Master of Arts in Higher Education (MAHE) Theses

Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

First Advisor

Tim Herrmann

Second Advisor

Drew Moser

Third Advisor

Kim Case

Abstract

Campus revivals are a significant historical phenomenon in higher education, and interest in faith and spirituality is gaining significant amount of attention in student development literature. However, there are currently no studies exploring the connections between campus revival and father and spirituality from a student development perspective. In order to fill this gap in the literature, two questions guided this study: What is the shared experience of students who participated in a campus revival? What impact, if any, does participation in a campus revival have on student faith and spirituality? The study employed a phenomenological design, interviewing nine alumni who all participated in a campus revival at their institution in 1995. The results indicated that the essence of the revival experience consisted of a unique, emotional group experience that included both an awareness of the presence of God and some involvement in confession. In terms of impact on faith and spirituality, the data reveal that the revival positively impacted both their relationships with God and with others for most participants with considerable variation in the degree and manner in which they were affected. The revival affected one participant’s faith in a novel way, in part due to her prior faith experiences. Based on this study, the researcher recommends all-campus faith and spirituality programming, providing opportunities for appropriate vulnerability, seeking the presence of God for one’s campus both individually and corporately, and gaining a greater awareness of students’ faith histories. The researcher also discussed distinguishing between healthy and unhealthy revival as well as the role of the institution in navigating a revival.

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