Late in the spring 2024 semester, several college campuses were rocked by student (and faculty) protests over the conflict in Gaza. More recently, the Chronicle of Higher Education broke a story about an instructor whose contract was not renewed after he had publicly opposed an increase in parking fees. On the surface, these events could appear to have little in common. However, despite what might appear to be radically different issues, both scenarios raise the same fundamental question: What is the place of critique or dissent on college campuses?
While this question has implications for all institutions of higher education, I would like to put a finer point on it: What is the place of criticism or dissent on Christian college campuses, and what resources from the biblical text might lend themselves to answering this question?
Rather than try to address larger questions about the freedom of speech or academic freedom on campus, I would instead like to inquire how the Bible itself might serve as a conversation partner in considering such questions. In doing so, I suggest that the Bible’s provision of multiple examples of dissenters can offer a valuable resource for Christian college communities as they consider the place of protest on their campuses. By implicitly condoning dissent, highlighting a diversity of methods for dissent, and offering parameters for appropriate dissent, the Bible offers a rich resource for Christian colleges discerning how to encourage and/or limit expressions of dissent on their campuses.
The Bible as a Resource for Considering Dissent on College Campuses
In the Bible, Christian campuses can find a resource to support conversations about dissent on campus. Based on the rich collection of examples of dissent found in it, Christian universities that look to that text as their ethical foundation have an additional source, beyond those drawn upon by secular institutions, for informing moral reflection about the ethics of protest and dissent.
There is a wide diversity of dissenting activities illustrated throughout the pages of the Bible. Although each of the following biblical examples deserves more consideration, a brief overview demonstrates the array of biblical examples of critique, civil disobedience, and/or protest:
- Micaiah (1 Kings 22:1–40): The account of the prophet Micaiah provides an example of a figure who refuses to go along with the status quo, even when he has been instructed to do so (1 Kings 22:13). Instead, Micaiah vows to speak only the word that the Lord gives him (1 Kings 22:14), even though this word contradicts what his superior wants to hear. Ultimately, Micaiah points out that the positive (albeit false) prophecies from the other prophets were the result of spirits of deception that the Lord permitted to deceive King Jehoshaphat. Micaiah alone was faithful to the word of the Lord in declaring the truth about the forthcoming disaster.
- Esther (Esther 4–8): The well-known story of Esther recounts Queen Esther’s daring quest to save the Jewish people from certain destruction. At a risk to her own life, Esther beseeches the king to spare the Jewish people. Although her action was risky and ran contrary to the plans that the leading rulers had made, Esther took it upon herself to resist and speak out against what she saw as a destructive course of action.
- Shiphrah & Puah (Exodus 1:15–22): The Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah receive an order from Pharaoh to kill any newborn boys whom they help to deliver (Exodus 1:16). However, they disobey this order and allow the babies to live. The text specifies that this action of protest against a direct order was due to their fear of God (Exodus 1:17).
- The Magi (Matthew 2:1–12): The unnamed foreigners who are the first in the Gospel of Matthew to meet the young Jesus receive a direct order from Herod to alert him to the whereabouts of Jesus (Matthew 2:8). However, after receiving a divine vision offering different instructions (Matthew 2:12), the wise men defy this human order in order to be faithful to what they understand to be a higher calling.
- Jesus (Mark 3:1–6; 11:15–19): Several examples from the Gospels illustrate Jesus’s propensity to offer critique or protest against prevailing authorities or laws. Two suffice to capture this inclination. Early in his ministry, Jesus heals a man with an infirmity in his hand (Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11). However, by performing this healing deed on the Sabbath, Jesus earns the ire of religious leaders who begin to plot his destruction. Then, near the conclusion of his ministry, Jesus again causes a disturbance by upending furniture and disrupting accepted economic practices in the Temple because of his conviction that the Temple is to be house of prayer (Matthew 21:12–13; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45–46).
- Peter & John (Acts 4–5): Jesus’s disciples carry on his legacy of dissent even after his death. In Acts 4, Peter and John are arrested because of their persistence in preaching the gospel (Acts 4:3), and they are ordered to cease and desist from their activities (Acts 4:18). However, Peter and John protest. When they are questioned about why they did not obey the direct orders that they were given (Acts 5:27–28), Peter is explicit: they must obey God rather than humans (5:29).
Applying Biblical Examples of Dissent to the Politics of Protest on Campus Today
To be sure, the Bible does not make explicit claims about the merits or faults of critiquing prevailing systems or authorities. However, as demonstrated here, there are abundant examples of biblical figures who engage in such critiques and are otherwise portrayed positively in their corresponding narratives. Thus, the practice of speaking or acting out against perceived wrongdoing or injustice seems to be generally accepted throughout biblical literature.
Furthermore, the sheer variety of circumstances and methods of dissent in the Bible suggests that one might be able to detect implicit biblical support for a wide range of activities that might qualify as “protest” or “dissent.” Critique does not take one form.
If the Bible implicitly condones dissent and provides multiple examples of it, it also might be understood as setting at least modest limits to the appropriateness of dissenting activities. While the motivations for biblical examples of dissent are not always explained clearly, there are several instances where the text specifies that the characters who are protesting do so because of their conviction that God is calling them to pursue a different path than the one they have been ordered to follow. In other words, several of these protestors’ dissent is based on principles of faith that they do not see being upheld in the world around them.
What, then, are the implications of these biblical examples for understanding the place of protest, dissent, or critique on Christian college campuses today? First, the prevalence of such examples suggests that Christian college students, faculty, staff, and administrators have a rich faith tradition upon which to draw in considering ethical issues related to dissent. Rather than relying solely on political positions for or against such protests, Christian college communities can turn to the Bible to inform their deliberations on the topic.
Second, the sheer variety of dissenting activities in the Bible corresponds to a similarly great variation of critiques witnessed on college campuses, whether that dissent takes the form of student protests, lone faculty critiques, or organized “teach-ins” on compelling issues. For campus administrators who might be hoping to exert tight control on what dissent looks like on their campuses (e.g. no large gatherings, no disruptions to regularly scheduled events), the biblical witness might be unsettling. That is, the Bible highlights a wide variety of (often disruptive and disobedient) activities that it describes without censure. The implication for student life staff and college administrators, then, might be to help channel students’ energies for dissent in positive directions that align with the biblical witness rather than to be quick to quash dissenting activity, even if it interrupts the status quo.
Finally, however, the Bible offers some helpful parameters that suggest that not just any protest or dissent is necessarily warranted. Many of the biblical examples enumerated here suggest that such critiques are often motivated not by petty preferences but by a sense that actions being demanded by human authorities or conventions conflict with a deeply held conviction that God commands a different course of action.
These motivations may also help to offer some parameters for engaging in dissent or protest on college campuses today. That is, protests that are motivated more by selfish desires might not meet the standard for appropriate motivation described in examples of protest from the Bible. However, those protests that are motivated by a desire to promote justice and the full flourishing of all life would seem to be more in line with biblical examples. Thus, examples of dissenters from the Bible can offer modern protestors assistance in considering how their own motivations for protesting align (or not) with the biblical model of protest for the sake of a greater good.
The debate about freedom of speech and the place of protesting on college campuses is not likely to be resolved anytime soon. However, for Christian college campuses that are wrestling with such questions, the Bible emerges as a helpful conversation partner for considering the wide variety of issues involved in the conversation. In a time of increasing polarization and secularization of campus politics, Christian higher education is positioned to benefit from the rich resources that its faith tradition offers in the form of its holy text.
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