As part of #GivingTuesday, support Hannah Eagleson's editing / writing for ESN. Recently Hannah Eagleson and I chatted with author, musician, and public speaker Andy Crouch about the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). We focused upon the role of Christians in academia as culture makers. Here's his take on the need for ESN: The health of the university depends on scholars who will devote their lives to research, teaching, and service with excellence, integrity, creativity, and love. We cannot just assume that … [Read more...] about #GivingTuesday: Andy Crouch on the Need for ESN
The High Calling of “Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies”
Like any other life-sustaining resource, language can be depleted, polluted, contaminated, eroded, and filled with artificial stimulants. Like any other resource, it needs the protection of those who recognize its value and commit themselves to good stewardship. -- Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies by Marilyn Chandler McEntrye (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2009), 1. A few weeks ago I shared a Celtic Christian prayer for our speech. I subsequently offered the prayer in a number of … [Read more...] about The High Calling of “Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies”
The Christian Academic Vocation in “Restoring the Soul of the University”
"The Christian academic vocation is first and foremost defined by thinking about and living one's vocation in the light of the triune God and God's story of the world. These elements not only nourish the university's soul but should also define professors' fundamental identities and direct them to engage in certain story-formed virtues and practices that shape their vocations in unique ways. Thinking and living in the light of God and God's story can also foster an integrated relationship for teaching, scholarship, and … [Read more...] about The Christian Academic Vocation in “Restoring the Soul of the University”
Introduction to “A Subversive Gospel” (IVP)
There may never be anything new to say, but there is always a new way to say it. —Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners . . . This book makes the argument that, through her fiction, Flannery O'Connor subverted the conventional notions of truth, goodness, and beauty, not merely from a position of Christian dogma but out of aesthetic impulse. . . . … [Read more...] about Introduction to “A Subversive Gospel” (IVP)
Next Steps for ESN —Scripture
Perhaps you remember the first instance when you understood a passage in the Bible with more than your own mind--when the words came to life and became incarnate in your imagination. For me, it was a passage I had heard all my life. I could have quoted it. But in that moment, the words spoke in a way that connected the pieces of my life with Scripture like a puzzle. I was hearing what I thought I knew for the first time. The last words became, in a sense, the first words. "Thus it is written . . ." (Lk 24:46 ESV): … [Read more...] about Next Steps for ESN —Scripture