| There is a lack of qualitative research on how seminary faculty members perceive and make sense of academic freedom. This interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) aimed to deeply understand how faculty members at a Church of Christ seminary make sense of and attach meaning to the concept of academic freedom. Three seminary faculty members were identified through criterion sampling and interviewed to understand how they make sense of academic freedom in regards to teaching, researching, and publishing in a seminary that uses a confessional statement as a means of religious control. Three salient super-ordinate themes emerged from an IPA of the data obtained from the participants' responses: (1) Describing Academic Freedom (2) The Threats to Academic Freedom (3) The Confessional Statement. The participants made strong references to the importance of academic freedom though they admitted it was a difficult concept to define. They also perceived there to be a corrosion of academic freedom in many seminaries and colleges associated with their denomination, including their own institution, and identified specific threats to academic freedom that contributed to this corrosion. The findings are obviously significant for seminary faculty members in that they ought to motivate them to be more engaged on their campuses in promoting and protecting their academic freedom. Faculty members also ought to be able to fully articulate what academic freedom means and how it is understood and applied in their seminary. Additionally, the findings are relevant for seminary administrators as they can aid in the development of policies and other governance structures that promote, protect, and advance academic freedom on their campuses. |
