The church and higher education

Our history shows that it was the Christian Church which lighted the lamps of learning on this new continent. This concern for education was not limited to the New England settlers, but was a part of the Christian movement on this continent. Out of this movement came the dynamics for the educational program that profoundly influenced all American life. Of the first 118 colleges established, 104 were church colleges founded with a distinctly Christian purpose. An Englishman traveling in this country in 1835 wrote that these colleges were literally springing up in the desert and (were) putting themselves in readiness to bless generations that shall be born. Believing that Christian colleges were essential for the establishment and growth of the way of life envisioned for the young nation, the churches erected and supported them. These colleges multiplied as the church advanced across the continent. No one has ever tabulated the total number of schools which the church founded, but Dr. Donald G. Tewksbury in his study of the origins of American colleges and universities before 1861, discovered that the dead ones outnumbered the living ones four to one. Of the 182 colleges founded before 1861 which still continue, 163 are church schools, 17 state schools, and 2 municipal. (The Presbyterian Church established 49 permanent colleges before 1861.) About two-thirds of all the institutions of higher education in the United States were founded under church auspices. At present approximately 700 institutions of higher learning with active church connections remain out of the total number founded by the church in America. Up until the time of World War I the major responsibilities for higher education were carried by the church. Even in these days when the states are expending huge sums for public universities and colleges, the institutions related to the church continue to enroll about 45 per cent of the students in higher education

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