Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

Byron Borger

Would You Support ESN With An End-of-the-Year Gift?

If you’re an official member of the Emerging Scholars Network, then you’ve received my recent end-of-the-year emails. (If you aren’t an ESN member, then why not join right now?) These updates share the good news of ESN’s recent activities and invite ESN members to contribute to ESN. Last week, I reported the great work going on here at the Emerging Scholars Blog, which you, of course, already know about! Today, I reported on the ministry that my co-blogger Tom Grosh leads in South Central Pennsylvania. So you too can know about Tom’s work, and have an opportunity of your own to support ESN, I’ve re-published the email below. Enjoy!

Thank you for your membership in the Emerging Scholars Network. There are now 3,800 students, faculty, and other members who share our vision to encourage and equip the next generation of Christian scholars. Praise God!

Last week, I updated you about some of the great things happening on the Emerging Scholars Blog. ESN has also been advancing through regional events and on local campuses. InterVarsity campus staff member Thomas B. Grosh IV has made ESN a core part of his ministry in South Central Pennsylvania.

South Central Pennsylvania Christian Scholar Series

Tom Grosh (center) with Bryon Borger of Hearts & Minds Books and Christian scholar Mary Poplin

Tom serves several campuses in South Central Pennsylvania, and his passion for emerging scholars is evident through his weekly posts for the Emerging Scholars Blog. To serve the students and faculty near him, Tom has partnered with Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church, Elizabethtown Public Library, and Hearts & Minds Books to create the Christian Scholar Series. Several times a year, the series invites a Christian professor or author to speak to the church, local colleges, and the wider community. [Read more…] about Would You Support ESN With An End-of-the-Year Gift?

What is the point of learning? – Steve Garber’s Journey (Part II)

“The Fabric of Faithfulness” Cover

Part II of Byron Borger‘s evening chat with Steve Garber, author of Fabric of Faithfulness: Weaving Together Belief and Behavior (InterVarsity Press. Revised Edition, 2007) — click here for Part I. Let’s pick up with Steve’s priceless realization of the importance not only of asking Who am I? but also of finding a place and a mentor with whom to ask an honest question and get an honest answer. *

While at L’Abri and wrestling with the question “Who I am?”, Steve watched his first film with Donald Drew. Donald, author of Images of man: A critique of the contemporary cinema (InterVarsity Press. 1974), pulled out his notebook and started taking notes as the movie began to show.  Steve asked him, “Why?” Donald’s response, “You can’t leave your brains at the box office.” Donald’s love for truth and for people inspired Steve. So much so, he explored whether he should write a book. Donald cautioned him, “You should live for awhile.”

As Steve journeyed through campus ministry in various places, helped to organize conferences (e.g., Jubilee**), taught classes, and discussed the relationship of faith-career, a question “grew” in him. He considers, “What does it take for me to keep on keeping on with life?” an autobiographical question which everyone wrestles with in this very broken world. For Steve, the challenge emerged from [Read more…] about What is the point of learning? – Steve Garber’s Journey (Part II)

What is the point of learning? – Steve Garber’s Journey (Part I)

Steve Garber, author of The Fabric of Faithfulness (IVP)

Last week I had the opportunity to hear “the one and only” Byron Borger (owner of Hearts & Minds Bookstore) spend a night informally chatting with his good friend Steve Garber, director of the Washington Institute and author of Fabric of Faithfulness: Weaving Together Belief and Behavior (IVP. 2007). What did Byron and Steve explore on a Friday night over coffee with a 100+ friends from South Central PA?*

Steve started by sharing his story of growing up in the large agricultural valley of San Joaquin, California, and how the orientation of the Appalachians confuse him. With a smile Steve remarked

“Jesus choose to be incarnate in a place much more like California than here” [i.e., Pennsylvania].  Note:  He mentioned this more than once 😉

Not surprisingly, Steve quickly turned to worldview:

About the time I met my wife I heard the word “worldview” for the first time, about 17 or 18 years old.  My whole world could be made sense of by what was true. …  If faith could shape anything, then it had to shape how I treated girls.  …. I was drawn into what it would mean to relate to women. … I found it hard to find anyone who agreed with me. …

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, that’s romantic material for Emerging Scholars. Don’t worry, more to come on this topic 😉

To wrap his mind around “worldview,” Steve dropped out of college. [Read more…] about What is the point of learning? – Steve Garber’s Journey (Part I)