the world with vigorous action and joyful service. Stanley Fish is right. It is hard to know how to measure vigor and joy—but when they are linked with Jesus Christ, his church and his world, perhaps measurement is less important than meaning. After all, faith is not about measurements, but about risk— and Fish without faith leaves something to be desired.

Rod Wilson
President, Regent College

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