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Baylor University
Institute for Faith and Learning
  • About
    • Staff
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    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture
      • 2022 Art Seeking Understanding
      • 2021 Living Accountably
      • 2019 The Character of the University
      • 2018 Stewardship of Creation
      • 2017 The Bible and the Reformation
      • 2016 Higher Learning
      • 2015 The Spirit of Sports
      • 2014 Faith and Film
      • 2013 Kierkegaard: A Christian Thinker for Our Time?
      • 2012 Technology and Human Flourishing
      • 2011 Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century University
      • 2010 Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care
      • 2009 Secularization and Revival
      • 2008 Bottom-Up Approaches to Global Poverty
      • 2007 Friendship
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
      • Bailey Lecture Video Archive
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      • IFL@25
      • 2019 LFP National Conference
      • Art & Soul
      • Pruit Memorial Symposium
      • Baylor University Medical Ethics Seminar
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    • Communio: A Retreat for Baylor Educators
    • William Carey Crane Scholars Program
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      • About the Program: Called to Character
      • Past Workshops
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    • Soundings Project
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    • Faith Animating Online Education
      • Starting Points
      • A Christian Imagination about Online Education?
      • Cultivating Character and Online Learning
      • Additional Resources
    • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
    • Recommended Reading
    • External Resources
    • The Christian Reflection Project
      • Acedia
      • Advent Ethics
      • Aging
      • Anger
      • Apocalyptic Vision
      • Attentive Patience
      • The Book of Acts
      • Caring for Creation
      • Catechism
      • Chastity
      • Children
      • Christianity and Islam
      • Christmas and Epiphany
      • Cities and Towns
      • Cloning
      • Consumerism
      • Death
      • Disability
      • Easter
      • Food and Hunger
      • Forgiveness
      • Freedom
      • Friendship
      • Gambling Culture
      • Generosity
      • Global Wealth
      • Health
      • Heaven and Hell
      • Hospitality
      • Immigration
      • Inklings of Glory
      • Lent
      • The Letter of James
      • Marriage
      • Membership
      • Monasticism Old and New
      • Moral Landscape of Creation
      • Mysticism
      • Parables
      • Patterns of Violence
      • Peace and War
      • Pentecost
      • Pornographic Culture
      • Prayer
      • Prison
      • Prophetic Ethics
      • Racism
      • Sabbath
      • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
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      • Sermon on the Mount
      • Singing Our Lives
      • Sports
      • Suffering
      • Traveling Well
      • Virtual Lives
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      • Where Wisdom Is Found
      • Women and the Church
      • Women in the Bible
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Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Programs Forming Character in the Classroom About the Program: Called to Character
  • Communio: A Retreat for Baylor Educators
  • William Carey Crane Scholars Program
  • Missio
  • Forming Character in the Classroom
    • About the Program: Called to Character
    • Past Workshops
  • Reading Groups and Guest Speakers
  • Soundings Project

About the Program: Called to Character

Forming Character in the Classroom Banner

 

From Baylor’s founding in 1845, the task of character formation has been central to its educational mission. 

In keeping with this historic mission, Pro Futuris affirms that “the University seeks to provide an environment that fosters spiritual maturity, strength of character and moral virtue.” Underwriting this vision is the conviction that “both intellectual and spiritual pursuits are not only partners in the quest for truth, but essential to the growth and development of the whole person.”

OUR CALLING: To establish classrooms, labs, offices, and residence halls—everywhere we meet our students—as places where education invites intellectual, social, and spiritual transformation.

OUR CHALLENGE: To understand ways our teaching, research, and scholarship can be opportunities to cultivate in our students and ourselves virtuous character and vibrant spiritual life.

To begin, we must recognize that for Christians, character formation is rooted in the person and purposes of Jesus Christ and is the result not just of human effort but of grace—the ongoing renewal of our persons through the work of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the aim of all Christian calling is found in Romans 8:29: “to be conformed to the image of God’s son.”

Second, we must understand what a virtue is and how it might be cultivated. A virtue is an excellence of character that enables one to strive towards well-being and happiness—to flourish as a human person. This life-long process of growing into virtue takes time and requires supporting structures, practices, mentors, and relationships. We grow into the virtues like we grow into skills and disciplines—through habituation. We practice.

Given all this, how can we foster a community of moral, intellectual, and spiritual significance, one that helps us become the faithful people God calls us to be?

 

Discovering Virtue

Virtues are excellences of character that enable a person to live a life of well-being and happiness. Virtues direct our actions because they allow us to love and desire what is true, good, and beautiful.

Seven virtues are generally recognized as those from which all other virtues flow. The theological virtues are imparted by God’s grace. The cardinal virtues are those that anyone might foster through diligent practice.

  • FAITH: The virtue by which one assents to the truth that is beyond the limits of natural intellect to affirm truths of revelation
  • HOPE: The confident expectation that one will achieve his or her divinely ordered end
  • CHARITY: The virtue by which one loves God and in so doing loves others rightly
  • WISDOM: The virtue by which one grasps what is good most generally and then acts accordingly in a particular situation
  • JUSTICE: The habit of rendering to each what belongs to him or her
  • COURAGE: The fortitude to act in accordance with right reason despite the costs
  • TEMPERANCE: The self-restraint necessary for healthy balance in body, mind, and spirit

The virtues do not stand alone; they are inherently bound together. One cannot be just without also being courageous or prudent. Likewise, one cannot lack temperance without also lacking justice.

Education as formation invites us to attend to the virtues: intellectual, moral, and spiritual.

Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Programs Forming Character in the Classroom About the Program: Called to Character
  • About
    Back
    • Staff
  • Conferences and Symposiums
    Back
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture
      Back
      • 2022 Art Seeking Understanding
        Back
        • Call for Proposals
        • Conference Schedule
        • Key Information and Frequently Asked Questions
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
      • 2021 Living Accountably
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2019 The Character of the University
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2018 Stewardship of Creation
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2017 The Bible and the Reformation
        Back
        • Co-Sponsors
        • Featured Speakers and Panels
        • Video Archive
      • 2016 Higher Learning
        Back
        • Featured Speakers and Panels
        • Video Archive
      • 2015 The Spirit of Sports
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2014 Faith and Film
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2013 Kierkegaard: A Christian Thinker for Our Time?
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2012 Technology and Human Flourishing
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2011 Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century University
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2010 Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2009 Secularization and Revival
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2008 Bottom-Up Approaches to Global Poverty
      • 2007 Friendship
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
      Back
      • Bailey Lecture Video Archive
    • Other Conferences and Events
      Back
      • IFL@25
        Back
        • Select Pictures from IFL@25
      • 2019 LFP National Conference
        Back
        • Presenters
      • Art & Soul
      • Pruit Memorial Symposium
        Back
        • 2001 Celebrating Augustine's Confessions
        • 2002 Christianity and Economics
        • 2003 The Schooled Heart
        • 2004 Slavery, Oppression, and Prejudice
        • 2005 Global Christianity
      • Baylor University Medical Ethics Seminar
        Back
        • 2016 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2017 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2018 Medical Ethics Seminar
      • One-Time Conferences
  • Programs
    Back
    • Communio: A Retreat for Baylor Educators
    • William Carey Crane Scholars Program
      Back
      • Additional Information
    • Missio
    • Forming Character in the Classroom
      Back
      • About the Program: Called to Character
      • Past Workshops
    • Reading Groups and Guest Speakers
    • Soundings Project
  • Media and Resources
    Back
    • Faith Animating Online Education
      Back
      • Starting Points
      • A Christian Imagination about Online Education?
      • Cultivating Character and Online Learning
      • Additional Resources
    • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
    • Recommended Reading
    • External Resources
    • The Christian Reflection Project
      Back
      • Acedia
      • Advent Ethics
      • Aging
      • Anger
      • Apocalyptic Vision
      • Attentive Patience
      • The Book of Acts
      • Caring for Creation
      • Catechism
      • Chastity
      • Children
      • Christianity and Islam
      • Christmas and Epiphany
      • Cities and Towns
      • Cloning
      • Consumerism
      • Death
      • Disability
      • Easter
      • Food and Hunger
      • Forgiveness
      • Freedom
      • Friendship
      • Gambling Culture
      • Generosity
      • Global Wealth
      • Health
      • Heaven and Hell
      • Hospitality
      • Immigration
      • Inklings of Glory
      • Lent
      • The Letter of James
      • Marriage
      • Membership
      • Monasticism Old and New
      • Moral Landscape of Creation
      • Mysticism
      • Parables
      • Patterns of Violence
      • Peace and War
      • Pentecost
      • Pornographic Culture
      • Prayer
      • Prison
      • Prophetic Ethics
      • Racism
      • Sabbath
      • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
      • Scripture
      • Sermon on the Mount
      • Singing Our Lives
      • Sports
      • Suffering
      • Traveling Well
      • Virtual Lives
      • Vocation
      • Where Wisdom Is Found
      • Women and the Church
      • Women in the Bible
      • Work
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