Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

bob trube

Review: March Madness ’14, Reads, Opportunities . . .

ESN March Madness ’14 . . .

A quick ESN March Madness ’14 round between “Finding & keeping vocation” and “Realizing justice in action” followed by a face-off with “Diversity in higher ed” to see who goes to the finals to take on “Integrating faith & field” surprised me by starting with a tie in my own household. Hmm . . .

My wife has stuck to her position that “Realizing justice in action” is possibly the “most pressing issue for the Christian to engage when journeying in higher ed”. Do you agree? I’ll count the votes on Sunday night to begin the finals week. If you haven’t voted in ESN March Madness ’14 (and invited others to do likewise), now is the time to engage to make sure your vote is heard.

As I’ve shared before, this tourney is influencing our priority of focus as we prepare for Fall 2014. If you have a desire to address a particular topic or recommend a possible contributor (e.g., book to be reviewed, book reviewer, interview, offer a reflection), please let me know.

Must reads . . .

Below are a few pieces which really caught my attention, with lots more on ESN’s Facebook Wall 🙂 Please do not hesitate to share your must reads in the comments section below.

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Dead Theologians Society Reading List

Bob Trube, InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministry (GFM) Director, Ohio Valley

What is a Dead Thelogians Society?

Last week I received an email from Bob Trube, InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministry (GFM) Director, Ohio Valley. He shared with me Ohio State University’s Dead Theologians Society Reading List. What’s the inspiration? He “shamelessly stole the name and idea from Robbie Castleman, who led a group under this name when she was on GFM staff in Florida.”*

The Dead Theologians Society, or Delta Theta Sigma (DTS), started in the fall of 1990, on the campus of Florida State University, when some InterVarsity Christian Fellowship students began meeting weekly to discuss what they had each learned from reading Oswald Chambers’s devotional classic, My Utmost for His Highest.

Dead Poets Society was then a recent movie, and the students agreed that a Dead Theologians Society was needed to promote the serious discussion of some of the best in Christian literature.

To promote the Society, the Greek acronym Delta Theta Sigma was adopted for the designation of the Dead Theologians Society.

Since that time, this idea of “discipleship through the Christian classics” has spread quickly, and DTS reading groups continue to develop. – The Dead Theologians Society: Pursuing Discipleship through the Christian Classics (Online resource accessed 6/10/2013). Links added for additional resourcing.

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A Prayer for Campus Ministries and Churches

As a follow-up to my post about the National Day of Prayer, I’d like to share this prayer for campus ministries and churches from InterVarsity’s Bob Trube, which was prayed at the Ohio State event I mentioned.

 

The Oval at The Ohio State University

Father, you are the Lord who has sent your people into the world including the world of Ohio State. You are the Lord who has gathered your people into the communities that make up our campus ministries and places of worship at Ohio State.

 

We thank you for the freedom we enjoy to assemble here this day. We pray that you would so move among our university and political leaders that, in the midst of many beliefs and even great differences, we might continue to enjoy the freedoms of speech and religion that have distinguished this country. And grant us to speak with both conviction and civility in all circumstances.

We pray for the unity of all true believers—that we may be one even as you are one. Grant us an eagerness to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Tear down among us every dividing wall—whether of gender, denomination, status, race, or social class. May this campus see your beloved community and long to share in that love.

We pray that our ministries might be faithful to the whole counsel of your word. Teach us what it means to trust and obey you in every area of life—our relationships, our studies, the stewardship of our bodies, our time, our talents, and resources. May our character, our speech, and our service increasingly reflect your holy and faithful love.

For these things to be so, we acknowledge our need for your empowering presence. We confess that our hope lies not in our plans, our personalities or our programs but rather in the outpouring of your Spirit, your presence among us, and your leadership over each of our ministries.

We pray all of this that the lives of many would be transformed through our ministries. We pray for boldness as we speak of Christ, that you would direct us to those hungering and thirsting for spiritual reality, to those longing for a healing touch to their brokenness. And we pray for your continued transforming work in each of our communities. We ask that you would raise up a generation of people prepared to be salt and light in their workplaces, the rebuilders of walls in their communities and the seekers of justice for all.

Last of all, we pray that our ministries would be a blessing to Ohio State and the University District. May professors be encouraged by the love of learning they see among those in our ministries. Grant us to seek your peace and blessing for our residence halls, for our fellow students, for the university staff who serve us in so many ways, and for residents and businesses around the university and especially for those who differ with us.

May your kingdom come and your will be done at Ohio State. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ to God’s greater glory. Amen.