Religious Character
Berea College was established to provide students with an excellent education in a non-denominational Christian setting. The College strives to provide a welcoming, respectful, and truly caring learning environment for persons of all faith traditions. This effort is motivated and constantly reinforced by the College’s motto: “God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth.”
Berea seeks to achieve its third Great Commitment—“To stimulate understanding of the Christian faith and its many expressions and to emphasize the Christian ethic and the motive of service to others”—through the scholarly study of Christianity, religious worship services, convocations, student religious and service groups, student residential chaplains, and guest ministers and professors.
Throughout their college years, young men and women mature and grow, not only intellectually, but also often in their religious faith. Berea’s Department of Philosophy and Religion strives to foster students’ intellectual and spiritual growth through academic and curricular offerings. Courses in the Bible, ethics, philosophy, and religion provide a solid foundation for students who wish to come to a clearer understanding of their faith and how it affects daily life.
The Lilly Foundation has endowed a permanent chair for a Professor of Religion, who holds a dual appointment in both the Department of Philosophy and Religion and the Campus Christian Center, whose charge is to stimulate the College community’s understanding of and witness to Christian ideals.
Berea College strives to provide a climate in which individuals are encouraged to live their faith through both formal worship and service to others. The Campus Christian Center nurtures spiritual growth throughout the community in its sponsorship of convocations, campus ministry, student religious and service groups, guest ministers, and worship services, along with pastoral counseling and involvement in numerous volunteer groups.
Through the Campus Christian Center, the College also offers a Program of Interfaith Dialogue, Education, and Engagement. This program provides various opportunities for students, staff, and faculty of various religious traditions and communities to learn about various religious traditions through lectures, visits to monasteries, temples, and religious shrines in the region, cooperative endeavors on matters of shared concern, as well as occasional experiences of interfaith worship. This program also provides support for the activities of all student religious organizations on campus.
The Campus Christian Council, an organization established and supervised by the Campus Christian Center, helps to plan and coordinate Christian activities. Several student Christian groups hold membership on the Council: the Baptist Campus Ministry, Chi Alpha, the Episcopal Canterbury Fellowship, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Habitat for Humanity, International Christian Fellowship, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, the Newman Club, and People Who Care.
Students are welcome to worship at churches and temples of various religious traditions. Many local churches provide transportation, have a campus ministry, and sponsor special activities for students.