Christianity and the University Experience

Mathew Guest is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religion at Durham University, UK.Kristin Aune is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Derby, UK.Sonya Sharma is Research Associate in Theology and Religion at Durham University, UK.Rob Warner is Professor of Religion, Culture and Society, and Dean of Humanities at the University of Chester, UK.

• Acknowledgements Foreword - Christian SmithList of Illustrations Introduction 1. Historical, Cultural and Scholarly Contexts 2. What makes a Christian student? 3. Institutional Variations in the University Experience 4. Is the University a Force for Secularisation? 5. The Challenges of being a Christian Student 6. Organised Christianity on the University Campus 7. Social Differences Amongst Christian Students: Age, Class, Ethnicity and Gender 8. Broader Implications Appendix: How many Christian students are there in England’s universities? Bibliography Index

This study of the religious experience of Christian students at universities in England is both surprising and most welcome. Surprising, because after almost 60 years of propaganda about the decline of religious faith, one does not expect to find a wide-ranging investigation as specific as this one...most welcome because empirical information carefully gleaned can only promote understanding in the ideological battleground between the die-hard secularists who seem to dominate the academy and the believers (by virtue of their faith deemed ipso facto biased) who appear reactionary and overly defensive... While the authors seek simply to present a snapshot, they do promise to build up to a longitudinal study, which can only add value to our thinking about this important cultural issue. I look forward to the next piece in this jigsaw.