When I was approached to lead conversations with graduate students about science and faith topics as part of the ESN STEAM grant project, I accepted with a good deal of hesitation. Read more…
Science Corner: Finding Your Way Through Math
Topology is a standard topic in mathematics; topiary less so. That’s why I thought it was pretty cool to read about a mathematician-designed maze in celebration of the Abel Prize.Read more…
Faith and Science Talks from our STEAM Project Conference Track
If you enjoyed our STEAM project faith/science blog series, you may also want to listen to the panels below, hosted at the ASA website. Read more…
A Christian Response to the Immigration Dilemma: Part 12 of the Welcoming the Stranger Series
This final chapter is a call to action, recommending several possible ways you as a Christian can become involved in the immigration dilemma.Read more…
Walk in the Lord, Bless The Lord
As we enter a new week seeking to fulfill our call as Christ followers in the milieu of higher ed, may our thoughts, words and lives bless the Lord.Read more…
Engaged Learning, YouTube, and Audience Needs
We have content that we want to offer, while our audience has content that they want to receive, and often somewhere else lies the content that our audience needs. Read more…
Science Corner: Take Me to Your Victrola
Truly universal truths can be more elusive than they seem.Read more…
Immigration and the Church Today: Part 11 of the Welcoming the Stranger Series
This week, our subject is Chapter 9 of Welcoming the Stranger, “Immigration and the Church Today.” Read more…
We Are Ahab – Both Hunter and Hunted. A Book Review of Moby Dick
If you can survive through the minutia, what makes Moby Dick such an iconic book, and further, why should anyone bother taking up the massive tome (assuming they haven’t been guilted into it!) and read 500+ pages when anyone knows how the book will end?Read more…
Engaged Learning in Church
W. Brian Lane shares some ways to use engaged learning techniques in church settings. Read more…
Science Corner: What the FOXP2 Say
Regardless of how one understands our relationship to the animal kingdom, many of us are interested in what distinguishes us biologically from animals, especially the animals most similar to us: chimpanzees, gorillas, and the like.Read more…
Immigration Policies and Politics. Part 10 of the Welcoming the Stranger Series
I have long thought that the only reason this issue is not more forcefully addressed is because immigration affects “those people,” and that the politicians families and friends are not affected.Read more…
Book Review: Introverts in the Church
Adam’s admission of his own construction of a one-dimensional image of leadership—the most effective leader being a high-paced, always outward-oriented extrovert—is something I personally resonate with as an introvert, and I believe all leaders and leaders-in-training should reckon with and seek to correct.Read more…
Snapshots of “Freedom All the Way Up”
God created the universe(s) to provide the space and conditions for the emergence of habitable bio-niches in which agape-capable beings would eventually emerge to live in agape-love relations with God and with others. Earth is one such emergent bio-niche, and Homo sapiens are an instance of such emergent agape-loving beings. In other words, the telos (purpose) of the universe is to be birthing-space, nursery, and home for agape-capable beings in relationships and actions of agape-love towards God and others. – Christian Barrigar, Faith All the Way Up: God and the Meaning of Life in a Scientific Age, 21Read more…
Science in Review: Seeing the Random Forest for the Trees
We talk a lot about science here, but science isn’t just talk. I thought maybe we could roll up our sleeves and try a little science.Read more…
The Value of Immigrants to the United States. Part 9 of the Welcoming the Stranger Series
I appreciate that Soerens and Yang do not make economic claims central to their book, but I also appreciate that they have examined some of the most common economic claims related to immigration. Read more…
Faith and Reason, Part 3: Aquinas
Scholars who study Aquinas are divided about whether he believed that some propositions about God, for example, statements about his existence, can be adjudicated through reason alone, or whether they also require faith. Read more…
Engaged Learning: How Can It Help?
Physics professor Brian Lane gives us some approachable methods for improving student learning. Read more…
Science Corner: Pack Your Genes for the Cruise
What would it take to preserve all vertebrate life, and to what end?Read more…
Faith Across The Multiverse Book Club Event
What inspired you to write Faith across the Multiverse? “Inspiration came from many directions, including the story I tell in the book about making a spontaneous connection between math and theology during a group Bible study. But I think the biggest one was spending time chatting with comic book fans and seeing how many of them took for granted that being intelligent or scientific automatically ruled out belief in God. . . .”Read more…
Concerns About Immigration. Part 8 of the Welcoming the Stranger Series
While in Chapter 5 Soerens and Yang discuss what the Bible says about “welcoming the stranger,” in this chapter they present some of the concerns that many have when it comes to extending more generous immigration policy.Read more…
Welcome to Fall at ESN
As everyone settles into fall rhythms, we wanted to give you a quick preview of the rest of the semester at ESN.Read more…
Science Corner: The Word for ‘Gene’
I think it’s worth remembering that roughly 100 years ago, no language had a word for ‘gene.’Read more…
Thinking Biblically About Immigration. Part 7 of the Welcoming the Stranger Series
The long and short of Chapter 5 is that God takes special concern for the foreigner and stranger because of their unique vulnerability.Read more…