Editorial: God and the University

June 25, 2026

William L. Peirson

What did God ever do for universities?

We might be tempted to say ‘not much’.  After all, aren’t religious people closed-minded, more interested in myths and superstition than expanding the frontiers of human knowledge and solving problems with new technologies?

True, many of the world’s great universities were founded by Christians. And it’s been well established that science as we know it did not take root until planted in (Protestant) Christian soil.[1] So perhaps a better answer is, ‘not much worth keeping’. There were historical benefits, but world has moved on and so have universities. They are no longer dependent on outdated belief systems which will only hold them back.

So the story goes, and most of the big universities of the world are now secular institutions. But did we lose anything important when we banished God from campus and curriculum?

According to our lead author, historian and philosopher Peter Harrison, the answer is ‘yes’. Unmooring universities from Christianity has had significant consequences, some of which are surprising. As well as a lack of clarity over values and aims, these include shifts in the scholarship considered worth undertaking, and even changes bureaucratic structures. Harrison goes on to draw out some of the implications of these changes for Christians working and studying on campuses.[2]

Our other feature articles pick up these threads and explore them further.

A move away from regarding education and research as inherently valuable endeavours means they must now be justified by external metrics. One of the results has been a devaluation of the humanities, with many departments downsized and even closed in recent years. In Australia, fee structures overtly disincentivise the choice of humanities subjects to divert students to courses with measurable outcomes, productivity and clear career paths. Pushing back against this devaluation, Kirsten Birkett shows how important it is for communities to include people trained in the humanities if they are to be robust and flourish—both society in general, and Christian communities in particular.

Drawing on his years of experience as a student and academic, physicist Ross McKenzie tackles the vexed question, ‘What is a university for?’ He unpacks the crisis of purpose universities face as competing visions jostle for dominance before proposing an alternative, a Christian theological vision for the modern secular and multicultural university.

I frequently contrast my own experience of university with those of the students at New College and New College Postgraduate Village. I commuted to UNSW each day for five years. The few friends I keep up with from my undergraduate days did the same course I did.

The experience of students in our university residential communities is very different. They share life 24/7 throughout the academic terms. They make many lasting friendships. They are exposed to the full range of different university faculties as they share their learning experiences with one another.

Given the scale of today’s universities, small communities like these are even more important. As Peter Harrison points out, ‘university colleges can play a significant role, creating communities that operate at a more human scale, and promoting distinctive values that can help counter the dehumanising effects of the large, bureaucratic university’ (p?). This is certainly something we seek to do in the New College Communities at UNSW, where friendship, shared intellectual engagement and a Christian perspective broadens the experience and benefits of good university life. And as a Christian presence on campus, we pray we can provide yet another answer to the question ‘What did God ever do for universities?’

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