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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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How Students at Elite Secular and Christian Universities Understand the Good Life, Purpose, and Self-Worth: Some Surprising Differences

Editor’s Note: This post is the first in a three-part series addressing how we deal with purpose and the good life in Christian higher education.  I remember having a conversation some time ago with the leader of one of the large Christian college partnerships. In the midst of the conversation, I found it surprising that…
August 17, 2026
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How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” – Mark 6:31 It has been nearly ten years since I resigned my position in industry as the CEO…
August 14, 2026
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250 Years Later, What If the Pursuit of Happiness Isn’t the Goal?

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson asserted that the pursuit of happiness was a self-evident truth and an inalienable right. The concept is everywhere, from advertisements to “happily ever after.” A search for “happy” on Amazon Books produces over 70,000 results and at least as many definitions of that word. We live in a…
August 13, 2026
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Art and Values: The Summer of Zurbarán

It seems that highbrow fine art is in popular demand. The spring auction scene in New York shattered records, doubling last year’s total. (A canvas by Jackson Pollock fetched more than 181 million dollars.) Once-niche contemporary art spaces now charge hefty admission prices, and even fusty traditional spaces now attract tourist hordes. On my recent…
August 12, 2026

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BlogBook Review

The Promise of Social Enterprise: A Theological Exploration of Faithful Economic Practice

One of the leading models for the integration of faith and business is social enterprise and Mark Sampson is among one of its more notable practitioners. Social enterprise, however, is subject to the criticism that it represents an unstable relationship between capitalistic activity and eleemosynary intentions. Modern capitalism has created great efficiency in the economies…
August 24, 2023
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The Surprising Strength of Evangelical Civil Society

In June of 1976 I was one of the speakers at a conference at the University of Dallas. The theme of the conference was “The Laity: A New Direction.” I was initiated there into a group of people who were to meet regularly for the next few years to strategize about promoting the cause of…
August 23, 2023
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The Courage to Begin

One morning in July I sat with some fellow faculty at the tail end of a writing retreat, and the conversation turned to the dawning realization that there is less summer before us than behind us, and a new semester is lumbering in our direction at what feels like increasing pace. Some shared their perennial…
August 22, 2023
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The Reduction of Nursing Care to Disordered Nursing Practice: A Christian Analysis

Historically the nursing profession originated within a rich context of Christian values and beliefs. For example, in the Canadian context where I work and teach early Canadian nursing was managed and conducted by religious denominations, especially by Roman Catholic female orders.Kathy Hardill, “From the Grey Nuns to the Streets: A Critical History of Outreach Nursing…
August 18, 2023
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Helping Your New Faculty with Christ-Animated Learning

Recently, the editor of this blog, Perry Glanzer, asked readers if they had an example of faculty development for Christian mission that has been helpful. Since I have served on the Faculty Development Committee for the College of Arts & Sciences at Regent University for five years, I thought I would share one. Before I…
August 16, 2023
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Why Are Christian Campus Conversations about Alcohol So Anemic? Part II: A Substantive Christian Approach

A friend of mine recently shared that when talking with his daughter about her classes at a Christian university, he found himself repeatedly asking, “Did you discuss any constructive proposals?” Her consistent answer was, “No, we really did not have time.  We had to spend so much time on deconstructing structures of ____________” (with "deconstructing…
August 15, 2023
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In the Seed, I Perceive the Tree

When I teach our Natural Sciences Capstone seminar class, I must give the graduating seniors a challenging, cumulative assignment, appropriate to a 1-credit seminar course that meets once a week. In my class, these opposing requirements are met by assigning them to write a two-page proposal for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program…
August 11, 2023
BlogBook Review

Ecology of Vocation: Recasting Calling in a New Planetary Era

“California’s Apocalyptic Fires” “Drought Conditions Expected to Worsen and Spread Farther” “Flooded Canadians Fear the Next Disaster” “Between Heat and Floods, England Endures Extremes” “Europe’s Floods are Latest Signs of Climate Crisis” This short sample of headlines from articles in the New York Times from the last few years provides evidence that we are living…
August 10, 2023