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 higher education, who is committed to the mission of his or her institution. It is not enough to hire faculty who happen to be Christians, even if they are fine scholars. We must find and keep faculty who are committed to the project.” … [Read more...] about Getting a “Big Head”?
humility
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 exam for my summer class on Christian Devotional Classics (Evangelical Seminary). Really, a final exam? Yes, Laurie Mellinger, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation and Christian Theology, Dean of Academic Programs), has us wrap-up the roundtable presentation/discussion … [Read more...] about Receiving from the Christian Devotional Classics: Thomas Merton & the Desert Fathers
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 little island of wild grass where a few abandoned cars sit tiredly, waiting to rust into the ground or be stripped for parts. Around it is a ring of gravel with enough divots and potholes in it to make me swerve my car along it as if driving through a minefield. This circular pathway is itself surrounded by small lawns that boast a … [Read more...] about Money Makes Good Insulation
Was Jesus Forsaken?
2012 Lenten Reflection Series While prayerfully considering Why Does God Suffer?, I came across advance material from Thomas H. McCall's Forsaken: The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters (InterVarsity, May 2012). With the excerpt, InterVarsity Press Academic posted two questions on G+: Was Jesus forsaken on the Cross? What are the implications of the answer? Below's an edited version of what I shared. Was Jesus forsaken on the Cross? Yes, but it's important to define how Jesus was forsaken on … [Read more...] about Was Jesus Forsaken?
Finding Calcutta: I’m not called to be Mother Teresa, but . . .
What do you think about . . . The nature of calling in the formal work of the church? Our need to recognize God's call and act in faithful response to it: in personal actions and obedience? in ways modeled by Mother Teresa as recorded by Mary Poplin in Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service (InterVarsity Press. 2008)? Calling to Formal Ministry with the Church Mother Teresa's special calling to start the Missionaries of Charity in ministry to the … [Read more...] about Finding Calcutta: I’m not called to be Mother Teresa, but . . .