Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Pittsburgh: Crown & Covenant Publications, 2012). 154 pp. Rosaria Butterfield is the kind of woman she herself once bitterly opposed. The homeschooling pastor's wife and adoptive mother of four was not raised in the Reformed Presbyterian Church. She was a self-described “lesbian postmodernist,” (p. 41) a professor of English and Queer Theory conducting research on the Promise Keepers movement, when she encountered Christian hospitality at … [Read more...] about Review: The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert
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The Myth of Sodom and Gomorrah
Homecomings for Christ-following secular university students may not always be perfectly sweet. The mellow look of sympathy from a friend or loved one is accompanied by the statement that “Now that you're home, you can be with real Christian people.” Or the concerned question “How in the world can you study under professors that don't believe in Jesus?” might be followed by “Do you have friends who drink?” As Christians, we are an extremely diverse group of people. We are not marked out by our skin color or our … [Read more...] about The Myth of Sodom and Gomorrah
Success, Failure and the Protestant Work Ethic
Not long ago I wrote an Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) blog post about my experiences on the tenure track, sharing my concerns about whether I would get tenure and contemplating my priorities. I wanted to think through whether tenure even should be my primary goal, and what I would give up to achieve it. It was encouraging to me to see that I'm not alone, and that others feel some of the same pressures I do. Thank you to those who commented. Looking back, though, I realized that I made some generalizations that I … [Read more...] about Success, Failure and the Protestant Work Ethic
Why I’m (Still) A Christian – Part I
In my last post, I expressed some surprise at the fact that I am still a Christian, and that was genuine. But at the same time, I also find it perfectly reasonable and rational to be a Christian. Which, as you can probably imagine, is pretty important to someone who is scientifically inclined. And so I thought it was worth exploring a bit more of why it is that I am a Christian and how that fits in with my methodical approach to, well, just about everything (as my long-suffering wife can attest). An important … [Read more...] about Why I’m (Still) A Christian – Part I
On Transitions (Part III) -or- Some Thoughts on Hospitality
The last two Thursdays I have focused on how to think about life when you're in the midst of transition and some things you can do to weather transition well. I'd like to direct this final post in the series at those of you who are not in transition, but find yourselves in a place (like, say, the University setting!) where there are new folks around on a pretty regular basis, particularly during this time of the year. For seven years, we attended a church in Cambridge, MA that was situated between Harvard and … [Read more...] about On Transitions (Part III) -or- Some Thoughts on Hospitality