lipscomb was founded in nashville, tennessee, in 1891 by two individuals–david lipscomb and james a. harding–who believed that a truly educated individual of their time could not be so without attention given to spiritual growth as well as academics. so in addition to its role as the most important guidebook in a christian’s life, the bible was also given an academic position along with, we suppose, the works of aristotle, ovid and other hallmarks of a classical education.