This year marks the 200th anniversary of one of my favorite books – Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Actually, its full title is Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus. And that is a good reminder that this novel is really about Frankenstein the man, not about his creation. Frankenstein is the one who steals from the gods (God?) the ability to create life from that which is lifeless. And, as long as we are clearing up misconceptions, the novel is not about re-animating the dead, as is often popularly shown in the movies, … [Read more...] about Book Review: Frankenstein
Book Review/Discussion
Science Book Review: Scientism and Secularism
The acknowledgments of J. P. Moreland's Scientism and Secularism include a nod to colleague Garry DeWeese, followed by a parenthetical comment about how Moreland has never understood the second 'R'. It's a throwaway line, possibly tossed in for some private levity to break up the intense, thoughtful process of writing. Yet it helped crystallize for me how I think differently than Moreland and thus why some parts of his book clicked for me while others did not. To me, the answer is obvious: because name spelling drifts … [Read more...] about Science Book Review: Scientism and Secularism
We Are Ahab – Both Hunter and Hunted. A Book Review of Moby Dick
Like most who are part of the academe, I consider myself a well-read person, though we all admit that the more of an expert you become in one area, the more you realize how ignorant you are in others. My focus is the 19th Century American religious environment and even when I stray from there to another research focus, I always come back because I find the century so interesting. Sometimes, to get a more complete view of the period, I will read fiction from the era since it gives a window into the period's views about … [Read more...] about We Are Ahab – Both Hunter and Hunted. A Book Review of Moby Dick
Book Review: Introverts in the Church
Adam McHugh provides a very reflective and open-minded resource in his Introverts in the Church: Finding our Place in an Extroverted Culture (Intervarsity Press, 2009). As I began to digest it, I soon thought of two books published in the past few years—one, Susan Cain's Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking (Penguin, 2012) and second, more tangentially related, Angela Duckworth's Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Scribner, 2016). As it turns out upon my investigation, … [Read more...] about Book Review: Introverts in the Church
Faith and Reason, Part 1
Frequent ESN contributor and Graduate & Faculty Ministries Staff Mark Hansard returns to give us a summer series on faith and reason. We're always happy to share Mark's thoughtful writings. Interested in reading more by Mark? You can explore his thoughts on learning about godly scholarships through Hebrews, his popular posts on The Fruit of the Spirit in Academia, or all of his literary and theological reflections for ESN. In this series on Faith and Reason, we will take a brief look at a Scriptural basis … [Read more...] about Faith and Reason, Part 1