In this set of two articles, the authors summarize the history of the practice of character instruction in Christian higher education. They examine character education beginning with the founding of Harvard in 1636 to contemporary times. They note that virtually every historian, theologian, and social scientist acknowledges that character instruction was at the heart of the curriculum in Christian higher education from Harvard's founding in 1636 until at least the Civil War. They note that after the Civil War there was a slow erosion in character training in Christian higher education, which facilitated the more cataclysmic changes that occurred much later. The authors also note the effects of these more tumultuous changes that occurred as a result of John Dewey's influence and the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1962 and 1963. The article demonstrates how Christian character education has gradually retreated into a much smaller number of colleges than used to be the case. The article concludes with propounding three ways that Christian higher education can limit, stop, and even reverse the trend toward less character education, which are likely some of the same ways that trends toward increased secularization can be reversed. Part 1 covers the pre-Revolutionary War period, the Revolutionary War period, the two Great Awakenings, and developments in the pre-Civil War period.
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