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Preface to the Reviews

This issue’s book review section contains two review essays, each of which examines multiple books on a common theme, and four reviews of individual books. The first review essay, “Rest and Sabbath: A Review Essay,” is written by Amy Davis Abdallah, who teaches practical theology at Ashland Theological Seminary. Abdallah’s essay examines three recent books…
August 26, 2026
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Introducing Christian Scholar’s Review 2026 Summer Issue

With today’s blog, I’m pleased to introduce the summer issue of Christian Scholar’s Review. Our Spring issue was sadly delayed, largely due to printing schedules, so I am delighted to have this issue in hand (or on screen) for many just as the academic year begins. With decades of the rhythms of the academic year much more real…
August 25, 2026
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Helping the World’s Search for a Vocabulary

In a fascinating conversation published in Advance magazine a few years ago, Shirley Hoogstra interviewed Anne Snyder and David Brooks about their impressions of the kind of Christian education happening on our CCCU campuses.  Are we doing enough, Shirley asked, to be a “leaven” in the larger academy, helping “to transform things for the better?”…
August 24, 2026
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Character in Community: A Fellowship Inspired by Oxford’s Online Leading with Character Course (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this series, we shared the story of how the Leading with Character Fellowship was built: a six-week community of practice scaffolded around the Leading with Character online course, designed to bring relational accountability, weekly small groups, and shared formation to what might otherwise have been a solo online experience. Two of…
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Why Do Non-Religious Students Like Christian Faculty and Staff So Much? Perhaps It Is Because We Don’t Talk to Them about Religion or Purpose

Like 82% of Christian higher education institutions, Baylor does not require students to be Christians. So this past month, with the help of my colleague Kevin Dougherty, I decided to drill down into our 2026 Senior Baylor Faith and Character data to find out about the experiences of non-religious students at Baylor. What are their…
August 19, 2026

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Building a Better Legal Education

“Build to-day, then, strong and sure, With a firm and ample base; And ascending and secure Shall to-morrow find its place.” -H.W. Longfellow- Since the ostensible end of the COVID pandemic, and with the return of students to in-person classes, America has seen an interesting shift on law school campuses. Observers note a rising wave of activist students that the National Jurist called “the protest generation.”Julia Brunette Johnson, “The Protest Generation,” National…
April 2, 2024
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The “Good Thief” and Good Friday

“My song is love unknown, my Saviour’s love to me; love to the loveless shown, That they might lovely be.”Samuel Crossman, “My Song is Love Unknown,” hymnary.org, 1664, https://hymnary.org/text/my_song_is_love_unknown It is common practice in many Christian denominations to reflect on the Passion during Lent. For instance, in the Catholic Church, there are the Stations of…
March 28, 2024
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The Value in Evaluating Your Students’ Work

I was recently engaged in a conversation with an old friend who took up teaching late in life and via a non-traditional path (read - no formal pedagogical training). He was discussing his mounting pile of grading and his complete disinterest in reading his student’s papers. I believe we have all engaged in conversations regarding…
March 26, 2024
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Hospitality, Teaching, and Pauses for Reflection

DAVID: Some years ago, I was teaching an intensive graduate class in curriculum studies to a group that included students from multiple countries. The first significant written assignment came a few days into the course. I asked students to write about how their upbringing and identity were likely to bias their curriculum work. Which of…
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Healing the Imagination: The Crucifix as Medicine

I am an art historian by trade, and recently, I had the opportunity to deliver an art history lecture at my church. I always relish these occasions, because they give me a chance to share my passion with a wider audience. They also, maybe surprisingly, help me with my own research. I’m deeply interested in…
March 19, 2024
BlogBook Review

The Liberating Arts: Why We Need Liberal Arts Education

Geoffrey Galt Harpham has argued that conversation about crisis is fundamental to the humanities in the United States, an insight I extend to the liberal arts more generally.Geoffrey Galt Harpham, The Humanities and the Dream of America (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011). Certainly, crisis-talk has spanned my own career. From internal academic anxiety…
March 15, 2024
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A Tale of Two Tales . . . Or Five

The stories that a culture tells give us a clue to the beliefs and values of that culture. The stories that achieve a popular following suggest what is on the mind of a culture at a moment in time. For over a thousand years, the people of Western Europe told their stories through allegorical poetry.…
March 13, 2024