In sharing thoughts on prospering in your life as an academic, I’m not going to tell you to work hard. You wouldn’t be reading this if you needed reminding!Read more…
Tips from Tim Gilmour (Growing Spiritually in Academic Life Series)
Life in the university promises a chance to think about the big questions in life, to reflect on who we are and what we’re learning. But all too often, life as an academic seems so busy as to overwhelm anyRead more…
New Tips Series: Growing Spiritually in Your Academic Life
One of the most gratifying and rewarding experiences in both my spiritual and intellectual life was taking a year to read the Bible from my own discipline.Read more…
Apply for the ESN Urbana 18 Fellows Program
Need support contextualizing your mission to proclaim Christ and your role as an emerging scholar? We are offering 30 emerging scholars $100 towards Urbana costs, a special small group meeting via conference call before Urbana, and an ESN Fellows dinner onsite at Urbana. Read more…
Healing through the ESN Steam Grant Project
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
10/6: Veritas UTK Panel at Conference on Rhetoric and Religion
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…
Immigrating the Legal Way. Part 6 of Welcoming the Stranger Series
As we try to understand the issues surrounding immigration, sometimes the complexities of the US immigration system can seem hard to follow. Today, Royce offers a clear and approachable description, drawing on Welcoming the Stranger. Read more…
Snapshots of “Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles?”
I recommend Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles? An MIT Professor Answers Questions on God and Science by Ian Hutchinson (and related videos) as a resource for personal questions, conversation, an interactive discussion group, and / or presentation preparation.Read more…
Taking the “Selfie Challenge”
It probably does not surprise you that I understand selfies (and digital communications in general) as “a form of autobiography–not just where we’ve been and what we’ve done but also what it all means” (90).Read more…
A Nation of Immigrants. Part 5 of Welcoming the Stranger Series
Your thoughts, emotions, and responsible actions will not be simple, because you do not face simplicity. We face complexity. And God is asking you to exercise discernment as you follow him into responsible action as we face this moment in our nation.Read more…
Summer Snapshot: Weaving Threads of Promise
This summer, God has met me in a new way: in the contrast of writing poetry and scientific articles.Read more…