The work of a Christian scholar is bound to the questions of the Christian community, those questions that rise up from the “fear and trembling” by which all Christians work out their salvation and whose answers, however incomplete, form the basis of the account of the hope that is in us all. This means that…

This semester seems to be ending in stages. We planned to send students home at Thanksgiving and teach the remainder of the semester online. Then a spike in COVID infections in the wider population and a state shutdown of schools and universities in response pulled us out of the classroom a week early. Some semesters…

I used to ask this question as a student. It took me a while to get to know the University staff who were Christians. I was aware of pressing ethical issues and controversial questions about science and the Bible; I knew science was a demanding career that might compete with church commitments; I knew some…

For Christians, most virtue words do not actually describe virtues unless they are directed properly. To put one’s faith, hope, or love in the wrong being or thing is actually a vice and not a virtue. That’s why when attempting to measure Christian virtue, it is always hard to find appropriate psychological scales. Hope in…

Jesus the Great Philosopher: Recovering the Wisdom for the Good Life by Jonathan T. Pennington, Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was released last month by Brazos Press. It’s a book that will appeal to a variety of readers, from students to professors, from theologians to philosophers, from Christians…

In the early eighties I was a junior at a large research university in British Columbia. One quiet Friday evening, in the century old residence hall, a friend and I were sitting in the empty hallway while she tried to teach me how to play poker. About an hour into her unsuccessful attempts, she leaned…

Dear Prof. Van Wijs, I finally finished my PhD and have begun a new position assistant professor of computer science at a Christian university in my home state. As I face my upcoming classes, I find myself feeling anxious about teaching. I have several new courses to teach, and several are outside my primary area…

During the 1992 election, James Carville coined an infamous aphorism: “It’s the economy, stupid!” I thought of it as I read Tim Meuhlhoff’s CSR blog for October 19, which beautifully argues against an economic model of discourse, by which one pays or exchanges “evil for evil or insult for insult.” Communication for Christians, especially in…

In honor of the 350th anniversary of the death of the great Christian educator John Amos Comenius, David I. Smith and Perry L. Glanzer have authored a series of posts to honor Comenius’ work. Smith's post appeared yesterday. Our willingness to accept problematic falsehoods from popular pagan authors can have dire consequences. One of the…

November 15 marks an important anniversary that will pass unnoticed for most, at least in North America. It is the day on which the author of the following words passed away: It is desired that not just one particular person be fully formed into full humanity, or a few, or even many, but every single…