In a recent email exchange with Alan Padgett, in follow-up to last summer’s Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) blog interview on Fruitful, Faithful Presence in the Academy and in exploring ESN’s “A Theology of Higher Education Project”, I learned that Alan has contributed to another InterVarsity Press (IVP) publication: Faith and Reason: Three Views (June 2014). In response I dropped him a quick reply so that we can be on the cutting edge regarding this new publication.
Tom: Alan, I’m so excited to learn about Faith and Reason: Three Views. Please share with Emerging Scholars the story behind its publication and the “view” which you advocate.
Alan:​ Tom, the editor is a friend of mine. Steve Wilkens and I have collaborated before on several philosophy writing projects, including two books with IVP on Christianity and Western Thought. Steve’s idea was to create a dialog among Christian philosophers on the ways in which a deeply committed Christian faith intersects with reason, especially the honed reasoning we use in philosophy. At his university, and at my seminary, we both find that our students struggle with this. Overall ​I am v​ery pleased by this volume, and happy to be a part of it. It should be very helpful to students and others seeking to think more boldly about this important topic for the life of the mind in Christian discipleship. ​ Steve served as the editor, and also wrote a fine concluding chapter on why Christians should see our reason as a gift, not a problem. ​It should be used in the service of God, which means a good deal more than apologetics, but involves a whole way of life.​​ [Read more…] about Faith and Reason: Interview with Alan Padgett