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Read more of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly news associate producer Janice D'Arcy's interview with former Patrick Henry College professor Erik Root:
Q: Do you think there is academic freedom at Patrick Henry College?
A: As it exists right now I would say no, or if there is it's very limited. The professors that want to explore ideas, talk about certain issues even within the biblical worldview at Patrick Henry College, have a rough go of it Ö Even the questions that students can ask in class are under scrutiny because of the way the president interprets the biblical worldview. So even questions that are asked, ideas that are explored within the biblical worldview of Patrick Henry College sometimes come under scrutiny, even if they're not outside the biblical worldview, because of disagreements that the president might have with a certain person, what this person is saying.
Q: Do you think a biblical worldview can be compatible with a comprehensive liberal arts education?
A: I'm sympathetic to Christian liberal arts, or what Christian institutions are trying to do in higher education. The aim of liberal arts, it seems to me, is to create or try and inculcate self-governing individuals, and I think Christian liberal arts could do that, or liberal arts education in general could do that. Certainly Christian institutions that support liberal arts could do that. So I think it's possible, but they have to sort of allow that freedom, allow people to be self-governing, allow them to fail etcetera, to really accomplish that end.
Q: President Farris criticized you and your colleagues' comments and writings. But at least initially, no one was fired. He has said that intellectual jousting is part of an atmosphere of academic freedom.
A: Well, I don't think that's actually true, that there was a lot of intellectual jousting. The president has all the sort of control, if you will, in his hands. He alone can hire and fire. If he's claiming, as he has in the past, that he's using academic freedom, it seems a little bit preposterous to me because I don't' know of any administrator of any institution, even at liberal -- what he claims are liberal institutions like Harvard -- that claim they need academic freedom to state their opinions. And so when he speaks, then it's not in the spirit of jousting or in the spirit of trying to arrive at some truth. It was in the spirit of sort of threats Ö this was not in the spirit of academic freedom, really. It is in the spirit of, look, you guys might be heretical, and you might be outside of the biblical worldview. Therefore I may have to fire you.
Q: Part of Patrick Henry College's mission is to provide an education that adheres to the notion that God's word is the ultimate source of truth. Do you believe that?
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A: That's true. I think if you look at the world around us Ö we are in God's world and we are standing right now in the midst of God's general revelation. We only said that God's general revelation can reveal some truth, not all truth, but that you need special revelation for other things. So how I would characterize it is this way: [President Farris] rejects sort of the reason, the logos of the Word, while we accept it. And we also accept the special revelation of the Word. I think that we have a more holistic view of God's creation. Certainly he is correct in saying that we ought not disregard the Bible. Absolutely. Literally what the Bible says -- that's true. He is mischaracterizing us by saying that we don't. We absolutely do.
Q: What is the future of Patrick Henry College?
A: Patrick Henry will end up, if it continues down this road, will end up being more illiberal Ö it won't be a liberal arts education, it will be an illiberal arts education, if that's possible. I think they will lose out if they continue to -- especially this president -- put a chilling effect on ideas, on the exploration of ideas and the freedom of inquiry.
Q: Would you teach again at a college with a biblical worldview?
A: If there is something that is solid, and it is understood, and that allows, especially, faculty participation in the ideas and governing of the school, I would absolutely go to a school like that again. But not to a school that is governed like this. I think [President Farris] can do anything he wants. This is basically his college, and his college can be whatever it wants to be. But if you look at the statement of faith, or not really the statement of faith [but] the biblical worldview, this college purports to be somehow tied to the American founding Ö and it wants to, on that basis, create men and women who are active in politics to go out and sort of change the world, shape the culture, something along those lines. I think that he'll have a hard time doing that if he doesn't give the students a truly liberal arts education. If we need to get away from the world-type of college and not really engage the world-type of college, then they're going to fail in their mission. On the other hand, if you don't have the right view of America when you send these students out, then I think the republic fails, actually. Or at least you'll have a bunch of people who do not have the right idea of what America is about. America is a pluralistic society. All human beings have certain inalienable rights that they're endowed [with] by their creator. If they don't believe that truly, that, in other words, in order to win political debate they have to appeal to someone's intellect, their reason, that they have to persuade people not just by saying, well, the Bible says this, but also, you know, maybe there's something in general revelation that can support my point or something like that, which also may be in the Bible, then I think they're going to have a hard time actually doing what they set out [to do], what they want to do, actually fulfilling their mission. And I think America would be worse off for it.
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