Do you have a mentor? My guess is that many of us in academia would quickly respond with, “Yes.” I think we've grown accustomed to using the word “mentor” as a way of talking about our advisor, our professor, our dissertation chair, or even our boss. An advisor may help you decide what semester to take Calculus I and make sure that you've fulfilled all of your general education requirements. A professor may open your eyes to Max Weber or 18th-Century British Poetry. A dissertation chair may help you determine … [Read more...] about Do You Have a Mentor?
research
Summer Snapshot: Research, Teaching, Missions
Assistant Professor Meagan Medley shares the mix of things in her summer with readers in this Summer Snapshot [1]. Also check out Meagan's Scholar's Compass pieces here. Photo: New Orleans at Night, from NASA. While many picture summer as a time of beaches, pools and binge watching the latest drama, God's plans for me this summer involve a juggle of research, teaching, and coordinating mission teams coming to New Orleans. It's such a blessing to have a full plate and to see impact in a tangible way as the typical … [Read more...] about Summer Snapshot: Research, Teaching, Missions
Book Review: Exiles From Eden
Exiles From Eden by Mark R. Schwehn. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Summary: Schwehn chronicles a shift in the academic vocation from one of formation of the mind and character of students to one of making knowledge, reflecting a change from religiously shaped values to a valuing of formal and procedural rationality, and from an integral sense of self to a multiplicity of “selves.” … [Read more...] about Book Review: Exiles From Eden
Faithful Is Successful Interview: David E. Lewis
ESN continues its series of interviews with authors of Faithful Is Successful.You can read Bethany Bowen-Wefuan's post on David's Faithful Is Successful essay here. David E. Lewis is the William R. Kenan, Jr. professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. His research interests include the presidency, executive branch politics and public administration. He is the author of two books, Presidents and the Politics of Agency Design (Stanford University Press, 2003) and The Politics of Presidential … [Read more...] about Faithful Is Successful Interview: David E. Lewis
Scholar’s Compass: Making God’s Glory Known
It is an abdication of scholarship when Christians do academic work with little reference to God. If all the universe and everything in it exist by the design of an infinite, personal God, to make his manifold glory known and loved, then to treat any subject without reference to God's glory is not scholarship but instruction. All branches of learning’ exist ultimately for the purposes of knowing God, loving God, and loving man through Jesus Christ. – John Piper, in Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of … [Read more...] about Scholar’s Compass: Making God’s Glory Known