Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

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Faithful in Successful: Interview with Soo Chuen Tan

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ESN continues its series of interviews with authors of Faithful Is Successful. You can read Chelsea Foster’s previous post on Soo Chuen Tan’s chapter in Faithful Is Successful here. Soo Chuen Tan grew up in Malaysia and attended college at Oxford, England. Soo Chuen later received a fellowship as a Harvey Fellow to Harvard University to complete his MBA. He decided to join the investment management field, but was challenged by certain ethical demands of the industry. As a result, five years ago he founded his own firm in order to manage money for non-profit foundations and individuals with endowments whose missions aligned with his spiritual foundations. He joined the Harvey Fellows advisory board in 2005, and now lives in Stanford, Connecticut.

1. ESN: You note in your essay that “it is critically important to sail by a strong internal compass . . . we must be able and willing to do the right thing even if this is against our best interests.” Do you have any practical suggestions or words of wisdom on how others might develop such convictions? [Read more…] about Faithful in Successful: Interview with Soo Chuen Tan

In Pursuit of Gospel-Driven Productivity

A Review of Matt Perman’s What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done (Zondervan: 2014)
By David H. Leonard, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics, Luther Rice University, Atlanta, GA

What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman (Zondervan, 2014).

It might be tempting to think that productivity is a topic more suitable for business leaders and entrepreneurs, for whom it’s essential to “get things done” as efficiently as possible.  As Matt Perman argues in What’s Best Next, however, productivity is mainly about loving others by putting their needs first.  Such an emphasis results not only in greater productivity, but is also consistent with a Christian view of such matters.  Indeed, the implication is that all Christians, regardless of their vocation, are called to excel in their productivity.  To achieve that goal, it’s not sufficient that we’re merely aware of the relevant skills of productivity; rather, our employment of these skills must be motivated and informed by a proper theological foundation.  In this regard, Perman’s book offers readers a unique and insightful perspective on the topic of productivity, explicitly informed by the Christian faith.

Christian scholars, in particular, ought to take seriously Perman’s insights on productivity, for the ideas and principles he develops have direct relevance for the quality of their teaching and research.  Whereas Andreas Köstenberger, for example, has challenged scholars to pursue their work with excellence, in terms of demonstrating boldness amidst the pressures of “academic respectability” and displaying integrity in their scholarly activities, Perman highlights for readers the practical steps that might be taken to clear the way for such excellence to be achieved.  [Read more…] about In Pursuit of Gospel-Driven Productivity

The Intersection of Church and Business

J. Nathan Matias (@natematias), Research Assistant, MIT Media Lab Center for Civic Media continues his Urbana12 series. This post in original form (12/28/2012) can be found here. As some of you know, the seminar is part of the Business Changing the World Track. Thank-you Nathan! Great to have you contributing material to the ESN Blog. Your work is much appreciated.. ~ Thomas B. Grosh IV, Associate Director of ESN.

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This weekend, I’m at Urbana, a gathering of Christian students interested in the work of the church worldwide. Over the last few days, I have been blogging seminars, in which a speaker gives a talk to around 50-60 participants.

Dayspring Technologies' All-in-One Team
Dayspring Technologies’ All-in-One Team

Speaking today are John Greenhill & Chi-Ming Cheng of Dayspring Tech, a web and mobile app consultancy.

“How can Christians bear witness to the reign of God in a for-profit business?” they ask. Ministry is usually considered a non-profit endeavour. They’re not here to talk about personal discipleship in a place of business (which is good), but how businesses themselves can bear witness to God.

These issues rise to the fore when you start making basic decisions in your business. This sometimes requires us to expand how we think of business; it also requires us to expand the meaning of the word ministry.

John was an aerospace engineer coming out of school in ’87 — not a typical ministry education. He wasn’t doing ministry training, translation, or languages. He sometimes wondered how his passions fit together, but he came to discover the broad varieties of living out the gospel in a discipline. We should be encouraged by the variety, freedom and possibilities that are available to us.

John shares a quotation from Amos 5:15, “Hate evil and love good, then work it out in the public square.” The gospel must be worked out in our lives and it is not isolated, but it works itself out in the public square and everywhere else. It applies all the time, everywhere, in all arenas. How? That’s what this talk is about.

Chi Ming is speaking now. He starts out with a story of the first time he spoke on business at a seminar for InterVarsity students. His session was double booked with one on relationships. He spent that hour session with an audience of two. Today’s group has around 60 attendees.

Chi Ming’s web and mobile app company, Dayspring Technologies, is in San Fransisco. It was founded 15 years ago by 3 church members. The company has 16 employees and $1.7 million in revenue. Recent projects include an entrepreneurship mentoring platform for the US State Department and the ImageNations group. They have also recently worked on a household budgeting app. Recent partners and clients include Accel, KPCB (VC), MercyCorps, North Face, PJCC, UCSF.

What does this have to do with announcing the kingdom of God? [Read more…] about The Intersection of Church and Business

Coming Soon from InterVarsity Press: Constantine, Science, Business, and More

We’re introducing a new occasional contributor and feature on the Emerging Scholars Blog today. Nick Liao, Academic Sales and Marketing Manager for InterVarsity Press, will join us periodically to spotlight new titles from IVP that may be of interest to emerging scholars. If you like this, you may also be interested in a new bibliography, Campus Resources from IVP, that Nick, Tom, and I created to draw attention to IVP titles related to concerns of graduate students and faculty. I also recommend signing up for IVP Academic Update for more upcoming titles. Welcome aboard, Nick! ~ Mike

It seems an understatement to note that these are politically charged times. No doubt some of you have caught wind of several Internet debates brewing over the proper relationship between church and state, carrying on here, here and here.

Stature of Constantine
The Emperor Constantine: Not the most popular guy these days

A new release from IVP Academic that speaks to this contentious issue of political theology is Peter J. Leithart‘s Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom. A Reformed pastor and Senior Fellow of Theology and Literature at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho, Leithart is galled by popular accounts of Constantine as a cynical politician who used Christianity for political gain and who forged an unholy alliance between church and state.

Against those who use Constantinianism as a dirty word to refer to the church’s capitulation to Caesar, Leithart endeavors to paint a more complicated and truthful portrait of the first Christian Roman Emperor. The historical case he builds is judicious and well-reasoned. Many will surely find his theological conclusions more controversial, especially those belonging to the swelling ranks of what James Davison Hunter calls the “Neo-Anabaptists.” But anyone with a dog in this fight will have to reckon with what Leithart is saying here, as have N.T. Wright and William Cavanaugh.

Another new title that touches on an equally polarizing topic is Science, Creation and the Bible: Reconciling Rival Theories of Origins by Richard Carlson and Tremper Longman III. Just days ago, Karl Giberson of the BioLogos Foundation and Albert Mohler of Southern Seminary tangled publicly over their divergent  perspectives on evolution. Refreshingly irenic in tone, this book offers conflicted readers a way to reconcile evolutionary theory with the authority of Scripture.

Other IVP Academic titles to watch for in October:

Why Business Matters to God (And What Still Needs to Be Fixed) by Jeff Van Duzer

Recognizing the ways in which business can be used for greed and evil, Van Duzer, dean of the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University, presents an redemptive Christian vision for business that serves God’s purposes in the world.

Theology Remixed: Christianity as Story, Game, Language and Culture by Adam C. English

In fresh and contextual fashion, Adam English invites the reader to reimagine the very nature and work of Christian theology through the lenses of story, game, language and culture.

Images of Salvation in the New Testament by Brenda B. Colijn

Holding advanced degrees in English literature and theology, Colijn plumbs the literary depths of the New Testament, uncovering a picture of salvation that looks like a mosaic — one comprised of a wealth of metaphors and theological dimensions.

Week in Review: What’s your story? How do you tell it?

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 the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

Bobby Gross, Director of InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministries
Bobby Gross, Director of InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministries

1. Inhabiting God’s story? Over the past several days Tom hosted Bobby Gross, National Director of InterVarsity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministry.  They had a number of conversations with faculty, pastors, and friends of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.  As part of the visit, Bobby participated in an Ascension Day service at First Presbyterian Church, York, PA.  The gathering was in partnership with Hearts and Minds Bookstore.  One of Byron Borger’s recent blog posts related to the event, Living the Christian Year author Bobby Gross to speak here on Ascension Day (5/10/2010) commends several books on the topic. In another post Byron shares that the beginning of Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God is worth the price of the book.   Here’s an excerpt he highlights:

“Most of us think of ourselves as ordinary people living quiet lives in unremarkable places. We are merely hobbits in our shires. But listen! We may not be caught up in dangerous drama like Frodo and his loyal companion, Sam, but we nonetheless live inside a big story, one that started long before our birth and that will go on long after our death, one that’s as wide as the universe and as old as eternity: the Story of God as centered in Jesus the Christ.

Our personal narratives take their fullest shape and deepest meaning in relation to God’s purposes for us and for the world. As Eugene Peterson puts it, “God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.” A very large context and very long plot indeed. — Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God (5/11/2010)

2. Want to know Why Amish businesses don’t fail (Geoff Williams, CNN Money, 5/4/2010), then read Erik Wesner’s new book Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive.  By-the-way, the 95% success rate Wesner uses is based upon a 2009 report by Elizabethtown College sociology professor Donald Kraybill, who has spoken for two Central PA Emerging Scholars Network events. HT:  Scot McKnight,  Business folks, what do you see here? (5/13/2010).

“studying several Amish settlements, Kraybill found failure rates ranging from 2.6% and 4.2%; interviews with loan officers, accountants and industry professions in other Amish regions yielded additional anecdotal evidence of closure rates significantly south of 10%.Compare that to the average five-year survival rate for new businesses across the United States, which hovers just under 50%. So what’s the secret?” — Why Amish businesses don’t fail (Geoff Williams, CNN Money, 5/4/2010)

3.  The New War Between Science and Religion (Mano Singham, The Chronicle Review, 5/9/2010) opens
[Read more…] about Week in Review: What’s your story? How do you tell it?