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Expanding Perspectives on Evangelicalism: How Non-evangelical Students Appreciate Evangelical Christianity

  • Original Paper
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Review of Religious Research

Abstract

Evangelical students pose a distinctive set of challenges to higher education professionals. These students, though advantaged to some degree because of their Christian identity, commonly report feeling marginalized and silenced on college campuses. In light of these tensions, the purpose of this study was to examine how non-evangelical students come to an appreciative understanding of evangelical Christianity. Specifically, the research focused on the specific campus conditions and experiences that influence non-evangelical students’ appreciative attitudes toward evangelicals. Findings reveal distinct demographic, institution type, and academic major differences in those students’ perspectives toward their evangelical peers. Additionally, the results suggest that appreciative attitudes toward evangelicals are associated with non-evangelical students’ interfaith experiences, albeit to differing degrees based on self-identified worldview. Recognizing that the work of helping non-evangelical students develop an appreciative understanding of evangelicals is as complicated as it is challenging, especially in the collegiate context, the authors conclude with a discussion of implications for research and practice.

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Notes

  1. In order to ensure adequate statistical power, worldview groups were only disaggregated if the number of student respondents numbered at least 100 for that particular group. Thus, the remaining 8% of students identifying as “another worldview” comprised some distinct groups (e.g., Hindu) that did not have 100 respondents, as well as some students who identified as “another worldview”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Studies, The Ohio State University, 310L Ramseyer Hall, 29 W. Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Matthew J. Mayhew

  2. Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Alyssa N. Rockenbach & Matthew A. Starcke

  3. Center for Research on Undergraduate Education, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Nicholas A. Bowman

  4. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Marc A. Lo

  5. School of Education, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA

    Tiffani Riggers-Piehl

  6. Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Rebecca E. Crandall

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  1. Matthew J. Mayhew
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  2. Alyssa N. Rockenbach
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Correspondence to Matthew J. Mayhew.

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Mayhew, M.J., Rockenbach, A.N., Bowman, N.A. et al. Expanding Perspectives on Evangelicalism: How Non-evangelical Students Appreciate Evangelical Christianity. Rev Relig Res 59, 207–230 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-017-0283-8

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