Skip to main content
Blog

Scholarship and Vocation

One Sunday in the 1950s, when I was in my teens, my uncle and aunt had joined my parents for refreshments after our Sunday evening church service. Before the delicacies were ready, my dad guided my uncle downstairs to my basement aviary and aquarium room to see my nesting parakeets and tropical fish. As they…
August 31, 2026
Blog

Words Are (but Shouldn’t Be) Cheap (Part 2)

May my spoken words and unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to you, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14 TLB I could take a whole lot of words to talk about the need to pray for my students and colleagues and their families. Yet, I’ve found the more time and effort I put…
August 28, 2026
Blog

Words Are (but Shouldn’t Be) Cheap (Part 1)

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14 KJV Daily (if not multiple times a day!), I pray Psalm 19:14 for myself. As a professor, writer, and speaker, I spend a lot of my day, every day, occupied…
August 27, 2026
Blog

Preface to the Reviews

This issue’s book review section contains two review essays, each of which examines multiple books on a common theme, and four reviews of individual books. The first review essay, “Rest and Sabbath: A Review Essay,” is written by Amy Davis Abdallah, who teaches practical theology at Ashland Theological Seminary. Abdallah’s essay examines three recent books…
August 26, 2026
Blog

Introducing Christian Scholar’s Review 2026 Summer Issue

With today’s blog, I’m pleased to introduce the summer issue of Christian Scholar’s Review. Our Spring issue was sadly delayed, largely due to printing schedules, so I am delighted to have this issue in hand (or on screen) for many just as the academic year begins. With decades of the rhythms of the academic year much more real…
August 25, 2026
Blog

Helping the World’s Search for a Vocabulary

In a fascinating conversation published in Advance magazine a few years ago, Shirley Hoogstra interviewed Anne Snyder and David Brooks about their impressions of the kind of Christian education happening on our CCCU campuses.  Are we doing enough, Shirley asked, to be a “leaven” in the larger academy, helping “to transform things for the better?”…
August 24, 2026

Subscribe

for new content notifications, access to video and audio conversations with our writers, and invitations to our events.

Blog

Beyond Civility: The Call to Intellectual Hospitality

The conversation began, as it often does, with conviction. In my undergraduate criminal justice classroom, we were discussing the death penalty. One student spoke with certainty about justice as retribution—grounded, she explained, in her understanding of Scripture. Across the room, another student responded just as firmly, articulating a vision of justice rooted in restoration, also…
April 16, 2026
Blog

Book Review of Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies about Calling

Finding one’s calling is a rich, complex journey. Honesty “about the ups and downs of calling will open up conversation” that fosters contemplating more meaningful and purposeful lives (16). That is one of the primary aims of Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore’s recent book. Utilizing faith, philosophy, and pragmatism, she pushes back on the pop culture notion of…
April 15, 2026
Blog

Chasing AI: Wisdom and Responsibility for Christian Educators

As an educational psychologist, I study teachers and students, both of whom are learners in their own ways. As artificial intelligence (AI) burgeons in classrooms, I cannot help but think of Romans as a possible answer to the question Benjamin Bloom posed more than four decades ago. Roughly, Bloom’s question was: “How can we deliver…
April 14, 2026
Blog

The “What” of Christian Scholar’s Review

Last week, Margaret Diddams discussed the important mission that guides Christian Scholar’s Review (CSR)—the “why.” As someone who studies Christian higher education, I also find that faithful institutions have theologically rich and informed mission statements. Unfortunately, many Christian institutions with great mission statements do not consistently demonstrate the operationalization of that mission in all they…
April 13, 2026
Blog

Finding God in Engineering: The Shape is the Key

In the first post, I shared a story about Mike Mulligan that shaped me. In this one, I want to share the story that shaped my current approach to engineering education. It’s the story of how the t-shaped engineer came to be, and how a quiet theological correction helped me see its deeper truth. The…
April 10, 2026
Blog

How Stories Slowly Shape Us: Even Engineers (Part 1)

The rise of artificial intelligence is not primarily a technical disruption. It is a formational one. The tools are reshaping us — our attention, our relationships, our sense of what it means to learn and work and belong. That conviction sits at the center of this series, reshaping the way I think about engineering education,…
April 8, 2026
Blog

The Curse That Sanctifies Us All

The popular futuristic fantasy of a world without work has been receiving increased attention lately. In a January 2026 podcast, Elon Musk opined that people should no longer worry about saving for retirement because, in the world of abundance to come, those savings would be irrelevant.1 By 2030, he claimed, artificial intelligence would be smarter…
Blog

The “Why” of the Christian Scholar’s Review

Almost every company in America can point to a corporate plan that highlights its unique strengths, market segments, growth opportunities, and headwinds. Many Christian not-for-profits, and especially Christian higher education institutions, can also point to their own strategic plans that focus on their mission, key areas for growth, and the steps they will take to…
April 6, 2026