The faculty summer. You all know what I mean when I say that it’s a complicated phenomenon, right? I mean, think about it; we just completed a crazy spring semester (after getting through a crazy fall semester). As the end of the semester approaches, we start to slow down with the committees and other university…

In recent years, trauma-informed pedagogy has become a widely embraced framework in American education. Teachers and administrators are being trained to recognize signs of emotional dysregulation, respond with empathy rather than punishment, and prioritize safety and trust in classroom relationships. Terms like “fight or flight,” “toxic stress,” and “emotional regulation” have become common in professional…

One of the most intriguing parts about my job is exploring students’ understanding of their virtue development. Recently, our research team has asked college students to provide an example of when they engaged in a virtuous act (e.g., sacrificial love, patience, generosity). We then enquired about what motivated them or helped them carry out the…

Miles Smith IV begins his review of Another Gospel by telling the reader that the book is about Christian Nationalism—which, he writes, can mean “nearly anything” pastors, professors, or politicians find “exotic” at “the intersection of politics and religion.” At such a characterization, the discerning reader will likely raise an eyebrow. Surely this book must…

This July marks the one hundredth anniversary of the most famous event in the history of American religion and science, the trial of John Scopes for teaching evolution in a rural Tennessee high school. The rookie teacher was convicted of violating a new state law prohibiting public schools “to teach any theory that denies the…

I am currently co-writing with Jason Duesing a biography of the great missionary Adoniram Judson. It is due to Crossway in mid-2026. Judson is best known for translating the whole Bible into Burmese. This monumental translation is still used today in the Baptist churches of Myanmar (Burma). Judson also maintained an impressive fitness regimen, one…