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The Problem with Concept Creep and “Trauma”

A student I knew well confided in me last year, reporting that she was experiencing emotional distress related to trauma from her early childhood and needed an extension on an assignment. I did not doubt the veracity of the student’s report, nor did I feel it was my role to probe further into her struggles.…
September 8, 2026
Blog

The Anxious Generation

Jonathan Haidt has called this generation of students “The Anxious Generation.” That’s an interesting choice of words. Kierkegaard thought that anxiety is what we feel when we become aware that we are, despite everything we can point to as an excuse, fundamentally free, and therefore fundamentally responsible. We feel anxiety because we know we’re free;…
September 3, 2026
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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
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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

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Introduction to a Flourishing Life:
Responding to the Needs of Gen Z

Over the past twenty years, the needs of university students have changed significantly. As Jonathan Haidt adeptly chronicles in his Anxious Generation, mental health and loneliness, depression, and anxiety are rampant among today’s youth. COVID only exacerbated this. Recognizing these challenges, two Whitworth professors from disparate disciplines set out to craft a course to address…
November 6, 2025
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Why Institutions Still Matter

It’s common to observe that digital technology has undermined the assumption that institutions are trustworthy. Some people lament it, and others celebrate it, but everybody sees it. Thanks to the Internet, institutions have lost much of their authority to shape common knowledge. This certainly includes institutions of higher education, Christian and otherwise. It’s less common…
November 5, 2025
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A Christian Word on Professorial Impact

In the present university world, we talk a lot about impact. Our research is measured by its impact on our academic discipline, according to how often it is cited and by whom. Woe to the professor whose research always winds up in journals with a low JIF. The leading accreditor in the field of business,…
November 4, 2025
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Hockey Priest: Giving Greater Thought to Sporting Involvement

Editor's note: Images Courtesy of St. Michael's College School “Why speak of muscular Christianity?” asked an academic to a presenting colleague at a sports history conference I recently attended. The questioner made it clear that, in his opinion, sport historians have no need for religion in their field of study. The statement sounded sensible, as…
October 28, 2025