The Emerging Scholars Blog

As a member of the Central Pennsylvania Forum for Religion and Science, I’m participating in an Oracles of Science: Celebrity Scientists versus God and Religion (Karl Gibersonand Fr. Mariano Artigas, Oxford University Press, 2006) reading group.  I thought some of you would have an interest in considering how the Oracles of Science(i.e., Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Steven Weinberg, and Edward O. Wilson), influence contemporary understandings of reality, origins, science, and religion.  So tighten your seat belt, bring your communication system on-line, and let me know what you think about the concept of the Oracles of Science. ... Read the rest of this entry »

My home state of Kentucky is considering ending tenure for its entire community college system. This news prompted Mark Bauerlein (professor of English at Emory and regular blogger at the Chronicle of Higher Education) to ask “Is Tenure Doomed?” at MindingTheCampus.com. As he notes, Read the rest of this entry »

I have been thinking about cynicism lately, particularly of how pervasive it is in the academy and how easily it spills over into the rest of my life. What should I find, but a lecture about the very topic from one of our ESN mentors, Greg Ganssle. Thwarting Cynicism and Discontentment: Virtuous Practices of the Christian Scholar was presented at Faculty Commons’ National Faculty Leadership Conference this past summer. Greg works with the Rivendell Institute, as well as serving as a lecturer in philosophy at Yale.

Greg notes that cynicism is a professional hazard for academics: Read the rest of this entry »

Update: I’m sorry to report that AcademicVocations.org has shut down.  Too bad, because I think it was a great idea.

In our most recent Emerging Scholars Review, we told you about a new website connecting faculty and administrators to campuses of faith, AcademicVocations.org. Yesterday, they began a new offer: a weekly drawing for a $250 scholarship to the academic conference of your choice (including Following Christ 2008). Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday I posted Favorite Books of 2008.  Below are two which I’m reading alongside the Word of God as the people of God journey through Advent and Christmas.  Do you have materials which you return to again and again to enable you to focus upon the meaning of the season in the midst of the end of the term, the holiday festivities, and the beginning of a new year?  Read the rest of this entry »

I enjoyed skimming Mr. Wilson’s Bookshelf: Favorite Books of 2008. Out of his recommendations, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East. Africa, and Asia—and How It Died by Philip Jenkins sits on my to read pile.  I will pick up The Lost History of Christianity sometime in the new year.  If you are not familiar with Jenkins’ material, I’d suggest visiting his Penn State Department of History and Religious Studies page. His thought-provoking work, which spans a great range of topics, provides great conversation starters ;-)  Note: The link to Mark Noll’s review in the November/December Books & Culture can be found here.

As you know, I’ve read and enjoyed a number of books in 2008 including Culture-Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling and The Last Lecture.  How about you?  In 2008, what 2-3 books were you not able to put down and/or find yourself talking/writing about? Read the rest of this entry »

Today is John Milton’s 400th birthday – or, rather, would have been. If you choose to celebrate this occasion, you can visit the John Milton Reading Room at Dartmouth, which contains ALL of Milton’s poetry (in English, Italian, Latin, and Greek) and selections from his prose, along with annotations.

(HT: The Wired Campus)

In the ESN Discussion Forum, I have just posted a new listing for a biology faculty at John Brown University.

Also, if you haven’t yet, check out the new website, Academic Vocations. Most ESN members study and work at secular universities, but there are many opportunities at Christian colleges and universities, too. Academic Vocations allows you to search job listings at Christian colleges and post your CV for Christian colleges to review.

Insider Higher Ed reports on a meeting of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, in which assessing student outcomes was discussed. I’ll let you read the article yourself, but one of their conclusions was:

It might be possible, and could be valuable, for humanists to reach broad agreement on the skills, abilities, and knowledge they might seek to instill in their students, and that agreement on those goals might be a starting point for identifying effective ways to measure how well students have mastered those outcomes.

Notice the words “might” and “possible,” which express considerable reservations.

So, how should student outcomes in the humanities be assessed? Or can they be assessed? And what sorts of outcomes should be sought in the first place?

We’re currently looking for a few guest bloggers to record their experience at Following Christ 2008.  We aren’t looking for one of those minute-by-minute live blogs like they do for Steve Jobs’ keynote addresses – just 3 or 4 posts during the conference, along with a reflective post once you return home.  If you’ll be attending FC08 and would like to apply to be a guest blogger, let me know.  (If you have your own blog, include a link so we can see a writing sample.)