JACKSON, Tenn. – God is not an abstraction at Union University. Here, business classes might begin with a prayer. Biology students are encouraged to take creationism as seriously as they do evolution.

So what does it say about the nature of God that the campus was shredded this week by a barrage of tornadoes? What does it say that no lives were lost, despite $40 million in damage?

Greg Thornbury is relishing the opportunity to explore those questions when his students return to this Southern Baptist campus, perhaps in the next few weeks. Thornbury, dean of the university’s school of Christian studies, said he planned to make the disaster – and the response to it – a catalyst for discussions about responding through faith, and the opaque and sometimes baffling motives of God.

“If we didn’t, we’d have blown it,” Thornbury said Thursday, standing on the squishy carpet of the religious studies library. “We’re preparing people to become teachers of God’s word, to be missionaries, to be the leaders of relief organizations.”

As students returned to the west Tennessee campus to identify their smashed and overturned cars – about 1,000 had been wrecked by Tuesday’s winds – they marveled at the scope of the damage. All but one of the university’s 33 buildings had been hit.

They wondered how anyone managed to survive, and they wrestled aloud with the role their God might have played in it all.

“Basically, I know God kept everyone at this school safe,” said Amber Campagna, an 18-year-old freshman. “I don’t know why God let it happen – but I really believe he was testing every student here.”

Crediting good fortune to providence is not uncommon at Union. When the $20-million science building was dedicated last year, the main donor, Roy L. White, said: “I think God has got his hand on Union University.”

But Thornbury, a clean-cut, smiling presence in glasses and a windbreaker, warned that guessing the mind of God is a tricky proposition. To make his point, he quoted from Deuteronomy: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God.”

God’s motive for destroying the school, he said, “is probably in the realm of the things that belong to the Lord. … But what we can say is, look at the solidarity here. Why do we have people from the whole country rallying around this cause? I think that says something about what God has revealed to us.”

While he expects the tornadoes to spark vigorous theological discussions in class, Thornbury said that the true lesson – that people should respond to suffering with love and compassion – was already manifesting itself on campus.

Spokesman Tim Ellsworth noted that all 1,800 students living on campus had found a home to stay in after they were evacuated Tuesday night. Since then, clothing donations and offers of help have been pouring in.

On Thursday, students and volunteers were hustling around, packing books and papers out of Jennings Hall. The columned, neoclassical home of the Christian studies department suffered roof damage, broken windows and rain damage.

Young people swarmed other parts of the campus, happy to be reconnecting with friends as they grabbed what they could out of trashed dorms and wrecked cars.

Thornbury, who is also the campus pastor, interrupted a conversation when his cell phone rang with news of two students who remained in intensive care.

Later he discussed some of the lessons that could be taught. He spoke of Job, the good man who was so vexed when God allowed him to be burdened with great misfortunes.

He spoke of Rodney Stark, the contemporary sociologist who has argued that early Christian communities thrived in Greco-Roman cities thanks to the mutual aid they exhibited during disasters and plagues.

“It’s not a religion of fear,” Thornbury said.

In the parking lot, Alaina Bare picked out a few things from her PT Cruiser. It was dented and streaked with mud, and the windows were smashed.

“Really, I’m just thankful I’m alive,” said Bare, 22, who was raised in Ecuador by Christian missionary parents. “These things don’t really matter at all. God completely protected our lives, and that’s what matters.”