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Echoes of the Genuinely Human

During my “tween” years, I devoured novels about Christian boys of my age. For example, I read most, if not all, of the Moody Press thirty-six-volume series about the Sugar Creek Gang, a group of boys who encouraged each other in maintaining their shared Christian identity. Even though I am grateful for the “wholesome” image…
July 27, 2026
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Christian Higher Education at a Crossroads

Ron Highfield's The Christian University and the Academic Establishment arrives at a particularly fraught moment in the history of American higher education. Confidence in the university as an institution has eroded dramatically. Political polarization has drawn colleges and universities into broader cultural conflicts. Debates over academic freedom, diversity initiatives, institutional mission, free speech, and ideological…
July 23, 2026
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Mount Rushmore of Civil Communication (Part 2)

When asked to do a second edition of our book, Authentic Communication: Christian Speech Engaging Culture (IVP Academic), my co-author, Todd Lewis, and I thought of the people who have most influenced our thinking about Christian engagement in an oft-hostile world. Influenced by Michael Michalko’s book, Thinker Toys, we created our Mt. Rushmore of individuals…
July 22, 2026
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Mount Rushmore of Civil Communication (Part 1)

“Who’s on your Mt. Rushmore?” This is one of my favorite questions to ask my students. When it comes to fashion, politics, theology, or potentially volatile social issues, who most informs your thinking?  Specifically, give me four names of people who have your ear.  The Mt. Rushmore idea is based on Michael Michalko’s idea of…
July 21, 2026

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Returning to Religion in Shakespeare Studies – A Review Essay (Part 2)

David Anonby also begins Shakespeare on Salvation: Crossing the Reformation Divide with a reasoned defense for his engagement with religion in Shakespeare, invoking some of the same scholars that Oser does in his introduction. Anonby describes those in the turn to religion who have challenged the “secularizing narrative of the theater” (4), before turning to…
September 23, 2025
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Returning to Religion in Shakespeare Studies – A Review Essay (Part 1)

Editor's Note: Due to an earlier failure of the e-mail distribution of this three-part post, we are reposting it over the next three days.   It has been approximately twenty-five years since the “turn to religion” in Shakespeare studies. When I informally polled a few colleagues in history, psychology, and social work about a turn to…
September 22, 2025
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Test Everything

“…but test everything; hold fast what is good.” — 1 Thess. 5:21 (ESV) I teach computer science students how to program computers, and testing is a crucial component of learning to program. In fact, the modern approach to software engineering advocates a Test Driven Development where testing is simultaneously intertwined with the writing of code.…
September 16, 2025
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Higher Education’s False Egalitarianism

One of the strangest features of contemporary higher education is its false egalitarianism. Teachers and students, by definition, are not equals with respect to the practice in which they are engaged, though of course they may be equals in other respects. If the student were on the same level as the teacher, he wouldn’t need…
September 15, 2025
BlogReviews

A Review of David I. Smith, Everyday Christian Teaching: A Guide to Practicing Faith in the Classroom

David I. Smith’s most recent book, Everyday Christian Teaching: A Guide to Practicing Faith in the Classroom, represents yet another of his significant and vital contributions to Christian education. Commencing with an invitation to wisdom for teachers and their students, Smith offers philosophical insights along with practical strategies for authentically integrating faith into teaching practices.…
September 5, 2025
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A Call to (Christian) Excellence

One way to understand the evolution of popular management publications over the last 50 years is to see it as beginning with a reaction to the struggles of American manufacturing in the 1970s. Shocked by the oil embargo and an invasion of cheaper, more efficient foreign imports, US car manufacturers attempted to adapt quickly but…
September 4, 2025