Biblical Wisdom for the College Years: Purpose, Relationships, and Calling
College students have questions. The questions that are strictly academic in nature are often answered in the classroom.
But where do they find answers to questions about the purpose of life, the things they should pursue, and whom they might marry? Certainly, there are many voices eager to provide answers to these questions. Our goal is to point students to the Christian Scriptures to answer life’s biggest questions. Instead of being characterized by uncertainty and instability, we want every Christian student to “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither” (Psalm 1:3). This rootedness is characteristic of the person whose “delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2).
WHY WE WROTE THE BOOK
Every book has an impetus…a reason for being written. For us, this book has both positive and negative reasons. The positive reason is that it represents the kinds of conversations we are privileged to have every day with students at the university and our local church. Our everyday ministries are characterized by the joy of having these conversations with young adults, and we wanted to extend those conversations in a written format. We know students are seeking answers to these life questions, and we want to ground them in the truth of God’s word.
Admittedly, there is also a negative motivation to counter the unbiblical messaging that students are sometimes tempted to embrace. One of the remarkable things that we find with young people is that they can be totally unaware of the ideologies and value systems that they have adopted. Sometimes, they are surprised when we share with them that their assumptions about right and wrong contradict biblical truth. We have labored to present biblical truth clearly to help them understand the path of wisdom but also to discern and avoid the path of folly.
WHO IS THE TARGET OF THE BOOK
The years surrounding college are filled with questions. And the answers to these questions are consequential. They set us on certain trajectories for the rest of our lives. Every day, we interact with Christian students seeking wisdom for consequential decisions. When we wrote this book, we imagined what we would say to Christian college students in our church, in our university, and to our own children. We are writing to young Christians like those we encounter in the pew, classroom, and living room.
WHY WE WROTE THE BOOK TOGETHER
No one ever feels fully qualified to provide trajectory-setting life advice. First and foremost, our confidence in writing comes not from our own wisdom. Rather, we are convinced that God’s Word is true, timeless, and relevant for life. We wrote this book together because we have labored alongside one another in both the academic and church contexts, and we trust and appreciate the ways that the other person has explained and applied Scripture.
We also realize that our combined wisdom is better than either of us individually. And our combined experiences in a variety of contexts have provided us with the ability to speak to a broader audience. We have had roles ranging from pastoral staff at churches to student life and professor at a university. Our own educational backgrounds include public university, private secular college, denominational seminary, and private graduate school. These varied experiences have provided a window into both the breadth and consistency of questions that college students ask.
WHAT IS IN THE BOOK
The short answer is that the book contains biblical answers and wisdom for the major recurring questions that college students are asking. We actually polled college students to find what questions were most on their minds. Their responses aligned with our experience of what they have asked.
Each chapter aims to be an accessible introduction to a topic that merits a deeper discussion. Like every author, we found ourselves wanting to extend the word count in every chapter. But we also realize that summaries can be very effective in shaping the way that students think about issues. They need a place to turn to find biblical wisdom on a range of topics. We expect that many readers will want fuller treatment of many of these topics, and those larger volumes are available.
The book has four categories, each with five chapters: Christian Living, Christian Vocation, Christian Apologetics, and Christian Relationships and Dating. Each chapter concludes with reflection questions that could be useful for the reader personally or in a small group setting.
Here’s a window into the content of one of the categories: Christian Relationships and Dating. The five chapters answer five common questions in this area:
-Friendship: How do I build strong friendships?
-Dating: What is the purpose of dating?
-Marriage: What is marriage?
-Discernment: How do I know when I am ready
-Discernment: What should I look for in a spouse?
In these chapters we attempt to distill the our wisdom from thousands of conversations with young adults who are thinking through wise pursuit and practices in dating.
