Part of the challenge in academia is that my success seems tied to my ‘expertise.’ Read more…
Spiritual Disciplines for Graduate School
In my role as a campus minister over the last 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of helping students embrace the value of simple, flexible, and defined spiritual disciplines.Read more…
Awe and Humility (Growing Spiritually in the Academic Life Series)
Humble awe brings us back to the original reason we chose to be academics in the first place—an amazing God and an amazing world of knowledge.Read more…
Cultivating Humility (Growing Spiritually in the Academic Life Series)
A major “spiritual occupational hazard” for an academic is thinking too much of yourself. This can show itself as pride and arrogance . . .Read more…
Repaint! For the Kingdom of God is at Hand: Balancing Hope and Critical Analysis in Community Service
The proper balance of hope and critical thinking will best prepare us to address deeper societal challenges—like racism, poverty, and inequalities—facing our communities.Read more…
Authority, Awareness, Attention Span (Masterclass in Writing, Part 8)
When writing, always consider the needs of your audience as more important than your own writing needs.Read more…
After the Election Part 2: Diversity and Unity this Thanksgiving Holiday
This election season has challenged and strained relationships. Nearly four-in-ten Americans report the election has led to tensions with friends and families. This Thanksgiving week, how can we reconcile and restore our relationships when we reunite with family and friends?Read more…
Book Review: The Road to Character
Summary: David Brooks explores the issue of character development through the hard-won pursuit of moral virtue, exemplified in the moral quests of people as diverse as Augustine and Bayard Rustin, Frances Perkins and Dorothy Day.Read more…
Gates and “Keys” (Scholar’s Compass)
Most days, on my way to the library, I have to pick my way through a narrow passageway between Senate House (the ceremonial headquarters of Cambridge University where degrees are conferred) and Gonville and Caius College, dodging speeding cyclists, tourists stopping to take photos, and long crocodiles of schoolchildren. Read more…
Community, Excellence, and Joy, Part 2 (Closing Interview, Faithful Is Successful series)
ESN: One of the largest themes of the series has to do with issues of faith and ambition. It seems that God has called us to do our best work for Him, and yet He’s also called us to seek humility and associate with the humble. Any further thoughts on navigating that tension?Read more…
Scholar’s Compass: Academics and Humility
In academics emphasis is frequently placed more on how much one knows, rather than on the process of learning. An environment geared towards test-taking and preeminent reputations can easily take us far from humility, especially if a rigid certainty is elevated above inquiry.Read more…
Devotions: Beatitudes (3) — Practical Humility
You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. — Matthew 5:5, The Message How do you measure “greatness?” What kind ofRead more…
Devotions: Beatitudes — Poverty of Spirit
You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. — Matthew 5:3, The Message Our culture today believes in fame for fame’s sake. — Actor Rob Lowe,Read more…
Death and Resurrection
He was a young man, and I could see fear in his eyes as he gripped the railings of the bed and struggled to breathe, sucking in heavily through the plastic mask feeding him oxygen. His body was wasting awayRead more…
Getting a “Big Head”?
The Marks of a Christian Scholar: A Vocational Description (Part One) Mark Eckel, ThM PhD, Professor of Leadership, Education & Discipleship[1] Capital Seminary & Graduate School, Washington, D.C. “The Christian scholar-teacher must be a person who believes in Christian higherRead more…
Receiving from the Christian Devotional Classics: Thomas Merton & the Desert Fathers
No, I’m not creating a Dead Theologians Society Reading List, another version of The Best Christian Book of All Time March Madness, or even another book review/discussion series per se. Instead I’m in the process of completing the final examRead more…
Money Makes Good Insulation
First, before reading any further, make a list of the top three things you struggle with as a Christian. *** I used to have a great view of the back lot of our block. In the center is a littleRead more…
Was Jesus Forsaken?
While prayerfully considering Why Does God Suffer?, I came across an excerpt of advance material from Thomas H. McCall’s Forsaken: The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters (InterVarsity, May 2012). Read more…
Finding Calcutta: I’m not called to be Mother Teresa, but . . .
As Mother Teresa said, “You can do something I cannot do. I can do something you cannot do. Together let us do something beautiful for God.”Read more…
Advent Table Topic: Humility
On Tuesday, an Assistant Professor of Family & Community spoke to the Christian Medical Society/CMDA at Penn State Hershey College of Medicine on “Christ-centered Humility in Medicine.” His presentation drove home the importance of discussing and embracing humility in the contextRead more…
Week in Review: Ethics
Norman Borlaug’s Nobel Prize Lecture – The death of Borlaug, one of the founders of the Green Revolution, sparked numerous tributes (NY Times, WSJ, Guardian). Gregg Easterbrook in the WSJ estimates that Borlaug’s agricultural work has saved more than 1Read more…
Humility as essential to faculty success
Rob Jenkins, an associate professor of English and director of the Writers Institute at Georgia Perimeter College,* proposes The Five Characteristics of Successful New Faculty Members. The first one on his list is humility, which includes the importance of seekingRead more…