OK, so this doesn’t have anything to do with academia – in fact, I once nearly lost a summer scholarship to Oxford because a professor thought that my interest in quick recall/College Bowl-type competitions would distract me from legitimate academic work. But hey, it’s still fun. Register online for the Jeopardy contestant quiz, which will be held January 27, 28, and 29. And, if you win, don’t forget who told you about it. 🙂
Links
Following Christ 08 resources coming on-line
On InterVarsity’s main website, one can find two articles
AND two audio files
- Why Aren’t We Flourishing? — Opening Plenary by MaryKate Morse, Professor of Leadership and Spiritual Formation at George Fox University. Time: 35:00
- Powerful Faith — Seminar presentation by Michael Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University and the author of Faith in the Halls of Power. The seminar in which Michael Lindsay spoke was entitled Exploring Privilege and Redeeming Power. Time: 1:15:09
After you’ve reflected upon the presentations, take a moment to share some thoughts on fear, power, and faith in higher education.
Favorite Books of 2008
I enjoyed skimming Mr. Wilson’s Bookshelf: Favorite Books of 2008. Out of his recommendations, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East. Africa, and Asia—and How It Died by Philip Jenkins sits on my to read pile. I will pick up The Lost History of Christianity sometime in the new year. If you are not familiar with Jenkins’ material, I’d suggest visiting his Penn State Department of History and Religious Studies page. His thought-provoking work, which spans a great range of topics, provides great conversation starters 😉  Note: The link to Mark Noll’s review in the November/December Books & Culture can be found here.
As you know, I’ve read and enjoyed a number of books in 2008 including Culture-Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling and The Last Lecture. How about you? In 2008, what 2-3 books were you not able to put down and/or find yourself talking/writing about? [Read more…] about Favorite Books of 2008
Who do you trust? Google and information gathering
How do we find, evaluate, share, and use on-line resources/data? In this morning’s Daily Report from The Chronicle of Higher Education, I came across the post Thinking About Truth, Lies, and the Power of Google. The flow of comments focused upon librarians, the vetting of information, and the current election (what article doesn’t relate to McCain/Palin and now I’m even doing it!).
Out of curiosity, I followed the link to the original post on the ACRLog (i.e., Association of College and Research Libraries: Blogging by and for academic and research librarians):  Information is Power – Even When it’s Wrong. Then I took some time to ruminate over the piece, particularly the concern Sometimes aggregators are misleading. … Anyone have thoughts and/or tips on how to find, evaluate, share, and use on-line resources?
By-the-way, the last time I followed the Daily Report to the ACRLog, I read about the rise of the blog among academic and research librarians in What Happened To The Personal Web Site. Next time I visit the ACRLog, I’m going to look to see whether someone wrote about the question of accessing material received from a blog (or how about a Facebook post) versus a personal web site, an organizational web site, or an on-line journal article. Fascinating questions, maybe I should consider a degree in information science.
What does it mean to observe the Sabbath?
Hope I didn’t catch you (and me) at an awkward time, but are you already thirsting for encouragement in Sabbath-keeping this fall term? As I reflected upon the topic and prayed for the graduate students and faculty with whom I minister, I returned to Calvin College’s helpful Sabbath-keeping resource page for faculty. Below’s just a taste:
In an academic setting like Calvin where Monday signifies not only the beginning of a new week but the onslaught of classes to teach, tests to take (or give) and general all-around busyness, is it really realistic to rest from your work on Sunday? Is it even biblically mandated for the New Testament church?
In his book, Catch Your Breath: God’s Invitation to Sabbath Rest, Don Postema points out that that “the hectic pace of contemporary life makes the idea and practice of sabbath rest enormously attractive.” Yet this same hectic pace also, on the other hand, makes it incredibly difficult to slow down, let alone cease from the normal concerns of everyday life. In light of these considerations, two key questions must be answered: Why should Christians observe the Sabbath and how?
Two other links which come to mind when I consider the topic are given below. What resources, practices, and communities have you found helpful in Sabbath-keeping, particularly as a new term begins?
- A Guided Sabbath, a resource written by Sarah MacDonald & Jay Sivits for Following Christ in 2002
- Critical Junctures: The Spiritual Formation of Graduate Students and Young Faculty by Bob Trube.