The first few chapters of 1 Samuel serve as the origin story of the prophet Samuel. This is a low moment in the history of Israel.Read more…
The Baptism of the Lord (Scholar’s Compass)
On this day, we commemorate the baptism of Jesus. This chronological jump in the church calendar is jarring. Just yesterday—on Epiphany—Jesus was a small child receiving gifts from the magi. Today, he is a grown man beginning his public ministry.Read more…
First Week of Advent: The Word (Scholar’s Compass)
Who we are, and are becoming, is subject, at least in part, to the words we hear and read, speak and write, and receive and dismiss. Read more…
Thinking as Worship
Sometime in my junior year a faculty member spoke to our InterVarsity chapter. I remember distinctly one element of his talk, a quote in German that he attributed to Luther. It is a message that has stayed with me and a few years ago I set out to track down the origin of the quote. Read more…
Living in the Moment (Scholar’s Compass Transitions Series Summer 2017, Post 4)
The Gospel opens to us a new reality, a new awareness of timeRead more…
Living in Transition (Scholar’s Compass Transitions Series Summer 2017, Post 3)
We daily live in this tension of the “already and the not yet.”Read more…
“Where You Go, God Is” (Scholar’s Compass Transitions Series Summer 2017, Post 2)
What Christian Brady learned about transitions from a vaudeville performer turned expository preacher. Read more…
Reshaped, Reworked, and Redeemed (Scholar’s Compass Transitions Series Summer 2017)
When I began college thirty years ago I was intent on being “a real doctor.” I loved science and medicine, I had interned at NIH, and I was going to be a physician. Until I wasn’t.Read more…
The Perfection of our Praise: Reclaiming our Inner Folly on Palm Sunday (Scholar’s Compass)
Palm Sunday clarifies the purpose of Lent. It reminds us that our repentance is ordered toward a God who uses the foolish and weak things of this word to confound it. Viewed through Palm Sunday, Lent serves as preparation for an encounter with folly.Read more…
Words of Authority (Scholar’s Compass)
In large engineering projects such as the construction sites I work on, engineers rely on documents issued by others to make decisions and build things under time constraint. A “for construction” stamp and the author’s initials on a drawing assure us that the design is ready for construction, and that we can contact the engineer for further advice.Read more…
The Spiritual Act of Naming: Truth Telling in Writing (Writing As a Spiritual Discipline Series)
My desire to write comes from an experience of reading. I read a transforming word. As I am transformed, I wish to influence transformation in a confusing and unjust world.Read more…
Faith and Doubt in Emily Dickinson’s “This World is not Conclusion”
What is fascinating about Dickinson’s poetry is her wrestling with the mystery of faith, oscillating as she does between the comfort of traditional faith and the gnawing presence of doubt.Read more…
Rejoice: Fourth Week of Advent (Scholar’s Compass)
As we continue to wait and listen in Advent, we hear the extraordinary promises once again in our ordinary lives.Read more…
Watch: Third Week of Advent (Scholar’s Compass)
Watching and keeping awake requires us to live in the present. But we don’t often live in the present.Read more…
Prepare: Second Week of Advent (Scholar’s Compass)
We tend to think that we orchestrate the opportunities of our lives, but in contrast the Biblical emphasis is on preparing to receive from God and from the good graces of other people.Read more…
Hope: First Week of Advent (Scholar’s Compass)
As the church year commences and the Advent season begins again, we are called to hope, prepare, watch, and rejoice. These shorter, gray sky days often point to the reality that our whole being is aching for something more, something deeper. Read more…
Thanksgiving for Domestic Hospitality (Scholar’s Compass)
During my own graduate days, there is no kindness for which I am more thankful than that of being welcomed into the homes of my peers and instructors.Read more…
Scheduling for our Souls (Scholar’s Compass)
I’m not sure where you are on your academic path, but as a freshly graduated Ph.D., I am excited as I start a job as an Assistant Professor this year. It means I get to learn how to create my life schedule amongst a bunch of newness: new city, new home, new church, new university, new community (including new coffee shops!), new university, new colleagues, new students, and honestly, a new me.Read more…
If I Had to Do It Again: the Graduate School and Early Professor Years Edition (Scholar’s Compass)
What if I had it to do again? Would I change anything or not?
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Unroll the Scroll (Scholar’s Compass)
No, the king is not responding to another rejected journal article submission or to a reminder about his impending student loan payment. He is not unfurling the scroll version of the Chronicle of Higher Education decrying the lack of jobs for PhDs in the Humanities in the 8th century B.C.E.Read more…
Scholar’s Compass: Stories for Life
Earlier today, I wrote a letter to my major professor from my Ph.D. program thanking him for all the time and work he put into training me. I told him that any accomplishment that I or my students might achieve could be accredited to him because of his dedication to excellence. Knowing him, this statement might mean as much to him as his winning of the Nobel Peace prize in 2007.Read more…
Loving Your Spouse, Kids (And Anyone, Really) While You’re Still In School—Part 4
Last week, I offered the first part of a list of hands on ways to love your family and friends in grad school. Here’s the rest of the list.Read more…
Loving Your Spouse, Kids (And Anyone, Really) While You’re Still In School—Part 3
So let’s take a step back and see where we are on the map. We’ve spent a lot of time on acknowledging our tendency to idolize grad school, and, why we do that. What are some practical ways to focus on God and care for others? Read more…
Loving Your Spouse, Kids (And Anyone, Really) While You’re Still In School—Part 2
But all this begs the question: why would we put our thesis or research in God’s place anyway? Read more…