In this episode of PeppTalk, Coby Dolloff sits down with Professor Ron Highfield — theologian, author, and 37-year member of the Pepperdine faculty — to explore the ideas behind his new book, The Christian University and the Academic Establishment.Professor Highfield has spent decades thinking carefully about what it means to educate students as Christians — forming them to think about God, their vocations,their relationships, and the world through a distinctly Christian lens. In this conversation, he unpacks why the word "Christian" has to mean something concrete, how universities like Harvard and Yale drifted from their founding missions, and what it will take for places like Pepperdine to hold the line.You'll hear about the surprising history of higher education in America, the very real pressures — legal, financial, and cultural — that Christian universities face today, and why Ron believes finding faculty who are both academically excellent and deeply Christian is one of the hardest and most important challenges of our time.Ron Highfield is Professor of Religion at Pepperdine University's Seaver College, where he has taught theology and Christian thought for 37 years. His new book, The Christian University and the Academic Establishment, is available now.

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