Bloomsbury Christianity and the University Experience: Understanding Student Faith

Review "The work is the culmination of a three year project conducted as part of the overall 'Religion and Society' program funded by the UK's Arts Humanities and Economic and Social Research Councils. The authors take a rigorously social-scientific approach, using questionnaires and interviews, to assess how students' Christian identity both shapes and is shaped by their university experience. Each term in this relation is carefully explored...Overall, the book is fascinating and rewarding, and anyone interested in our universities and the future of English Christianity needs to read it." --Peter Waddell, Religion and Theology Product Description Universities are often associated with a sceptical attitude towards religion. Popular wisdom assumes that academic learning is a process that leads students away from religious ideas. And yet the university campus has become a home for the expression of religious vitality, especially amongst Christian students. So what is the relationship between the experience of going to university and the experience of living a Christian life? By analysing over 4,500 responses to a national survey of students and over 75 in-depth interviews, this book examines campus-based Christianity in a variety of universities across England. It explores the beliefs and values of Christian students and how the university experience influences their Christian identities. Is student faith enduring, or a passing phase? Are universities a force for secularisation? And how might institutional changes within the higher education sector shape the future of Christianity? This book makes fascinating reading for anyone interested in the survival and continued evolution of religion in the contemporary world. It offers fresh insights relevant to those working with Christian students, including in churches and chaplaincies, alongside policy-makers interested in the significance of religion for volunteering, community values and social cohesion. About the Author Mathew Guest is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, UK. Kristin Aune is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Derby, UK. Sonya Sharma is Research Fellow at the University of Durham, UK. Rob Warner is Professor of Religion, Culture and Society, and Dean of Humanities at the University of Chester, UK.