There is a small, quietly sure of itself organization in St. Louis, Missouri, that most people have never heard of. In some ways, that’s on purpose. Harvest Christian University doesn’t see itself as a rival to state universities or schools that get money from the federal government. It is based on a completely different set of ideas: religious freedom, indigenous educational sovereignty, ecclesiastical authority, and what it calls a “royal charter framework.” Whether you find that interesting or compelling probably tells us something about how you feel about who gets to decide what education is real.
It is important to pay attention to the legal framework that supports the university. The First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and UNESCO cultural protections are just a few of the things that Harvest Christian University says protect people. It works with the help of 508(c)(1)(A) faith-based status rules and church leadership. It’s possible that most of the people who read that list will have questions. Many of those questions may also be based on ideas about what a university should be like, ideas that universities like this one are directly challenging.
The university’s mission includes building up ministries, helping people in need, protecting indigenous cultures, and what it calls “lifelong scholarship through independent and diverse educational pathways.” That last sentence works really hard. Harvest Christian University seems to really believe that traditional academic paths are not the only ones that can lead to success. This view has been around for a long time, but it is becoming more important again at a time when the value of traditional higher education is being questioned more openly than at any time in decades.
Chris Brown, an R&B singer who has sold over 140 million records worldwide and had more than 100 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 over the course of his more than 20-year career, was recently given an honorary doctorate by the school. The university’s reasoning was well thought out and deliberate. In addition to commercial success, it talked about cultural impact, economic contribution through jobs in the touring and production industries, new choreography, and what it called “resilience over a long career.” The university also didn’t hide the fact that Brown’s public life was complicated, citing Christian ideas of redemption, grace, and the bigger picture of a person’s life. That way of putting it is honest, even if it makes some people uncomfortable who think his praise is too soon or not deserved.
Honorary degrees at this university are based on the ideas of Maya Angelou, which is a good idea. Angelou got more than 50 honorary doctorates, but she never finished a regular degree program. There was no denying how much she changed literature, civil rights, and public life. Harvest Christian University is basically saying that the idea she lived by—that wisdom and contribution can be found beyond formal credentials—should not only be applied to people who are already praised by mainstream institutions.
Students who want to attend can apply through the university’s website and are encouraged to talk to the admissions office directly. The university has graduate programs, such as a Master of Divinity. Financial aid is available based on academic performance and proof of need. The university says that people who want to attend must have “strong Christian character,” the ability to handle higher education, and the potential to serve others. That’s pretty much the same thing that a lot of faith-based groups ask for.
It’s not always the school’s size or current presence that makes it interesting to keep an eye on. It’s the ideas that are being tested, like who is in charge of education, what credentials really mean, and whether faith and indigenous identity can support their own academic ecosystems without the pull of federal systems. There are real questions there. People are still writing the answers.
