Our “identity” as Christians is in Christ (Galatians 2:20). Breaking into adversarial groups should not be a part of Christian conduct (1 Corinthians 3:1-9). Read more…
Disagreement
University settings can create verbal combat zones. Territorial attitudes sometimes leave little room for hearing others.Read more…
Approach
It is important to begin conversations by admitting our presuppositions or prejudices about the given topic of discussion. Agree or disagree? Why or why not?Read more…
Community, Excellence, and Joy, Part 1 (Closing Interview, Faithful Is Successful series)
It is too risky not to engage with a Christian academic community. Read more…
Faithful Is Successful: Continuing Conversations (Scholar’s Compass)
This week wraps up our Scholar’s Compass series on Faithful is Successful. When we started way back in February, my area was looking like Narnia’s hundred-year winter . . . Read more…
Scholar’s Compass Navigating Wisdom: How I Discovered Wisdom Literature
David Carlson explores what he learned about the academic life from biblical Wisdom Literature. As a pastor in a university town, he encourages scholars in the pursuit of wisdom, which lets us express biblical truth through observation and conversation.Read more…
Interview: Chris Smith on Slow Church
When Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus (InterVarsity Press, 2014) came to my attention, the theme resonated with me both “on” and “off” campus. So I dropped C. Christopher Smith an email to see if he would be openRead more…
Book Review: Transformative Conversations
I have not only previously referred to Transformative Conversations: A Guide to Mentoring Communities Among Colleagues in Higher Education by Peter Felten, H-Dirksen L. Bauman, Aaron Kheriaty, and Edward Taylor (Jossey-Bass, 2013), but also Bob Trube’s review of it (see Reclaiming Conversations?).Read more…
Reclaiming Conversations?
“Reclaiming conversations, that’s the next frontier.” — Sherry Turkle‘s [1] concluding line to her TEDxUIUC 2011 presentation Alone Together. This morning David O’Hara’s Can I Ask Questions In Church? [2] spurred me to read Jaweed Kaleem’s Keeping Alive The Big Questions [3]. In Kaleem’sRead more…
Talking with Non-Evangelicals (When God Talks Back)
A couple of weeks ago, I finished reading T.M. Luhrmann’s When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God. As I mentioned then, please read Mark Noll’s review, which is much better than what I could have written.Read more…
The Art of Mentoring as a Graduate Student
Tom recently posted about graduate students mentoring undergrads at Johns Hopkins. Graduate school offers many opportunities to mentor, whether that means chatting with your undergraduate students during office hours or introducing new graduate students to your department. Here are aRead more…
The Art of Maintaining Relationships With Mentors
My last post ended with a section on following up with mentors, and I’d like to expand on that a bit here. In this post, I’ll look at a few ways of maintaining mentor relationships over time. Sustaining anything overRead more…
The Art of Learning Wisdom from Mentors
Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out. — Proverbs 20:5, KJV Even if you have good mentors, learning wisdom from them is a skill. It’s an art that takesRead more…
What are your 3rd places?
Last week, when back in ‘da Burgh, something drew me to Kiva Han Coffee, a memorable 3rd place at the corner of Forbes/Craig. What could it be? It’s more than the strategic location between Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Pittsburgh. How aboutRead more…