Christ and Culture’s ideal-typical method offers a platform to begin a conversation about “The Enduring Problem” regarding “the relations of Christianity and civilization” (1).Read more…
What Books Should We Suggest at Urbana 12?
In only 15 days, ESN will be joining 18,000 of our closest friends at Urbana 12, InterVarsity’s triennial missions conference. As in years past, we’ll have an exhibitor table, and I’ll be hosting a seminar on “Serving Christ as a Professor.” OneRead more…
Prayerful consideration & Discussion: Vanderbilt Town Mtg.
I took the 3+ hours necessary to watch the Youtube video of the Vanderbilt Town Meeting (1/31/2012). I cried, laughed, yelled, verbally processed, emailed, posted on G+, tried to explain some of the material to one of my daughters, called out to the Lord for discernment for those called to be part of the Vanderbilt community & others called to be on campuses across our nation.Read more…
Evangelical Scholarship and the Pursuit of Excellence
A Review of Andreas Köstenberger’s Excellence When posted, guest contributor and ESN member David Leonard had recently completed a Ph.D. in philosophy and was teaching a wide range of courses at several universities in the Twin Cities. His project at theRead more…
Marsden and Ono on Renewing the Campus
I’ve written about Dr. George Marsden’s recent talk to InterVarsity staff, and now you can hear it for yourself. We’ve posted all of the talks from the conference on InterVarsity’s audio page, but here are the direct links. All linksRead more…
What role does Christianity play in our scholarship?
I’ve been writing about George Marsden’s talk to InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries at our recent staff conference. Over the last two weeks, I’ve written about Dr. Marsden’s belief that metaphysical naturalism is losing its hold on the academy andRead more…
How can Christian scholars avoid privatizing their faith?
Last week, I wrote about George Marsden‘s address to InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries staff, “The Soul of the American University Revisited.” Dr. Marsden suggested that worldview naturalism — also called ideological or metaphysical naturalism — was losing its holdRead more…
Is Naturalism Losing Steam?
Last week, Tom and I attended the national staff meetings for InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries, which continued the theme of Campuses Renewed from our national staff conference in January. Our speakers could not have been better: historian George Marsden,Read more…
Outrageous Idea 6: Building Academic Communities
The final chapter in George Marsden’s The Outrageous Idea of Academic Communities Christian Scholarship [Oops! – Ed.] proposes that even the most impressive work of individual Christian scholars is not enough; Christian scholarship needs “a strong institutional base.” Scholars, likeRead more…
Outrageous Idea 5: The Positive Contributions of Theological Context
Are there positive contributions to be offered by a theological context? George Marsden responds with a hearty yes. Why? Because he believes (or should I say thinks, understands, or perceives): Scholars do not operate in a vacuum, but rather withinRead more…
Outrageous Idea 4: What difference could it possibly make?
In chapter 4 of The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, George Marsden asks, “What difference could ‘Christian scholarship’ possibly make?” He quotes a critical reviewer who wants to know whether Notre Dame teaches “Roman Catholic chemistry” or if Calvin offersRead more…
Outrageous Idea 3: Rules of the Game
Can followers of Christ play by the rules of the academic game and still follow Christ faithfully? According to Stanley Fish (Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor and a professor of law at Florida International University, in Miami, and dean emeritus ofRead more…
Outrageous Idea 2: Arguments for Silence
In chapter 2 of The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, George Marsden examines three “arguments for silence” common in the university for why Christians should keep their faith out of their academic work: The argument of “science vs. religion” TheRead more…
The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship: Discussion 1
George Marsden, Notre Dame’s Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus, wrote The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) to take a step toward clarifying what the ancient enterprise of relating faith and learning mightRead more…
ESN Book Club: The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship
In June, we hosted our first ESN Book Club, an experiment in online book discussion and community based around John Stott’s classic, Your Mind Matters. In October, we’re going to host our 2nd ESN Book Club, this time discussing anotherRead more…
Do You Get The Lamp Post?
Just a quick, unscheduled post today. ESN works very closely with InterVarsity’s Faculty Ministry, which publishes a quarterly email chronicle called The Lamp Post. The next issue is coming out this week. If you aren’t receiving it, you should be!Read more…