UD and the Christian Faith

The Christian Identity of the University of Dubuque

The Christian identity of our school is reflected in the Mission of the University and what we are committed to do as a community. As an institution we cling to our faith commitments that shape our life together, and because of our Christian identity we respect other faith traditions and all people, so that with our hospitable Christian environment all are welcome. Our diverse campus community reflects our society, and the practice of Christian love here within an equitable community serves to prepare us to engage a broken world in need of healing.

The Christian Faith

The University's faith commitments are derived from basic beliefs shared by virtually all Christians throughout the world. There is a God who created and sustains the world, who has been fully revealed in Jesus Christ to be God the Father, Son, and Spirit, to which the Bible bears faithful witness. As God the Son, Jesus is fully human and divine, who reveals what God intends for all humanity and how God has and is bringing about salvation.

It is because of these beliefs we can speak of there being purpose to life and an end to which all history is progressing, value and dignity of every human made in the image of God, and a calling placed on every person for which each is to respond faithfully in utilizing one's gifts and talents. We are made for relationships, with God and with one another, so that in community we are formed with the aim of each individual thriving and with each individual contributing to the welfare of the community.

Our Reformed Identity

Within Christianity, our University is situated in the Reformed tradition. We believe God does not give up on us even though there is a pervasive bent towards evil and rebellion running through every human heart, so that we are completely reliant upon the mercy and grace of God to experience what God intends. We believe and take comfort in God's sovereignty, meaning God is Lord and ruler over all of life, so that no realm of a person's life falls outside of God's providential care. In loving God with our heart, soul, and mind, we seek to know more of God and all that God has made, in order to understand how to live faithfully and well in the world.

It is because of these Reformed distinctives we can speak of work being meaningful and how everyone can have a vocation that is honoring to God, of not removing the intellect in acts of devotion nor removing faith in the pursuit of greater knowledge, and of actively engaging God's world with the aim of human flourishing.

Our Aspirations as a Faith-based University of Teaching and Learning

In our time, UD's Christian identity is a way to offer what is often sorely missing in education and in our nation. Namely, it provides the basis for respecting a diversity of people and of ideas exchanged, acknowledging the existence of truth that must be pursued with all humility, ensuring a fair sense of academic freedom, restoring a historic notion of tolerance among people in common pursuit of truth, and thus helping to prevent idolatrous-type allegiances to ideologies and the demonizing of others. This is a gift Christians can give to higher education and what a Christian higher education of this kind can offer the world. At UD, all are invited to experience what we believe God offers everyone, and we aspire for all students to find purpose, refine their gifts, and fulfill their calling through which the world so loved by God may be renewed.

Our Faith Identity Impacting Campus

All faculty and staff - no matter their own personal faith - who understand and support our Christian identity and Mission become a host, inviting others into what we are called to be here at UD. Campus Ministry seeks to nurture a visible fellowship in Christ, a critical mass of Christians as well as people playing host within our tradition, all of which allows for our Mission to ring true.

Additionally, our faith identity impacts campus life in many ways. It is reflected in our Student Success Commitment, provides the basic for the Went Character Intiative and the Worldview program, and frames Our Community Standards for how we are to treat one another. The University began with its seminary, which continues to offer theological education, including an undergradaute theology program.