The recent announcement that the human genome has finally been fully sequenced received the widespread recognition that it rightfully deserves. It was covered by PBS, Time, CNN, BBC and more. Notably, most of these stories reference the full about-face that geneticists have made since the publication of the first draft of the genome in 2003.…

Dr. Michelle Ami Reyes  Editor's Note: Due to a technical error, this post was not e-mailed on May 2 as intended. As a result, we are reposting it today.  Thanks, PLG  May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. How might Christian scholars effectively engage AAPI topics during this month and beyond? I…

I’m on sabbatical and I’ve taken up swimming. I know how to swim, but I’ve never done lap swimming, official swimming. I knew this would be a challenge for me, and I took it on philosophically and Biblically—the best ways I know. Phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty says: “true philosophy consists in relearning to look at the…

End of the quarter grading used to make me sick to my stomach.  By the second afternoon of my three-day grading marathon, I would be so hepped up on caffeine and sugared carbohydrates that I would begin to feel disoriented as if I had been flying for 24 hours with only fitful minutes of sleep…

There are several different terms that use the concept of humility that are somewhat popular in many circles: intellectual humility and cultural humility, just to name a couple. The fact that these two ideas have some applications outside of religious contexts suggests many people see humility as an important component of numerous facets of life.…

"The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps.” – Proverbs 14:15 ESV"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” – Proverbs 31:8-9 ESV In one of the laboratory classes I teach, students…

Perhaps the most famous saying of God from outside the Bible is an exhortation to read: “tolle lege” —meaning, “pick up and read.” These words, repeated as a chant in what sounded like a child’s voice, once exhorted Augustine to read and, in that act of reading, find salvation. Reflecting on this exhortation to read—salvific…

The primary goal of a liberal arts education is to aid students in developing practical wisdom. By introducing students to foundational knowledge from a wide array of academic fields and exposing them to multiple ways of interpreting that knowledge, a liberal arts education guides students toward becoming critical and nuanced thinkers who can gather, reflect…

Perhaps nowhere is the variety of American evangelicalism more apparent than among the 150 or so faith-based institutions that belong to the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).  While these institutions have learned to cooperate in areas such as faculty research, campus technology, and library services, in their core function—teaching and learning—Christian colleges and…

According to Friedrich Schiller, beauty is our “second creator” and a necessary component for both societal progress and our education as individuals. Friedrich Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education of Man and Letters to Prince Frederick Christian von Augustenberg, trans. Keith Tribe (UK: Penguin, 2016), 78. In On the Aesthetic Education of Man, Schiller even asserted…