Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

culture-making

Missionaries Changed the World Once – Can they do it again?

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The topic of a recent cover story in Christianity Today is shaking up not only the world of missions, but also academia.  The World the Missionaries Made is a report on the work of Robert Woodberry, a sociologist currently researching at the Political Science Department of the National University of Singapore. CT's Executive Editor Andy Crouch calls it the CT cover story of which he is most proud. Its thesis and Woodberry's work support a remarkable conclusion – that a generation of “conversionary protestant … [Read more...] about Missionaries Changed the World Once – Can they do it again?

Imagebearer: Flourishing

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I confess being quite excited to board Amtrak at 5:17 am in Elizabethtown, PA, to travel to  the Big Apple to hear  Andy Crouch, Executive Editor for Christianity Today, present material from his new InterVarsity Press release Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power.  As some of you know, the Emerging Scholars Network has not only highlighted Crouch's earlier InterVarsity Press publication  Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling  (2008) in various posts, but also featured  Culture Making  as the focal point … [Read more...] about Imagebearer: Flourishing

Best Books on Calling and Vocation?

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I recently wrote about themes of calling and vocation in Chaim Potok's My Name Is Asher Lev. This got me to thinking: What are the best books on calling and vocation? Here are a few that occur to me. What books would you add to the list? These below are all Christian nonfiction books, but novels, secular guides, poetry, anything, is welcome as suggestions. Os Guinness,  The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life One of the classics on calling and vocation, this book is made up of … [Read more...] about Best Books on Calling and Vocation?

Headed to Graduate School: Witness in the Academy

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Thus far in two prior posts I've suggested that the end-point of a graduate education is to “become a person” in the Biblical sense – that is, to grow into the image of God. This holistic vision will encompass within itself more common educational ideals such as becoming an intelligent, productive citizen and serving the good of humanity. Secondly, I asked readers to integrate their faith with their field of study, and to do so in the context of Christian community. I hope you'll take time to read these two … [Read more...] about Headed to Graduate School: Witness in the Academy

Headed to Graduate School: A Time of Re-imaging

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In my prior post I encouraged students who are headed toward grad school to begin their journey with a lofty end-point in mind: to grow into a person. In the Biblical sense, personhood has to do with fulfilling one's potential as a creature who is created in the image of God. So if I stop and ask myself, Who am I? – that is, who am I at the core of my existence, the answer from scripture is that I am a representation of God, a mirror image of his being. Unfortunately, this “image” has been damaged by the Fall, yet it … [Read more...] about Headed to Graduate School: A Time of Re-imaging