Kirsten (right) with her sorority sister.
My daughter, Kirsten, goes to UVa, the University of Virginia. It was designed and founded by Thomas Jefferson. It is in Charlottesville, Virginia within eyesight of Jefferson’s home of Monticello. Not surprisingly, the two place look a lot alike.
The UVa is the first university to be built around a library rather than a chapel. The focus was to be on enlightened learning and not religious discord. And Jefferson’s goal was to have the faculty live among the students to provide abundant opportunites for dialogue outside the classroom.
The library is at the head of a big grassy rectangle they call “the grounds.” And the student rooms and faculty homes are along the two long sides, with a home occasional interspersed among the rooms like a long motel. The first floor of each faculty home was the original set of classrooms, with the faculty member’s family living upstairs. And the chapel is off away from these main “grounds” in its own corner.
What do you think should be the interaction between religion and academy? Does religion help or does it get in the way? Do you think like Jefferson? Or, do you think some other way?
Pastor Paul Jaster