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Introduction to a Flourishing Life:
Responding to the Needs of Gen Z

Over the past twenty years, the needs of university students have changed significantly. As Jonathan Haidt adeptly chronicles in his Anxious Generation, mental health and loneliness, depression, and anxiety are rampant among today’s youth. COVID only exacerbated this. Recognizing these challenges, two Whitworth professors from disparate disciplines set out to craft a course to address…
November 6, 2025
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Why Institutions Still Matter

It’s common to observe that digital technology has undermined the assumption that institutions are trustworthy. Some people lament it, and others celebrate it, but everybody sees it. Thanks to the Internet, institutions have lost much of their authority to shape common knowledge. This certainly includes institutions of higher education, Christian and otherwise. It’s less common…
November 5, 2025
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A Christian Word on Professorial Impact

In the present university world, we talk a lot about impact. Our research is measured by its impact on our academic discipline, according to how often it is cited and by whom. Woe to the professor whose research always winds up in journals with a low JIF. The leading accreditor in the field of business,…
November 4, 2025

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Gratitude: Our Most Important Virtue

I begin each class session by telling students that I am glad to see them. I end every session by thanking them for coming. A student asked me why. I replied, “Because every time you come to class I am honored and blessed.” “Wow,” he said, “I never thought of it that way.” Neither had…
November 7, 2022
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An Accidental Visual Reminder of Humility

I have an image pinned to the noticeboard by my desk that resulted from a moment of incompetence but seemed worth keeping in view. It was generated while working on data during a recent research project. With a team of colleagues (Steve McMullen, Kara Sevensma, and Marj Terpstra), I was investigating the impact of technological…
November 3, 2022
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 Are Your Students Quiet Quitting or Imbibing Hustle Culture? Consider a Third Way

Despite working with college students well beyond Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour “mastery” threshold and being a parent of three between the ages of 18-24, I (Kenman) regularly stumble while trying to span the generation gap. This divide became apparent again on a recent trip to see my older daughter. Perfectly overlapping academic calendars and Covid shutdowns…
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Working at Home, Calling, and Vocation

One of the significant changes to come out of the COVID pandemic was the increased prevalence of working at home (or remotely at other locations). Many of us have now experienced prolonged periods of work at home, and as might be expected, people have varying opinions on how much they like it. The phenomenon of…
October 25, 2022
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Public Libraries as Places of Hope

I did not plan to start a career in in public libraries. In fact, when I applied for a job at my local library, my only intention was to make a bit of money during my last semester of seminary before jumping into “real ministry.” Of course, in his providence, God’s lessons and plans for…
October 24, 2022
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Star Shake, Glass Break, All to the Good

In the mythology of modern art, there are a few old chestnuts that get repeated again and again. There is the time Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear and then bore witness through confessional portraiture. There is the time Pablo Picasso unveiled his first masterpiece, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, and declared it an “exorcism.” (For…
October 21, 2022
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A Few Words in Favor of Reticence

Reticence is not much of western virtue. In Shakespeare's King Lear, the words of Edgar, son of the Earl of Gloucester, to “speak as we feel, not what we ought to say” illustrate the tragic cost of withholding one’s authentic thoughts and feelings toward others and perhaps even more tragically from oneself. After all, pulling…
October 20, 2022