Perry L. Glanzer

Happy are those Who do not follow the advice of the wicked, Or take the path that sinners tread, Or sit in the seat of scoffers; Ps. 1:1 (NRSV) Editor’s note: the theme of my earlier blogs have related to creation and our creation-based identities as individuals (e.g., imago dei) and professionals (our need for…

And there is a second commandment, which seems to me even more incomprehensible and arouses even stronger opposition in me. It is: “Love thine enemies.”                                                                                     Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents Trans. and Ed. James Strachey (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1961), 57. “…while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the…

When I was a young kid, I watched my dad do other things besides parent and work. We moved to Littleton, Colorado when I was almost four. My dad had a new job and two young kids. For some people, this season of transition with children would have been a good reason to step away…

Although I am a college professor, I must confess that my most important education during college did not come from professors. As an undergraduate majoring in history, political science, and religion at Rice University, I had some great classes with outstanding professors—one even won a Professor of the Year award among faculty for the entire…

At the end of a busy and tiring semester, I asked blog contributors if they had a favorite faith-learning book of the year.  I received suggestions from a variety of blog authors and disciplines. A book by a professor from Rice University (go owls), Elaine Howard Ecklund, received Ruth Bancewicz and Clay Carlson’s votes for…

For the first post of the New Year on the Christ Animating Learning Blog, I think it is important to assess how far we have come with regard to Christianity and higher learning. We should certainly rejoice in the fact that, by God’s grace, Christians have created hundreds of Christian educational institutions around the world.…

I have been thinking about academic titles this past semester (as is evident from my blog post at the beginning of the academic year and my Ph.D. student’s post yesterday about his experience of my experiment).  How fitting, then that the semester should end with the twitter-stirring controversy sparked by an op-ed about the academic…

For Christians, most virtue words do not actually describe virtues unless they are directed properly. To put one’s faith, hope, or love in the wrong being or thing is actually a vice and not a virtue. That’s why when attempting to measure Christian virtue, it is always hard to find appropriate psychological scales. Hope in…

In honor of the 350th anniversary of the death of the great Christian educator John Amos Comenius, David I. Smith and Perry L. Glanzer have authored a series of posts to honor Comenius’ work. Smith's post appeared yesterday. Our willingness to accept problematic falsehoods from popular pagan authors can have dire consequences. One of the…

Failing to recognize who we really are, image bearers of God (Gen. 1:26), causes us to lose our moral way. The Christian virtue of gentleness is a perfect test case. For hundreds of years, due to the Christian moral tradition, men and women alike were encouraged to be gentle (as reflected in the use of…

I recently reviewed John Bernbaum’s fantastic new book, Opening the Red Door The Inside Story of Russia's First Christian Liberal Arts University for The Review of Faith and International Affairs. After reading the book, I came to the conclusion that John Bernbaum should be celebrated as one of the great Christian creators. The book documents two decades of John’s work…

I am starting this year by asking students to change one of the most important liturgies of the classroom—what they call me.  As David Smith has taught us, if we want to engage in Christian teaching, we need to interrogate all of our classroom liturgies through a Christian perspective.  In this age of identity, the most important…

Recently, while analyzing interviews from seniors at our university, we came across a curious and disturbing finding.  In three consecutive interviews, non-white students talked about how they had not attended church during their time at the university, and it showed in their own admitted lack of spiritual growth and sense of belonging at the institution.  Puzzled, we…

For many years, Christian’s Scholar’s Review has proclaimed that “its primary objective is the publication of peer-reviewed scholarship and research, within and across the disciplines, that advances the integration of faith and learning…” Despite the historic use of “integration” language, we have decided to instead focus on “Christ-Animating learning.”  Why do we now propose a…

When the early Church began building its own educational tradition, it faced the challenge of how developing this new Christian revelation should interact with Greek and Roman thinking. They had to ask, as the early Christian thinker Tertullian did, “What indeed does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?”Tertullian, Prescription against Heretics, 1:7. Various Church Fathers…

The earliest universities generally had four different parts. Every student first attended what was called a liberal arts college. In this part, one would learn a wide range of skills with what today are associated with the liberal arts (e.g., mathematics, music, grammar, rhetoric). The other three parts were advanced education in medicine, law and…

Jesus gave us two extraordinary commands: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:29-31). Christian universities exist because we need help with this endeavor, particularly as life becomes more complicated. Even…

Every college student wants to be successful. What do you need for college success? The Jewish and Christian traditions are quite clear about how you should begin any quest for learning or what the Scriptures call wisdom: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). In fact, the very first university…

I interview college students as part of my job. When first year students arrive at our university, I have a group of researchers ask them, “What do you think is the purpose of college?” As a professor, I am always disappointed with students limited dreams and desires for college. They dream incredibly small. One recent first…

Mission Christian Scholar’s Review Blog seeks to serve as an interdisciplinary forum for discussing how Christ animates learning.  Audience Due to the easy global reach of the digital medium, our audience will be Christian academics, graduate students, and students worldwide. In particular, we envision becoming a resource and conversation platform for young and developing Christian…