As we prepare for the academic year in this complicated moment, what journey is God inviting us to take? ESN Director Bob Trube reflects on the choices we make at key moments of our lives and callings. When you hear the term “critical junctures” at the beginning of an academic year, your mind may go to the decisions that may have important consequences for your academic career—the choice of an advisor, defining a research interest, or deciding which journal to which you submit an article. What about … [Read more...] about Critical Junctures: Preparing for the Academic Year
Academic Vocations
Director’s Corner: Meeting the Challenge of Double Work
Do you ever feel like you have two jobs, excelling in your field and figuring out how it all relates to your calling to follow Christ? At ESN, we work hard to support Christian academics in bringing the two together. ESN Director Bob Trube reflects on this key challenge/opportunity for Christian scholars in Director's Corner, our occasional ESN blog series where Bob distills his observations and offers ideas and resources to encourage our readers. Few of us like the idea of double work. Yet it has been suggested … [Read more...] about Director’s Corner: Meeting the Challenge of Double Work
A Prayer for Those Studying the Social Sciences
One major need we have found in our work with ESN: it's often hard to find prayers and devotional material specifically addressed to the life of the Christian serving God in the university. This week we share a prayer for those studying the social sciences by PhD student Jessica Price. Do you want to write a prayer for a specific field area? Submit here to be considered for publication in our upcoming Winter/Spring 2020 series of prayers for those in various academic fields. God, today we offer up the students of … [Read more...] about A Prayer for Those Studying the Social Sciences
A Prayer for Those Studying the Humanities, Fall 2019
Oh Lord, We ask that You would gift those studying the humanities this fall with Your wisdom, Your courage, and Your joy. We ask Your wisdom, oh Holy Spirit! Many students and scholars explore the humanities with the hope of gaining wisdom for their lives and for the good of those around them. Fulfill those hopes this year, and when we are tempted to be hopeless, let us find renewed faith in Your goodness, for and in itself, and also as it is expressed through the imperfect but earnest efforts of human research … [Read more...] about A Prayer for Those Studying the Humanities, Fall 2019
Beginning Fall 2019: A Letter from ESN Director Bob Trube
As we start the academic year, Bob encourages us from his experience as campus minister and ESN Director. Stay tuned for our weekly readings for individuals and groups, and some upcoming announcements for events in person and online. Image: Ohio State University. Scholarship is framed around what we do not know, the research questions we pursue in our work, or even the more down to earth questions of how we will complete all this work in our waking hours. Sometimes the unknown has to do with our own … [Read more...] about Beginning Fall 2019: A Letter from ESN Director Bob Trube