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A Higher Education Toward the True Purpose of the University

On July 4, 2026, Dr. Robert B. Sloan, Jr., President of Houston Christian University, was called home to be with the Lord Christ after nearly two decades leading HCU. His leadership was marked by faithfulness to Christian higher education and a vision for a university rigorous in pursuit yet no less faithful in commitment. My…
September 15, 2026
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Teens, TikTok, and America 250: A Meditation on Elite Culture

“Elite culture” is a dubious thing. It can often feel like a harmful construct designed to keep control of those who already have it. If this view is correct, then there’s nothing excellent, or even especially better, about elite culture - it’s only a code deployed by those “in the know” to exclude others. Not…
September 14, 2026
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Envy and Crime and Punishment

Recently, especially after Elon Musk passed the trillionaire mark, many people posted online about the ways Musk’s money could help the poor. Others, including famous politicians, then chimed in about what could be done with lots of billionaires' money. Unsurprisingly, no one posted about what they were currently doing with their money or other possessions…
September 11, 2026
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Greed

A rabbi friend was leading a series of evening discussions about the Sinai commandments for folks in his synagogue, and he invited me to join him in the session dealing with coveting. Some business scandals were much in the news at the time, so we did give some attention to the topic of greed in…
September 10, 2026
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Book Review of Disability and Evangelism: The Good News of the Fullness of God’s Kingdom

For many Christian scholars, disability studies rarely come to mind when they think about the future of theological and missiological discourse. Yet it should. Globally, individuals with disabilities are among the largest unreached groups, with an estimated 90–95% never having encountered the gospel. In the United States, almost 59% do attend a religious service (2).…
September 9, 2026
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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

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Benefits of Lunch Outside the Office: A Response

“Grab drinks?  We don’t even share the same elevators!” For the past five years, in addition to being a professor of communication, I’ve served as co-director of Biola University’s Winsome Conviction Project that seeks to open lines of communication between people entrenched in ideological, political, or theological disagreements.  When I was asked to respond to…
February 27, 2025
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Lunching Alone

It’s an odd thing to reflect on the meaning of academics gathering for lunch when you’re an academic on sabbatical. I relish so much about these occasional sabbaths from teaching: the time to rest and recharge, the opportunity to enjoy our twins’ first months in high school, the chances to travel and do research. Still,…
February 26, 2025
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An Empirical Examination of Dougherty’s Unified Field Theory of Lunch

In a commencement address to La Salle University, Peter J. Dougherty culled the most precious piece of wisdom from his 53 years of professional expertise to impart to graduating students. Just four words: meet often for lunch. In fact, let’s make it Lunch, a long, slow, enjoyable time at a sit-down restaurant. Getting together with…
February 25, 2025
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In Praise of Lunch

Editor’s Note: This past year we enjoyed reading Peter J. Dougherty’s essay “In Praise of Lunch.”  The essay inspired CSR’s Publisher, Todd Ream, to organize a series of responses to his article.  Thus, today’s post reprints the essay with his permission. Then, over the next three days, we will post three responses from different faculty.…
February 24, 2025
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Between Two Worlds: Safety, Suffering, and the Cross

I remember the dissonance I felt when I was invited to join a prayer meeting organized by Wheaton’s Politics and International Relations Department soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Masked and socially distanced, we gathered in a calm setting to pray for the people of Ukraine—huddled in basements and subways…
February 20, 2025
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A Liturgy for the Writing of Citations

Liturgies and daily prayers have long been part of Christian practice. The Psalms and the Lord’s Prayer are two prominent examples from the Bible, but church history also tells of the development of prayer books, books of hours, and the Book of Common Prayer. These aids helped the faithful meditate on scripture and Christian principles…
February 18, 2025
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Awe’s Power to Diminish Us (and That’s a Good Thing)

While Colorado is known for having 50 mountains that exceed 14,000 feet, my home state of Washington boasts its own mountainous claims, with nearly 100 reaching mile-high peaks. Yet one among them stands out. At 14,409 feet and 60 miles southeast of Seattle, Mt. Rainier is simply known as “the mountain.” In a city that…
February 12, 2025
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An Excellent Conversation

Some months ago, I rode to the airport with Uber, as I have done many times before and since. I noticed before the car arrived that the driver had high ratings for “excellent conversation.” Sure enough, it was not long before he started raising topics for discussion. He was driving for Uber on his day…
February 11, 2025