Before I begin a series on Lenten spirituality (come back on Ash Wednesday), it would be beneficial to tell you a bit about myself. If you’re going to find truth in what I say, I suppose you’ll need to seeRead more…
Bielo: How Do Evangelicals Read the Bible?
This summer, I’m reading — and blogging about — several books that reflect academic understandings of American evangelicals. The first of these is James S. Bielo’s Words Upon the Word: An Ethnography of Evangelical Group Bible Study. Previously, I wroteRead more…
A Tale of Two Christ(s)
The ‘Two Christ(s)’ here is a figurative shorthand to highlight conflicting perspectives on the person of Christ within the ranks of those who self-identify as Biblically orthodox Christians; reformed and evangelical and the like. Read more…
What I Wish I’d Known: Balancing Life and Graduate School
Worship. Community. Rest. Accountability. Fun. . . .Read more…
Can Intellectuals Also Be Activists? (John Stott Remembered)
Last week, John Stott went to be with the Lord. As an author, theologian, and working pastor, few people have had as large an influence on evangelical Christianity around the world over the past 100 years.Read more…
New Book Reviews: Christian Parenting, Religious Bias
Over at the main ESN website, we’ve recently published a couple of book reviews that you might be interested in. Foundations of Christian Parenting My co-blogger Tom Grosh has reviewed Wise Stewards: Philosophical Foundations of Christian Parenting by Michael W.Read more…
Week in Review: St. Olaf and Husbands Edition
What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for theRead more…
Is Exile the Best Paradigm for Christians in the Academy?
I’ve been working through some thoughts left over from my reading of James Davison Hunter’s To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. This is probably my last post on this book,Read more…
Week in Review: Kuyper at the World Cup Edition
What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for theRead more…
Must Reads for an American College Education?
Do you have a set of must reads which you believe should lie at the foundation/base of a college education (i.e., American college education), no matter the institution, e.g., Christian college/university, community college, engineering/tech school (e.g., Carnegie Mellon University orRead more…
Christians and Conflict in the Academy
I’m going to try to link two current stories involving Christianity and the academy, and I’ll be the first to admit that the attempt might not work. A big disclaimer: I am not an expert on either of these, soRead more…
Anonymity as the Way?
Do you agree with the below quotes from News Sites Rethink Anonymous Online Comments (Richard Perez-Pena. NY Times. 4/11/2010)? “Anonymity is just the way things are done. It’s an accepted part of the Internet, but there’s no question that peopleRead more…
Trusting in the Lord in a Secular Workplace or Job Security in Academia
On the road to listen to* Faculty & Student/Post-Doc’s at a major research university discuss Trusting in the Lord in a Secular Workplace or Job Security in Academia over lunch, description below. If you were present for the conversation, whatRead more…
Addressing Our Errors
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to hear a professor/practitioner of family medicine share how to address errors in the medical profession. Yes, the university hospital provides a unique environment for research, student-faculty-staff relationships, and connection with the world beyond theRead more…
Week in Review: Christo et Ecclesiae Edition
What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for theRead more…
Shaping the Next Generation of Higher Education
Two recent articles on the profession of education worth consideration: In Search of Education Leaders, by Bob Herbert, NY Times Op-Ed, December 4, 2009 The Ph.D. Problem: On the professionalization of faculty life, doctoral training, and the academy’s self-renewal, byRead more…
Outrageous Idea 3: Rules of the Game
Can followers of Christ play by the rules of the academic game and still follow Christ faithfully? According to Stanley Fish (Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor and a professor of law at Florida International University, in Miami, and dean emeritus ofRead more…
Week in Review: Milliennials in Transition Edition
Our Week-in-Review feature has a new format. We know there’s way too much to read out there already, so we’re going to be highlighting the top five articles, books, websites, etc., that we’ve been reading or thinking about the pastRead more…
Dr. Collins as mildly demented?
Did you catch last week’s New York Times article on Francis Collins? Here’s how it begins: He drives a Harley-Davidson, wears a black leather jacket on his back and his religion on his sleeve, and plays a custom guitar withRead more…
The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship: Discussion 1
George Marsden, Notre Dame’s Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus, wrote The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) to take a step toward clarifying what the ancient enterprise of relating faith and learning mightRead more…
How Schools Fail Democracy
Do schools fail democracy, as argued by E.D. Hirsch Jr., in How Schools Fail Democracy (The Chronicle Review, 9/28/2009)? Personally, I have been frustrated by public education’s emphasis on skill development for check-lists, competitions, and test-taking with low reference toRead more…
Is there a Christian intellectual presence on your campus?
And, if your campus has a public Christian intellectual presence, what does it look like?Read more…
Who is in your class?
Would you agree with my idealistic enthusiasm for My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student, the story of a professor of anthropology at a large state university who realized that she no longer understood the behavior and attitudes of herRead more…
Hospitality in Higher Education
How have you come to know, understand, feel, and define hospitality? Do you consider hospitality a necessary part of the fabric of Higher Education (e.g., community, discussion of ideas, relationships with the other) or not? How have you experienced and/orRead more…