Last month I invited you to share your dreams for your work in the academy. This month I am going to share mine. After all, turnabout is fair play. What I write reflects 48 years of working as a campus minister with InterVarsity. I grew up in a family that valued both the love of God and the love of learning and saw them as seamlessly related. For us, loving God with all our being included loving him with our minds. When I arrived on campus, what so excited me about InterVarsity was how seriously they took loving God … [Read more...] about My Dreams for Christians in Higher Education
Sinai and Synapses: Loving the Lord with all my mind and my neighbor as myself
One very clear memory from my freshman year of college is of a Sunday afternoon that I spent in the library trying to learn the details about the oxidative-phosphorylation, one chemical pathway in mitochondria (i.e., the powerhouse of the cell). I spent hours sitting with my notebook, pen, and biology textbook trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together. My initial motivation was trying to understand enough to pass the test I had the next day. But puzzling through the processes involved in passing electrons … [Read more...] about Sinai and Synapses: Loving the Lord with all my mind and my neighbor as myself
Science Corner: “What Hath Darwin to Do with Scripture?”
It's Stanley Cup Finals time, and so I expect we are all asking ourselves the same question: How would you explain ice hockey to Bronze Age nomads from Canaan? Of course there will be a matter of translation. Words like "stick" and "net" presumably would map pretty directly. There'd probably be a word that shares meaning with "team" although maybe it would refer primarily to animals. "Offsides" is tricky to explain even to modern English speakers, but that's because there are a lot of details; the constituent concepts … [Read more...] about Science Corner: “What Hath Darwin to Do with Scripture?”
The Power of Beauty: A Call to be Transformed
It was a fairly normal day after hectic weeks. Although I had the feeling of not being at peace, my routine was still there. I turned on a Paul Tripp Podcast (with Joey Tomassoni) and started listening, just before opening my laptop. The name of the Podcast was 'The Spirituality of Beauty'. I was immediately hooked. As I listened, I stopped. I was transfixed, trying to understand the meaning of beauty, when it occurs, what do we mean when we call something or someone beautiful? Or is beauty just a crutch word to express … [Read more...] about The Power of Beauty: A Call to be Transformed
Summer 2024 ESN Conversations
I am thrilled to announce our summer of 2024 ESN Conversations. Dru Johnson will lead off in a special evening interview with ESN science writer Andrew Walsh on What Hath Darwin to Do with Scripture. The following week Jemar Tisby and Douglas M. Strong join in conversation about a diary found in a college closet and the insights into racial justice they uncovered, a story told in Awakening to Justice. Timothy Larsen joins us in July to talk about his annotating work on George MacDonald's Diary of an Old Soul. We wrap up … [Read more...] about Summer 2024 ESN Conversations