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Secularism Is Dead; We Have Killed It

For much of the twentieth century, certain Western sociologists embraced the same prophecy (i.e., theory) with ease and total confidence. They claimed that as science continued to advance, global economies modernized, and literacy and education spread, religion would steadily retreat into history, dismissed as a superstition from a pre-enlightened era. Religious faith, we were told…
November 3, 2026
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Writing Short Stuff

Reading these daily postings has become a refreshing ritual for me. As someone who likes books and long essays, I have been a faithful reader of the Christian Scholars Review since its beginning in 1970. Yet, as the blog has developed, the format of short daily pieces has come to be something I cherish. Early…
October 30, 2026
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The Problem with Siloed Religion Departments, a Lack of Incentives, and Christ-Animated Learning

Earlier this year, an article by the well-known Christian sociologist Christian Smith made the rounds. Entitled “Why I’m Done with Notre Dame,” Smith chronicled his frustration with the University of Notre Dame’s priorities and administrators' lack of effort in promoting its Catholic mission. I found his description of what happens at the University of Notre…
October 29, 2026
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A Conversation, So-Called

FIRST: I’ll tell you what I’d like to see in my classroom: genuine Socratic dialogue. SECOND: You’ve been reading too much Classical Education hype. What makes you think that’s the answer? FIRST: Formally, it just works. You’ve got to admit that Plato is so much more engaging than most philosophers, mostly because he wrote dialogues!…
October 27, 2026
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The Logic of Belief: The Design of the Universe

We do this thing at LeTourneau as we interview people for faculty positions – “Tell us about your faith journey.” Some call it giving your testimony. Many candidates branch off along two main paths: (1) I've always been Christian, since I was a small child - I can't remember anything else; or (2) they relate…
October 26, 2026

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Guest Post – Carbon’s Invitation to Wonder

“The heavens declare the glory of God.” With this proclamation David opens Psalm 19, which“celebrates the glory of God as manifested in his works” and “the knowledge of God which shines forth more clearly in his word,” as John Calvin says in his commentary. There is no doubt that this proclamation “includes by synecdoche the…
November 30, 2021
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The gifts of advising day

Receiving another person’s story is always a privilege. Whether in therapy, confession, interview, or conversation, when one person willingly shares a part of their narrative, they are offer vulnerability and intimacy along with their history. It is a privilege to be offered such a human connection. Recently my institution held its once a semester Advising…
November 29, 2021
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Advent Meditation I: St. Hildegard and the Cyclical Song of Angels

(Choirs of Angels, Scivias I.6, https://arthistoryproject.com/artists/hildegard-von-bingen/scivias-i.6-the-choirs-of-angels/) Among medieval Catholic saints (think Catherine of Siena, Anthony of Padua or Joan of Arc), Hildegard of Bingen is one of the most palatable to modern tastes. She was not prone to shocking self-mortifications; she was not embroiled in muddy political disputes; and she has not been subjected to…
November 26, 2021
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Guest Post – The Pilgrims’ “First Thanksgiving” Was Not the One We Remember

Today millions of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving, and some, at least, will find a historical precedent for what they are doing in the Pilgrims’ celebration on the coast of Massachusetts in 1621. Although frequently embellished and sometimes caricatured, the story of the Pilgrims’ “First Thanksgiving” is rich with insight and inspiration. The Pilgrims were human,…
November 24, 2021
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Guest Post – Utility of a Higher Order

This article first appeared in Current. Love of God and neighbor are at stake in the battles over liberal learning  In his journal entries for September 8 and 9, 1960, the Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton explores the importance of “being able to rethink thoughts that were fundamental to people of other ages, or…
November 22, 2021
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Grading as Spiritual Discipline

Here’s an open secret: professors do not go into teaching for the grading. Cliché, I know, but for most of us, grading is the necessary cost of doing what we love: leading lively discussions, preparing thought-provoking lectures, writing ground-breaking books or articles, and mentoring students. Grading, on the other hand, is just, well, grating—at least…
November 18, 2021
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Judging King Kong by its Cover: The Aping of Beauty

When visitors enter the museum at Wheaton College’s Marion E. Wade Center, which archives work about and by C.S. Lewis and six of his British influencers, they are treated to an eye-popping display of 53 book covers from famous works: The Two Towers from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Lewis’s Perelandra, Sayers’s first Lord Peter…
November 17, 2021
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Guest Post – Do We Want to Support Women?

Editor’s Note:  Dr. Reynolds’ post is part of a once a week series we have been doing on the recent book, Power Women: Stories of Faith, Motherhood, and the Academy. You can find previous posts here, here, here, here, and here. The recent CSR series on the book Power Women, as well as the book itself,…
November 16, 2021