Our family recently streamed a sermon series on Esther. One installment focused on the armed confrontations between Jews and their antagonists at the end of the book, the end result of Haman’s plan to eliminate the Jews and Esther’s counter-maneuvering on their behalf. The teaching focused on the challenges such passages pose. Is the Bible being prescriptive or merely descriptive in including such violence? Does the fact that God’s purpose–the survival of the chosen people–is achieved through bloodshed represent an endorsement? Valid questions without scientific answers; I refer you to the sermon for more direct engagement of those issues. Here instead we’ll explore a related topic: just what would those confrontations have looked like?
[Read more…] about Science Corner: Scientific Anachronism
Esther
Planning for Victory, Prayerfully (Strength for the Journey series, Part 2)
Session at the annual conference of InterVarsity’s Black Scholars and Professionals (BSAP), 2015. Image courtesy of Boris Collins.
ESN is delighted to share wisdom on continuing in the journey of higher education from Dr. Claudette Ligons, and to highlight the work of InterVarsity’s Black Scholars and Professionals (BSAP). BSAP, a national ministry within InterVarsity, recently hosted its fifth annual conference in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Ligons spoke on persevering and growing in the academic life, a topic very relevant to emerging scholars. Dr. Ligons also has the distinction of a 100% graduation rate among the Ed.D. students she has supported through the dissertation process at Texas Southern University. ESN is sharing her paper as a four part series. You can find Part 1 here.
Planning for Victory, Prayerfully
Let’s begin with Prayerfully Planning for Victory. If you are convinced that your studies and your career are aligned with God’s purpose, you are starting in a place of victory. Knowing that will enhance your faith as you pray for His guidance and His support in other areas of your life. [Read more…] about Planning for Victory, Prayerfully (Strength for the Journey series, Part 2)
Intro: The Ends & Goals of Higher Ed in 21st Century America
Thank-you to Bob Trube for sharing his introduction to the 2014 MidWest Faculty Conference (dare I say “Dialog”) on The Ends and Goals of Higher Education in Twenty First Century America: Change and the Calling of the Christian Educator (InterVarsity’s Cedar Campus) with the Emerging Scholars Network!
What a kick-off to a tremendous collaborative endeavor/working community. Much more coming, feel free to chime in with your insights and questions. To God be the glory! ~ Thomas B. Grosh IV, Associate Director, Emerging Scholars Network
Conference Introduction:Â Esther 4:10-14
10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.â€
12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?†[Read more…] about Intro: The Ends & Goals of Higher Ed in 21st Century America