Obama's Interfaith Service Challenge: A Call for a New Theology of Service in American Higher Education

President Obama's recent Interfaith Service Challenge issued to colleges and universities in the United States encourages schools to commit to year-long interfaith service projects that engage constituencies across campus, across faith traditions, and across the wider local community. While they were included in pre-challenge planning, university chaplains and religious life staff were omitted from the list of partners. This omission challenges college chaplains and campus ministers to articulate a theology of interfaith service that represents their enduring priorities to engagement across faith lines and in service to others. For Christians, such a theology could be based on the three key principles of imago dei, theologia crucis, and faith active in love.