The Emerging Scholars Blog

Here’s the top five articles, books, websites, etc., that we’ve been reading or thinking about the past week. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them.  In addition, if you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

"The Screwtape Letters" Cover

1. Monsters and the Moral Imagination (Stephen T. Asma, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 25, 2009).  With Halloween right around the corner, do you affirm the value of believing in monsters?  If so, how would you share such a perspective with colleagues?  What do you think of Stephen T. Asma’s assessment of the usefulness of affirming the concept of monsters?

Believers in human progress, from the Enlightenment to the present, think that monsters are disappearing. Rationality will pour its light into the dark corners and reveal the monsters to be merely chimeric. A familiar upshot of the liberal interpretation of monsters is to suggest that when we properly embrace difference, the monsters will vanish. According to this view, the monster concept is no longer useful in the modern world. If it hangs on, it does so like an appendix—useful once but hazardous now.

I disagree. The monster concept is still extremely useful, and it’s a permanent player in the moral imagination because human vulnerability is permanent. The monster is a beneficial foe, helping us to virtually represent the obstacles that real life will surely send our way. As long as there are real enemies in the world, there will be useful dramatic versions of them in our heads. — Stephen T. Asma, professor of philosophy at Columbia College Chicago. Oxford University Press is publishing his most recent book, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears, this month.

2.  Where the Wild Things Are (David Brooks, NY Times, October 19, 2009): Have you seen the film to compare it with the book? Anyone interested in conversation regarding the tension as to whether the good life is won through direct assault or the indirectness of vague intuitions?

3.  In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist and a magician with the same delight.   — C.S. Lewis.  The Screwtape Letters.  New York: Time Incorporated, 1961, p. xxxi.

In the midst of all the Halloween celebrations, how do you personally respond to evil and respond to others on campus (and beyond) who question the reality of good/evil?  Last year Tom was involved in a faculty book discussion group which wrestled through The Screwtape Letters and found it an excellent piece to add to the practical tool kit.  HT to Worship Quote of the Week for bringing this book to Tom’s attention during this season.

4. Choosing the Right Grad School Advice: It’s all about your advisor – Social media researcher (and recent PhD) danah boyd got tired of answering the same questions about grad school over and over again, so she’s written up her advice about choosing the right grad school. As you might expect from someone who studies relationships for a living, she emphasizes the importance of finding the right advisor for yourself – not necessarily the “best” person in the field or the “next big thing,” but a person you are compatible with, both personally and professionally. She also wisely recommends reading PhD Comics.

5. Science and Faith Series in Chicago – If you are in the Chicago area, be sure to check out the ongoing Text and Truth series at Holy Trinity Church the University of Chicago. The series explores connections between the Christian faith and scientific disciplines.  The next two featured speakers will be Stephen Meredith and Dr. Farr Curlin, both of U. Chicago.

Bonus Link! On Making Prominent the Printed Page: Developing a Christian Worldview Through Reading Widely – Byron Borger of Hearts & Minds Books assembled this bibliography for the this month’s national Christian Legal Society conference.  It concludes with a number of books specific to law, but the first two sections provide a broad selection of books about the Christian worldview.

BTW, we are looking for  bibliographies for Christian academics, especially those like Byron’s that include resources for specific disciplines.  If you know of such bibliographies, or have put together one yourself, let us know.

"Called Out of Darkness" Cover

As I mentioned in Week in Review: Connections Edition, Anne Rice’s Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008) offers a number of comments on education.  The tension which Rice wrestled with in her call as a writer speaks to a reality encountered by many in the higher education, i.e., a confusing mixture of encouragement/discouragement offered by human beings in the role of shaping/teaching youth transitioning to their respective vocational roles in the larger culture.

“I took to the freedom of college, and navigating amid interesting classes and lecturers; and I responded strongly to complete lectures which enabled me to learn without the necessity of cumbersome and difficult books.   The classes in sociology and in journalism and in music appreciation were particularly illuminating.  The classes in English were discouraging.  I made less-than-perfect grades because I wasn’t considered an effective writer.  And the atmosphere of the English classes was disciplinary and confining.

‘We may assume,’ said the teacher, ‘that there are no Hemingways or Faulkners in this classroom.  Therefore we expect you to write in decent sentences.’  I loathed the very idea of assuming mediocrity.  I barely got by.

The one story I submitted to the college literary magazine was rejected.  I was told it wasn’t a story” (p.76).

So how did Anne Rice emerge as a creative writer without the support of her professors?  Peer encouragement, with memories extending back to 5th grade, and I would add the grace of God fused with the determined, educational vision nurtured by her parents.  Have you faced similar challenges to your sense of vocation/call?  If so, how have you overcome?  For those who are currently in the role of educators, what recommendations do you have regarding how to encourage creative students?

Note:  I find it of interest that Rice later

wrote novels about people who are shut out of life for various reasons.  In fact, this became a great theme of my novels — how one suffers as an outcast, how one is shut out of various levels of meaning and, ultimately out of human life itself (p.78).

In Friday’s Week in Review, we’ll have some links to articles highlighting the role/value of monsters.  At present, Rice’s books on Jesus are on my too read shelf. Can anyone comment as to how/whether these books highlight the theme of being an outcast?

Note:  Updated 10/28/2009, 8:45 am.

In chapter 4 of The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, George Marsden asks, “What difference could ‘Christian scholarship’ possibly make?” He quotes a critical reviewer who wants to know whether Notre Dame teaches “Roman Catholic chemistry” or if Calvin offers “Presbyterian anthropology”. Marsden answers with two suggestions: the analogy of a gestalt image, and the setting of scholarly agendas.

Quick question: Has your scholarly agenda been shaped by your faith in Christ? Have you been drawn to particular areas of research because of your Christian commitment?

Marsden’s concrete example of the difference made by perspective is a good one, I think. He describes the way that scholarly views of the Battle of Little Big Horn have changed over time.

As long as most Americans looked at the relationships of whites to Indians only through the lens of nationalism, scholars seldom saw the Indian wars from Native American perspectives. Once moral sensitivities to the oppression of minorities became widespread, a new generation of scholars saw the same information through a new set of glasses. The evidence had not changed, but now the advance of the white settlements of America was more often understood as an “invasion.” (62-63)

As far as scholarly agendas go, Marsden cites Robert Wuthnow, who writes about “living the question”:

I have borrowed the much-used phrase “living the question” because it seems to me that Christianity does not so much supply the learned person with answers as it does raise questions. It has been said of Marxists that even apostates spend their lives struggling with the questions Marx addressed. The same can probably be said of Christianity. It leaves people with a set of questions they cannot escape, especially when these questions face them from their earliest years. (65)

Marsden spends a bit more time interacting with Wuthnow’s ideas about Christian scholarship, and grants Wuthnow’s point that “good Christian scholarship may be virtually indistinguishable from scholarship done by anyone else.” Marsden corrects an idea that “distinctively” Christian scholarship means scholarship that is “uniquely” Christian, and that there exists the Christian perspective on any academic discipline. Nonetheless, Marsden notes, it’s difficult to review the titles of Wuthnow’s books and avoid the conclusion that his Christian faith has indeed shaped his scholarship in distinctive ways.

The rest of the chapter is devoted to four specific ways in which a Christian foundation can make a clear difference in scholarship.

1. Challenging what is taken for granted: here, he provides the example of Harry Stout’s American Puritan studies, which takes the Great Awakening seriously as a “spiritual phenomenon that could not be wholly reduced to naturalistic categories,” which had become the standard academic perspective on the Puritans.

2. Challenging naturalistic reductionism: Marsden contrasts Carl Sagan’s reductionistic dictum, “The [physical] Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be” with John Henry Newman’s “Christian idea of the university,” which sees academic disciplines as parts of the same interconnected truth. J. Joseph Porter has a post today at the fish tank about this very idea of Christians challenging “secular reductionism.”

3. Challenging the transcendent self: Christian scholars, with our foundation in the view that “the heart of human sinfulness is the illusion that we can be our own gods,” are distinctively able to critique academia’s celebration of the human self as an absolute good.

4. Moral judgments: “Moral judgments are not the whole of Christian influence on scholarship,” Marsden writes, but Christians have a foundation on which to base moral judgments, even if that base is often ambiguous, contradicts the judgment of fellow Christians, or seems hypocritical.

Yet all these ambiguities do not add up to an argument that Christian commitments either do not or should not make a difference in the moral agendas that so shape our scholarship. What the ambiguities suggest is that Christian commitments frequently do not make the difference that they can and should. Often part of the problem is the very kind of thing that we have been talking about, that Christians have often been too slow to challenge the conventional wisdom of their age. (81, emphasis added)

My questions for discussion (feel free to ignore them and add your own):

Do you agree with Marsden that Christian scholarship can make a difference in these four areas? Have you seen examples, in addition to Marsden’s, of Christian scholars working in these areas?

What about Robert Wuthnow’s conviction that “good Christian scholarship may be virtually indistinguishable from scholarship done by anyone else”? If this is the case, can Christians make their Christian commitment explicit without corrupting their scholarship? Should they even try?

Normally, we here at the Emerging Scholars Blog like to get our posts up first thing the morning, so that you (our loyal reader) can enjoy some reading while you have your morning coffee and delay checking your email. Well, the best laid plans etc. etc. This week’s ESN Book Club post on Chapter Four, “What Difference Could It Possibly Make?”, will be up later this afternoon. Thanks for your patience! (Assuming, of course, that you are being patient. If not, I’ve got some Bible studies you could read….)

Here’s the top five articles, books, websites, etc., that we’ve been reading or thinking about the past week. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them.  In addition, if you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

1.  Duncan Urges ‘Revolutionary Change’ in Nation’s Teacher-Training Programs (Kelly Field, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 21, 2009):  Do you agree with the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who recently called attention to the nation’s colleges of education for

doing a “mediocre job” of preparing teachers for “the realities of the 21st-century classroom” and need “revolutionary change—not evolutionary tinkering” … [and being]  the “neglected stepchild” of higher education.

2. Beam Me to the Faculty Senate:  Videoconferencing proves useful on campuses (Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 18, 2009).  So we’re moving in the direction of less and less real presence, not just in the classroom (where increasing numbers of large lectures can be downloaded at some non-virtual campuses) but also among those who lead educational institutions.  Tom has observed a lot of road time from  campuses in the Penn State University educational system to State College.  Yes, he’s wondered about the necessities of these trips.  But what happens when people only get to know one-another or receive training/supervision through videoconferencing, even if it is virtual face-to-face?  Of course, it’s better than no communication or only older forms of communication such as written or teleconferencing, isn’t it?

3.  For Decades, Puzzling People With Mathematics (John Tierney, NY Times, October 19, 2009): How many of you have enjoyed the recreational mathematics of Martin Gardner, who turned 95 on October 21?  Did you know that in 1956, when Gardner at the age of 42 started a monthly column on recreational mathematics for Scientific American, he had never taken a math course beyond high school and that he’s made his trade by researching/re-publishing puzzles developed by others?

According to Ronald Graham, a mathematician at the University of California, San Diego,“Many have tried to emulate him; no one has succeeded. … Martin has turned thousands of children into mathematicians, and thousands of mathematicians into children.”

Where does Gardner believe the pleasure of recreational mathematics come from?  “Evolution has developed the brain’s ability to solve puzzles, and at the same time has produced in our brain a pleasure of solving problems.”

4.  Remember the tossing around of mild dementia in relationship to Francis Collins? For those interested in learning more about dementia, take some to read/consider Treating Dementia, but Overlooking Its Physical Toll (Tara Parker-Pope, NY Times, October 20, 2009). The article begins:

Dementia is often viewed as a disease of the mind, an illness that erases treasured memories but leaves the body intact.

But dementia is a physical illness, too — a progressive, terminal disease that shuts down the body as it attacks the brain. Although the early stages can last for years, the life expectancy of a patient with advanced dementia is similar to that of a patient with advanced cancer. …

5.  On Wednesday night, I [Tom] started reading Anne Rice’s Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008).  I have desired to learn about Rice’s spiritual journal, so the numerous comments regarding education come as an unexpected bonus feature.  Below’s an excerpt of Rice’s reflections on elementary education and learning how to read.  More of her comments on education in another post.  Anyone have a similar experience or fear of education?

"Called Out of Darkness" Cover

When I went to school and began to read, I lost an immense world of image, color, and intricate connections, but undoubtedly I retained more than I lost.I gained in school a poor understanding of things through written text.  School was when excruciating boredom and anger and frustration really began for me.  The mystery and calm of the early years were destroyed by school.  School was torture.  School was like being in jail.  It was captivity and torment and failure.

But what remained forever, what continued, was the sense of God and His Presence, of His embracing awareness of all we said and did and wanted and failed to do, and of His love.  School couldn’t destroy that faith.  And alongside it, I retained the sense that the world was an interesting creative place, especially if one could get out of school (p.30).

Can followers of Christ play by the rules of the academic game and still follow Christ faithfully?

According to Stanley Fish (Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor and a professor of law at Florida International University, in Miami, and dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago) the answer is “No.”  Marsden summarizes Why We Can’t All Just Get Along (Stanley Fish, First Things, February 1996):

“Though secular himself, Fish cites the authority of John Milton to argue that true faith in God changes everything else.  Reason, says, Milton, following Augustine, is subject to prior faith.  That world will look very different to those who start with faith in God in contrast to faith in self or in material contingency.  It follows, Fish argues, that Christians, if they are serious about their faith, should not compromise with liberalism, which is built on antithetical principles:”

‘To put the matter baldly, a person of religious conviction should not want to enter the marketplace of ideas, but to shut it down, at least insofar as it presumes to determine matters that he believes have been determined by God and faith.  The religious person should not seek an accommodation with liberalism; he should seek to rout it from the field, to extirpate it, root and branch.’ — George Marsden.  The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1997. p.44.  [Update 10/22/2009, 12:40 pm:  The second paragraph is a quote which Marsden excerpts from Stanley Fish's Why We Can't All Just Get Along (First Things, February 1996)].

How would you respond?  Read the rest of this entry »

Since 2003, I’ve volunteered as a teacher at my church. I’m currently teaching two series for adults – an introduction to the Bible (its nature, history, and content, the process of canonization and translation, basics of inductive Bible study) and a course on Christian “rituals and traditions” (the Lord’s Supper, baptism, Easter, Christmas, and Advent practices). My experience with teaching has always been positive, and my students (usually adults age 30 to 70) are genuinely curious about the Bible, Christianity, and the Gospel, but often don’t know where to start or how to find reliable sources of information. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of shady information about religion on the Internet.

On the other hand, if your full-time job involves classroom teaching and research, you might like something different on the weekend – something like, I don’t know, seeing your family or doing something more active. I’ve noticed very few elementary school teachers volunteering in our children’s wing.

Do you teach at your church? If yes, what has been your experience? If not, can you share your reasons and how they’ve been received? Do you feel free to make that choice at your church, or do you feel pressured one way or the other (either to teach or not to teach)?

Our Week-in-Review feature has a new format. We know there’s way too much to read out there already, so we’re going to be highlighting the top five articles, books, websites, etc., that we’ve been reading or thinking about the past week. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

The Millennial Muddle (Eric Hoover, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 11, 2009) takes awhile to wade through but is worth it. Tom’s placing this topic on his to post about list ;-)  Anyone with research, reflections, or personal testimonies regarding how to understand/categorize/define/relate to (?) the Millennials?

Speaking of Speaking (Chronicle of Higher Education, October 15, 2009) by a Female Science Professor gives tips on public speaking, in particular how the type of introduction can have a significant effect, at least at the beginning of my talk, on my mood and presentation strategy. She gives several illustrations which you might find of benefit. Any illustrations of best/worst speaker introductions you’ve heard?

Tweed: Oh, You Lucky College Professors! Adjuncts, Too (Chronicle of Higher Education, October 14, 2009).  Do you agree with …

Memo to America’s college professors: You have the third best job in the country.

This is according to a list of “the top 50 careers with great pay and growth prospects” that will appear in the November issue of Money magazine. OK, so you’re behind systems engineers and physician’s assistants, but No. 3 wins you a red ribbon, right?

What Has Theology Ever Done for Science? – Quite a lot actually, writes Denis Alexander, Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, in reply to a question that Daniel Dennett has been fond of asking lately. (HT: Bede Journal and Faith-Science News)

More on Souls in Transition – Christianity Today has published an interview with Christian Smith about his new book, Souls in Transition.  Smith and his fellow researchers followed up with the teens from Soul Searching to learn how their religious lives changed as they entered their early to mid-20s.  Overall, says Smith,

Most of what happens in emerging adulthood works against serious faith commitments and putting down roots in congregations. Most emerging adults are disconnected from religious institutions and practices. Geographic mobility, social mobility, wanting to have options, thinking this is the time to be crazy and free in ways most religious traditions would frown upon, wanting an identity different from the family of origin—all of these factors reduce serious faith commitments.

But – good news! – attending college is no longer the “faith killer” that it was in years past. Smith:

If anything, college is no different in terms of the faith corrosion outcomes on youth. It may even strengthen the faith of some. We think this is partly about a growing number of evangelical faculty at secular colleges. Another factor is the increasing presence and legitimacy of campus religious groups and ministries [InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade] that provide support systems—not just fellowship, but also intellectual engagement that may have been lacking in past decades.

The culture has also changed: “spirituality” is more acceptable now than in past decades. Most faculty know you cannot say stupidly anti-religious things in the classroom and get away with it.

Can we imagine a day when the college experience becomes known for introducing students to the spiritual and historical depths of the Christian faith?

Did you catch last week’s New York Times article on Francis Collins?  Here’s how it begins:

He drives a Harley-Davidson, wears a black leather jacket on his back and his religion on his sleeve, and plays a custom guitar with big-name rock stars.  All that would seem to have nothing to do with Dr. Francis S. Collins’s day job as the new director of the National Institutes of Health. Except that at the institutes, such things do matter. …

First, there is the God issue. Dr. Collins believes in him. Passionately. And he preaches about his belief in churches and a best-selling book. For some presidential appointees, that might not be a problem, but many scientists view such outspoken religious commitment as a sign of mild dementia. … (Gardiner Harris, For N.I.H. Chief, Issues of Identity and Culture, NY Times, October 6, 2009)

As I’ve posted in other places, I find this charge of dementia of particular interest.  Why? I recently participated in a discussion regarding how a physician might diagnosis Jesus’ mental condition based upon Mark 3 and dementia had been raised. What is dementia?

Deterioration of intellectual faculties, such as memory, concentration, and judgment, resulting from an organic disease or a disorder of the brain, and often accompanied by emotional disturbance and personality changes. — “dementia.” The American Heritage® Stedman’s Medical Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company. 13 Oct. 2009. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dementia>.

In this case, it appears to be an off-handed manner of name calling, i.e., declaring Collins mentally ill, even insane for his outspoken religious commitment in order to discredit his leadership.  What do you think?  Part of our exploration of The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship involves wrestling with how one responds to such comments, note:  this case highlights the war between science and religion/faith.

Have you ever faced such challenges?  If so, how have you responded?  How should Collins respond?  Should he stop wearing religion on his sleeve and just get his job done at the N.I.H., should he cut back on public declarations of faith, or should he keep on keeping on the way he is?

Cover of "The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship"

In chapter 2 of The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, George Marsden examines three “arguments for silence” common in the university for why Christians should keep their faith out of their academic work:

• The argument of “science vs. religion”
• The argument of multiculturalism and diversity
• The separation of church and state

In case, Marsden summarizes the basic argument, then provides counter-arguments in favor of Christian scholars being open about their faith.

I’ll summarize chapter 2 below, but here are a few questions.

Are there other “arguments for silence” that Marsden overlooks?

Do you find Marsden’s counter-arguments convincing? How might one counter his counter-arguments?

More practically, do Marsden’s counter-arguments “work”? Have you seen Christian scholars win over opponents and open doors for the presentation of Christian scholarship?

Leave your thoughts about these questions – or about anything else related to this chapter – in the comments. My chapter 2 summary is after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »