These dialogs will be based on various ways in which faith can be integrated into librarianship. Many individuals desire some aspects of holistic living. The common sacred-secular dichotomy, where an individual’s religious beliefs are separated from aspects of daily life, such as work and other professional pursuits, is becoming less acceptable. One of the challenges with this, however, is that many do not know what it means to blend the sacred and secular. Does it simply involve a good Protestant work ethic, not lying to my supervisor, and trying to witness to my non-religious co-workers? While these are all parts of it, it can and should involve more.

The common ideology of a “work-life balance” may also be speaking against faith integration. How should my faith in Jesus Christ feed into my understanding of a work-life balance? Does the idea of “work-life balance” assume that some things belong in the context of “work” and other things belong in the context of “life,” making a holistic picture of life difficult to establish? While I am not aiming to argue that our tasks at work consume us and create a context where life is work, perhaps the biblical notion of the sabbath may speak better to an establishment of a balance between work and life than the notion of a work-life balance.

If both of these premises are true (that integrating involves more than what has been noted above and that “work-life balance” may not be the answer), one of the challenges this leaves is what does “more” look like?  I faced this question several years ago.  I struggled because I knew that my faith in Jesus Christ demanded me to follow Jesus Christ.  As I was working for a vendor at the time, I came to a realization that I had no idea what this looked like.  What does it look like to be a faithful librarian? This was particularly alarming as I had completed several years of formal biblical and theological studies (an undergraduate and master’s degree in theology).

It was during this time that I began my interviews for my current place of employment: a Christian college. I had in the back of my mind that working at a Christian college would eliminate this struggle that I had. However, it did not. I was very fortunate, however, in that shortly after the recognition that I was still struggling with how I could glorify God through my work, the faculty of the college for which I work began going through a work entitled, Faith and Learning on the Edge (Claerbaut, 2004). This work was my introduction to what Christian higher education refers to as the “faith and learning dialog.” While I appreciated Claerbaut’s work, to be very honest, I have come across other works which, in my opinion, may serve better as starting points, such as David Dockery’s Renewing Minds, Jacob Shatzer’s Faithful Learning, or George Marsden’s classic: The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship.

The “faith and learning dialog” rests under the presumption, skillfully articulated by Abraham Kuyper, that “there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”  Faith and learning aims to apply faith to all aspects of life. Faith and learning is also a key idea throughout many contexts of Christian higher education. Faith and learning aims to align what a profession or topic might look like when assessed or perceived with a biblical worldview.

The purpose of this blog is to explore what librarianship might look like under a faith integration framework: a framework that holds to the presupposition that there is not a square inch of the whole domain of librarianship over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, “Mine!”

You may be asking, “Why do this as a blog?” Somewhat needless to say, many of these blogs will not be fully developed arguments of a certain dynamic of faith and learning. There are simply some dynamics of faith integration that may be difficult to develop in a blog. Because of that, some of the entries will be more exploratory, that is, they will raise questions, spur dialog, but they may not fully develop a topic. In many cases, it takes something like an article or a chapter in a book to fully develop an argument. The question still remains, “Why do a blog?” While I do have several objectives, my primary objective is to explore how I can manifest my profession (that Jesus is Lord) through my profession (librarianship), hopeful that in so doing, these might be helpful to others. I hope this serves as a venue showing how it is possible glorify Jesus Christ through our profession.

I have found Augustine’s (1995) statement incredibly refreshing when he states: “If you ask me what is the most essential element in the teaching and morality of Jesus Christ, I would answer you: the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is humility” (p. 22). In many respects, the blog entries are simply my thoughts and my opinions regarding what faithful librarianship might look like, ideally exposed in what Augustine notes is THE essential element of the Christian faith: humility. Subsequently, anyone is welcome to comment, critique, and/or post a disagreement.

I use the Latin phrase “Soli Deo gloria” in many of my signatures.  This phrase means “to the glory of God alone” and is one of the five solas made popular by the Reformation.  I hope and pray that this blog can truly be to the glory of God alone.

Soli Deo gloria.

References

Augustine. (1995). Letter 118. In B. Ramsey (Ed.)R. J. Teske (Trans.), Part II – Letters: Vol. 2: Letters 100-155. New City Press.

Claerbaut, D. (2004). Faith and Learning on the Edge: A Bold New Look at Religion in Higher Education. Zondervan.

Dockery, D. S. (2008). Renewing minds: Serving church and society through Christian higher education. B&H Academic.

Marsden, G. M. (1997). The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship. Oxford University Press.

Shatzer, J. (2023). Faithful Learning: A Vision for Theologically Integrated Education. B&H Academic.