A major “spiritual occupational hazard” for an academic is thinking too much of yourself. This can show itself as pride and arrogance . . .Read more…
Collegial Connections, Week Three: Maintaining Connections
Relational Maintenance Theory (Canary & Stafford, 1992; Stafford, 2011; Stafford & Canary, 1991; Stafford, Dainton, & Haas, 2000) explains that there are seven maintenance behaviors (positivity, understanding, assurances, network, sharing tasks/activities, relationship talks, and self-disclosure) that are used to sustain various types of relationships. For friendships, though, start by focusing on these two maintenance behaviors: sharing tasks/activities and self-disclosure.Read more…
Collegial Connections, Week Two: Meeting Connections
Meetings can be a chance to forge real connections with your colleagues. Renee Bourdeaux explains how. Read more…
Book Review: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Summary: The classic collection of letters between a senior demon and junior tempter charged with undermining the new found faith of his “patient.”Read more…
Prepare: Second Week of Advent (Scholar’s Compass)
We tend to think that we orchestrate the opportunities of our lives, but in contrast the Biblical emphasis is on preparing to receive from God and from the good graces of other people.Read more…
Book Review: The Romantic Rationalist: God, Life and Imagination in the Work of C.S. Lewis
The book should be called, “Why we think it is ok for evangelicals to like Lewis.”Read more…
Book Review: Reading C.S. Lewis, by Wesley Cort
This book provides an undogmatic look at C.S. Lewis, considering the influences upon his life and writing, and a commentary on Lewis’s major Christian works. Read more…
Book Review: The Fellowship
The Fellowship traces the literary lives of the four principle Inklings (Lewis, Tolkien, Barfield, and Williams) the literary club they formed and its impact on literature, faith, and culture.Read more…
“In the Fullness of Time” – An Advent Devotional on the theology of time
As Christians, it is right and proper that our calendar, the liturgical calendar, should begin with Advent, for it is Christ’s advent which changes time. Time begins again; history turns a new page and the ancient prophecies are given new meaning. Advent is a beginning, but it is also a longing; an anticipation.Read more…
“Your crooked heart”: Literary Study and Spiritual Formation (Scholar’s Call)
Act III of Shakespeare’s King Lear gets to me every time.Read more…
Vocatio Christ: The Contours of Our Callings Part 2 (Scholar’s Compass)
It seemed like the whole world was on fire when C.S. Lewis stepped into the pulpit of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Oxford in the autumn of 1939. Only a few weeks earlier Germany had invaded Poland, provoking declarations of war from Great Britain and France, igniting the great conflagration that would be the Second World War. Across the United Kingdom out of a sense of duty and urgency young men were enlisting in the armed services and citizens were preparing for the war effort. And Lewis, the great Oxford don, had been tasked with addressing a room full of anxious young men beginning their autumn term at Oxford University.Read more…
Book Review: Is Your Lord Large Enough?
In “Is Your Lord Large Enough?”, Peter J. Schakel turns to the writing of C.S. Lewis on topics concerning the formation of Christians and provides a “digest” of Lewis’s writing around key topics drawn from his letters, fiction, and non-fiction books and essays. Read more…
Risky Love
I encourage you not only to give C.S. Lewis on Love a slow, reflective read, but also to share it with others in word and deed. Furthermore, I invite you to join me in prayer for healing in places, communities, and individuals (which can include yourself) whose hearts have been broken by a lack of love for God, neighbor, vocation, and/or creation. Today let us resolve not to lose sight of and express Loving God in the Flesh in the Real World with head, heart, and hands.Read more…
Cur Deus Homo. An Advent Devotional
In the incarnation, God is doing something which mankind could not do for himself – surrender, suffer and die in a perfect way. Read more…
Scholar’s Compass: Learning From Father Christmas
This time of year, namely Advent, gets us, or at least me, excited for a particular individual: namely Father Christmas. I have a bit of an obsession with Father Christmas.Read more…
Re-Examining Lewis’ Trilemma
How do you understand and invite others to interact with an argument which has become “classic” Lewis?Read more…
Summary and Reflection on the Christianity and Science Series
Introduction Are Christianity and science at war? This was a major concern for me when I came to faith in Christ 22 years ago in the middle of my career as a biology professor at Iowa State University. Although itRead more…
Review: March Madness ’14 Finals, Dialogue . . .
Integrating faith & field vs. Realizing justice in action Yes, we’ve made it to the finals of ESN March Madness ’14. I have learned a lot as we have wrestled with the question: What is the most pressing issue for the ChristianRead more…
Book Review: The Language of God
The value of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief is that it was written by the Director of the Human Genome Project. Francis Collins’[1] personal narrative of coming to faith and his sometimes eloquent plea for anRead more…
The Best Christian Book of All Time: One Year Later
About a year ago, we announced our call for nominations for the Best Christian Book of All Time, and you — our readers — responded with great enthusiasm. From a nomination pool of over 140 worthies, we first narrowed theRead more…
Review of Alister McGrath, C.S. Lewis — A Life. Part II
Review of Alister McGrath, C.S. Lewis — A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2013) for the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). Part II. Click here for Part I. Things which I felt did not work: Moving onRead more…
Review of Alister McGrath, C.S. Lewis — A Life. Part I
Review of Alister McGrath, C.S. Lewis — A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2013) for the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). Part I. Click here for Part II. Alister McGrath is, like many of us, a fanRead more…
C.S. Lewis on Scripture. God’s Word in Human Words. Part 2 of 2
In my last post I highlighted C.S. Lewis’s take on what it means to approach the Bible humbly: namely, we should first ask honestly and with an open mind, What sort of book has God actually given us and how has He given it?Read more…
C.S. Lewis on Scripture. God’s Word in Human Words. Part 1 of 2
I am always thankful that the first theology book I ever read was C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. I stumbled upon it in the B. Dalton Bookseller at the local mall early in the summer before my senior year in high school,Read more…