Degree Date

5-3-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Education

First Advisor

Samuel Deressa

Abstract

The colleges and universities affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) occupy a unique space within the higher education market. To varying degrees, each school currently professes to be a school of the “third path” between sectarian dogmatism and secular relativism. However, the mission of these schools has shifted dramatically since their founding and whether there is anything markedly different between them and secular liberal arts schools remains an open question. While research has addressed mission, values, and purpose in this context, what has not been extensively explored previously is the role the leaders of these institutions play in maintaining, or not, any sense of transcendent Lutheran ethos. This study engaged six leaders at three ELCA institutions of higher education through semi-structured interviews to learn about how they define their own leadership, the values and purpose of the school itself, and how the Lutheran identity is maintained on campus. Additionally, through a document analysis conducted on artifacts collected at these same institutions, the individual and communal frameworks articulated by the leaders were examined in relation to these documents. The study found that Lutheran values are present on campus and that leaders care deeply about maintaining this mission. It also found that sustaining the tension necessary for the third path to succeed is immensely difficult. The interviews themselves uncovered mission driven leaders, dedicated to the third path, maintaining a liberal arts identity, and often needing to make difficult decisions in a challenging environment. Contrary to priory research, this study found that the Lutheran core has not been abandoned, but how it is lived out has shifted. In alignment with more recent research, this study also contends that without intentional ways for these institutions to talk about God, the third path will falter in its attempts to remain rooted, instead resolving the necessary tension in order to remain, or become, open.

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