Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

Santa Claus

Science in Review — December 2013

Thomas Nast Illustration of Santa Claus
If our models of Santa give outrageous numbers, it may mean our assumptions, as expressed in the model, are wrong (Thomas Nast [Public domain])

1,800 miles per second. 14.3 quintillion joules of energy per second. 214,200 reindeer. These are the numbers from typical treatments of the science of Christmas. You know the sort of thing — make some assumptions and estimates about the number of (Christian? Western? Christmas-observant?) children in the world, where they live, how much their presents weigh, etc., plug it all into a model, solve for the unknowns, and you’ve got a sort of reductio ad absurdum argument against the existence of Santa Claus. So imagine my surprise when, while going over all this evidence, I had a bit of a conversion experience.

It turns out that I believe in Santa Claus. [Read more…] about Science in Review — December 2013

What Books are on Your Christmas Lists?

The Campus Resources from InterVaristy Press: 2013-2014 Academic Year Edition. Do not miss the IVP discount for Emerging Scholars 🙂 If you may be interested in helping with book reviews, please contact me.

What books are on your Christmas lists, not only your own wish list, but also ones you desire to give to others and/or suggest for a book discussion in the coming year? I am very interested in learning what Emerging Scholars desire to read, review, discuss, gift, possibly even teach (e.g., campus ministry, local congregation, even classroom). Please share . . . Note: No need for the book(s) to be “Christian”.

But yes, if you are looking for a suggestion (or two, three, four . . .), the Emerging Scholars Network does have a lot to offer . . .