A simple, clear introduction to higher education from a Christian perspective for the adult student.

By the end of the 19th century, the ascendance of a naturalistic worldview had made it increasingly difficult for many educated Christians to believe in a God who intervened in the natural world. At the same time, many in the emerging middle-class culture saw themselves as too busy to practice the rigorous devotions of their ancestors. In this book, Rick Ostrander explores the attempts of American Protestants to articulate a convincing and satisfying ethic of prayer in these changing circumstances. Ostrander shows that, in response to the assault on petitionary prayer by naturalistic scientists, American Evangelicals articulated a highly supernatural ethic of prayer and co-opted the "scientific method" to defend their stance, recording and cataloging numerous answers to prayer as empirical proof of prayer's efficacy. Liberal Protestants, on the other hand, with their desire to adapt to modern thought, gradually abandoned traditional belief in petitionary prayer. The debate about the efficacy of petitionary prayer and other "alternative therapies" in mental and physical healing has taken on new vigor today; this timely and engagingly written work not only chronicles the history of that debate, but serves to illuminate the issues that are at stake.

Traveling evangelist John Brown believed that conventional colleges had become elitist and morally suspect, so he founded a small utopian college in 1919 to better combine evangelical Christianity and higher education. Historian Rick Ostrander places John Brown University in the long tradition of Christian education, but he also shows that evangelicalism had largely separated from mainstream higher education by the twentieth century. This engaging and objective history explores how John Brown University has adapted to modern American culture while maintaining its evangelical character. Brown set out to educate the poor, rural children of the Ozarks who had no other opportunity for schooling. He wanted to instill in them not only religious zeal but also his conception of what constituted significant work, namely manual labor. His concern with practical work is evident today in programs for broadcasting, engineering, teacher education, and business. His sons made academic excellence an institutional priority and gradually transformed the school into an accredited, respected liberal arts college. Head, Heart, and Hand deftly connects the story of John Brown University to the larger currents of American education and religion.