This blog post explores the intersection of faith and business education by incorporating “spiritual assignments” within the framework of a modern business school curriculum. I aim to share the possible connection between these two realms and shed light on educators’ invaluable assistance in fostering students’ comprehension of this connection. In this post I will prompt you to review your motivations for this intersection of faith and learning, offer practical best practices for an assignment, and share the majesty of successfully offering this type of work.
For the spiritual assignment, I assign a research memo on a Psalm based on a tax research memo. Students apply tax research skills such as definition clarification, application, and explaining anomalies to a self-selected Psalm.
Preparation and Positioning
Initially, I implore you to review your inner motivation for attempting an intersection of your curriculum and faith. Are you integrating spiritual assignments to be perceived in a ‘holy’ way? Or are you earnestly diverting attention to the Lord? Are you checking a box of a school’s mission to flaunt the alliance in an exterior way? Or does your exuberant desire to have students know and love Christ and Scripture motivate you? Do you aim to lead students to your beliefs bound by requirement and force? Or will you invite them to taste and see that the Lord is good? While, as mere humans, we serve the Lord with sin, God will not be mocked! Applying the skill sets you teach to a spiritual realm is praiseworthy; I implore you to do it with pure and lovely motivation, as well as repentance of any false motivations.
After completing your inner reflection, thoughtfully considering how to position a spiritual assignment’s timing is crucial. In the three years I’ve offered a spiritual assignment, I’ve always had the fortune of teaching the same students in a prior semester. This progression demonstrates sincere faith (while tarnished). Characteristics thanks to God’s mercy, such as mercy, justice, humility, gentleness, self-control, and even love, are the melodious rhythm of the classroom.
In addition to prior contact, the spiritual assignment is the last assignment in their Master’s year. This timing not only allows trust to be built and reignited, but for the assignments to be experienced as the pinnacle of learning. Now that we have positioned the paper, what else is fundamental?
The spiritual assignment’s most important logistical attribute lies in its voluntary nature. As Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit never force and never possess, students must be invited to participate. I present an equally genuine prompt that mirrors past assignments (henceforth “secular assignment”) simultaneously with one that explores applying learning objectives to Scripture. The participation in the assignment has been as follows: 2022 65%, 2023 53%, 2024 54%. The split participation proves that choice is crucial and appreciated. Using our Father’s invitation example and observing the results of this choice make this a less modifiable attribute than timing. Invite students to apply what they have learned to Scripture.
Rubrics
The largest concern for integrating business curriculum and faith is the qualification to evaluate the student’s work with impartial authority. First, a grading bias may be formed for the Spiritual assignment. Second, given my discipline’s mastery is not theology, what specifically can I evaluate? Both these limitations can be remedied with a strong and thoughtful grading rubric.
First, I compare a similar rubric (or the one used for the tandem secular assignment) and keep the pieces identical that make sense. For example, maintain the ten points for formatting the document appropriately for each written memo. Next, and just as obviously, mirror applicable requirements. If you require two external citations for the secular assignment, maintain those two Biblical citations for full credit for the spiritual assignment.
Finally, and most arduously, ensure the rubric slices the application into the skills instead of the content. I’ll share two examples. When writing a secular memo, clear communication of the fundamental ideas applied to tax law is a requirement. I’m grateful that in my class students are getting exposed to tax law. That’s part of the course’s objectives, however, one skill a memo displays is the translation of knowledge to an external reader. Not only can I objectively follow that skill across contexts, but it is the marvel of this cross-education. Have students yet understood that the writing skills they have developed in college can be used to step readers through the Scriptures? Here I would keep this as an evaluation point for both the secular and spiritual assignment.
An example of a deficient crossover item is another skill surrounding research “completeness.” In tax, as students lay out their arguments, I know if a student stopped short of finding the best answer. In a Scripture application, its important students are able to turn to supportive resources such as Biblical dictionaries and commentaries. However, due to my education background, I feel most comfortable eliminating this category for the spiritual assignment.
So, what do I impose in the place of an eliminated secular rubric step for the Spiritual assignment? What did I replace “completeness” within a written memo regarding Scripture instead of tax? First, I focus on why tax skills are difficult. Why is your discipline difficult? I write a list. Next, I try to direct students to apply the skills in combating said hardships to addressing Scripture. You could write next to the hardship, how your professional overcomes each hardship. I could give all tax memo examples, but due to the specific nature of all our disciplines, I will share just one. Tax research is hard because the tax code changes consistently and frequently. How do students combat the updated material? They spend considerable time and self-discipline using online tools to address up-to-date regulations. How would they use time and self-discipline to ensure the Bible they use is up to date? They don’t. Students receive this powerful grace that the Word is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The absence of this hardship can be impactful. How does this translate to a rubric procedure to return to the question at hand? I ask them to point to Scripture in the passage they self-select to corroborate the eternal nature of the Bible. I ask them to experience the victory, grace, and excitement of an unchanging authoritative text outright by making them point it out!
In summary, as you examine the hardships of your discipline, I think you find the skills you teach either enable them to rise to a level of understanding of Scripture previously elusive or, you hand them a fresh, new grace. Make them explore and write about that. In this way, I create impartial rubric procedures (did they or did they not point out eternity in their passage?) and within my wheelhouse to grade (I feel confident I can authoritatively evaluate inclusivity of eternal evidence).
The Glorious Results
The result of a Spiritual assignment is, in short, worship. Students declare truths about the Lord that are mutually encouraging to the student and professor. I have dozens of examples of profound work. Here is a section of one paper that addressed the enteral rubric prompt I spoke of above:
Psalm 103 explicitly supports the eternal existence…of God and His Word. The passage speaks to His eternal existence by proclaiming that “the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 103:17). The purpose of this memo provides a special opportunity to contrast these biblical truths with the earthly tax authorities. As seen above, God is perfect, infinite, and unchanging. He “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Conversely, the IRC is one of many sources of authority for tax laws in the United States. It is imperfect, finite, and constantly changing. This truth should be overwhelmingly assuring to believers, as they may presently dwell on earth and be subject to flawed earthly authorities; however, they can look to God’s Word as their ultimate authority and know that it is infinitely perfect and unchanging.
The second outcome discernible is one of gratitude. Here, one of many students explains: “Thank you for this opportunity—it was a joy, blessing, and privilege, and I needed this time in God’s Word.”
Conclusion
The rewarding work of integrating business curriculum with faith exploration assignments begins with an examination of personal motivations for pursuing the intersection. The voluntary nature of participation is central to the successful implementation of spiritual assignments, mirroring the principles of invitation in Christ’s teachings. Furthermore, establishing well-thought-out grading rubrics addresses concerns regarding impartial and authoritative evaluation. Ultimately, the fruits of these efforts produce worship and gratitude. As educators continue to navigate this intersection with diligence, integrity, and humility, efforts to integrate faith and learning in the classroom yield both professional excellence and spiritual discernment for the participating student.
