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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
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Ordering Our Loves and Understanding Our Limits

Our two boys were three and six years old when my wife contracted Guillain Barré. Fortunately, the doctors were able to stop its deadly progression caused by her immune system going crazy and demyelinating her nerves before it reached her vital organs. She spent the next year in bed on a roller coaster of "recovery"…
February 7, 2025
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Do as I Say…and as I Do

“…you are shockingly fit.” These are the words from a young man who happened to be in the weight room at the same time I was in the fall semester of 2021. Of course, this was a semester in which COVID containment measures were plentiful. Student times were separated from faculty and staff times in…
February 6, 2025

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The Problem with Chatbot Personas

The other day, I chatted with C.S. Lewis. The conversation went something like this: Derek: “Hi, Jack. What do you think of Christian Scholars Review?” C.S. Lewis: “Ah, you address me as ‘Jack,’ a name I hold dear, given to me by my family and friends. As for the Christian Scholars Review, while it is…
November 4, 2024
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“Hope, But It’s a Complex Kind”: Reflections Following the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum Visit, Part 2

Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of a dual reflection on The War and Women’s Human Rights Museum (aka “Comfort Women Memorial”) by Eimi Ichimura, a Ph.D. student, and Paul Kim, a professor of psychology at Seattle Pacific University.  Emi identifies as Japanese American and Paul identifies as Korean American. They disclose this information upfront so…
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“Hope, But It’s a Complex Kind”: Reflections Following the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum Visit. Part 1

The War and Women’s Human Rights Museum (aka “Comfort Women Memorial”) in South Korea is a powerful place of remembrance. Specifically, in a small building (it’s literally the size of a large American house) located near the tourist hotspot of the Hongdae neighborhood, the museum is filled with painful stories of women who were forced…
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Hard To Look At (The Brazen Serpent)

The sun beats down and the head swims. Lips are parched. Eyes see spots. Legs list and stagger, barely able to hold up the body’s weight. Everything seems both too bright and too dark at the same time. The heart cries out with a silent scream, “I hate you, I hate you, God of my…
October 28, 2024
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From Fear into Faith: How Respectful Conversations Promote Civic Engagement and Hope

Differences of opinion have always been part of life. Spouses, family members, co-workers, neighbors, and church members have had spirited conversations about politics, theology, social issues, and even sports. This is especially true of students in our classes. In one study, college students were asked to keep a journal of how many disagreements with friends…
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The Problem of Aesthetics: Can We Trust Ourselves to Recognize Beauty?

Last year, I hosted a chocolate-tasting lab for a large group of honors students. I provided them with several types of chocolate, and together we went through a slow process of reaction, evaluation, and comparison. Their specimens for consideration included: Hershey’s milk chocolate, a very fine 72% dark chocolate, an increasingly bitter 80% dark chocolate,…
October 24, 2024
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The Anxious Generation: A Christian Educator’s Reflection

Social psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, has once again secured a spot on The New York Times Best Seller List with his latest book, The Anxious Generation. In this work, Haidt offers evidence-based insights into the psychological and sociological rationales leading to increased anxiety in Generation Z compared to Millennials.  Specifically, he investigates the cultural, social, and…
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The First Artists, Part 2: Contingency and Inevitability

In the first part of this essay, I described how the twenty-first-century discovery of the oldest paintings on earth in Indonesia – including the Sulawesi warty pig – illustrates the main points of Darrel R. Falk’s On the (Divine) Origin of Our Species.Darrel R. Falk. On the (Divine) Origin of Our Species. (Wipf and Stock Publishers,…
October 22, 2024