It is my expert opinion as a Christian who has lived through three mostly disastrous decades of Christian engagement with politics that we do not best convert people through political issues when we seek to pronounce the Christian position on it, when we use politics as medium for the gospel. Second, it is my opinion as an emerging scholar in rhetoric that my field speaks to all people and also has deep ties to Christianity. And as a “public scholar” I note those two facts while urging a collective, democratic approach to issues at hand.Read more…
This week’s Chronicle Review features an article by Daniel R. Drezner entitled “Public Intellectuals 2.0,” ($, I think) about the role of public intellectuals in the age of blogs and non-stop media commentary.Read more…
As some of you know (may even remember), 5 years ago I became the Associate Director of the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). What a privilege it has been to be part of connecting, encouraging, equipping and mentoring a growing network (4,200+) of those on the academic pathway (undergrads, grad students, postdocs and early career faculty) via blogging, facebook, ministry/conference partnerships, paper.li, and twitter.Read more…
What is ESN planning this year? Read our fall preview series this week to find out. Read more…
And, if your campus has a public Christian intellectual presence, what does it look like?Read more…
Connecting with ESN has really enriched my experience at Urbana because it expanded my mind to see that God called me into the engineering field for a reason. Missions and academic/vocational pursuit are not two separate ideas, but rather beautifullyRead more…
Professor Emeritus John Hardwig and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA staff Julian Reese will discuss how an atheist and an evangelical Christian, through the Veritas Forum at UTK, forged a mutually productive rhetorical partnership in the context of a major public university. Read more…
Nigel Biggar[1] How Christians relate to the world (1/26/2013) from oxfordchristianmind (46 min, 32 sec). Teaser: [A] vocation is a very particular duty. Just a word about vocation here. A vocation is not the same as a particular job orRead more…
Introduction Are you perfect, becoming perfect? No, not in your field but as a Christian — loving God, loving neighbor? Hmm . . . as I think about it, that does spill over into your field but in a differentRead more…
What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for theRead more…
Few Christians – few Americans, for that matter – have exemplified the role of public intellectual during the past 50 years as well as Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, editor-in-chief of First Things, author of The Naked Public Square and manyRead more…
