8 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY faculty interaction.18 Christian colleges tend to be smaller in size, which provides students with more opportunities for interaction with faculty and participation in extracurricular programs.19 In addition, the missions of Christian colleges often place a greater focus on student development compared to public institutions, and student development initiatives can provide a rich incubator for discussion on calling both inside and outside of the classroom.20 Previous studies demonstrated a correlation between attendance at a Christian college and a higher sense of calling. Phillips and Hunter et al. conducted separate quantitative studies with college students. In both studies, 94% of students attending Christian colleges cited calling as relevant in their career choices.21 The Hunter et al. study also measured the presence of calling in students attending secular institutions at 61%.22 Duffy and Sedlacek conducted a similar study where they found 72% of students at a Mid-Atlantic public institution reported a sense of calling.23 Dik and Duffy's interpretation of calling delineated three primary components of calling: a transcendent summons, deriving purpose from work, and motivation from altruistic values, known as prosocial orientation.24 The current study compared calling presence between college students attending Christian and public institutions across all three dimensions. The current study also assessed students' perceptions of how each type of institution assisted in their development of calling. CALLING AND VOCATION IN CHRISTIAN THOUGHT The terms calling and vocation originate in Christian thought.25 The early church understood calling primarily as the call to the Christian faith.26 Soon after the conversion of Constantine in the ancient period, Christianity became the cultural norm, and a call became synonymous with joining the priesthood or monastery.27 The Latin word, vocatio, means calling and referred to vocations such as the priesthood during the Middle Ages.28 Some religious circles today still employ the term calling to mean joining the priesthood or vocational ministry.29
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