Article

While Samford University has long been committed to the integration of faith and learning, a coordinated, university-­wide emphasis began in 2021 through Academic Affairs’ Faculty Success Center with the launch of its Faith and Learning Initiative. A year-­long process led a faculty taskforce to develop four emphasis areas—personal spiritual growth, vocational exploration, pedagogical integration, and…

The School of Public Health at Samford University encompasses four departments: Public Health, Social Work, Nutrition and Dietetics, and Healthcare Administration and Informatics. The mission of the School of Public Health is to prepare students to become servant leaders by demonstrating the love of God through nurturing the emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual health of individuals and communities. While there are differences that…

The theme verse for the Samford University School of Health Professions (SHP) is 1 Peter 4:10, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” Faculty, staff, and students are regularly reminded of this verse, and we endeavor to fulfill 1…

The Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing (MSSON) was built on a foundation of excellence in nursing education and a mission to meet the needs of people through Christ-­centered service. Started by the Birmingham Baptist Association in 1922, the school’s name honors the nurse leader, Ida V. Moffett. Moffett helped transition the nursing program to Samford…

It is a privilege to communicate the connections between pharmacy education and the image of God. Initially, one may not think that these could be linked; however, the ties between these two topics are strong. To set the stage, overviews of the profession as well as the imago Dei will be offered. The Pharmacy Profession…

Faith-learning integration is a well-worn pedagogical topic, especially at many Christian institutions, but the discussion is surprisingly underdeveloped in the field of biblical studies. Yet even where the conversation is taking place with the most energy, it is complicated by uncertain terminology and is often mired in an over-emphasis on the cerebral. Despite these circumstances,…

Christians who want to think critically about artificial intelligence (AI) may benefit significantly from C. S. Lewis’s writings. Lewis is well known for his various novels and works on Christian thought. His novel That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups provides helpful guidance for technology, grounded as it is with biblical-theological assumptions. About the “Space”…

Imagine a precocious, driven, and empathetic undergraduate student. She has discovered a passion and a talent for biochemistry, and wants to apply to graduate school to pursue agronomy, with the goal of returning to her rural community home after graduation. She loves science and nature; she is also a committed Christian. She has a vague…

Was Nicolaus Copernicus a heretic? His heliocentric model, published in 1543 in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), proposed that Earth rotates about its own axis and revolves around the sun, as do the planets. The question of heresy seems pointless because heliocentrism is now the cosmological air…

In 1890, not long before his apparent suicide, Vincent van Gogh painted a picture of a church. Van Gogh had recently moved to the town of Uver from san-­remy-­de-­provence, where he had been in a mental institution. In Uver, van Gogh hoped to receive help from Paul Gachet, a doctor known for his compassion toward…

The speakers stood in the free speech quad and were accompanied by towering ten-­foot signs. The signs condemned homosexuality with Bible passages—painted in crimson red—as support. At a progressive public university, they immediately attracted a crowd looking for a verbal fight. The confrontation happened right outside the communication building where I was starting my master’s…

In a passage sure to strike many moderns as charmingly quaint, Augustine confesses genuine puzzlement upon observing one of Saint Ambrose’s reading habits: “When he read, his eyes travelled across the page and his heart sought into the sense, but voice and tongue were silent.Augustine, Confessions, ed. Michael P. Foley, trans. F. J. Sheed (Hacket,…

For-profit businesses dominate the modern economy. But is there any good reason for the Christian to willingly participate in them? Upon first glance, this seems like a silly question. Despite the way it is often practiced, for-profit business enterprises can be a powerful force for good and can have a variety of positive consequences, both…

For many centuries, the belief in God as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe was undisputed in the Western world.For this article, I will use the following definitions: Christians are those who believe that there is someone who created the universe and has been maintaining it ever since; atheists are those who do not…

Introduction Christian higher education finds itself at a significant crossroads. Cultural upheaval, significant shifts in college enrollment, concerns around the enduring value of a college degree, the impact of artificial intelligence, and many other factors swirl about amidst ongoing financial pressures.Michael Smith, “The Public is Giving Up on Higher Ed,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October…

The term “multiverse” has gained popularity in the last decade as a storytelling trope exploring alternate timelines based on different choices characters do, or could, make. Yet, while the term may have found popularity in recent years, particularly due to the popularity of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this existential thought process is…