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Theological Foundations for Creation Care: Replacing Apathy and Despair with Hope and Christian Virtues — A Review Essay (Part 1)

Andrew J. Spencer’s and Steven Bouma-­Prediger’s recent releases applying Christian theology to contemporary environmental problems share similar goals and face common constraints. As trade paperbacks, both books are intended to motivate an indifferent or skeptical Christian readership and theologically equip students to address hot-­button political topics. The authors self-­identify as Evangelical, utilize the language of…
December 11, 2024
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Shaping Witnesses: Baylor’s English Graduate Program

In the past year or so, six graduates of Baylor University’s English graduate program have published books about the arts of reading well and the value of forming Christian imaginations. Jessica Hooten Wilson (grad of 2009) published Reading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice (Jessica has also published several…
December 10, 2024
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Sharing Our Screens

Recently I re-watched The Truman Show, the 1998 film about a man, played by Jim Carey, who discovers that his life has been broadcast to the world as a reality TV show. Though produced a quarter of a century ago, the movie’s critique of an “always-on,” surveillant media culture felt timely and spoke to my…
December 9, 2024
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Not Quite Exiles nor Never Much of an Eden: The Meaning of Vocation for the Professorate Thirty Years after the Publication of Mark Schwehn’s Exiles from Eden

The early 1990s saw a rash of books on religion and higher education, and Mark Schwehn’s 1993 Exiles From Eden: Religion and the Academic Vocation in America was a book unlike any of the rest. It begins with two memorable illustrations of the central problem Schwehn addresses. The first recalls a faculty get-­together at the…
December 5, 2024
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Be the Hope You Seek

A friend asked me not so long ago, “Where can we find hope in such uncertain times?” Many of us have been asking this reasonable and pressing question for much of the past five years. As Christians, we can easily recite a couple of the 140 Bible verses that, in various different stories and admonitions,…
December 4, 2024
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Christ-Animated Scholarship and Human Worth

Every once in a while, I come across an article or book that exemplifies the best of what Christ-animated scholarship can and should be. I recently came across one such article in the field of psychology that addressed the topic of human worth. The concepts of self-worth and self-esteem have a long history in the…
December 3, 2024

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Exploring Manifold Beauty in Genesis 1

A recent lectionary reading in my church from Hebrews contained a phrase that never struck me before as very important. The letter opens with, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways…” In various ways! The same afternoon, I read a pertinent quote by Duke theologian Ellen…
October 27, 2021
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Guest Post: Reflections on scholarship, motherhood, and faith after more than a year of pandemic living

Looking over my chapter“Divvying up Love: Scholarly Ambition and Motherhood as Spiritual Formation” in Power Women: Stories of Motherhood, Faith, and the Academy, eds. Nancy Wang Yuen and Deshonna Collier-Goubil (Downers Grove, IL: 2021), pp.11-26. again from Power Women: Stories of Faith, Motherhood, and the Academy induced a set of mixed feelings. On the one…
October 26, 2021
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Taking a Truce on Our Conflict

I was in a heated cell phone discussion with my older brother—a man who loves the Lord, is in full-time ministry, and regularly leads Bible studies at local prisons. However, we were talking politics and our raised voices reflected our deep differences. For us, the issues that made the 2020 presidential election contentious still carry…
October 25, 2021
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Guest Post: Sports, Character, and Union with Christ

In his book The Perfect Mile, Neal Bascomb chronicles the competition between Roger Bannister, John Landy, and Wes Santee to be the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes. Bannister's success as the first man to break this barrier is well-known, but another feat of excellence was accomplished by Landy two years…
October 22, 2021
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Marine Contaminants, Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology: The Virtues of Christian Vigilance and Accountability

Over the decades, Christian environmental exploration and activism have focused on some issues far more than others. Interest in international missions, the continuation of farming as an honored profession in many Christian communities, and the availability of clear Biblical guidance have driven a solid and thoughtful presence in the realms of food production and sustainable…
October 21, 2021
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Guest Post – Pride and Humility in Christian Educators

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (1 Peter 3:8) Pride, like love, is a funny thing. Maybe it’s academics in general or Twitter exclusively or the dangerous combination of the two, but it seems like pride is a distinguishing mark of the new…
October 18, 2021
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COVID-19 and Romans 15, Part 2: Pauline Solutions

Coming back together for education this Fall is a long process that is more a marathon than a sprint—and we’ve already run uphill for a year and a half. This leads to the problems we’re now facing, described in Part 1. How do we continue to navigate these conflicts, divisions, and needs, without enough staff…
October 14, 2021