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 might mean in the academy today (preface). How can this be accomplished in a time when the university has lost the ability to have substantive conversation regarding not only religion, but also anything that goes beyond the practical to the larger issues … [Read more...] about The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship: Discussion 1
academic culture
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 to exposing students to common culture, core values, and must reads (i.e., classics). As a parent, I have slowly come to own the counter-cultural responsibility of intentionally teaching our common knowledge, but ironically it demands a lot of … [Read more...] about How Schools Fail Democracy
Is there a Christian intellectual presence on your campus?
A few different strands of thought came together for me this morning in the form of a question. Let me throw out the question first, and then elaborate. Is there a public Christian intellectual presence on your campus? Here are the threads that came together for me. First, in our recent book discussion of John Stott's Your Mind Matters, Stott describes a kind of intellectualism that is very public. For example, in chapter 3, he "examines six spheres of Christian living, each of which is impossible without the … [Read more...] about Is there a Christian intellectual presence on your campus?
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 her students and returned to the classroom? And my uneasiness when reading that some "Online Professors Pose as Students to Encourage Real Learning" (Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/29/09), in the class which they're teaching? Can you offer testimonies, … [Read more...] about Who is in your class?
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/or extended hospitality on campus as individual or as part of a community of believers? Looking forward to reading your thoughts/experiences. Please share them with grace, truth, and charity. What brings this topic to my mind at this time? On Monday and … [Read more...] about Hospitality in Higher Education