The Murky Future of the Sexuality Debate at Christian Colleges

Or, why historians don't prognosticate

In my limited experience of talking to journalists, I’ve learned not to expect to be quoted at any length. Mostly, reporters talk to academics because they need background information, historical context, the names of other people to interview, and so forth. So imagine my surprise when so many of my words ended up in Colleen Flaherty’s article this morning at Inside Higher Ed, on Eastern University having its membership in the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) suspended after Eastern decided to drop a prohibition on hiring LGBTQ employees.

Flaherty was looking to get some sense of whether Eastern’s decision — coming not so long after the board of Calvin University voted to allow faculty to dissent from Calvin’s denomination’s stance on sexuality — signaled a new trend in Christian higher ed. While she did quote much of my answer, there was more I could say but didn’t want to press my luck. So I thought I’d use Substack to expand a bit on my reluctance to predict this particular aspect of the future.