愿景

Southern Baptists have historically made great contributions to and have been strong advocates of higher 教育 as an expression of our commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. 俄克拉何马浸会大学 seeks to ensure our Christian identity is maintained and that the University remains faithful to our Baptist heritage of academic excellence. Crucial components for guiding the vision and mission include Christ centeredness and Biblical fidelity, 我们与俄克拉何马浸信会的共同使命, and academic excellence that equips students with a Christian worldview.

愿景 certainly characterizes the founding of 俄克拉何马浸会大学. 期待俄克拉荷马州在1907年成为一州, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma appointed an 教育al commission to establish a Baptist university in the new state. Those Baptist pioneers saw beyond the need for training only 牧师 and 传教士, 因此没有建立神学院或圣经学校, 这是一项崇高的事业. Instead they envisioned a co-教育al university that would be grounded in the liberal arts - a university that would prepare students to integrate their Christian faith and disciplines as educators, 医生, 律师, 艺术家, 音乐家, 传教士, 牧师, 企业家, 作家, 诗人, 演员, 和经济学家. Their lofty vision was realized as 俄克拉何马浸会大学 (originally The Baptist University of Oklahoma) was founded in 1910 on Bison Hill.

The founders envisioned and established a distinctively Christian university and understood that Christian higher 教育 is best expressed within a liberal arts context in which the lives of students are transformed spiritually, 智力, 和身体上. A liberal arts curriculum recognizes that 教育 must be more than simply moving through a prescribed set of courses to prepare for a career. A liberal arts curriculum seeks to educate the whole person and prepares an individual to think critically about worldviews, 值, 和真理. A liberal arts 教育 seeks to invigorate scholarship and learning that is integrative and imaginative. The liberal arts are essential because they are foundational to true learning and quality living.

Unapologetically Baptist and distinctively Christian higher 教育 prepares an individual for living a Christian life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. To accomplish this 酸 should provide for the following five goals.

第一个, 作为一所基督教特色的高等学府, 酸 provides an 教育 that is a rigorous and excellent academic experience taught from a Christian worldview that holds all truth is God's truth. This Christian worldview addresses the major questions of life including where we came from, 我们为什么在这里, 为什么事情是这样的, 以及死后会发生什么. 这种世界观认为上帝“太初就存在”,万物都是借着他创造的, 那就是人性, 按照上帝的形象造的, 犯罪导致了造物的堕落. Yet Christ was sent to redeem us that we might be in relationship with Him and find our purpose in glorifying Him, and that after physical death there is judgment for those who reject Him but life eternal for those who trust Him.

第二个, 酸 is differentiated from secular models in the area of faith integration and spiritual formation. 按照奥古斯丁的方法， 信仰胜过智慧 , faith is a precondition of genuine knowledge rather than a mere capstone to a body of knowledge already acquired. Although secular institutions are increasingly hostile and closed to Christianity, faith and learning at 酸 is integrated rather than taught as if they were two separate spheres of reality. 同样的, spiritual formation and character development are foundational in all areas of the University - academics and athletics, 学生发展和住宿生活, 以及酸的其他方面. Although 酸 is not a church, it is the intellectual arm of the ministry of the church. 我们的基督教信仰提供了 团结 大学须知.

第三，酸致力于履行大诫命. "你要尽心爱耶和华你的神, 用你所有的灵魂, 用你所有的心思, 并要用尽全力”(可12:30)。. 全心全意爱神的命令需要学习, 学习和探索造物主的奇妙工作. As Christians we are obligated to develop and use our minds - our intellect - for the glory of God as we engage the culture in which we live. This obligation is manifested in excellent classroom instruction and scholarly activities.

第四, 酸 views its mission as the preparation of disciples for successful leadership and service for the Kingdom and for fulfilling the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20). 酸为教会服务并与教会合作. One way in which this is accomplished is through the preparation of ministers and 牧师 for service to the church and for denominational agencies. Another is by preparing an educated laity capable of assuming responsibilities and providing leadership to the church. The church requires spiritually mature and 智力 astute members, and 酸 is uniquely positioned to help prepare individuals for these roles of service and leadership.

五是积极开展职业教育. 虽然文科是基础, as agents of transformation we recognize that many areas for service are increasingly found in professional arenas, 包括为学习法律做准备, 科学, 医学与护理学, 教育, 业务, 技术, 公共服务. These important areas of professional service are best designed when built upon the foundation of the liberal arts.

俄克拉何马浸会大学's vision is to continue as a distinctively Christian university that prepares students, 通过信仰和纪律的结合, to be transformative servant-leaders and agents of change in their families, 教堂, 工作场所, 并最终影响世界.