This essay summarizes Jean Francois Lyotard’s anticipations of professionalized academies and then searches out tendencies towards this postmodern pragmatism in both pietistic and Reformed higher education. Craig E. Mattson and Desiree C. Duff offer an alternative to educational utilitarianism with James Carey’s notion of ritual communication, which suggests three ways that professors, of both pietistic and puritan leanings, could reorient their pedagogies. Mr. Mattson is Assistant Professor of Communication at Trinity Christian College, and Ms. Duff is Associate Professor of Communication at Cornerstone University.